Name: The Friendship Poems of Rumi
Author: Rumi, Nadir Khalili (Translator)
Genre: Poetry, Love
Rating: 4.8
Review:
This is a collection of translated poetries, originally written in by a court poet, Jalaluddin Rumi. This book contains all the friendship poems of Rumi. Rumi is considered as the greatest Persian mystic poet.
Each poetry is unique and interesting.
I found the poetries delightful and intricate, lyrical and touching. His writing style totally mesmerizes the mind of the readers. The translator has done amazing job of capturing the poet's sentiment in in this book.
The first thing which grabbed my attention towards this book was the poet itself. I am a big fan of Rumi. As soon I loved aesthetic cover as well as the beautiful illustrations throughout the pages of the book. The illustrations resembles the pattern of Mughal art, which kind of does justice for the poet.

The beautiful work of Rumi. I love this collection of poetry that expresses all that’s beautiful about friendship. I highly recommend this collection.

If you are not familiar with Rumi, you may want to get to know his writings. Rumi lived in the 1200s but so much of what he wrote resonates today.

In this collection, readers can find Rumi’s views on life, friendship and relationships. The book is illustrated with patterned borders, perhaps reflecting Rumi’s religious beliefs.

I recommend the writings of Rumi. It may take a minute to acclimate to his voice but readers will be left with something to ponder.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

I am not able to read this book because it is pdf protected. I got approved to read it but not sure why because I don't have the password to open It. I love rumi and was very excited to read this but disappointed because I can't . Wish could download to Kindle .

The thirteenth-century poet Rumi was a Persian poet, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic. His poetry is widely translated and read but for many, his name is simply an attribution at the end of a motivational “quote” on Pinterest. I have also saved a few that connected with me in the moment of reading.

In The Friendship Poems of Rumi, Nader Khalili, has brought Rumi’s poems to a new world of readers but I’m tentative to say that this is the definitive translated collection as some of the English choices feel very strange. The use of “vampire”, while immediately recognisable to us, feels an odd choice and didn’t connect to the rest of the stanza.

Don’t hand me over
To the monster of my thoughts
My thoughts are another trap
Another waiting vampire (16)

I can understand the choice but it feels trendy.

Overall, I liked the translation but I don’t think I would rush out to buy the final product.

My favourite poem is “Don’t go to sleep” but I also like the following from page 23 in my version;

since god had written my life
early in the game
why all the fight and fear
if i were bad
you’ll feel relieved
when i’m gone
if i were good
remember
what we have done

A brief mention must also be made of the presentation of this book. It is beautiful and I do enjoy the Middle Eastern patterns, however, it does become too much. When you’re reading this off a screen, some of the colours fluoresce and there were a couple if times I tapped to the next page without reading the poem just to save my eyes. Less, is definitely, more in this example. Allow the words to be the art because that’s what they are.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Friendship Poems of Rumi is a beautiful translation of a selection of his poetry. It is all based around the theme of friendship and is perfect for reading slowly and meditating on. The book is beautifully executed with patterned pages and the poems well spaced allowing for slow digestion. It is perfect for dipping into time and time again. There are other books in this collection based on different themes and together they would make a lovely gift. Overall an excellent book.

Lovely poems surrounded by beautiful artwork. If you are a Rumi fan, you will enjoy this sweet collection.

I have previously read 'the spiritual poems of rumi' and the 'love poems of rumi' within this book series.

This book follows the same format, and exactly the same introduction.
In the introduction of this book the author explains that Rumi's poems are from the 1200's.
I just can't believe that words written so long ago can still be so relevant and beautiful today! It's amazing!

The main thing I didn't like was the imagery and illustrations. They were far too bright for me, and actually made it quite difficult to read the text at times because they were so distracting and lary!
I found it far too 'busy' and very generic. I would have liked more variety in the images, as they became quite repetitive. I felt that with such powerful imagery within the writing, it would have been easy to draw upon this to create some beautiful illustrations to go with them.

So far, this has been my least favourite of the Rumi books I have read. The writing was still powerful, but just didn't feel as connected to these as I did with the other books.

Just like the previous book I have read, I found the actual words of Rumi incredibly fascinating and really heartfelt. I could relate to so many

Very flowery, cheesy writing. Many of the poems didn’t have anything to do with friendship. I guess Rumi’s poetry isn’t for me in general.


[I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]