Books 123-126 / 100
123. The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged - edited by Edward Connery Lathem
Robert Frost was truly a genius, and after reading this collection, he is definitely one of my favorite poets. I liked the way this was organized, by book, and in chronological order by publishing date. It allowed you to see clearly his evolution as a poet and the different metaphors he used in 1916 vs. 1950, for example. Sadly, I think his poems got worse as he got older. They seemed to lack the cohesion of his earlier work and the rhyme even seemed off sometimes. Like the poem wasn't finished.
My only problem with this book was that reading Frost poems always makes me want to go tramping around in the woods, experiencing nature and thinking beautiful thoughts about birds and trees, etc. Unfortunately, there is no nature where I am, so reading this was just a nicer form of torture.
124. The Winter's Tale - William Shakespeare
Play about a crazy jealous king who destroys his own life and then ten years later everything turns out ok. Frankly, I don't think he deserves it.
125. Helen - Euripides
Turns out Helen never ditched Menelaus for Paris but was spirited away by Hermes to spend 17 years in Egypt before returning to her husband and home and saving her reputation. We can all stop hating her now.
126. The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici - Christopher Hibbert
A fascinating history of the Medici family, one of the ruling families (later THE ruling family) of Florence, from the 1300's - 1700's. They were rich, devious, philanthropic, educated, patrons of the arts, homosexuals, popes, queens, dukes, and just about anything you could want to read about in a family history.