What to expect if you’re every woman

The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy

My book

I should know this book inside out. I had to take an AS level exam based on it. Realistically, The World’s Wife should actually be called ‘The Beginner’s Introduction to Poetry’, but I’ll elaborate on that later. This is really light reading at just 76 pages long, with 30 poems inside. It’s also fairly up to date, having been published 1999. Pretty cover – helps you to remember what sort of poems are inside. Once you know them, you can just sit back and try spotting which poems relate to the symbols on the front. That cover’s basically a book summary, right there.

The story

Believe it or not, this compilation of poems has a story. It really depends on how you want to see it. The first poem follows young Little Red-Cap (better known as Little Red Riding Hood) on a slightly twisted version of the famous tale. The last poem is by Demeter, a grown mother. We could see the same woman growing and changing through each poem until she herself becomes a mother.

Well, that’s a rather forced interpretation. While it is indeed very important, in my view, to treat each poem as part of the collection; of seeing the beliefs and attitudes of women through Duffy’s words, it is my opinion that each poem represents an individual within a society. The blurb states:

‘Bilbo Baggins and his boldly bumbling buddies’ would have been an accurate title too

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My book

Who says I can’t be nice? The Hobbit is something that I bought at a charity shop. The fantastical cover really caught my eye, and I’d heard tell that it might be released as a film (which is definitely happening). It is the prequel to The Lord of the Rings series, yet I’ve watched those movies and I never liked them – too slow; thin plot. Therefore, you may ask why I had anything to do with this book. Nostalgia is the reason. I had a friend who loved the world of Middle Earth and who couldn’t recommend Tolkien enough to me. Years ago, I promised to read it. Now I have.

Oh, and plus the minor fact that when I was ten, I got confused between Tolstoy and Tolkien. But that’s a story for another time.

If you get the edition of the book pictured here, there are some very interesting extras. There’s a few pages on runic language, which is used in a very pretty map of Middle Earth provided, and you get a feel that the crafting of this book was taken very seriously. The runes though – I still don’t understand those.

The story

First, I should warn you that this is ultimately a children’s book. It’s far removed from the style of books for children that we come across these days, being published in 1937 and 272 pages long, and I realise that it probably has more adult fans than youngsters. However, it was written for a young audience and that is apparent in content as well as writing style.

My book doesn’t come with a blurb, and Amazon.com only has this to say: