This soul-enhancing book is the perfect gift that will last the whole year, with a little bit of magic to read every day. The Contents of A Poet for Every Day of the Year list the poem and poet for each calendar day although I prefer not to look at that properly until next year when I’ve enjoyed a daily surprise from the book.

Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain. Seamus Heaney had the idea to form a personal selection of poems from across the entire arc of his writing life, small yet comprehensive enough to serve as an introduction for all comers. I am happy to have completed this anthology and with continue with another one from the same editor.

He never managed to do this himself, and no other edition exists which has such a broad range, drawing from first to last of his prize-winning collections. In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. I've loved delving into this book to enjoy a poem every day - this book has become part of my daily routine over the last year!

For example, when I opened my copy on the day I received it, the poet was John Clare who just happens to have lived three miles from where I am, but there are other poets I’m much less familiar with so I have an introduction that can lead me to discovering more of their work. Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family throughout the year, it is bursting at the seams with familiar favourites and exciting new discoveries. A great habit to be cultivated throughout a year, for once if you want to broaden yourselves in poetry and for other to pick up books in general mire often. Some offer insightful biographical details or key historical context, while others may provide quirky, humorous anecdotes.This year has been a very busy and at times stressful year so reading a poem every day has helped me to cope and put me in a good place at the beginning of each day. A Poet for Every Day of the Year is utterly wonderful and an absolute must for any lover of poetry, of words, of people. I listened to this as an audio book I had borrowed from the library and would listen to a few poems each day. There is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, a cooling compress for the fevered brow, solace for the wounded, an arm around the lonely shoulder - the whole collection is a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss' Stephen FrySometimes only a poem will do.

Sometimes I did feel a few of the poems were overly long with too much description but most were short and easy to read. I don’t want to spoil the discovery for others but she raises some interesting questions about context and the balance between poet and poem in the reader’s consideration that had me thinking when I wasn’t dipping in to the poems. Life-affirming, witty and full of wonder, these poems chronicle his own battle with the dark and are fuelled by resilience and defiant joy. Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family, it is bursting at the seams with familiar favourites and exciting new discoveries. I’m not really a fan of the format; each piece of information could have been in separate lines or columns.However, one minor point is that there was some overlap with 'A Poem for Every Night of the Year', which I think should've been avoided, considering it's the same editor publishing these anthologies. The day-to-day format of the anthology invites readers to make poetry a part of their daily routine, and makes sure that they discover something inspirational, life affirming, provocative, moving or entertaining each and every day.