2015 Reading Challenge: A book of Short Stories/Poems – Ode to London

Where is your favorite place? Is there a city, a country, or state that just speaks to you? Do you consider this place to be home or a home away from home? That place for me is London. I love London, it is by far my favorite city in the world. I have been to many great places and seen some amazing cities, but nothing quite feels like home like London does. London is my home away from home. After living there for 3 years in my mid-twenties, I have grown fond of the city and all that it embodies. From wandering its high street filled with the most current fashion, to disappearing down an alley way to find buildings that date back to the 1800’s, London is the ideal city that blends the modern with the past. There is so much to see, do, and explore. It is a melting pot of cultures and people, but still keeps its identity of being London. I loved my three years there, and I look forward to a trip back on the autumn and walking the streets I have become so fond of. My love of all thing “English” hasn’t left me and I often say British terms for things like post instead of mail, or a parcel instead of a package, I prefer tea over coffee and enjoy a good lie in (sleeping in) on Saturdays. With the love of London still in my heart, I was watching one of my favorite Bookish Youtubers Booksandquills, and she showed Ode to London in a recent birthday haul. I knew I had to have it! Luckily my search was short and they had it on Amazon, but then I had to wait 2 weeks to get it! Grrr…. So I waited, and waited, and waited, then much to my delight… it came!

Ode to London is small hardback book that is full of lovely poems about… well… London. With poems by T.S. Eliot, John Donne, William Blake, and many more, the book is a little treasure that shows homage to one of my favorite cities. I admit that I do not read a lot of poetry, and I wasn’t very good at writing poetry either but I felt a connection with this collection of works. The poems were short, and simple, paired with lovely watercolors of the city, it is a beautiful additional to any library. As someone who rarely reads poetry, it was a perfect companion for staying inside on a cloudy day. With each poem, I could see myself walking London’s beautiful streets, taking in the scenery of Big Ben and the river Thames. I remembered the sound of my shoes as the hit the cobble stones on the South Bank, my hands warm from the cup of tea I clinched as I walked, and the feeling of my face as a cold London breeze swept past as I headed to the Globe to see a matinee play. I remembered the sounds the Tubes make as they enter into the station, the hustle and bustle of the city, and having that sense of belonging somewhere that I had never felt in city before. I think the only place that came close to that, besides London, was in New York. It is a very rare thing to find a place that speaks to you on multiple levels. It spoke to my inner being that longed to be back in London, more than anything else in the world. This book made me happy yet homesick at the same time for the city that was my home for a short period in my life. It was with every page that I began to miss it more, which inspired on my impromptu pit stop in London while on my three-week European adventure in the autumn. The yearning to be back in London grew and grew, and I look forward to being in the city once again along with the many other adventures ahead of me.

This book hasn’t inspire me to dive into other books of poetry (it really isn’t my cup of tea), but it allowed to drift back in time to a period in my life where I was the happiest I have ever been. It is a lovely little book to add to my library and whenever I am homesick for London, I know I can pull out this book with a cup of tea and drift down memory lane.

What is your feelings about poetry? Do you consider yourself a poet? Are there books that allow you to drift back to pleasant time in your life?

Buy on Amazon: Ode to London: Poems to Celebrate the City

Happy Reading!