Review 14: Tap Out: Poems

Tap Out: Poems by Edgar Kunz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This collection of poetry may have brought me back to reading poetry books again. I loved this book.

I was drawn to this book by the cover. Those hands. They tell a story that I wanted to read.

These are not your typical poems, they are more prose than not. They are mini-stories. We find recurring characters. This book is masculine. He deals with his Father, Brother, his friends, and we know the person speaking is a man.

This is blue collar working class. This is gritty. This is getting out and moving on and wondering, did you do the right thing?

I loved this book.


Thanks to the Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy prior to publication.

Review 13: Beautiful Bad

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I entered this book with very little information on what it was about, except I knew it would be a "thriller". At first I was surprised by the two girls, Maddie and her best friend Joanna, living abroad in out of the way countries: Bulgaria and Macedonia. Soon Maddie meets her future British husband at a fund raiser. I started to think we'd have Eastern European travel type story, no the reality of the book was quite different.

The book starts in "present time" where there was a domestic disturbance, a 911 call. When the police arrive there is blood, lots of blood.

Then we go to ten weeks before and start counting down towards the present, interspersed with the story line of back when Ian and Maddie first meet. Ian was in the British Army at the time there was instant attraction. In the countdown to present time we learn early on Ian has a hard time with what he's seen being a soldier, and Maddie seems to have anxiety about many things, which started after he head being smashed. The story of how that happened is part of the mystery, the other part is what happened that made that 911 call necessary.

There is a lot of shifting, between time lines, and we have Ian's perspective a few times, although not many, it is mainly Maddie's. Her friend Joanna plays and important role as well, since she was a good friend when Ian comes into their lives, yet not in the present time living in Kansas. I wished to hear from Joanna.

I had several problems with the book. The shift in time lines wasn't a problem per se, but it was distracting at times. There was a continuity error, later in the book. Hopefully this has been fixed (I read an advance review copy). Seemed like there was some repetition, and yes the book was longer than it needed. It felt that cutting out some of the material would have been a tighter, better book. Another problem for me was Joanna. Her story was important but we get so little of what was going on, it was frustrating. And then there was Maddie herself. It felt so off her behavior while younger, then even when she goes back home to New York.

Finally was the ending, which I will not reveal anything. I will just say that it seriously downgraded the book for me. The telling wasn't necessary, and then added more strangeness really. In the end we may find out who these characters are, or not. It felt actually unresolved. Perhaps the characters weren't fully developed on the page. I just left unsatisfied in so many ways.

This is being billed as the "2019 Thriller of the year", but I think it missed the mark by a long shot. Certainly there will be some people who enjoy this book, just not me.



Thanks to Park Row Books/Harlequin and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 12: Virgil Wander

Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Virgil Wander is the main character, who, as the book opens, is just recovering from an accident where his car flew off the road and into the freezing cold Lake Superior. By sheer good luck a friend saw the accident and dove in to save Virgil from certain death and instead only being concussed. Recovering from the concussion takes time, if not the rest of his life, one thing he was struggling with was the loss of adjectives, slowly some would come back.

The small town, Greenstone, Minnesota where Virgil lives is a unique place with bad luck. The people seems unique as well, for the most part, but not all. The book is quirky, lighthearted really but the situations that occur, death or possible death always looming is not light.

Virgil is the owner of the small run down theater that also runs in the red, so he works for the city as a clerk. One of the main people is Rune, an older man who loves to make and fly intricate kites. He came to Greenstone to find out about his son he recently found out he had, the mother had never told him and Rune only find out upon her death. Rune's son is a famous in a tragic way, a minor league baseball player turned neon sign makers, who disappeared in a small plane never to be heard of again. Since he had some fame the story was somewhat known.

Overall the book was well written. It took me a little while to get into the book, quite a while. It may have been easy to just put down and not get back to. The book is more about a character or characters, not plot driven. Yet it flowed along, more around mid-point than near the beginning where it's easier to keep you hooked to the story.


Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book, even though I ended up reading the print copy from the library where I work.

Review 11: Solaris

Solaris by Stanisław Lem
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After trying to watch the movie version (multiple times) of this book and falling asleep every time (maybe both versions) somehow I still was attracted to this story. I didn't expect much given my boredom with the story before. Yet I was riveted to this. I raced through much of the book. Was it due to the narration done by Alessandro Juliani, or the story? I think it was both.

The idea of the others, the visitors and the creepiness was unexpected. One of the main things I remember from the more recent film version was the light. The book mentions the colors of the suns and the light and darkness more than you find in other books. This visual experience almost takes on an aspect of character as well.

Despite my intense fascination with the story when it ended I felt let down. It didn't feel resolved. No, it didn't need to be fully resolved, but I did want a little more with the ending. Perhaps a glimpse that there was some concrete headway into solving the Solaris question these scientists were studying.

I have this feeling a second reading would get more out of the book. Not sure that will happen, at least not sometime soon.

Reissue Review 10: Figures in a Landscape: People and Places

Figures in a Landscape: People and Places by Paul Theroux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reissue Review #1: On occasion revisiting and reissuing reviews from the days before my blog postings. 

A recent read: finished on December 24, 2018.

Paul Theroux has written many books, he's been around a while and traveled far. Somehow, even though I own one or two of his books, this is the first book I've read by Theroux. It's a collection of essays that has no overall theme, essays collected that he wrote through the years 2001-2016. All of the essays were previously published, either in magazines, or as introductions to books, and many appeared with different titles.

