tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17872625082382604702024-02-07T19:38:38.958-08:00KnC Books - Book ReviewsA book review blog for books that are <i>not</i> on the bestseller lists, but still deserve attention.<p></p>KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-81715204776407460592022-04-30T16:01:00.001-07:002022-04-30T16:01:53.461-07:00The Courage To Question<b>Book Review: <i>Dear Martin</i> by Nic Stone</b><p>
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<b>The coming-of-age story has been a common subject of art and literature across human history, in no small part due to its universal nature. The trials, challenges, and changes surrounding the transition from childhood to adulthood are both timeless, and specific to the times and places and cultures where they occur.</b>
<p>The world that Homer's Telemachus faced was quite different than that of John Grimes, the protagonist of James Baldwin's <i>Go Tell It on the Mountain</i>. Yet their stories have much in common. The coming-of-age genre is all about seeing the world through different eyes. Baldwin captures the very essence of the genre in his novel when he writes:
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<b>"... only when the road has, all abruptly and treacherously, and with an absoluteness that permits no argument, turned or dropped or risen is one able to see all that one could not have seen from any other place."</b>
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The protagonist finds, whether they are Telemachus, Huck Finn, or Jean Louise Finch, that their childhood views on how the world works no longer fit what they see and feel.
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In Nic Stone's <i>Dear Martin</i>, high school senior Justyce McAllister finds himself facing a world that no longer plays nicely with his childhood conceptions. Words and actions take on a different weight, values are challenged, and the things he has taken for granted have lost their stability. Feeling lost in this new world, he looks for a foundation - a mentor - to help guide him through these changes. In his journal he begins writing "letters" to Martin (Dr. Martin Luther King); nothing existential or philosophical, simply the events of his days, and the doubts and questions of a young person dealing with huge changes.
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Needless to say, the late Dr. King does not answer Justyce's letters, anymore than the long-absent Odysseus answered his son Telemachus. The passage from the innocence of childhood into the world of the adult is a highly personal one, there are no pat answers. In her closing note to <i>Dear Martin</i>, author Nic Stone sums up Justyce's path this way:
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<b>"... while the answers can be hard to come by, the point is to find the courage to ask the questions in the first place. I hope his journey will give you a way to identify your own questions. And answers."</b>
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The goal of the coming-of-age story, and I believe, literature in general, is to provoke questions, not necessarily to provide answers. Life is a highly personal journey; we should beware of anyone or anything that proclaims to have the answer for everything. Even if answers are hard to come by, it is vitally important to ask the questions, both of our world, and of ourselves.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-90640515504671813242017-07-26T10:33:00.000-07:002017-07-26T16:35:42.082-07:00If Jackson Pollock Could Write<b>Book Review: <i>Big Lonesome</i> by Joseph Scapellato</b><p>
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<b>The artist Jackson Pollock was famous for his "action paintings", in which he would tack a large canvas to the floor and drip, splatter, and smear paint across it's entire surface. It was the act of painting that was important, not what (if anything) the painting showed.</b>
<p>His work was performance art, using paint as a medium. He even went to the extent of titling his paintings by number, rather than assigning names, to avoid preconceptions by the viewer.
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There are people that can look at a Jackson Pollock painting and see something, who are able to coalesce the random spattering of paint into a theme or a concept or even a scene. Personally I believe this is more a function of their own consciousness, not the intent of the artist. For Pollock, the activity of painting was more important than what was being painted.
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Joseph Scapellato's collection of short stories, <i>Big Lonesome</i>, swings between episodes of the real ("Immigrants", "Company"), to random gatherings of words, dripped onto pages apparently left lying on the floor ("Horseman Cowboy"). In the first case, the object is clear to anyone that reads it. In the second case, the reader's ability to discern a message may rely more on wishful thinking and a desire to see something where nothing exists. The mere act of putting words (or paint) on paper does not automatically make it art, or provide it with meaning.
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At its best, <i>Big Lonesome</i> provides us with a montage of dispirited characters, coping with the small, individual loneliness that is human existence, and he manages to do it in a distinctive and incisive manner. The "surreal" bits in between intrude into this fabric, but without the redeeming quality of providing a counterpoint. They seem to exist simply to create a perception of artistic merit, but instead appear more like 'Magic Eye' paintings that have been hung among the Masters in an art gallery. If you squint your eyes and tilt your head just right, you may see something, but in the end it diverts and distracts rather than enlightens.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-76327488909947105512017-05-21T18:15:00.001-07:002017-05-21T18:31:59.178-07:00Don't Judge a Book by its Length<b>Book Review: <i>Metis Beach</i> by Claudine Bourbonnais</b><p>
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<b>I find that there's a certain "weighing-in" that goes on when I am confronted by a lengthy new book. Part of it is, no doubt, a holdover from the English classes I took in high school.</b> <p>Just when you thought you might actually see the bottom of the pile of homework, a masochistic teacher would assign "War and Peace" to read and report on in two weeks (my apologies to Tolstoy).
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Even without that hanging over my head, there is still a hesitation to embark on a drawn out literary expedition. Reading is a hobby, hopefully an enjoyable one, but it does require an expenditure of time and attention. Obviously, a longer book takes longer to read, but there is the added effort of keeping track of more characters over an extended plot line. In short, it becomes work, and leaves the reader hoping that the author will help along the way, and the payoff will be worth the labor.
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In the case of Claudine Bourbonnais' debut novel, <i>Metis Beach</i>, the rewards did not quite compensate for the effort. What the back matter copy describes as a "historical epic" and a "chronicle of the great American Sixties" was a lengthy, meandering story of a young man's journey across two countries over the course of three decades. There were brief nods, Forest Gump style, to landmark events like the March on Washington, but the characters serve more as observers than participants in this larger picture.
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The result is an unhappy melding of a coming of age story (worthwhile on its own merits) with almost random historical events. Whether this was an effort to set a place in time for the story, or to try to link the character's haphazard progress with the growing pains of American society, I'm really not sure. I suspect that it was both, but in the end <i>Metis Beach</i> accomplishes neither. Having grown up in the Sixties, to me the references seemed impersonal and detached, as if they were culled from newspaper headlines rather than experience. They end up detracting from the personal aspect of the story, rather than adding to it.
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Sometimes less is more, and I think Ms. Bourbonnais may have bitten off more than she could chew. The story of Roman Carr/Romain Carrier actually would stand better on its own, shorn of the historical references. That would still leave plenty of meat on the bone, so to speak; buried in <i>Metis Beach</i> is an excellent character study, as well as a view into the Canadian French/English dichotomy. Sometimes the measure of a book is what the author leaves out.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-63762959426908332742017-03-02T20:49:00.000-08:002017-03-02T20:53:40.762-08:00In the Shadow of Hemingway<b>Book Review: <i>Drought</i> by Ronald Fraser</b><p>
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<b><i>When the talk turns to novels about Spain and the Spanish Civil War, men of a certain age (including me) will immediately turn to Ernest Hemingway</i></b>
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Hemingway turned his minimalist realist eye on the Spanish Civil War novel <i>For Whom the Bell Tolls</i>, and opened the door to a world unknown to most Americans. In <i>Drought</i>, Ronald Fraser picks up where Hemingway left off, historically and stylistically, and gives us a view of Spain where the echoes of the Civil War can still be heard. Old animosities lie hidden, but are neither forgotten nor forgiven, and the trust between neighbors is still a tentative thing.
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Writing in a spare style reminiscent of Hemingway, Fraser has penned what can almost be regarded as a sequel to <i>For Whom the Bell Tolls</i>. Parallels exist between the characters of both novels, including the foreign protagonist. Just as the bridge played a central role in Hemingway's tale, Fraser has a dam to do the heavy lifting. Hemingway's "iceberg" storytelling style is evident in both stories; the reader must divine motives and personalities from the actions and dialog of the characters.
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And so the question becomes, is <i>Drought</i> the heir apparent of <i>For Whom the Bell Tolls</i>, or is it simply fan fiction? I just finished my second reading of <i>Drought</i>, with my copy of Hemingway at hand, and I will admit the comparison is favorable. Fraser may not be a match for one of the masters of American literature, but he has certainly given us more than a shadow of his intent, and a clear but fleeting echo of the master's voice.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-38319348839673569842016-12-16T09:04:00.000-08:002016-12-29T19:37:20.828-08:00The Joyride Zone<b>Book Review: <i>Joyrides Around San Diego</i> by Jack Brandais</b><p>
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<b><i>"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop ..."</i>
... The Joyride Zone!</b>
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For the majority of people, San Diego can be defined by the "high points": Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, the waterfront, the beaches. The farthest afield most people get is the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in the northern part of the county. I'm not just talking about tourists - many San Diego residents probably don't go much beyond the perimeter defined by their home, their work, and their favorite activity, and the network of freeways that connect them.
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Author Jack Brandais is a native San Diegan, and he has made it his particular mission to find, and to chronicle, those spaces in between the high points. The counties of Southern California are among the largest in the United States, and San Diego County is no exception; there are lots of places in-between. For those of us who were born and raised there, those places, and the narrow roads that take you there, are an indelible part of San Diego history.
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<i>Joyrides Around San Diego</i> is a compilation of Brandais' Kindle driving guides covering San Diego County from the Pacific Ocean to the Borrego desert. Now, I don't have a GPS in my car, and I still use paper maps, but the Kindle version has certain advantages. There are live links to take you to websites with background information, color pictures ... it's interactive.
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On the other hand, the new "hard copy" version has all 10 San Diego <i>Joyrides</i> in one convenient package. You can browse it at your leisure and pick out a destination for the day, or plan a weekend getaway. You can leave it in your glove box and it never needs batteries. And if you want to see that background info, the author has put the links on his <a href="http://www.joyride.guru"><b>Joyride Guru</b></a> website for your convenience.
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Either way, you get driving directions, handy maps, a list of sights to see, and a bit of history to boot. If you're new to San Diego and really want to see San Diego County, this is the place to start. If you're an old-timer like me, this is a great opportunity for a trip down memory lane, literally. Batteries not included - or needed!KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-2646967166453906842016-11-14T10:46:00.000-08:002016-12-16T16:05:44.898-08:00Welcome to America<h3>Book Review: <i>Never Look an American in the Eye</i> by Okey Ndibe</h3>
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<b>What happens when a person's perceptions of the United States are determined by watching vintage American Western movies?</b>
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The result is <i>Never Look an American in the Eye</i>, Okey Ndibe's multi-faceted tale of his immigration to the U.S. in 1988. Ranging from the humorous to the sharply serious, Ndibe uses a series of anecdotes to explain how and why he chose to leave his native Nigeria, and what happened on his arrival here.
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American culture is disseminated to the world in often enigmatic ways. Often it is through media, particularly television and movies. Needless to say this can give viewers on the other side of the world a very different idea on what the "real" America is like. The result can be a shocking wake-up call to the newly arrived potential citizen.
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Ndibe does an excellent job of conveying this inevitable culture shock, and the emotional effect it can have on the hopeful immigrant. Between his stories of feeling lost in the swirling tide of new sights and experiences, he also injects bits of humor: the similarity between the pronunciation of his first name, Okey, and the common English exclamation "okay" leads to some exchanges worthy of Abbott and Costello. Examples of American misconceptions about Africa and Africans also serve to lighten the mood while illustrating our cultural indifference.
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Amd the mood can be exceedingly dark as well. His tale of being the victim of racial profiling by the police, hampered by his less than perfect grasp of the American justice system (he thought he was being questioned for looking the policeman in the eye) echoes an uncomfortable reality for many Americans, not just the most recent arrivals.
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Throughout this portrayal, Ndibe reinforces the certainty that underneath the cosmetic differences, we are all people just trying to make our way. Towards the end of the book, where he relates the death of his father and his return to Nigeria for the funeral, we see a fellow human being, dealing with the pain and emotion that cuts across racial and ethnic lines.
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<i>Never Look an American in the Eye</i> points out our preconceptions about immigrants and immigration without beating us up with them, but refuses to ignore them. The United States is an immigrant country, yet we sometimes turn a blind eye to that fact. Okey Ndibe reminds us that there are still people around the world who dream of a better life in the United States, just as our forefathers did, and that they have much they can contribute to our country and our culture.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-49710206041194608272016-10-15T17:40:00.001-07:002016-12-16T09:10:37.768-08:00Complex, Slightly Earthy, with a Subtle Finish<h3>Book Review: <i>The Wharf of Chartrons</i> by Jean-Paul Malaval</h3><p>
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<b>One of the downsides of being an Amazon Vine program reviewer is that there is a time limit for submission of reviews. As a consequence there can be an unconscious urge to quickly read the book, quickly deciding whether or not you like it, and quickly writing a review.</b>
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It's easy to get caught up in the numbers game of having the most reviews and getting a high ranking, which means you need to read as many books as quickly as possible. And most modern fiction makes that possible. Short sentences, uncomplicated characters, and clear and concise plots make for fast reads.
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<i>The Wharf of Chartrons</i> can be a challenging read if you are used to the formulaic writing of the James Patterson school of fiction. Not that there is anything wrong with James Patterson - I used to read him back when he wrote his own stories. But my tastes have matured, I want more than a clean, crisp story with a big finish. I want subtlety, complexity, finesse; like a good wine it should be intellectually satisfying.
<p>
As noted, <i>Chartrons</i> was originally published in French. I did not have any difficulties with the translation, but it has kept its French aroma and flavor. The pacing is slower, more like a European meal than a stop at MacDonald's, full of subtexts and nuance. It is a period piece, and I found the language and plot were appropriate for the time and place. The Industrial Revolution was arriving in a cloud of smoke and noise, the old ways were dying, and not everyone was happy about it.
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I found <i>Chartrons</i> well worth the time it took to read and savor it.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-33039294148319368792016-09-06T17:27:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:11:56.776-08:00How About Some Pie?<h3>Book Review: <i>Jaunt to Julian</i> by Jack Brandais (Kindle Book)</h3><p>
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<b>Like "Joyride Guru" Jack Brandais, I too am a second-generation San Diegan, and spent many a weekend with my mother and brothers on the road to Julian (or points east). I was anxious to see if the trip has changed much over the years, or if it still matched up with the memories of more than four decades ago.</b>
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I was glad to see that, other than a few more buildings, the route has retained a good deal of its original character. You can still catch glimpses of San Diego County as it used to be. I was glad to see that Dudley's Bakery was still in business; it was a favorite stop, especially if I could talk my mom into getting me a donut. Their bread is the best!
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In addition to the sights along the highway, the author includes some of the back-country routes that my family "discovered" over the years: the Old Julian Highway, Wynola Road, and Farmer Road. You can while away an autumn afternoon just wandering the side roads - it's especially enjoyable when the leaves are turning and the air is crisp as a Julian apple. Just mind your manners and be sure the road you're on isn't somebody's driveway.
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And of course, save some room for pie. I like mine warm, with a scoop of vanilla.
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I'm old-school, and to me a map is an intricately folded sheet of paper, but <i>Jaunt to Julian</i> covers everything you need to know for either a day trip or a weekend getaway. Hyperlinks provide specific information on sights and side-trips (for casual hikers I recommend the Santa Ysabel Preserve), and there are interesting notes on the history of the town and surrounding areas.
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One of a series of Kindle drive guides by the San Diego Union-Tribune's "Weekend Driver" columnist Jack BrandaisKnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-68820009310443057212016-08-15T17:55:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:12:46.894-08:00How History is Written<b>Book Review: <i>The Last Communard</i> by Gavin Bowd</b><br />
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<b>Although I am a fan of history, I must admit that I was not that familiar with the history of the Commune, and had no idea who Adrien Lejeune was.That was part of the reason I ordered this book.</b>
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What I got was less of an education in the Commune and the last Communard than a lesson in how history is written. Lejeune, who was at best a bit player in the Commune, was made into a symbol of the Communist Party through the succeeding years. Through the machinations and propaganda of various arms of the Party, he became larger than life. While he whiled away the hours in various institutions in the Soviet Union, intent on maintaining his supply of wine and chocolate, Party factions played upon his notoriety, intent on their own agendas as well.
Sometimes the litany of unfamiliar and foreign names and locations become tedious and dry; this reader often felt like he was climbing an enormous shifting sand dune of facts, with no goal in sight. Author Gavin Bowd does manage to pull things together in the end, and brings sense to what is an interesting overview of a small piece of history and how it fits into the context of the larger picture.<br />
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KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-47873460472731936372016-07-25T18:05:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:09:28.097-08:00Of Love and War and Immigration<b>Book Review: <i>Their Promised Land</i> by Ian Buruma</b><p>
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<b>Immigration is a hot button topic right now, liable to induce polarized opinions in just about any audience. <i>Their Promised Land</i> steers a middle course, generally avoiding the shores of politics and the shoals and rocks that surround them, favoring the depths of the subtitle <i>My Grandparents in Love and War</i></b>
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But the immigrant status of the family is always there, a bulking shadow just over the horizon, barely hidden in the fog of two world wars and the unsettled years between them. Ethnic families tried to avoid the latent prejudice by Anglicizing their last names. Jews adopted Christianity in an attempt to avoid the 'stigma' of being different. Author Ian Buruma doesn't ignore the elephant in the room, but in his occasional sidelong glances in its direction he makes it impossible to ignore.
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That is a good thing. Immigration has ALWAYS been a hot button topic, laden with unacknowledged racism and prejudice. Each successive wave of immigrants in the United States has faced a backlash from those who have arrived before them; seemingly oblivious to the fact that unless you are 100% Native American, we are all immigrants here. <i>Their Promised Land</i> takes place in England in the first half of the twentieth century, but it could just as well be anywhere, at any time.
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Despite this, Buruma keeps us focused on the fact that these are just two people, trying to make a life for themselves and raise a family. The universal principle at work here is not that prejudice is always with us, but that people go on in spite of it. That is where our hope lies.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-63544859045142452172016-06-20T14:32:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:13:37.700-08:00Dogs Will be Dogs<br><b>Book Review: <i>Dancing Dogs</i> by Jon Katz</b><p>
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<b>"It is well to bear in mind that the truth about dogs is as elusive as the truth about man. You cannot put your finger on any quality and safely say, 'This is doglike,' nor on any other quality and say, 'This is not.' Dogs are individualists." - James Thurber</b>
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What made James Thurber the quintessential writer of dog stories is that his dog tales are as individual as the tail on a dog. Although all are written in the inimitable Thurber style, the resemblance ends there. From Muggs to Rex, Medve to Jeannie, the stories of Thurber's Dogs are as unique as the dogs themselves. Thurber's dogs are allowed to have their own character, and characters they are. They are not larger than life, but they are very much alive, and Thurber's love and respect for both the dogs and their stories shows clearly in the telling.
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Which brings me (belatedly) to <i>Dancing Dogs</i>, my introduction to the work of author Jon Katz. Based only on this single work, I am not about to put him in the same rank as James Thurber, but at its best <i>Dancing Dogs</i> does evoke the spirit of Thurber; if for no other reason that Katz lets his dogs be dogs.
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In case you missed the fact that the book is clearly classified as "Literature and Fiction," and a collection of short stories, let me make it clear: this is a collection of fictional short stories. Apparently this was not clear to several reviewers who detest short stories and dislike fiction. I would assume these are the same people who acquire a dog hoping that it will become something else: the child they never had, an obedient slave, or a target for anger and frustration. It is a tribute to the dogs that they will unquestioningly attempt to become that other thing, in the process becoming as neurotic as their owner.
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Over the several thousand years that man and dog have shared existence, the dog has become more than just another domestic animal. The dog's close association with mankind has not always been to their benefit, but it has certainly given them insight into what makes people tick. In <i>Dancing Dogs</i>, Katz delves into this wonderful and mysterious relationship in which dogs and humans become more than just man and beast. Not all dogs are perfect, neither are all humans, but together they are capable of transcending those limitations to reflect the better side of each.
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What makes a story true is not whether it is fiction or non-fiction, but rather the veracity of what it shows us about ourselves. With 7 billion people and a billion dogs on this planet, can anyone say that any of Katz's stories has not 'really' happened? More importantly, does it matter? The characters in <i>Dancing Dogs</i> are enlightened and enriched by the relationship forged between man and dog over the millennia; based on my own life I know this to be true, and Jon Katz brings this truth home in a series of (short) stories that capture the beauty, joy, and unvarnished reality that a dog can bring to our lives.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-53399155010245853632014-12-11T11:05:00.000-08:002016-12-16T09:15:27.713-08:00A Portrait of "Ulysses" as a Young Novel<b>Book Review: <i>The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses</i> by Kevin Birmingham</b><p>
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<b>In all of my reading experience (and I am talking about literally thousands of books under my belt), somehow I have managed to miss out on the unique experience that is James Joyce's <i>Ulysses</i>.</b>
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Now, having read Kevin Birmingham's <i>The Most Dangerous Book</i>, I still may not have the urge to dive into Joyce's stream of consciousness, but I certainly have an understanding of what makes it one of the most important books of modern (and modernist) literature.
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Discussions of literature often treat the work as somehow separate from the context in which it was written, and often as separate from the author himself. Birmingham treats us to more than just a critical analysis of <i>Ulysses</i>, of which scores have already been written. <i>Dangerous Book</i> is equal parts history, biography, and literary criticism; it places James Joyce and his work in the context of contemporary events, the work of other authors, and Joyce's personal struggles. Rather than looking at <i>Ulysses</i> as a thing apart, he takes us between the covers of the often troubled mind of Joyce, and the often troubled times he lived in.
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As Birmingham show us, <i>Ulysses</i> becomes more than just the prototypical modernist novel, more than just a controversial and banned book. In no small way, <i>Ulysses</i> is the story of James' own journey as an author; the journey of his crowning work from scattered notes to the printed page is no less an epic voyage.
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The interplay of life and art that is revealed here is astounding in its complexity. <i>Ulysses</i>, that most dangerous book, scared censors not just for what it tells about the characters in the story, but for what it tells us about ourselves. Kevin Birmingham draws us a portrait of a man, his book, and the world around them, and shows us how they all fit together to bring <i>Ulysses</i> home.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-70336536541619093422014-11-12T01:30:00.000-08:002016-12-16T09:16:05.227-08:00Just Below the Surface<b>Book Review: <i>Land of Love and Drowning</i> by Tiphanie Yanique</b><p>
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<b>" ... men who spend their lives on the water know that magic is real."</b>
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On the surface, Tiphanie Yanique's <i>Land of Love and Drowning</i> is a multigenerational tale of a family in the Virgin Islands in the early 20th century. As such, it is an interesting enough novel, detailing the ways in which the characters interact -- their lives and loves and travails. The reader gets a taste of the island culture: the flavor of the language, the beauty of the landscape, the aroma of indigenous cooking.
