Review: Concrete

Concrete by Stephen Parnell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This small book is another installment in the Object Lessons series by the publisher Bloomsbury Academic. Each book is focused on one specific subject, in this case concrete. The author Parnell does a great job of sticking to the subject (I’ve read a few where the subject was more of a jumping off point). It starts generally with a brief introduction to Parnell’s experience with concrete. He started with summer jobs working with a concrete contractor testing the concrete pours for strength, as well as checking if the dry/wet mix they were pouring was the right consistency. Later, Parnell became an architect, and writer, uses his experience in this book. He seems like the perfect author.

The book does indeed contain a lot about architecture, as that is one of the primary uses of concrete, and the art of it as well. Many concrete buildings are labeled as “Brutalism” where even that is not quite the case. Parnell writes about buildings that have their own artistic nature that is not brutal.

Going further into the artist side Parnell dives into how people, artists usually, takeover some of these concrete spaces, either abandoned buildings or projects, and envelops them into the community. This may be with skateboarders, parkour, or graffiti artists who claim these spaces.

There is so much more, a brief look at what the word means. Often something hard, but in Nigeria it means love. A couple may exchange a small amount of concrete to “cement” their love for each other. A concrete man is someone who will build a house for his woman.

Parnell does not complete the book without mentioning some of the downsides of concrete, such as the environmental impact worldwide, which is very significant. It felt very little and late in the book, but at least it was included.
It took me a very long time to read this book for the length of it. Some parts I did find interesting, but others were a bit of a slog for me. There were some photos, but the book could have used many more.

Book rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.


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Review: Alluvial

Alluvial by Katherine Soniat
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has been sitting around my bookshelves for many years. The book is not long, it’s a book of poetry, and honesty do not understand myself and why I waited so long to read it. But I did last week. Perhaps it was better to have waited.

This book is divided into three sections. The first section had a theme that I found easily enough, being about Jamestown, the first colony that remained in the New World with English settlers. The poems were historical, yet lyrical. Some of my reading earlier this year has enabled me to understand this section better than if I had read it before this year, so perhaps the timing was fortuitous.

The other two sections I was not able to discern a theme or any reason why those were organized into one section or the other. The other poems dealt with various subjects that changed poem by poem. Overall, they were written well enough, but some I did struggle with understanding the references that seemed to be there. So, the first section was my favorite in this book.

As typical with most poetry books I find this one hard to rate and landed at 3.75 stars.


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Review: America's First Daughter

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This historical fiction book is also a biography of Thomas Jefferson's surviving daughter Martha "Patsy" Jefferson. He did have other children as well, with Sally Hemmings, but they were not the main focus here. Since Martha kept by her father's side since the passing of her mother when she was young, the book is also a biography of Thomas Jefferson. But there is much here that is fiction as well, and a lot about Patsy's relationship with William Short (perhaps invented) and her husband Thomas Randolph. The book highlights letters and how Martha curated those from Jefferson and so shaped what is left of her father's legacy. The book is fairly well done.

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Review: Light from Other Stars

Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This science fiction story is a dual timeline, but most of the exposition lies in 1986 when Nedda Papas is an 11-year-old precious girl. She has two hobbies, one is collecting bad words and the other is NASA, with her dream to be an astronaut. Nedda’s family lives in Easter, Florida, a small town located near the shuttle launches. When the Challenger shuttle explodes it seems to affect everyone.

Nedda is much closer to her dad emotionally, they share science and exploration together, while her mother experiments with baking odd cakes and sweets in the kitchen. They seem prickly to each other, but with this accident and another one that closely follows things change for everyone in Easter.

The other timeline takes place in the future with Nedda being what she dreamed of; she is an astronaut on her way to colonize a new planet. The crew is small, only four of them, and it’s being powered by a device Nedda’s dad was working on in the 1986 timeline.

The book is not straightforward and took me a while to get into it. Nedda isn’t the only character point of view, but hers does take up most of the book, even the young child’s view. The town in 1986 also seemed almost like 1960s with the traditional roles being showcased. Yet the book felt like it was written by a woman, with a focus on relationships more than the science and action. There is plenty of science in the book, but the people occupying the book and their personality take over. Overall, the book is slightly better than average, but a little overly long as well.

Book rating: 3.75 stars


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Review: Pastoralia

Pastoralia by George Saunders
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a book of short stories, six in all. I don't think there was one that I enjoyed. The topics are odd, the characters are odder and I just didn't like the absurdity. I'm sure some people will find these stories funny, but I didn't like them. The only reason my rating wasn't lower was I appreciated the writing format, the style. It's just the content I could not care less about. This book was on my shelves for a long time, if not doubtful I would have picked it up. I have enjoyed a bit of Saunders works before but increasingly have decided his writing is just not for me, doubtful I will read anymore of his works.

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