Customer Reviews

Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is the kind of poetry book that I love reading again and again. It contains humor, tragedy, joy and all life's ingredients. Beautiful...

I can't say it better than the reviewer from Santa Barbara. Billy Collins is worth reading and re-reading and enjoying like hard candy rolling in your mouth.

This book of clean, unaffected poems held my attention completely; I didn't want to put it down. Collins savors each moment in many dimensions, writing what we know but don't see about life's simplest moments. He writes with deep insight couched in words that fill my heart, comfort my worries, introduce me to new facets of my own journey. I highly recommend the poetry of Billy Collins.

I generally don't like poetry, and I'm an English Major at a large university. However, when one of my professors included a piece from Billy Collins on a first-of-quarter hand out, I knew that this poet was unlike your typical flowery, treacly poet of yesterday.

Billy Collins' works isn't the poetry you may remember -- the boring stuff wrapped up in an unintelligable language for you to decipher. His words pierce your heart, make you smile, laugh and sometimes, nod with a deep understanding, or shed a tear.

I purchased this collection of Mr. Collins' work, and highly recommend it. Especially to poetry-phobes. It won't change your mind about all poetry, but will give you a benchmark for quality, contemporary poetry.

This is the first book by Billy Collins that I have read, and so I must admit that my opinion may be relatively uninformed, although I think it is safe enough to assume that this is a fair representation of his work thus far. It seems to me that Collins' preoccupation with accessibility has overpowered his poetry, if indeed the contents of this book can be said to be poems at all, rather than cut-up prose. Dullness is the recurring characteristic of the collection, and the famous Collins charm wears thin very quickly. The value of poetry lies in how something is said, rather than what is said, and Sailing Alone Around the Room does not provide that value.

I first throught I wouldn't like Billy Collins. There's a kind of superiority to his tone at times, and his subject matter seems to be about subjects always covered in poetry, but I have to admit that reading parts of this book has really convinced me. Amazing. Seems like he's not taking himself wholly seriously, which is rare to see in poets.

I giggled and laughed and gasped and wept reading my first book of BC's poetry, and this was it, his "best of." Billy seems to be the kind of man I would love to know: intelligent, sensitive, funny, caring, lustful, macho, a good son (even if he has "No Time" to stop) and a good master to his beloved Jeannine; what would you like to bet he is also a good lover? This is why he has so many female fans: we are smart and discerning, and he is all the good things wrapped up in one smart, sexy package. AND he writes THE ABSOLUTE BEST POEMS, many of them wrapped up in this package, SAILING ALONE AROUND THE ROOM. (I have to rush out and get the other books. I can't stand to imagine what I'm missing out on!) I'm trying to think of one more thing I could want from a poet, but I can't. Billy has me spellbound. (It's not all about sex appeal, either, believe me. His poetry is smart and dazzling, fresh, smooth, and as artful as anything ever written.) I can't wait to lay my hands and eyes and heart on Billy again!

Billy Collins is a master at writing poetry not just for the beauty of the words, but to also convey a message. Until I read Sailing Alone Around the Room, I wasn't a fan of this genre. Mr. Collins has single-handedly changed that. I'd like to say I have a favorite, but honestly, I liked them all! I think the U.S. has found its next poet laureate! If you liked this book, also check out From the Heart by Kendall Bell. It's short stories, but like Mr. Collins' book, very inspirational.

Billy Collins' previous works have been bestsellers, a rare achievement in poetry publishing. He is one of a rare breed-a popular poet. Billy Collins is the current poet laureate of the United States. His previous collections include The Apple that Astonished Paris, The Art of Drowning, and Questions about Angels.
Sailing Alone Around the Room combines poems from all his previous collections as well as a few new ones. It is, in effect, a "greatest hits book". Collins is a poet who does not specialize in any one topic. His inspiration for poems seems to come from reflection and everyday life. The poems he writes about everyday life are not simple. They incorporate simile and metaphor, and give the reader's brain some exercise.
This compilation of previously-published and new poems showcases the many facets of Collins' style. He experiments with ancient forms such as the paradelle and the sonnet, poking fun, and producing images. All the while his self-deprecating humor shows through.
Billy Collins work appeals to a wide audience. His work is very accessible, and if not for its sometime adult subject matter would be appropriate for and understood by children. His poetry is funny on the surface, but when closely read reveals new meanings.

Billy Collins is a very special person for his ability to get so many people interested in poetry. This book gives a good, very accessible selection of his humorous, intelligent poetry that earned him US poet laureate-ship & status of being by far the best-selling poet in America. This is the first Billy Collins book to get.