Book of Longing

Book of Longing
by Leonard Cohen

Book of Longing
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $19.17
You Save: $5.78 (23%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.95 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Leonard Cohen
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-05-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Ecco

Book Reviews of Book of Longing

Book Review: A Long Time Coming For Modern Poetry
Summary: 5 Stars

Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing

Aside from being a creative genius in a multitude of artistic disciplines, Leonard Cohen is an old man. And with age comes wisdom. Take for example, this stanza from "Better."

better than art
is repulsive art
which demonstrates
better than scripture
the tiny measure
of your improvement

No dummy, this guy. But then, you knew that already.

Twenty years in the making, Book of Longing [Ecco/HarperCollins]was written on southern California's Mount Baldy and in Los Angeles, Montreal and Mumbai. The author of twelve books and seventeen albums of music, this collection of poems follows his highly acclaimed 1984 publication, Book of Mercy. Containing his own wonderful, playful and provocative line drawings, Book of Longing is a celebration of one of contemporary times' best and truest flesh-and-blood examples of unlimited artistic expression.

Leonard Cohen's poetry is loaded with Bukowski's truth and simple statements, but without the ugliness. There are tons of love poems, reflections on drinking and God (oops, I mean "G-d"--he's Jewish, you know), loneliness, philosophy, aging, friendships, food, sober highs, celebrations of the body and sex, sex, sex. But it's all done with manners--a classiness Bukowski never knew-- a masculine sensitivity that's never maudlin, and a ripe, heavy, juice-laden life that few words in print have ever had the strength to carry.

There are some moments when Cohen veers into classical meter and rhyme, but he pulls it off with the smart currency of the lyric, and yet somehow, even in the hipness, he can still manage to make the reader tear up:

And fragrant is the thought of you
The file on you complete
Except what we forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep

There is unresolved anger and hurt:

I could not kill
the way you kill
I could not hate
I tried, I failed

and

Fare thee well my nightingale
I lived but to be near you
Though you are singing somewhere still
I can no longer hear you

But mostly, in all its spiritual, physical and emotional forms, there is truth:

This is it
I'm not coming after you
I'm going to lie down for half an hour
This is it
I'm not going down
on your memory
I'm not rubbing my face in it anymore
I'm going to yawn
I'm going to stretch
I'm going to put a knitting needle
up my nose
and poke out my brain
I don't want to love you
for the rest of my life
I want your skin
to fall off my skin
I want my clamp
to release your clamp
I don't want to live
with this tongue hanging out
and another filthy song
in the place
of my baseball bat
This is it
I'm going to sleep now darling
Don't try to stop me
I'm going to sleep
I'll have a smooth face
and I'm going to drool
I'll be asleep
whether you love me or not
This is it
The New World Order
of wrinkles and bad breath
It's not going to be
like it was before
eating you
with my eyes closed
hoping you won't get up
and go away
It's going to be something else
Something worse
Something sillier
Something like this
only shorter


And when the reader gets to the last page, they know it can never be it. There is no choice but to turn back to the first page and start again.



O my love
don't you know that we have been killed
and that we died together

Summary of Book of Longing

Internationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. "Book of Longing" is his eagerly awaited new collection of poems, following his highly acclaimed 1984 title "Book of Mercy", and his hugely successful 1993 publication, "Stranger Music". "Book of Longing" contains erotic, playful and provocative line drawings by the author, which interact in exciting and unexpected ways on the page with poetry that is timeless, meditative, and at times darkly humorous. The book brings together all the elements that have brought Leonard Cohen's artistry with language world-wide recognition. "Book of Longing" demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language and visual art that speak with rare clarity, passion and timelessness.

Canadian Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Canadian Books
The Far Side of the World ImageThe Far Side of the World
by Patrick O'Brian
HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited; Published: 2003; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Master and Commander ImageMaster and Commander
by Patrick O'Brian
PerfectBound; Published: 2003-11-25; Unknown Binding; Book
Noble Deeds ImageNoble Deeds
by Christine M. Fraser
HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited; Published: 1996; Paperback; Book
Forms of Devotion: Stories and Pictures ImageForms of Devotion: Stories and Pictures
by Diane Schoemperlen
Harpercollins Canada; Published: 1998-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops: $19.95
A Daystar of Fear ImageA Daystar of Fear
by Geoffrey Jenkins
Harper Collins; Published: 1994; Hardcover; Book
At A Loss For Words: A Post-Romantic Novel ImageAt A Loss For Words: A Post-Romantic Novel
by Diane Schoemperlen
Harpercollins Canada; Published: 2008-02-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.83
Price in other shops: $18.95
Acquainted with the Night : Excursions Through the World after Dark ImageAcquainted with the Night : Excursions Through the World after Dark
by Christopher Dewdney
HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited; Published: 2004; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $106.16
The Birthday Present ImageThe Birthday Present
by Barbara Vine
Penguin Canada; Published: 2008-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.00
The Sky Is Falling ImageThe Sky Is Falling
by Kit Pearson
Penguin Books Canada, Limited; Published: 1991; Paperback; Book
Water For Elephants ImageWater For Elephants
by Sara Gruen
The Easton Press; Published: 2006; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $256.55
Similar Books and other products
Songs From The Road (CD/DVD) ImageLeonard Cohen - Songs From The Road (CD/ DVD)
Release date: 2010-09-14; Music CD
Best price: $13.20
Price in other shops: $17.98
Live In London ImageLeonard Cohen - Live In London
PBS; Release date: 2009-03-31; Music CD
Best price: $11.11
Price in other shops: $16.98
The Favorite Game ImageThe Favorite Game
by Leonard Cohen
Vintage; Published: 2003-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops: $14.95
Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs ImageStranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs
by Leonard Cohen
Vintage; Published: 1994-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops: $16.00
Live In London ImageLive In London
Sony; Release date: 2009-03-31; DVD
Best price: $8.47
Price in other shops: $17.98
Dance Me to the End of Love (Art & Poetry) ImageDance Me to the End of Love (Art & Poetry)
by Leonard Cohen
Welcome Books; Published: 2006-08-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.21
Price in other shops: $19.95
Beautiful Losers ImageBeautiful Losers
by Leonard Cohen
Vintage; Published: 1993-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.73
Price in other shops: $16.00
Let Us Compare Mythologies ImageLet Us Compare Mythologies
by Leonard Cohen
Ecco; Published: 2007-05-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops: $19.99
Book of Mercy ImageBook of Mercy
by Leonard Cohen
McClelland & Stewart; Published: 2010-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.66
Price in other shops: $16.95
Old Ideas ImageLeonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Release date: 2012-01-31; Music CD
Best price: $8.66
Price in other shops: $11.98
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories