I sometimes belong to the (British) Poetry Book Society for a year or two. I like the way they send four new poetry books that I haven’t chosen myself (but I think there are other options). Depending on how much I’m reading, I then decide to stop.

Now the Poetry Book Society has opened a website, Poetry Bookshop Online, through which you can buy poetry books from a selection of over 30,000, either poetry or about poems or poets.

There are poems to read online too.

I assume it makes sense to order this way, even for those of us outside the UK, or outside an English-speaking country, because some of these books are not easily available here. Sometimes the information given on a book is a bit thin. I can imagine finding ideas here and getting more information elsewhere on the Internet. Here’s an example:

bq. Poems of William Blake
Blake, William; Yeats, W.B. (ed.) £8.99
William Blake remains a source of wisdom and inspiration to countless individuals throughout the world. Whether familiar with Blake’s work or not, the reader is here presented with an enlightening encounter with his words and visions.

Yes, well, they would say that, wouldn’t they, to use the Mandy Rice-Davies reaction.

(Via the Independent).