An Open Book

Poems

By Orson Scott Card

2004

First Published

3.48

Average Rating

Number of Pages

2H52M

Audio Length

The first collection of poems by one of the world's best-loved writers. Orson Scott Card, the author of Ender's Game, Enchantment, and the Alvin Maker series, did not originally plan to write fiction. He spent his journeyman years as a playwright. Before that, however, it was poetry that engaged his pen. Never content to write just one thing, Card has continued writing poetry along with his more well-known work in other forms. He has submitted little of it for publication, because there are no journals that seem to welcome the kind of poetry he values. An Open Book, Card's first published collection, is selected from thirty-five years of poems. The title reflects his attitude that this book and all the poems in it remain works in progress. It also reflects Card's commitment to clarity, especially in poetry. As he says in his "To be clear and yet also say something worth saying is what I believe poets should strive for. "The first reading should reward the reader. If later readings reveal new insights, so much the better; but if the first reading did not achieve Dryden's recipe of sweetness and light, why should a reader return for a second pass?" Being an open book, this audiobook edition also features poems not included in the original print.

Avg Rating

3.48

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

19%

4 STARS

31%

3 STARS

33%

2 STARS

13%

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Orson Scott Card

Author · 135 books

Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools. Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts. Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He recently began a long-term position as a professor of writing and literature at Southern Virginia University. Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret. For further details, see the author's Wikipedia page. For an ordered list of the author's works, see Wikipedia's List of works by Orson Scott Card. http://us.macmillan.com/author/orsons...