Anita Barrows
Author of A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke
Works by Anita Barrows
A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke (2009) — Editor — 157 copies, 3 reviews
In Praise of Mortality: Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus (2005) — Editor; Translator — 101 copies, 1 review
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Berkeley, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- California, USA
Members
Reviews
This compilation of selections from Rilke's poetry and prose has been an excellent morning or evening treat for the past 365 days - at times serene and calming, and at others challenging and vibrant. At its best, his writing captures the ineffable and profound in human living in a way that is direct and metaphoric. His themes - love, solitude, death, suffering, silence, growth - are generally spiritual, natural, universal and transformative. And this book is an excellent way to discover the show more breadth of his writing for the newcomer, as well as providing a steady reminder of his artistry and insight for anyone who is already familiar with him. show less
Full confession - I started this in good faith on January 1, 2024. I read a passage daily for about six months. Then, life derailed me and I tried to keep up in fits and starts. By the end of the year, I'd only made it to October, so I took a marathon sprint this month so I could finish the book in close to a year's time. No literary crime, but worth mentioning.
As for the collection itself, in Rilke, I found that poet I truly connect with - a mystic, a dreamer, a realist, romantic, and show more doubter. Mary Oliver, Mary Karr, Patti Smith, and Leonard Cohen have always been faithful, but they are all of these times. Rilke has been gone almost a century now, and with that distance, I can feel the eternal quality of his work when I read him.
These passages, taken from his poetry collections, novel, and multiple correspondences (most famously, Letters to a Young Poet, are a wondrous way to start one's day. I found that I highlighted and noted scores of entries. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in exploring Rilke's work in an incredibly digestible manner. It's also just a great companion to a morning cup of coffee. show less
As for the collection itself, in Rilke, I found that poet I truly connect with - a mystic, a dreamer, a realist, romantic, and show more doubter. Mary Oliver, Mary Karr, Patti Smith, and Leonard Cohen have always been faithful, but they are all of these times. Rilke has been gone almost a century now, and with that distance, I can feel the eternal quality of his work when I read him.
These passages, taken from his poetry collections, novel, and multiple correspondences (most famously, Letters to a Young Poet, are a wondrous way to start one's day. I found that I highlighted and noted scores of entries. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested in exploring Rilke's work in an incredibly digestible manner. It's also just a great companion to a morning cup of coffee. show less
The Language of Birds by Anita Barrows is a highly recommended introspective and melancholy coming-of-age drama.
As children Gracie and her younger sister Jannie were taken by their mother on a pointless trip to Europe, where they finally went Germany to stay with their Oma. After eight months the traumatic trip ended in their mother's suicide. Gracie did make a best friend during this time, Martin, a boy her age who also spoke English and German. Then at 12 1/2 and 5. Gracie and Jannie are show more back in Berkeley with their father. Their father tirelessly devotes himself to getting help and support for Jannie, who is autistic and very passionate about birds, but leaves Gracie to make her own way.
Gracie is a serious, sensitive girl who doesn't reveal the truth about her mother's suicide or Jannie autism. She withdraws from any social contact and purposefully isolates herself. Her only connection is writing letters to Martin and meeting a fellow disengaged student, Gina, who also wants to be a writer. The two girls open up to each other when Gracie tells Gina the truth about her family. Gina has many of her own problems and only shares a few with Gracie.
The well-written novel is narrated by Gracie and chapters alternate between 2002, when Gracie is 16 and Jannie is 8, and 2017 when they are young adults. The themes covered in The Language of Birds are all serious and weighty. These include Gracie's chosen method to cope with the mental illness and suicide of her mother, her sister's autism, and a death, by closing herself off to others, and Gina's story, which is even rougher. These topics are handled with sympathy, understanding and care by Barrows, but be forewarned that the tone of the novel is very somber, heartbreaking, and thoughtful. There is a resolution, but the tone remains rather somber throughout.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of She Writes Press via Edelweiss.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/05/the-language-of-birds.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4706302239 show less
As children Gracie and her younger sister Jannie were taken by their mother on a pointless trip to Europe, where they finally went Germany to stay with their Oma. After eight months the traumatic trip ended in their mother's suicide. Gracie did make a best friend during this time, Martin, a boy her age who also spoke English and German. Then at 12 1/2 and 5. Gracie and Jannie are show more back in Berkeley with their father. Their father tirelessly devotes himself to getting help and support for Jannie, who is autistic and very passionate about birds, but leaves Gracie to make her own way.
Gracie is a serious, sensitive girl who doesn't reveal the truth about her mother's suicide or Jannie autism. She withdraws from any social contact and purposefully isolates herself. Her only connection is writing letters to Martin and meeting a fellow disengaged student, Gina, who also wants to be a writer. The two girls open up to each other when Gracie tells Gina the truth about her family. Gina has many of her own problems and only shares a few with Gracie.
The well-written novel is narrated by Gracie and chapters alternate between 2002, when Gracie is 16 and Jannie is 8, and 2017 when they are young adults. The themes covered in The Language of Birds are all serious and weighty. These include Gracie's chosen method to cope with the mental illness and suicide of her mother, her sister's autism, and a death, by closing herself off to others, and Gina's story, which is even rougher. These topics are handled with sympathy, understanding and care by Barrows, but be forewarned that the tone of the novel is very somber, heartbreaking, and thoughtful. There is a resolution, but the tone remains rather somber throughout.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of She Writes Press via Edelweiss.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/05/the-language-of-birds.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4706302239 show less
(A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke) [By: Anita Barrows] [Nov, 2009] by Rainer Maria Rilke
A really wonderful collection with lots of inspiring quotes. I thought I loved Rilke enough to read something by him everyday for a year, but after about 4 months it became more of a duty and after 6 months something of a chore. Nothing against Rilke, it just turns out I like him best in smaller, infrequent doses.
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Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 268
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- #86,165
- Rating
- 4.4
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- 5
- ISBNs
- 12