Oh gosh I found this "poetry" dreadful! I don't follow the blog and was unfamiliar with Samantha Jayne's rhymes before getting a free copy of the book from Netgalley. This book really reads more like a children's book of rhymes but for the young adult. I didn't find it especially funny and there was nothing intelligent at all about it.
I don't consider myself a poetry snob by any means but this doesn't fit the bill for me. I could have done without it. Just potty jokes in the form of rhyme without a great hook.
This is the first book I've read on the subject of cheese despite the fact that I am an addict. Certainly I'm a newb in the cheese aficionado community but I actively search out new and interesting morsels to indulge my palate. I approached this book with the desire to open my mind to the vast variety of fromage being lovingly crafted across our planet and possibly obtain a bit of history in the process.
This book attempts to hit those aspects of the cheese world plus offer many other tidbits of knowledge but it doesn't do any if it particularly well or in a very useful manner. This book is part history, part reference, part opinion/personal experience with cheese, and part cookbook. Unfortunately it is poorly written and extremely poorly organized. It has the feel of a textbook without the structure to support it.
The most useful part of the book is the section which lists cheese by their country of origin. This is the section I picked up the book for. Some of the info was helpful but not much. I expected some sort of consistency in the material but it really was a mess. Very rarely did the book offer insight into taste, texture or appearance of the many varieties while it often droned on about the inconsequential history of a handful of the author's favorite cheeses. Heck, even that would have been fine if he made the attempt to perform this service for all those he listed, but some cheeses filled multiple pages with poems, references to classic literature, etc while others got one line that often said something like "not a very good cheese."
This felt very much like a book the author simply wrote for himself to read rather than for others. There was a bit of knowledge that I gained which will prove useful in my cheese-quest but not much.
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I'm a guy who loves a bit of poetry. When I mention this to people, I get the occassional jab about my lack of manliness (apparently back hair only grows where poetry doesn't) but I feel pretty confident that real men appreciate beauty in the written and spoken word. I remember when I was in Cleveland attending med school and a friend was catching a ride from me after class and noticed a copy of the book "Poems That Make Grown Men Cry" sitting on my front seat. This discovery led to being offered a tampon which I graciously declined since I have a stash in my car in case my wife should need one.
I don't mind being teased about my love for poetry. There are times when it strikes me right in the heart muscles and grabs me tight. I'm not too macho to admit that I my face peed a bit while reading Ben Jonson's 'On My First Sonne':
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy.Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay,Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.O, could I lose all father now! For whyWill man lament the state he should envy?To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage,And if no other misery, yet age?Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say, "Here doth lieBen Jonson his best piece of poetry."For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,As what he loves may never like too much.
If that doesn't get you, then there is something wrong with you.
Well, as much as I love poetry, I have to admit that there is a lot of it that I just don't get. A small bundle of it speaks to me while the rest bounces around my mind like random words thrown together on a page. But when a poem speaks to me, it often REALLY speaks to me. Such is one I found on YouTube of all places.
Many people automatically assume that I'm a natural extrovert because I get chatty with people quickly. On the contrary, I am quite introverted and get a bit of anxiety when I'm in crowds. I just hide it better than some. I actually enjoy doing things alone. I go to movies alone. I walk around the mall alone. I often sit up late alone. I do like people too but there are times when I just want to be by myself. So, Andrea Dorfman's poem 'How To Be Alone' really got me. Check it out:
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I think every boy (perhaps every girl, for all I know) has at some point fantasized about wielding a brutal sword and tearing something to shreds. I've begged my wife to let me buy a sword in the past and eventually gave up on my fantasy for the sake of staying married. However, this video may resurrect a source of marital contention.....
Quarter Life Poetry: Poems for the Young, Broke and Hangry by Samantha Jayne
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