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But when the reader dives deeper, into the warm depths of <i>Love and Drowning</i>, he finds an entire world hidden below the relative calm above. Strong currents of racism, roiling storms of war, schools of segregation, and whirlpools of adultery lie in wait.
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The transfer of the Virgin Islands from Danish rule to American guardianship turns out to be simply the exchange from one type of colonialism to another. The Americanization of the Virgin Islands brings the foreign concept of private property ownership, and the fencing off of the beaches. There was a gain in material comforts, but it was in exchange for a loss of liberty.
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With the influx of American cars and plumbing and electricity came American racism and segregation. The fences on the beaches extend into daily life, with restrictions based on color lines. Miscegenation was frowned on, the historical mixing of African and European and Asian and Carib. Islanders who served in the armed forces returned from the mainland disillusioned; they had expected to be accepted by their new American compatriots, only to find doors closed to them.
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Yanique skillfully interweaves the personal stories with the larger events to create a whole cloth - we see history from the personal perspective of the characters, and each is given equal weight. Placed against the magical, mystical background of the islands, <i>Land of Love and Drowning</i> gives us the Virgin Islands as microcosm; where Jim Crow and Hollywood intersect with the ebb and flow of the Caribbean and the bleached bones of a shipwreck, lying just below the surface.
KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-9407254362614929112014-10-18T11:44:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:20:09.366-08:00"There are no cats in America"<b>Book Review: <i>A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka</i> by Lev Golinkin</b><p>
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<b>In the animated movie, <i>An American Tail</i>, the simple immigrant mice have an idealistic view of the United States, including the belief that in America "there are no cats". Needless to say, they are shortly relieved of their naivete, and nearly of their lives as well.</b>
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In <i>A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka</i>, Lev Golinkin presents us with a deceptively simple story - his story - and we follow this childhood memoir down its seemingly predictable path. And then, like a matryoshka doll, we find that there is another story tucked inside it; and inside that one, another -- and another.
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"The anti-Semites didn't know -- they hated because they had been programmed to hate, and they obeyed because they had to obey to survive. No one knew, no one understood, and, as the old saying goes, one will always fear what one doesn't understand."
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Inside Golinkin's childhood memories nestle the dark tale of anti-Semitism, the story of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the ongoing history of immigrants to America. Inside those are the personal stories of the Ukrainian people, the struggle of Jews seeking escape to the West, and the organizations and individuals trying to aid them. And deep inside it all, the story of Lev Golinkin and his family.
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As I dove farther down into the nested stories inside Golinkin's <i>Backpack</i>, I began to reflect on how this plays out in America today. Immigration has become a hot button issue - but then it always has been. It was no different in decades past when the immigrants were Irish, or Italian, or German. Those who had already managed to secure the blessings of liberty were all too eager to quench the lamp, close the golden door, and leave the masses huddled outside.
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"Every immigrant expects something from America. People don't scale fences, trudge through deserts, abandon careers, friends, loved ones, the graves of their parents, risk their lives without hope of something waiting for them on U.S. shores."
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My grandmother emigrated from Russia at the turn of the 20th century. Her family was German, among many who had been invited to settle in the Volga Valley; but the political situation had changed, dangerously. Her parents put their two daughters, barely teenagers, on a ship to the United States. For them, America represented hope, and freedom from fear.
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<i>A Backpack and a Bear</i> is not an essay supporting immigration. It is just the story of a Jewish boy in the Ukraine who held that hope. In the process it becomes the story of all those who have ever made that journey to stand in the light.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-43724638881921415272014-09-03T10:33:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:21:07.206-08:00A Collection of Pieces and Parts<b>Book Review: <i>Problems with People</i> by David Guterson</b><p>
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<b>I like short stories. There ... I said it.</b>
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It started with Steinbeck, but branched out into Hemingway, Kipling, and Edgar Allan Poe; then on to Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers - I was hooked. Detective stories, science fiction, horror ... pick a genre. They are short, sharp, succinct; something that you can read in a sitting but that can stay with you for a lifetime ("The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Snows of Kilimanjaro").
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David Guterson is a skillful writer; I especially enjoy his crafting of dialog. There is no shortage of excellent writing in the ten stories that comprise <i>Problems with People</i>. Yet somehow, the great writing does not seem to jell into great stories. At times I felt as if I was reading a character sketch, or a chapter randomly lifted from another book. I appreciate that the short story puts constraints on an author in terms of character development and plotting, however "short" should not mean fragmentary - there still needs to be a story.
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At times, especially in the stories "Shadow" and "Hush", Guterson is almost there. I did not have that same feeling with those as I did with the remaining stories; that this was a longer work with some pieces left out, like a badly edited newspaper story. Guterson's use of the language approaches poetry at times, and can be a joy to read, the words like fine wine on the tongue. The pieces within the stories are very well done, sadly the parts don't come together as a whole.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-47881362620416297012014-08-26T14:04:00.000-07:002016-12-16T09:21:46.504-08:00The Man and the Myth<b>Book Review: <i>Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed</i> by John F. Ross</b><p>
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<b>Are heroes made, or are they born?</b>
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Webster defines a 'hero' as "a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities". It seems then, that to be a hero requires other people, people to admire and idolize; it is an extrinsic quality. Yet the same source defines the term 'heroic' as "having or showing great courage" - a purely intrinsic characteristic.
