{"title":"Donald Hall","description":"\u003cp\u003eDonald Hall's works blend vivid reflection and poignant storytelling, inviting readers into intimate explorations of life’s passages. From the tender moments captured in \u003cem\u003eLucy’s Christmas\u003c\/em\u003e to the reflective depth of \u003cem\u003eA Carnival Of Losses\u003c\/em\u003e, his writing spans memoir, poetry, and evocative children's literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEmbracing themes of memory, creativity, and the human experience, Hall's books offer a rich cultural tapestry that resonates across genres. Whether exploring personal history or delicate artistic expression, his voice is marked by sincerity and grace.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"a-carnival-of-losses-by-donald-hall-9780358056140","title":"A Carnival Of Losses","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormer poet laureate of the United States Donald Hall’s final collection of essays, from the vantage point of very old age, is once again “alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e (\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Why should a nonagenarian hold anything back?” Donald Hall answers his own question in these self-knowing, fierce, and funny essays on ageing, the pleasures of solitude, and the sometimes astonishing freedoms arising from both.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNearing ninety at the time of writing, he intersperses memories of exuberant days in his youth with uncensored tales of literary friendships spanning decades—with James Wright, Richard Wilbur, Seamus Heaney, and other luminaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCementing his place alongside Roger Angell and Joan Didion as a generous and profound chronicler of loss, this final work is as original and searing as anything Hall wrote during his extraordinary literary lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46541516636396,"sku":"9780358056140","price":61.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12757553482315.jpg?v=1749681569"},{"product_id":"lucys-christmas-by-donald-hall-9781567923421","title":"Lucy's Christmas","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eShare an old-fashioned New England Christmas with your children—back to a time when making the presents was far more satisfying than buying them.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLucy Wells likes planning ahead. In her quaint New England town, the leaves have just begun to change, but Lucy is already thinking of Christmas. She begins to make presents for her family: a pincushion for her mother, a doll for her sister, and a pen-wiper for her best friend. For the whole family, her parents have ordered a new modern range stove.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe days grow colder and shorter, the snow grows deeper, and everyone grows more excited. Finally, the day arrives. Lucy and her family travel to the South Danbury Church on Christmas to exchange gifts, sing carols with the whole town, and perform in the Christmas pageant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePoet laureate Donald Hall (author of \u003cem\u003eThe Ox-Cart Man\u003c\/em\u003e and the companion to this book, \u003cem\u003eLucy's Summer\u003c\/em\u003e) grew up spending as much time as he could on his grandfather's farm in rural New Hampshire. It was there he milked cows, raised sheep, and heard stories about Christmases past that are brought to life in this read-aloud picture book for young children.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46995690520812,"sku":"9781567923421","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/6454873482746.jpg?v=1763117965"},{"product_id":"old-poets-by-donald-hall-9781567926958","title":"Old Poets","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOld Poets\u003c\/em\u003e is an indispensable jewel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e- Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn astonishing array of encounters... Hall's observations are shrewd and generous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e- Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIntimate portraits of great poets in old age, giving new insight into their work and their lives, and context to the often flawless art created by flawed human beings. The best of themselves endure, and the old poets' existence and endurance gives readers courage to pursue their own vision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDonald Hall (\u003cem\u003eEssays After Eighty\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eA Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety\u003c\/em\u003e) knew a great deal about work, about poetry, and about age. Each of those things come together in this unique collection. We hear about Robert Frost as Hall knew him: vain and cruel, a man possessed by guilt. But, as Hall writes, \"The poet who survives is the poet to celebrate; the human being who confronts darkness and defeats it is the one to admire. For all his vanity, Robert Frost is admirable: He looked into his desert places, confronted his desire to enter the oblivion of the snowy woods, and drove on.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHall's essays are once both intimate portraits and learned treatises. He takes us on a pub crawl through the Welsh countryside with the word-mad Dylan Thomas; to the Faber \u0026amp; Faber office of T. S. Eliot, who had discovered more happiness in age than in youth; to a reading where Robert Frost's public persona hid the truth; to Brooklyn for lunch with the enigmatic Marianne Moore; and to Italy for a visit with the notorious Ezra Pound. By the time Hall met them, each poet was, he observed, \"old enough to have detached from ongoing poetry, to feel alien to the ambitions of the grandchildren.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlso included are portraits of the poets who taught Hall as a writer: the unfailingly kind Archibald MacLeish and Yvor Winters, from whom he learned the most about poetry. Along the way are observations about many other poets and the literary cultures that sustained them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eContents include: \"Vanity, Fame, Love, and Robert Frost,\" \"Dylan Thomas and Public Suicide,\" \"Notes on T. S. Eliot,\" \"Rocks and Whirlpools: Archibald MacLeish and Yvor Winters,\" \"Marianne Moore: Valiant and Alien,\" and \"Fragments of Ezra Pound.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor lovers of literature, this is a gorgeous remembrance and likely to compel an immediate visit to the poetry section of the nearest bookstore—as Hall writes, \"Their presences have been emblems in my life, and I remember these poets as if I kept them carved in stone.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47426742452460,"sku":"9781567926958","price":59.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781567926958.jpg?v=1774767828"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/donald-hall.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}