Review 180: The Short Reign of Pippin IV

The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was something completely different from your typical Steinbeck. Funny and still holds well to today. Only Kings are outdated! Enjoyable and easy read.

Have to admit one of my favorite parts is the King of France scooting around and the image on the cover! 😄

Also, love the little line drawings that are in the book.

Not serious one bit. Is it making fun of France or the United States, or both?  United States corporations are run like governments, so the book says….or the corporations take place of government is more accurate.

 

Kings are outdated. The world has moved on from a reigning ruler based on heredity.

Read a library book copy, as I bought a first edition of this book in November 2018. The library copy was also a first edition, which held up well to a lot of use. As Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, and I love the cover, I had to splurge on a 1st ed. of this book. It is in my treasured library. Happy to now have read the book as well.

Review 179: Political Sign

Political Sign by Tobias Carroll
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With the recent ending of the 2020 U.S. election season over, at least as far as voting, I figured I could approach this book. Honestly, there is way too many political signs, commercials, mailers and everything else thrown at you for long months when there’s an upcoming election. It can become exhausting just sifting through the daily mail of circulars by the various candidates.

There is a good reason behind that, which Tobias Carroll points out early on, which is name recognition. That is one of the top ways a political candidate gets voted into office. Makes sense, as most people want to know at least something about the person they are voting for, even if it’s only a name and the party they are align themselves with.

The book took on much more than the typical political signs you may think about, such as yard signs, billboards, and those placards people carry when marching in the streets. I was surprised at the breadth that political signs may appear. Yes, tattoos make sense when you think about it. One of the bigger surprises for me was sporting events, particularly in soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it.

All in all, this was a thorough book on the topic and short enough that the material doesn’t get bogged down with too much. The coverage is mainly focused on the United States, but veers away from time to time, into the UK and other countries where football (soccer) is the main sporting event. There was some discussion about the history of political signs as well, but not in depth.

This book is part of the Object Lessons series, and they are all fairly short, and focused topic reads.

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

Review 178: The Battle For Scotland

The Battle For Scotland by Andrew Marr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The book was more political than I'd hoped. Being that it's not my country a lot of it was too in the weeds for me, but got a little more history on the subject.

some notes: Did it end before the referendum? No…it mentioned the “Better Together” campaign. But that was an intro, or added on in the beginning, I think. A reviewer said this was a rehashed, well, it seems like it was an old book with update chapter and new introduction. Most of the book covered Scotland and the attempt at independence and why it never happened. I did wish for something more concise, not as many details of the politics. 

Review 177: Desert Oracle: Volume 1

Desert Oracle: Volume 1: Strange True Tales from the American Southwest by Ken Layne
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The book starts out very wisely in letting you know how to survive the desert – bring lots of water, more than you think you need. If you get lost, or your car breaks down, stay by your car! There are brief mentions of those who didn’t make it out…

The next section is about the Yucca Man, and other very short tales of a creature seen in the desert called by many names, such as Bigfoot.

A little boy is lost. A scout leader failed in his job.

It goes from there….

These are little vignettes…tales of quirky people and tales of mysterious things that may be true, or not (ghost bighorn sheep).

Most of the entries read like snippets, not complete stories, and the writing tends to jump from one thought to another, then end abruptly. But don’t let that dissuade you from reading this. It adds to the sense, a layer to the oddness that are desert dwellers.

As a compilation, there tends to be a few places where something is repeated. For myself, too much on UFO’s and aliens when considering the whole work, would have liked more on history of place, or characters, those were the better entries. The snippets are of varying length with one section about cowboy music being very long. The writing isn’t polished either, you take what you can get when you’re out on the desert.

The book also contains photos and line drawings, which adds to the character of the book.

You don’t have to love the desert, but if you do this book will thrill you!

I'll read a volume 2, if/when that comes out.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 176: The May Bride

The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book was slow plodding along, with so much based on looks and few words actually spoken, yet tremendous weight placed on what was said. Perhaps that's how it was during that time and station, withholding, not revealing all that you thought or may want to say. But it made for a slow book. Then suddenly something happens, revelations are made, decisions. The last 30 pages or so, the book is quick and briefly goes through the rest our narrator's life, being sent to be a lady in the queen's court at the behest of her eldest brother.

Turns out this queen is the first of Henry VIII's wives, and Jane, the narrator will be the third. This is historical fact. I do not have much knowledge of England's Royalty over the years other than some generalities, and this book has a focus of Katherine Fillol who married Jane's eldest brother Edward Seymour. To be honest, the facts for me save the book, even though I didn't know this until the end with a summary of history as it pertains to this book.

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.