Lindsey Kelk’s romance, a piece from The New Yorker, and Vikram Seth’s poetry

Dear Reader,

Before the long weekend gets over, I want to write about all that I read, listened to and absorbed over the last few days so that you can see if you want to check it out. If you’ve read any of it or listened to the audiobook, do leave a comment with your opinion of the work.

First, I finished the audiobook of ‘I heart New York’ by Lindsey Kelk on the storytel app. I’d started this audiobook a few days ago. The narration by Cassandra Harwood really brought it to life. Read more about it on my insta post here.

Next, I read a story from The New Yorker called ‘A doctor, a patient, and their poetry’ by Ofole Mgbako, from the ‘Annals of Medicine’ section dated November 10, 2021. It was about how poetry strengthened the relationship between a doctor and a patient and how “in some ways, writing was the best treatment”. (The section in quotes is the subtitle of the piece.) I enjoyed it for the many poetic references. Carl Sandburg, Walter de la Mare, Wole Soyinka, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman and others are mentioned.

I finished reading Vikram Seth’s translation of ‘Three Chinese Poets.’  Wang Wei (699 – 761 AD), Li Bai (701-762 AD) and Du Fu (712-770 AD) “speak to us across a distance of twelve hundred years, and move us as it is rare for even poetry can do” (quotes from the inside jacket). This slim volume of 84 pages has about a dozen poems each by Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu. In the introduction, Vikram Seth tells us about these three poets and their lives and times.  This hard-bound beautiful volume is by Speaking Tiger books for sale in South Asia only. See my insta post for more details.

What have you been reading?