How many poems have you read in your life? If you’re like me, the number is fewer than you’d like. The mental effort required to open a book of poetry with no guidance or context is significant. Enter “100 Poets” by John Carey.

This anthology lets you skim over famous poets and absorb some of their best work, providing context and knowledge at the same time. It still requires effort to dive in, but it’s a much friendlier approach than a cold, hard book of poetry with nobody to introduce you or explain what’s going on.

I started sending portions of the book to my family via voice messages. I would read out sections with poetry as a way of forcing myself to read and engage. Then I stopped for a while, but I plan to pick it back up because it was such a great way to engage with poetry – out loud.

Obviously, I would prefer to be a literature student again and dive into the words for hours on end. But I don’t have hours on end, I have minutes on end, so this book is the next best thing.