Beautiful collection of poetry. It took me nearly four years to finish, occasionally reading some poems, but I loved this volume and will be looking for something similar to read in the future. Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family throughout the year, it is bursting at the seams with familiar favourites and exciting new discoveries. Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Christina Rossetti and Emily Bronte sit alongside Roger McGough, Wendy Cope, Imtiaz Dharker, Leonard Cohen, Sylvia Plath and Ocean Vuong. I was expecting them all to be ‘fluffy’ or positive poems for the days and was pleasantly surprised when they are a mixture of childhood known names and poems true to their words talking on honest and sad subjects.

I loved the whole idea of this book, I just wish the inside had been as pretty as the outside! I guess it would have cost a lot more, but beautiful illustrations would have been perfect. A Poem For Every Day of the Year is a magnificent collection of 366 poems compiled by Allie Esiri, one to share on every day of the year.Quite a few of the poems relate to wars and the Christian calendar, and that’s not what I want on a day to day basis (I’d seek those kind of poems out for specific reasons). One was about a dead cat. On 15th February we were given the lyrics to The Beatles’ ��All you need is love’, rather than an actual poem. So this is where I stopped. Particular favourites of mine included Love's Philosophy by Percy Shelley, The Buddha by Tony Mitton and the very famous The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. There's also an excellent extract from Shakespeare's The Tempest, which in itself is a play of pure poetry. As such the poems are rich in diversity and carry with them varying degrees of complexity. Although published by Macmillan Children's Books, I think this collection is more suited to an adult reader. There are, certainly, poems in here that a young reader may enjoy, but I think an adult would get more out of poems that deal with larger issues such as love, death and life. I saw this advertised at the beginning of the year and bought it in an independant bookshop in Tring. This year has been a very busy and at times stressful year so reading a poem every day has helped me to cope and put me in a good place at the beginning of each day. Allie Esiri’s newest poetry anthology, A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year, is published on 23 March 2023, but will be available to buy at this event.

However doing this isn't going to help anyone find books that are right for them so I need to stop. A Poem For Every Day of the Year is a magnificent collection of 366 poems compiled by Allie Esiri, one to share on every day of the year. Reflecting the changing seasons and linking to events on key dates – funny for April Fool's Day, festive for Christmas – these poems are thoughtful, inspiring, humbling, informative, quiet, loud, small, epic, peaceful, energetic, upbeat, motivating, and empowering!Best Poetry Books of the Year, The Times [ A Poet for Every Day of the Year] does exactly what it says on the tin, presenting a poet for you to meet and take your time with every day; to savour, enjoy, read, re-read and return to, knowing that there’ll be another one along tomorrow. OK my new year reading resolutions, I obviously did not reach my goal this year, yet I'm still going to try read 30 books next year 😂