Incandescent!What a treasure.Thank you for this gem. It should be galloping across the galaxies. Or maybe not so that those of us who have run into it can keep the experience as a cultish and delectable secret!” —Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, author of The Dragonfly Seaand Dust

Book of Longing - Leonard Cohen - Google Books

Charles Bukowski talks with Leonard Cohen about his book of poetry, Book of Longing. Both wrote a lot of books of poetry and fiction.I’ve been a fan of Leonard Cohen for a very long time so it was no surprise that the Book of Longing, containing poetry, lyrics, and illustrations ruminating on love, sex, aging, spirituality and more that all display his customary wryness, really floated my boat. I’m not normally a particular fan of poetry – I’d much rather listen to a song – but the fact that it was Leonard’s words I was reading helped me to give it more of a chance, while the fact that each piece lasted no longer than my shattered attention span could manage certainly helped to make my lunch breaks much, much better. Sue Monk Kidd, the brilliant, beloved storyteller who gifted us with The Secret Life of Bees, has done it again. Her most recent treasure, The Book of Longings, is the first book that has literally taken my breath away. As I read, I had to close it and breathe deeply, again and again. Silence on a tropical island is the relentless sound of water. The waves, like your own breaths, never leave you... For me, this was the most engaging of these stories, but I enjoyed them all, even though their appeal varied. I loved the setting of this somewhat isolated Andaman Islands under the British Empire, and Chanda’s character, she communes with the trees, with as well as with spirits, whereas Girja is more technical and scientific, having received an Oxford education. i'm sure it didn't help that the monastery was the mt. baldy zen center, which is quite a suggestive name.

Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen | Waterstones

Sitting in this garden, watching a hibiscus sun set over an emerald-green archipelago, leaves the couple unsettled. It forces them to swim in the solitary world of thoughts, preoccupations, and visions. Yet it doesn't feel lonely. I love books that stretch my imagination, books that hold my attention and tie me to a chair until I finish it. Latitudes of Longings was one such book for me. I'm all for variations on a theme, but in Book of Longing Cohen beats his readers to a bloody pulp with repetition, turning the pale willow wand of romantic and sexual love into a knobby oak cudgel and covering it in the blood and brains of his victims. By the end of this volume we know three things about the author: he was a bad Zen monk because all he thought about was women; he loves sex as much or more than life itself; and because he can't grasp the subtleties of meter he resorts to a childish sing-song rhyme that makes already stale subject matter unfit for the mice and flies circling the lower depths of this bare cabinet of a book of poems.

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Nothing much caught my interest or held my attention after 40 percent of the book even though things keep happening alongwith the introduction of new characters and events related to them. Latitudes of Longing publishes in the U.S. on May 19 by Random House; when first published in India in 2018 this book won the Tata Literature Live! Award for Debut Fiction. As a journalist, author Shubhangi Swarup has also won awards for gender sensitivity in feature writing. She lives in Mumbai, India.

THE BOOK OF LONGINGS | Kirkus Reviews THE BOOK OF LONGINGS | Kirkus Reviews

As ancient as some stories will feel, the longing will grow, it won’t die, it will give roots to lifetimes endured in hopelessly dejected enthusiasm of the Apo’s love for Ghazala, it will precede the unconditional acceptance. Islands, intuitively speaking, made the perfect canvas for practicing the art of nomenclature. The heightened isolation would cause species to become endemic, sooner or later, demanding a unique name. The only exceptions to the rule were the British themselves. They had broken most laws of nature by leaving their island to multiply on others without losing any of their original characteristics--only their marbles. The first is wonderful: in seductive, lush prose that intertwines metaphor, magic and myth, this tells a story of a new marriage. It's the writing, the vision and the imagination that work so well, and there's heart here, too - and the story ends on an image that is breathtaking. Buk: You won’t get any complaints from me! I like women quite a bit myself! My old pal Burroughs used to draw little things, too, like that. Some of the other reviewers have been harsh about the inclusion of “weaker” poems. They don’t seem to understand that the volume functions, in part, as a psychological chronicle of Leonard’s time on Mt. Baldy. Which means that an utter masterpiece like “Alexandra Leaving” may appear alongside a more off-the-cuff, stream of consciousness journal entry like “Food Tastes Good.” To me, that’s one more reason to love this book—it’s a revelation of Leonard’s life and state of mind during those years.There are other originary tales in the novel too, drawn along a single volatile faultline on earth, which is Swarup's topographic and narrative setting. Girija and Chanda's story comes full circle at the end of the novel, which is also a beginning. Cohen's career began in 1956 with the publication of Let Us Compare Mythologies, and he has since published nine books of poems, and has made numerous internationally successful recordings. In a career spanning fifty years, Leonard Cohen has become one of the western world's most popular and innovative creative artists. Read more Details

Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup: 9780593132562 Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup: 9780593132562

Latitudes of Longing left me reeling, weighted under the sheer beauty of its prose. It swept me off my feet and left me breathless. A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love one another, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature. The history of the Andamans, World War II, the colonials, the political struggle in Burma, the opium trade and so much is covered in this book. Thanks to Random House One World, via NetGalley, for this advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. This is one of those books that both heralds a debut author's vast talent, and yet also fails to capitalise on it. Swarup is nothing if not ambitious but this is also her downfall as the four sections of the book become decreasingly coherent.

In Kidd’s ( The Invention of Wings, 2014, etc.) feminist take on the New Testament, Jesus has a wife whose fondest longing is to write. And now is the time for my favorite, though there were a lot I liked, this one became my best THERE FOR YOU, I wanted to post a few lines of it but couldn't choose, so... For a day spent on the choppy waters can easily turn into a lifetime traversing the faultline. No one, not even the cyclonic clouds and deep-sea currents, can escape its elemental pull. There is a danger of slipping into the earth's cleft... Have you ever ached over something so beautiful it took your breath away? A waterfall perhaps or a brilliant sunset, or maybe a poem. These lines rank among the best Cohen has ever written, and convey the deep, dark, honesty of a poet coming to his senior years alone, yet still thinking of love, sex, and lust.