A Spoken Ink recording of Jo Shapcott reading her prize-winning collection. In 2010, Jo Shapcott published "Of Mutability" with Faber and Faber, her first collection for 12 years. The 47 poems explore the nature of change; in the body, within the natural world and inside relationships. The book of poems was awarded the CostaBook of the Year for 2010, beating contenders in Fiction, Non-Fiction and other categories.
"Of Mutability is so especially rich and resonant that it deserves the widest possible readership, even among those who never usually think of reading poems...And there is a dazzling variety of tone and colour and subject throughout - Shapcott's language dances lightly, and often with wit." (Sinclair McKay, Daily Telegraph)
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[Too many of the best cells in my body / are itching, feeling jagged, turning raw / in this spring chill OF MUTABILITY]***
(@SpokenInk, 3 March 2013, 49 minutes, audiobook, borrowed from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveLibs)
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So I found out you can now borrow two books from @natpoetrylib and got way to excited about that, I mean hyperventilating excited. I had to throw ice cold water over my face to calm down. I'm familiar with Shapcott's work through seeing the odd poem in anthologies I've read over the years. I'd never read a full collection before. I thought Of Mutability was excellent. It turns out that I really like listening to poetry audiobooks. I liked the fact Jo read her own poems since she knows exactly how they should sound and what they should convey. Some of my favourite poems were Era, The Oval Pool, The Deaths, Religion for Girls, Religion for Boys and Aleko.
