Book of Longing

Product Information

Yaltha is indeed a fascinating character, who sees and experiences tragedy but refuses to be victimized. The advice she gives to Ana is that all will be well. How? By staying true to herself. By finding her own path. By reassembling her life — however broken — according to her own design. Ana, who faces her own tragedies, rises to that challenge again and again.

Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen | Goodreads

While these stories, particularly the last two, seemed to echo, repeat similar themes, a dose of magical realism, and the lovely writing throughout made this more than a worthwhile read for me. I know this book represented some important issues regarding survival, mystical nature and the nature in general, imprisonment and some relevant political issues, historically representative, disasters that happened, war, unavoidable circumstances we have to face in our lives, love and relationships, some unfortunate events; death, grief and separation; repentance and regrets.Buk: You won’t get any complaints from me! I like women quite a bit myself! My old pal Burroughs used to draw little things, too, like that. Leonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. All of us are burdened by the twin destinies of saying goodbye to our loved ones and departing from our loved ones ourselves. Let this not obliterate the greater destiny we all share - the fleeting moments we have together." Latitudes of Longing left me reeling, weighted under the sheer beauty of its prose. It swept me off my feet and left me breathless.

Book of Longing - Penguin Books UK

Charles Bukowski talks with Leonard Cohen about his book of poetry, Book of Longing. Both wrote a lot of books of poetry and fiction.

This is a collection which has been huge for me on my poetry journey. The combination of art, song, and poetry— this book reveals that these are arbitrary distinctions—is wonderful, even if Cohen occasionally comes off as sex-obsessed. Perhaps he just had the honesty to write what he was truly thinking about. Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history. Nothing much is there to say that it could have been much better. The writing is fine. But too slow and moody for me. It keeps changing and the characters keep fleeting here and there in your mind that you just cannot hold them in your head while reading about them. But to be honest, I really struggled to get through this one and it took me an unusually long time to finish it. It can’t be denied that Shubhangi Swarup has an incredible talent with words. In fact, this book explodes with deep metaphor and beautiful symbolism that made me linger on it. However, it took a lot of effort for me to digest them and I feel like it wasn’t worth all the work thus lessening the enjoyment I felt when I was reading the book.

Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen | Waterstones

You are right, Sahara. There are no mists, or veils, or distances. But the mist is surrounded by a mist; and the veil is hidden behind a veil; and the distance continually draws away from the distance. That is why there are no mists, or veils, or distances. That is why it is called The Great Distance of Mist and Veils. It is here that The Traveler becomes The Wanderer, and The Wanderer becomes The One Who Is Lost, and The One Who Is Lost becomes The Seeker, and The Seeker becomes The Passionate Lover, and The Passionate Lover becomes The Beggar, and The Beggar becomes The Wretch, and The Wretch becomes The One Who Must Be Sacrificed, and The One Who Must Be Sacrificed becomes The Resurrected One and The Resurrected One becomes The One Who has Transcended The Great Distance of Mist and Veils. Then for a thousand years, or the rest of the afternoon, such a One spins in the Blazing Fire of Changes, embodying all the transformations, one after the other, and then beginning again, and then ending again, 86,000 times a second. Then such a one, if he is a man, is ready to love the woman Sahara; and such a one, if she is a woman, is ready to love the man who can put into song The Great Distance of Mist and Veils. Is it you who are waiting, Sahara, or is it I?” I love books which have strong characters, ones who stay with you long after you've finished reading the book. Girija Prasad, Chanda Devi, Mary, Plato, Thapa, Apo, Ghazala and Bebo are such gratifying characters! I personally learnt a lot about the Andaman history, the Karen community, political uprisings in Burma, the colonials and the opium trade! References to Savarkar and Tilak won me! The geological details were so insightful! Reminded me of my summer vacations where I used to pore over books which had information about mountains, oceans and volcanoes, about the time I had almost decided to be a Geologist! Latitudes of Longing has four interconnected stories, but each story takes place and symbolizes a particular topology. The stories are metaphorical, full of longing and covering almost every emotion known to mankind, especially hope and grief.Girija Prasad, a "diligent documenter of the plant kingdom", is invested in researching the ancestor of all continents: Pangaea. He is adamant on drawing his own map of the Andaman Islands, where he lives with his clairvoyant wife, Chanda Devi. Girija's search is an originary one, an attempt to know how it all came to be. Swarup writes, Leonard Cohen made his name as a poet before he came to worldwide attention as a singer and songwriter. Book of Longing, his new collection of poetry, was twenty years in the making and written in Montreal, Mumbai and during his retirement in Mt Baldy. Enhanced by Cohen's own playful and provocative illustrations, these poems show the full range of one of the most influential and enigmatic writers of his generation. Richly imaginative and beautifully written, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters in a long and laborious trudge in searching for a comfort of love and intimacy. With an unusual narrative that hovers between the past and the present, dreams and realities , the story propels the readers to ponder about human devastating relationship with nature. Buk: Well, twist my arm, pass over that bottle, though I prefer beer, personally. Or even better, bourbon. Leonard and I first began talking about a poetry and music collaboration more than six years ago. We met at that time in Los Angeles, and he had with him a manuscript that became the basis of the collection of poetry now published as the Book of Longing. In the course of an afternoon that stretched into the evening, he read virtually the whole book to me. I found the work intensely beautiful, personal, and inspiring. On the spot, I proposed an evening-length work of poetry, music, and image based on this work. Leonard liked my idea, and we agreed to begin. Now, six years later, our stars are in alignment, the book is published, and I have composed the music.