I learned to write poetry from reading and re-reading the poems in this book. I studied his work for meter and stress. I tried to figure out how he could’ve written such lines that burn with luminous intensity. Frequently, I’ll find myself in a situation where a stray line or phrase will drift through my thoughts… After publication, a few of the poems here later became lyrics on some of Leonard’s final albums. Songs like the dark and stunning “Nevermind” had their beginning in Book of Longing. The story follows the life of Girija Prasad, a man and a scientist in Andaman Islands in the newly independent India. It talks of the inhabitants in this place and the surrounding environment. Nature or to be more specific “Earth” is the binding as well as connecting link in this book; we go from Islands to Fault-lines that is Burma(Myanmar) with Its Civil war and military regime, we follow the freedom and imprisonment of one Plato, his mother..... we go to the mountains and then to the glaciers, a place where the most primitive of tribes show wisdom surpassing the brightest of minds....

of Longing review: An eccentric fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing review: An eccentric fantasy

Sue Monk Kidd brings to life a spirited, and spiritually aware, young woman who must come to terms with her own heartfelt desires and ambitions...Other novelists have imagined the human side of Jesus, and some have envisioned him as married. But no other writer has fleshed out a partner who can stand on her own, who is intellectually and spiritually well matched with Jesus...Kidd’s research into first-century Jewish life, along with her vivid descriptions of the villages and terrain, make Ana’s story come alive. 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. This is an interconnected story of many characters who will engross you in their day to day musing which might abruptly take a leap of some years but still it will be beautiful to live in these winsome and scintillating lyrical prose. A clairvoyant lady’s longing to her husband who studies trees will leave you longing for more, then you will find that respite in Apo and Ghazala. It will pass you through the vicissitudes of archipelago to the ending wars over glacier, binding them all together to a ghost of the past. 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. 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.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. I also loved the little doodles and self-portraits scribbled in between poems, throughout the book. They're fragile and beautiful, sometimes a bit sarcastic too, and most of the time playful. I also like how the collection also includes a little introduction he wrote for Chinese readers for one of his previous books, Beautiful Losers. That intro is so beautiful that it definitely deserved to be counted as a poem in itself, so including it makes total sense. But yes, I can feel the pain, the grief, the longing and the loneliness of the characters in such an environment as portrayed. Because life changes. And we grow old and things do not remain the same.

of Longing review - The Guardian Three Thousand Years of Longing review - The Guardian

Buk: You also had in there a lot of pictures of your own mug, which ain’t getting any prettier, man. Exposed claw-like roots crept upon the ground like pale pythons. He could feel them inch toward him and halt at his toes. Standing there, Girija Prasad felt like an ant, shuffling around, tempted by the impossible. We are not mad. We are human.We want to love, and someone must forgive us for the paths we take to love, for the paths are many and dark, and we are ardent and cruel in our journey.” Lord our God, hear my prayer, the prayer of my heart. Bless the largeness inside me, no matter how I fear it. Bless my reed pens and my inks. Bless the words I write. May they be beautiful in your sight. May they be visible to eyes not yet born. When I am dust, sing these words over my bones: she was a voice.”Buk: Some nice pomes in there, Lenny! Not bad! I like the pictures, too, especially the ones of all the babes! Sweet!