Review: SONNETS FOR SINNERS by John Wareham

I was almost giddy when asked to read and review John Wareham's Sonnets for Sinners once reading exactly what the book was all about. Honestly the title snagged my interest first, I cannot lie, but once I open it up and starting reading the first few sonnets I was addicted. Even going as far as reading some out loud to my husband in one of those, "you have got to hear this", moments.



No disappointed reading through the sonnets John's commentary was sometimes funny but always insightful and amusing adding a sense of closure to each one for me. As you know when these people said or wrote these words they were pouring their hearts out or just saying frankly saying something as their hearts were bleeding. Must to my utter amusement I found them witty and intriguing, heartfelt and blatantly sad, passionate and hopeful. The Sonnets range from Shakespeare to John and Elizabeth Edwards to Princess Di and Tiger Woods. All utterly engaging and passionate in their own special way, I was hypnotized throughout! Just Brilliant

Absolutely brilliant idea to put these together, and with Valentines tomorrow I think that is appropriate thinking as I walked through the store today eyeing all the Valentine’s day cards professing undying love and passion.

In this startling collection of forty nine sonnets, hidden meanings and insights are unveiled by John Wareham, who also distills and dissects sonnets from the infamous Charles and Camilla cell phone conversation, lines from Diana Spencer, the text messages that trapped Tiger Woods, e-mailed love missives from the Mark Sanford Appalachian Trail affair, and transcripts from the John and Elizabeth Edwards meltdown. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary also make cameo appearances.


These lessons from these pop-culture personalities, appear within a mix of classic and modern poets—from the sublime William Shakespeare to the incandescent Elan Haverford—chronicle the typical journey from attraction and fever to anguish and enlightenment. A forbidden drama unfolds in just twelve lines, then a two-line heroic couplet delivers a startling message, a veritable epiphany.

To absorb this startling compilation is to share the delights and despairs of a stunning phalanx of brilliant poets, including ardent Mary Wroth, mordant Michael Drayton, shameless Alfred Douglas, mystical W. B. Yeats, rebellious Edna St. Vincent Millay, unrepentant Edna Worthley Underwood, and puckish Chandler Haste.