Review 78: A Season on the Wind

A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration by Kenn Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Perhaps it’s best to start out by saying I’m not a birder, nor have any intention of becoming one. I like the idea of knowing more about birds, and of the migration. This book helps to satisfy some of that desire, but not fully. What Kenn Kaufman writes in this book is about spring migration in one area, northwestern Ohio, and particularly in the Magee Marsh region.

There is specific information, such as how Kaufman and other birders track migration using weather and radar, which was interesting and perhaps I’ll never look at weather radar the same during times of migration. Although where I live there likely isn’t enough birds to show up strongly on the Nexrad radar. I enjoyed the discussion about flyways, having never heard the term before despite the popularity, then understanding that it is a false concept anyway. Birds fly wherever they can and do, they don’t have highway type systems such as we have for our cars or ships.

Birds are at the center of this book, and so is Kaufman. He tries at times to remove himself from the story and other times inserts himself. This going back and forth was slightly uncomfortable for reading, but understandable, saying we and us when it clearly isn’t himself solely doing certain work. The same for the activism side of fighting against a huge wind-turbine project that was planned at the Camp Perry Military Reservation, which is only around 10 miles away, as the crows fly. Unfortunately huge wind turbines are very deadly for birds.

The discussion of wind power and impending projects was important and necessary to include, yet the placement didn’t work well for me. Maybe for birders the flow of the book will work better. I was trying to get situated and understand things, then this part was thrown in, and back to birds, it made for more difficulty for myself getting into the book.



Previously read Bird books:

Read back to back -

• Going Wild: Adventures with Birds in the Suburban Wilderness
• by Robert Winkler 
• 4 stars
• Read: Aug.18-24, 2016

• The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature 
• by Jonathan Rosen
• 5 stars
• Red: Aug.25-Sept.06, 2016

Review 77: The Lightest Object in the Universe

The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great story, good writing. It's about after the world collapses, what do you do next? How do you rebuild? And how do you reconnect to your loved ones when there aren't planes anymore? Who takes control?

This books gives some great answers to those questions. It's not a new story, first thought that comes to mind is The Postman, but there are others. For that reason it's not a five star, just not unique enough. But it's definitely worth your time to read, that is if you like a little disaster in your fiction.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Gabra Zackman. She did a fantastic job. Although the point-of-view switches characters often, the narrator handled it well without confusing the listener. For myself this was the way to read the book.

Book rating: 4.5 stars

Review 76: Snowflake, AZ

Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is hard to rate. There is such oddness in the book, and it isn't the main topic of the type of illness either, it's the way the book is written.

First of all the narrator, Ash, calls him/her self a kid. (It is never firmly stated if Ash is a boy or girl, I'm going with girl for pronouns sake.) Early on Ash says she is 18, but the way Ash thinks is more like aged 12. It's way off, the age and the writing level and the extreme immaturity. So I found myself continually asking, how old is Ash?

Another weird thing was the relationship with the step-brother. I get the closeness, but there's a point where it seems like it's going beyond that, maybe. It's just odd. Or written different than intended.

And there's this repetition, particularly in the beginning, of certain phrasing gets old very quick. But I understand this is a young adult book and maybe it plays better there, for the younger side of YA. There are other little things as well, in the writing style, it just didn't work for me.

Not to persuade that the book is all awful, because it isn't. For instance the main topic of the book is something that is not talked about, or very little, about these illnesses that affect people and doctor's don't know much about them. I'm certain there is truth in the book about the various illness and things that affect the people making them sick or not, such as products that exude toxins. It's not that new either (and below). People have different sensitivities. I have some sensitivities for some smells, mostly with laundry such as soaps, dryer sheets and fabric softeners. Also "air freshener" sprays. UGH! Anyway, people can get illness that are hard for doctors to determine what is going on. Just think about all the chemical spills into the water supply that takes a while to be discovered, (like Flint, MI) and what that might be doing people's health.

In any case, the main issue addressed in the book is a good one. The delivery, the writing style, it was more difficult. The main protagonist, Ash, is written in an odd way. Maybe younger people will connect more with the book than I did. I also have to say that I absolutely hated the ending.

Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up.

Also, for anyone who many be interested in another fictional take on the environmental illness side there was a movie called Safe that came out in 1995. It's a bit odd too, but in a completely different way.


Thanks to W.W. Norton/Norton Young Readers and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 75: Les Misérables

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a book!

So much as been written about this book it's difficult to add anything new, except my own personal reading experience.

I chose to read this book via an app on my phone called Serial Reader. The app takes books out of copyright and splits them into small daily reading that takes around 10-15 minutes a day. For this long book it was split into 233 daily issues. That's roughly 8 months with this book being over 1,400 pages!

There were many days where I didn't read this book, and many days where I read several issues. A few times I got way behind, around 30 days. In late June I took a trip across the country and managed a lot of reading, perhaps reading as many as 30 issues, and still didn't quite catch up. The closer I got to the end of the daily issues being released the more I read and was able to be completely caught up for the final week.

In the book, as it must be known, there are some areas where digressions went on and on, and it seemed like a complete stop to the story. This book contains a lot of history of France. If someone knew more about French history than myself, perhaps would be easier reading during those parts. When a new character was introduced we often got very specific and detailed background information and often their parents as well. For myself, when the story connected characters, which was unknown ahead of time that was going to happen, it was very satisfying, an a-ha! moment.

While some parts tend to slow down the story, overall I found the book exciting. Yes, it is overwritten, way too many descriptors that go on and on and on and on. It is easily seen why this book is often abridged and cut down, taken to the basic aspect of the story. Yet when one reads a highly edited book you lose the overall structure and story, you lose much to where you really haven't read the book. This book is a commitment that's for sure, but when I finished I understood why there are so many movie and TV versions of the story, and why this classic will continue to live on.


Book read: Jan.30-Sept.19 2019

Review 74: Tar Baby

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While Morrison's writing is powerful, I find I just don't like magical realism. This book has less of that than other books of her's I've read, but the older I get the more distaste I have for it. I know it's me!

There were strong issues addressed in this book, but in the end there lacked resolution for any of the characters. And some of these issues seem nearly impossible to solve. I suppose that was the point, but it's hard on the reader. I mean, the title sort of nods to the whole thing. (OED: "a difficult problem which is only aggravated by attempts to solve it.") Morrison did accomplish what was set out for the book. Likely I should rate the book higher, I get that, so perhaps the rating reflects more on me as a reader.