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In reading John Ross' <i>Enduring Courage</i>, the reader is able to get a sense of the often conflicting definitions that we apply to our heroes. How many of our sports heroes, elevated to that status by media coverage and hype, have fallen from grace when we find out that they used performance enhancing drugs to get there? We maintain the expectation that somehow they are different, that they possess some inner strength or character trait that makes them different, we are disappointed to find it was simply a quest for their fifteen minutes of fame.
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At the same time, there have been people who worked hard, persevered, and conquered. John Ross gives us a mixture of hyperbole and reality that truly conveys the dual character of Eddie Rickenbacker - on the one hand the hard-nosed, often un-likeable son of immigrants; on the other the self-promoting race car driver and aviator. Sometimes the flowery language of <i>Enduring Courage</i> seems to have been cribbed right off a 1914 advertising poster: "... his ability to handle with nerve and clear calculation those insanely chaotic moments at the edge of speed and fear." This is the 'hero' side of creating the idol, and Ross often goes over the top with his adjectives.
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The heroic side of Eddie Rickenbacker lies between the lines, in the character and courage that he brought to bear in times of stress and adversity. This inner strength often alienated those around him, but it was an integral part of Rickenbacker, a foundation for all that he did and was to become. While it may be a less attractive target for flowery phrases, that core is what differentiates paper heroes from the truly heroic. Perhaps without really meaning to, <i>Enduring Courage</i> illustrates what we really want our heroes to be.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-25937014779797815172014-07-02T00:30:00.000-07:002016-12-16T15:54:28.608-08:00A Man and His Owl and a Reader's Dilemma<b>Book Review: <i>The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar: Living with a Tawny Owl</i> by Martin Windrow</b><p>
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<b>In general, I do not approve of people keeping wild animals or "exotics", as pets. Quite frankly I don't care much for zoos or aquariums either, especially where the emphasis is entertainment rather than education (for example, Sea World). </b>
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The process of taming or containing our wild co-inhabitants often results in their physical and mental degradation and early death. To me, an integral part of the beauty of wild things is seeing them IN the wild.
<p>
Martin Windrow decided he wanted a tawny owl as a pet. And while I objected to the reasoning behind his decision, I found <i>The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar</i> to be a thoroughly entertaining story that is educational as well.
<p>
So much for preconceptions.
<p>
Interwoven with the stories of the trials of having an owl in your apartment (not for the faint-hearted!) there are lessons in the biology and behavior of owls in general, and of tawny owls in particular. Windrow obviously approaches his owl adoption seriously, although not always realistically. As with any pet, there are always unforeseen issues - but the scope of those issues is dramatically different when we're talking about a raptor as opposed to a tabby cat. But owl and man seem to come to a mutually agreeable compromise.
<p>
And there is no doubt that Windrow cares deeply about his feathered friend. Depending on how much emotion you want to ascribe to an animal, Mumbles the owl regards Windrow as a central figure in her life as well. That mutual regard and respect is key in our desire for relationships with others, regardless of the species.
<p>
Despite my reluctance, I was drawn into the story of <i>The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar</i>; it is filled with humor and humanity that appeals to the naturalist inside all of us. At times I felt there was a certain tunnel vision, a sort of denial on the part of Windrow that caging an owl was not exactly the humane thing to do, regardless of its birth. But aside from my personal objections, it is a captivating and enlightening story that is well worth the read.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-76974555359270962142014-06-01T15:44:00.000-07:002016-12-16T15:55:15.741-08:00Authentic Western<b>Book Review: <i>Painted Horses</i> by Malcolm Brooks</b><p>
<p>
<b>"It begins and ends with horses, now and in history ... the horse alone has the power to transport us".</b>
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I was born and grew up in the Western United States. I have traveled from one side of this country to the other; I have seen some great places, but I cannot imagine living anyplace else. There is a flavor to the West that satisfies something inside me. I know that every part of the United States has its own personality, and that for different people, different places feel like 'home'.
<p>
When I read a story that is set in the West, I can quickly tell if the author has actually lived here. There is a different way of talking, a different way of looking at life that comes from long, empty spaces and sharp stark landscapes. I think you have to live it to describe it. There are a handful of writers who 'get it'; in <i>Painted Horses</i> Malcolm Brooks shows that he is one.
<p>
<i>Painted Horses</i> transports us to another decade, another way of thinking, yet not one that is really all that foreign to us. The battle between progress and historic preservation is still ongoing; we lose a little bit of our history every day. Brooks sets the scene, and begins to fill it with characters on both sides. With a playing field as big as the West, it can sometimes seem that the characters aren't even in the same game, but love of the land and its history ties it together.
<p>
<i>Painted Horses</i> has the marks of a mature and seasoned author, and the facets of the story are as varied as the colors of a Colorado sunset; when the glow finally fades and the stars come out, you can't wait to do it all over again.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-68155877343374984092014-05-08T01:30:00.000-07:002016-12-16T15:56:17.050-08:00Where Worlds Collide<b>Book Review: <i>The Man with the Compound Eyes</i> by Wu Ming-Yi [translated by Darryl Sterk]</b><p>
<p>
<b>"No other creature can share experience like this. Only human beings can, through writing, experience something separately together." - <i>The Man with the Compound Eyes</i></b>
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Most of us lead what we consider simple lives. We look at the mundane activities of daily life - eating, sleeping, working - without consideration of how they affect, or are affected, by the world around us. Indeed, our quest for individuality seems to demand that we see ourselves as separate, living at the center our own little world.
<p>
<i>The Man with the Compound Eyes</i> is a novel of interconnectedness; where people, places, things, and even time periods come together, and "the finest movement of any organism represents a change in an ecosystem." Author Wu Ming-Yi takes us to a place where our mythic past of oral legends and wrathful gods meets our technological present of live news coverage and cell phones. There, on a beach in Taiwan, they must confront not only each other but the uncertain future as well, when the rising ocean dumps back all the trash people had dumped into it.