I do wish it was listed when the essays were written or published previously. This particularly struck me with several essays that dealt with celebrities he interviewed; Robin Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Oliver Sacks, (okay maybe Sacks isn't a celebrity per se, but he is a famous neuroscientist), all of whom have already passed away by the time of the publication of this book.

With a few exceptions, I felt the essays got better the more I read the book. I think the middle and later essays were more engaging, less flexing of the vocabulary, stretching out to find those obscure and infrequently used words. Keep a dictionary nearby! One essay about a third the way though, "Nurse Wolf, the Hurter" was overly long and very unappealing. It just went on and on, and nearly had me quit reading the rest of the essays and the book. Happily it was the worst of the bunch and I carried on.

I think the essays collected here may have worked better as an overall book if there had been an overall theme, or sections at least, with a theme or grouping. Most essays were about other authors or celebrities, not nearly all. There also was a little repetition of some information as an idea or something in one essay appeared in another. This was particularly true near the end of the book with one essay, "Dead Old Dad: Memories of My Father" and the very next one "The Trouble with Autobiography" repeating some similar statements about his past. The last essay, his non autobiography is funny as it provides less information about himself as the previous essay.

Perhaps this book wasn't meant to be read cover to cover like most books, but to pick and choose which essay looks appealing and in whatever random order. It is a long 386 pages with the small print. I'm sure fans of Paul Theroux would enjoy the book, and for those who are new to his work as well.


I should also give thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for allowing me access to an advance electronic copy of the book. Although, I did read the print book my library purchased, I do appreciate the early review access.

Book Brief: The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed by John Vaillant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Heartbreaking book.

Review 9: Sugar Run

Sugar Run by Mesha Maren
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was a disappointment. It was also a tad boring, surprising since the premise doesn't sound like that at all. The book starts with Jodi just being released out of jail after 18 years, early even, after killing her girlfriend Paula. The book slowly tells you the story of what led up to the shooting, was it an accident, or purposeful? The main part of the book is after she leaves jail. First she wants to Paula's brother, to save him, as they had always planned. Along the way she picks up a new girlfriend, Miranda, plus her three kids. With all five stuffed in Miranda's car they go back to her grandmother's land in West Virginia Appalachian mountains, to start a new life.

It sounds interesting, but it wasn't. It fell flat. Whenever there was a little action, it kept being interrupted by another chapter break. We'd switch to the current or past, when it went back to the action well now that was moved past it. There was so much focus on driving, pills and drinking, oh and smoking cigarettes, maybe this is what the book is about. I wanted more about the land, the connection to it, and the fracking or other mining taking it away. Some of that was here, but again, it was subdued.

I almost stopped reading several times, and perhaps should have, but I'm curious and would wonder if it got any better. Not really. Not all books are wonderful and the duds make better books stand out even more. Go ahead and skip this one.

Book rating: 2 stars


I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 8: The End of Nature

The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Last week I read my first book by McKibben, Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance and it was his only fictional one. I knew it wasn't the best place to start with his work, but it was short and after just reading some longer books, I wanted a quick read. The subtitle of that book made it more intriguing so I did start there. It wasn't an overwhelmingly environmental novel as it was more overwhelmingly local. Oh, but yes, local is part of being more "green".

Anyway, since I'm planning on attending an event soon where Bill McKibben is speaking, I thought it best to finally read something by him that represented his work. Now this book here, The End of Nature, is probably his most iconic book. I have known about this book, and others he wrote, but held back reading any of them, even held back buying any of his books. It feels a little odd to me since really I have a shelf or two of just these types of books, environmental in nature. And perhaps that is the exact reason why I haven't read McKibben before, I have these other books, read some of them, and overall thought I knew what he was writing about, what he said in his books. It's a bit silly of me I know, but I'm being truthful here. I figured I didn't need to read another writer about the same topic.

Yet, I decided before hearing him speak I should try his work. Quickly after starting this book I realized the mistake I made long ago, and kept making year after year. I should have read this book sooner. Perhaps read more of his books. Not so much that it taught me something I didn't know before, but that it was a good book. It was more engrossing and thought-provoking than I expected. I grew to ponder his sentences as well. Now why would you say like a half glass of gin and tonic, instead of a half glass of water? Probably because you would expect the word water, and not gin and tonic. That makes the writing more readable, more interesting.

This book has put together a lot of specific details and facts and made them readable. McKibben has added his own personal life in here to make it more relatable. What is most significant perhaps is his main thesis how "we" (meaning us humans, but mostly in the West) have now ended the natural, or wild nature. We have affected the change in all animals and plants with our consumption and procreation. There are no longer any place in this earth that is not pristine or untouched by what we have done. And still we do crave the wild, don't we?

And how much nature is completely destroyed depends on how much we are willing to let global-warming go. From here on out nature is being managed, much like a park is not a natural green space but a planned area designed for humans, not the plants or any animals that may inhabit the park .

It is not a happy book, but I'm glad I finally read it. I have many questions for McKibben now, as this book was written two decades ago. Perhaps some of those questions have been answered in his more recent work. At some point I shall find out.


Note on Audio book narration: This book was narrated by Jeff Woodman. I hadn't heard any of his narrations before, but this was an excellent work. His emphasis on the right words enhanced the reading of the book. I had a print copy of the book and read passages, some already listened to, some going forward, but I relied on the audio narration. I doubt I could have read the book as well, and as quickly if I read only the print copy.

Narration rating: 5 stars



Previously Read Bill McKibben books:

• Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance (Fiction) 
• (4 stars)  January.2019

Bill McKibben books read later:

• The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life (NonFiction)
• (4 stars) Feb.-April.2019
• Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? (NonFiction)
•  (3 stars)   May.2019