Friday Favorites: Edna St. Vincent Millay

On Fridays I post a little shout out to one of my favorite books and explain why I love it so much. It gives me the chance to fangirl over books I never reviewed on this blog and lets me post about some not-necessarily-YA books I love.

Which book?
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Selected Poems

Genre?
Poetry

When did I first read it?
Two years ago.

Why did I first read it?
Growing up, we had a poetry anthology that I loved called “A Child’s Anthology of Poetry.” It had Millay’s short poem “First Fig” in it, and even when I was fairly young, that poem drew me with its devil-may-care attitude. So when I saw a Millay anthology on sale at the bookstore, I picked it up.

What did I think about it then?
As is the case with me and most poetry anthologies of a single poet’s work, Millay’s poetry was a bit hit or miss for me. But those poems that I liked—which was a fair number of them—I adored. She writes quite a bit about all the different ways love is lost, and those are the poems of hers that tended to click most with me. Her poems about nature and what not . . . not so much. But I just loved how spot on she is about so many emotions and how well she conveys a variety of tones, from regretful to reflective to defiant and beyond.

What do I think about it now?
I pick up my Millay anthology fairly frequently to reread a poem or two that have been on my mind. Does that happen to anyone else?—getting poetry stuck in your head? “First Fig,” the poem that initially got me started on Millay, gets in my head fairly often, as does one of her unnamed poems (a sonnet, I think?) from her collection, “The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems.” I’ll copy them here so you can get a taste of what Millay’s poems are like:

First Fig

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light.

And her untitled one:

I, being born a woman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.
Think not for this, however, the poor treason
Of my stout blood against my staggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn wtih pity,—let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again.

Have you read anything by Millay? What did you think?

Review: Love and Leftovers

Love and Leftovers, by Sarah Tregay. The GoodReads summary:

Marcie has been dragged away from home for the summer—from Idaho to a family summerhouse in New Hampshire. She’s left behind her friends, a group of freaks and geeks called the Leftovers, including her emo-rocker boyfriend, and her father.

By the time Labor Day rolls around, Marcie suspects this “summer vacation” has become permanent. She has to start at a new school, and there she leaves behind her Leftover status when a cute boy brings her breakfast and a new romance heats up. But understanding love, especially when you’ve watched your parents’ affections end, is elusive. What does it feel like, really? Can you even know it until you’ve lost it?

Love & Leftovers is a beautifully written story of one girl’s journey navigating family, friends, and love, and a compelling and sexy read that teens will gobble up whole.

This is the third verse novel that I’ve read in the space of a week, and maybe that wasn’t fair of me. I mean, this book was fine, but it definitely didn’t wow me nearly as much as The Day Before did. So I don’t know how I would’ve felt about Love and Leftovers if I had read it before my expectations for verse novels were raised so much by The Day Before.

The story did end up being more complex than I originally thought, I’ll give it that. I was expecting it to only be about Marcie moving to New Hampshire, being bitter, learning to like it, then falling in love. And all those things do happen, just not in the way I anticipated. Marcie has more issues to deal with than just not wanting to move, and she doesn’t always deal with those issues in the best ways. But I liked that, because it gave some depth to what could’ve turned out to merely be fluffy.

The thing that got to me about the book, though, was the fact that it was in verse. I LOVE verse novels, but I didn’t see any reason why this one needed to be one. I didn’t think the writing was any different than just straight fiction, so it was usually just like reading a normal book with random line breaks. Also, on the poems that were done in word art style, I just got confused because the way that they were organized didn’t really make sense at first.

Overall, it’s a cute novel but not necessarily anything special. I might have enjoyed it more if I had read it before I read the wonder that is The Day Before, but it’s too late for that now. So I’m just left feeling kinda meh about this one.

Rating: 3 / 5

Review: The Day Before

The Day Before, by Lisa Schroeder. The GoodReads summary:

Sixteen-year-old Amber, hoping to spend one perfect day alone at the beach before her world is turned upside down, meets and feels a strong connection to Cade, who is looking for his own escape, for a very different reason.

All I can say is wow. This book is amazing. For such a short book, it sure does pack a powerful punch. I mean, I really liked all of Schroeder’s previous verse novels, but this one was the best by far. The language is beautiful, the story compelling, the characters sympathetic. And even though technically Amber and Cade fall in love over the course of only a day, their romance feels perfectly paced. I can’t even find the words to express how amazing this book is, so I’m just going to leave you with my favorite poem from the book, because I’m pretty sure it’ll show you exactly what I mean:

20/20

Hidden, there,
behind the face
of a beautiful boy,
I see you.

The real you.

The you who flips a coin,
hoping to understand
how fate works:
this choice or that choice,
ultimately leaving you
no choice at all.

The you who smiles
and tries to be happy
because that’s what
people want
you to be.

The you who plays
“it will be okay”
on repeat all day, every day
to try and convince
yourself
that it will be.

I see you.

Because in you,
I see me.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Christmas break: A summary in books

I went home for two weeks for Christmas, and although we had some fun adventures (e.g., the zoo, Bate's Nut Farm, a winter solstice party, the dentist, Lake Miramar, game nights, friends' houses, "Tangled," movie nights--and days--at home, Night in Bethlehem, Christmas, YSA New Year's dance, etc.), per usual, there was a lot of down time when I could read. So believe me, I did. Here's what I read over break (at least, the ones I remember):

-"Anna and the French Kiss," by Stephanie Perkins (A nearly perfect YA romance. Seriously though. Of course they end up together, but Perkins makes you work for it. This one will make you want to go to France. And meet a hot English guy.)

-"How to Hook a Hottie" and "Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress," by Tina Ferraro (Two quick-read YAs. Fluffy, but enjoyable.)

-"Before I Fall," by Lauren Oliver (You'll hate Samantha at the beginning, but by the end, you'll be cheering for her. Shock and horror, a book with actual character growth.)

-"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," by J.K. Rowling (A re-read. As a result of my sisters watching the HP movies, I realized I had zero recollection of how it all ended. So I read book 7 again and remembered how well done the series is.)

-"Fire" and "Water," by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson (I LOVE McKinley, but for some reason I hadn't read these short story collections by her and her husband. I definitely preferred the stories written by McKinley, and there were some that I loved so much I wished they were full-length books--"Water Horse" and "A Pool in the Desert" in "Water," and "Hellhound" and "First Flight" in "Fire.")

-"Seer of Sevenwaters," by Juliet Marillier (Book 5 in the Sevenwaters series and not as good as some of the others, but still enjoyable.)

-"The Lady Most Likely," Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway (Three short romance stories by three authors, tied together by a house party. The first story, by Julia Quinn, was my favorite.

-"Nothing Like You," by Lauren Strasnick (I'm still not sure whether or not I like that the ending was honest, but overall, a good read.)

-"What My Mother Doesn't Know," by Sonya Sones (This book is in verse, so it's a quick read, but it still manages to be an emotional love-life roller coaster.

Overall, a good break, eh?