<p>
As if we have compound eyes, Wu Ming-YI allows us to see a single series of events from multiple perspectives; each intimately personal, yet remaining interrelated. Woven together with the threads of life, death, love, and loss, the characters in <i>The Man with the Compound Eyes</i> face their shared trials and individual travails. "Life doesn't allow you any preconceptions. Most of the time you have to accept what life throws at you, kind of like walking into a restaurant where the owner dictates what you're having for dinner."
<p>
Lyrical, mystical, yet ultimately real, <i>The Man with the Compound Eyes</i> is a subtly layered novel that shows us an intricate and multi-faceted world - the world we just happen to live in. An enjoyable read; the translation by Darryl Sterk is seamless. A welcome addition to my library, and highly recommended.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-44275456182757778672014-04-08T13:51:00.000-07:002016-12-16T15:56:51.955-08:00Searching for One Voice Among the Many<b>Book Review: <i>The House of Journalists</i> by Tim Finch</b><p>
<p>
<b>The issue of immigration, both legal and illegal, can be complex: convoluted, complicated, and confusing. Tim Finch's <i>The House of Journalists</i>, is equal parts of all of these, but does little to shed any light on the subject.</b>
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Focusing on the stories of refugees seeking political asylum, Finch gives us an accurate portrayal of the past terrors, present lives, and uncertain futures these individuals must confront. Mixed in with the often horrific tales of death and torture in their home countries, Finch allows us glimpses of the idyll of their safe home in the House of Journalists, a halfway house for members of the third world fifth estate. Underlying the seeming calm of the House, however, is the implicit threat of deportation. In their new country, the journalists are at the mercy of a faceless government where humanitarian concerns often take a backseat to political expediency.
<p>
So far, so good. Where <i>House of Journalists</i> fails is in the telling. The straightforward synopsis I have given above is anything but
straightforward in the book. Multiple voices weave through the chapters, shifting from first person to second person to third person, often without a clear indication of who is speaking. At times Finch uses this effectively, but for the most part it simply adds an impenetrable layer of complexity, and the story gets lost in infinite folds of plot.
<p>
I believe a more conventional rendering of <i>House of Journalists</i> would have been much more effective. While I'm sure Tim Finch had a lot of fun writing this, it is not as much fun to read. There is a great story lurking in here, but instead of freeing it, Finch has buried it in an effort to be clever. A good first effort - I hope he finds his true voice among the many he presents us here.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-78500297373224992512014-03-05T13:38:00.000-08:002016-12-16T15:58:52.271-08:00Ulysses in Trieste<b>Book Review: <i>Trieste</i> by Dasa Drndic [translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac]</b><p>
<p>
<b>James Joyce, author of <i>Ulysses</i>, spent about ten years in Trieste in the years leading up to World War I. In <i>Trieste</i>, author Dasa Drndic uses Joyce's stream of consciousness style to convey the chaotic mix of cultures, religion, and politics in Italy's border regions in the years between the wars.</b>
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The unrelenting flow of words is not always effective when detailing the history of the characters' families, resulting in a confusing mix of names and dates that can leave the reader bewildered. But when the story moves into the horrific years of the Nazi 'ethnic cleansing', the reader gets caught up in the flow. Life and death, loyalty and betrayal dance in a schizophrenic 'tarantula', and Drndic is unrelenting, the words flaming on the page, and in the reader's mind.
<p>
Great fiction should blur the line between reality and imagination. A great deal of non-fiction has already been written about the Holocaust and its associated horrors, in fictionalizing some aspects of her story Drndic has not lost anything; she puts a human face to the horror, and does honor to those who actually lived (and died) as a result of it. There is plenty of history here; what has been fictionalized supports the facts, it does not undermine them.
<p>
<i>Trieste</i> is not a book for the faint-hearted, either in style or subject. Although at times I found the interior monologue annoying (especially in the early going), it is devastatingly effective in the last half of the book. Enter if you are brave enough, and if you stay the course you will be changed.
<p>
"... in this 'library' of horrors, in this alchemist's kitchen of maniacs, little lives of little people have been foundering already for sixty years; they are waving their deportation I.D.s, their brittle, faded and cracked family photographs, their hastily penned letters, diaries, their birth certificates and marriage licenses, their death certificates, sketches, poems, their coupons for food and clothing, anything that can supplant their cry, they are waving: Here we are, find us."KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-78578389703219915872014-02-12T00:30:00.000-08:002016-12-16T15:59:40.006-08:00Nature as it Really Is<b>Book Review: <i>Sightlines: A Conversation with the Natural World</i> by Kathleen Jamie</b><p>
<p>
<b>"American conservation is ... still concerned for the most part with show pieces ...we have not yet learned to think in terms of small cogs and wheels." - Aldo Leopold</b>
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There is more to the natural world than picture-perfect scenic vistas, or majestic animals moving in choreographed precision. Not all wilderness is scenic, not all wildlife is majestic. The small cogs and wheels that keep the eco-system moving are often hard to see unless you know what you are looking for; and once you do, they are just as often not pretty to look at. Yet without them there would be no scenic vistas, or wild animals, or human beings to see and appreciate them.
<p>
In <i>Sightlines</i>, Kathleen Jamie shares with us both sides of the natural world, the beautiful and the not-so-pretty: "It's not all primroses and otters ... There are other species, not dolphins arching clear from the water, but the bacteria that can pull the rug from under us." At one moment we are watching killer whales swimming free, in another viewing thin sections of necrotic tissue. Is it so much of a jump to see these are but two sides of the same coin?
<p>
In her effort to make sense of what she sees and experiences, Jamie finds the same truth that Leopold found decades before: that the small cogs and wheels are every bit as important as any other part of the eco-system. A stagnant tidal backwater may not be as aesthetically pleasing as a soaring evergreen forest, but its function is every bit as important. The chain of life extends from predators to prey to scavengers; down to the bacteria that complete the process of decomposition each link depends on the others.
<p>
The sooner we see that they are all part and parcel of Nature "taking its course", the sooner we come to realize "... you just might be making the same journeys as these other creatures, all of us alive at the same time on the same planet."KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-83548377605395911672014-01-18T14:10:00.000-08:002016-12-16T16:00:46.299-08:00(Re)-Inventing Yourself<b>Book Review: <i>The Answer to the Riddle is Me</i> by David MacLean</b><p>
<p>
<b>What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in a foreign country, with no recollection of how you got there, or even who you were? I, for one, have never had to answer that question. David MacLean not only had to face that question, but went on to tell about it in his fine work, <i>The Answer to the Riddle is Me</i>.</b>
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His subtitle, <i>A Memoir of Amnesia</i> (isn't that an oxymoron?) gives a clue to his often tongue-in-cheek humor in confronting the conundrum of 'who is David MacLean?' For most of us it would be impossible to find anything amusing in losing our identity. MacLean relates the random thoughts that rebounded through his head, and manages to keep a human face on an inhuman experience.
<p>
Under that veneer of irreverent bravado, there is sheer terror. Like a drowning man, MacLean finds himself grasping at straws in an effort to stay afloat in his hallucinatory hell. He desperately grabs on to anything and anyone that might give him a clue as to who he was/is. In some cases he finds himself caught between his two selves - the David MacLean he was, a portrait held by family and friends; and the David MacLean he is, who finds that "continuing on in the world of the sane is harder than you thought."
<p>
"My hallucinations left me feeling like the inside of my soul had been flapped out for the world to see; the shame I'd carried through my life had bubbled out and been exposed to the air, and now it wouldn't recede." Epiphany is not always a joyful, uplifting experience; sometimes it can be downright painful, even depressing. "The Answer to the Riddle" is an intense, deeply personal ride through the inner workings of a mind that has had the "reset" button pushed, and the effort of moving forward from that experience. Sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, always human, this is one of the most honest books I have ever read.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-69821157053213171082014-01-01T12:55:00.000-08:002016-12-16T16:06:36.674-08:00It's All in Here<b>Book Review: <i>The Best American Essays 2013</i> edited by Robert Atwan and Cheryl Strayed</b><p>
<p>
<b>In my opinion, the purpose of literature is to help me see the world through other eyes, and to look beyond the narrow construct of my personal view of 'how things are'. The essay seeks to accomplish this by allowing the author to forward their personal viewpoint on matters of their choosing; a well-written essay will bring the reader into the author's world view, hopefully to expand the reader's viewpoint in the process.</b>
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<i>The Best American Essays 2013</i> opens to the reader a wide selection of windows on the world. While they are all written from a first-person perspective, the subjects they reveal go beyond simple autobiographical short stories. It's all in here: economics (the subject on everyone's mind), politics, science, psychology, relationships. Every essay reveals not just the author's personal outlook; to the perceptive reader they also show our collective views as Americans.
<p>
In this day of sound bites and tweets, maybe it is too much to ask for readers to look beyond the mere words on the page, to read between the lines, to savor and mull over the stories that are laid before us and see the deeper secrets they hold. As Charles Baxter points out in "What Happens in Hell":
"Why do you desire to believe the ideas that you hold dear, the cornerstones of your faith?" Are we more comfortable with our heads in the sand, seeing only that which is directly in front of us? That world where "... people will walk smiling through puddles of your blood, smiling and talking on their cellular phones. They're going to the movies." (J.D. Daniels, "Letter from Majorca").
<p>
Editor Cheryl Strayed points out that "Essayists begin with an objective truth and attempt to find a greater, grander truth by testing fact against subjective interpretations of experiences and ideas, memories and theories. They try to make meaning of actual life, even if an awful lot has yet to be figured out." This demands of us as readers to look for the greater truth as well; to not merely look at these stories like we do the evening news: passively absorbing what we are told and moving on to the next. We need to be actively looking within, even as the author shares THEIR experience of the world.
<p>
A book to be read slowly, thoughtfully, and purposefully, digging out those golden nuggets of greater truth.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787262508238260470.post-83971069563723583222013-12-07T18:45:00.000-08:002016-12-16T16:07:21.115-08:00A Real Story of a Real Family<b>Book Review: <i>The Distancers</i> by Lee Sandlin</b><p>
<p>
<b>According to the commercials put out by a certain genealogy website, your family secrets are only a mouse-click away. <br>If only that were true.</b>
<p>
While some public records ARE available online, they are often filled with misspellings, incorrect dates, and other errors. And even if that were not the case, they are still public records. The real family stories, the ones that really matter, are the ones that are not in plain sight.
<p>
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In <i>The Distancers</i>, Lee Sandlin exposes some of his family's untold and unseen stories and brings his own past to life. Life for an immigrant family in 19th century America was full of challenges - some rose to meet them, others took the path of least resistance. One family member might diligently work at the opportunities that presented themselves, while a sibling might decide to coast on the work of others. In other words, times (and people) then were not much different than today.
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Sadly, not everyone's family has made a mark on the history of this country that can be found in history books. The people that built the railroads and the highways and the factories were not the knighted individuals that made the fortunes and whose names are known to all; the people that built this country were (and are) the ones that did the every day business of working and living. What we see in <i>The Distancers</i> are the people that went the distance, and still do, keeping the wheels of progress turning. Every family has left a legacy, if not in the history books, then in those who still bear their name, and their heritage. That is what real families, and real family history are made of.KnC Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17087378898050953646noreply@blogger.com0