Review 241: Turtle Island

Turtle Island by Gary Snyder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Not sure why it took me so long to read this small book of poetry.


I do not know enough about poetry, past nor present. It feels like this book of poems was revolutionary in a way, discussing nature and native peoples, but I can’t be certain. It did win a Pulitzer prize in 1975 the year after it came out, so it did get attention and people liked it.

It feels like a book I should have read many years ago. I did now, finally. Owned it for who knows how long, likely ten, no fifteen.


It was recommended to me a long while back, and they were right, something I would enjoy, although I wasn't blown over by the book either. 

There are a few essays in the last portion directly addressing environmental issues, on how to make the world a better place, for the environment mostly, but also on how to be better humans. It feels ancient and still relevant for today. Of course the suggestions would never work, too many people are stuck in the mind set of “Freedom” and “My Rights” and honestly, selfishness. No, too many people think of themselves not of society, at least in the United States. And funny enough in discussing population in the 70s there were too many, should be reduced, now it had nearly doubled, if not more.

Review 240: The Hard Crowd

The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 by Rachel Kushner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Having never read any of Rachel Kushner’s fiction before may have hindered my enjoyment of these essays. Many of them touch on aspects of what inspired or were the foundation of her novels. Most, but not all, of these essays are autobiographical in that they discuss Kushner’s life or people she knew. At times it was a bit tedious for me, but funny enough the last sentences in the last essay touch on this and that acuteness improved the book overall.

Certainly fans of Kushner’s work will enjoy this collection. For myself my favorites were in the beginning, essay “Girl on a Motorcycle” and “In the Company of Truckers”.



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

Review 239: The Rain in Portugal

The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Billy Collins makes me want more poetry in my life. His poems invite you in. The poems are relatable and enjoyable. Many have humor where you may actually laugh out loud.

In this collection of poems animals come up quite often, as if a theme. Often it is cats, but there are a few about dogs, turtles appear more than once, there’s an elephant and other animals. From the cats who misbehave to dogs who don’t know what city they reside in, you can be sure an animal is lurking around the next line.

One of my favorite poems in the collection is Traffic. We have all sat in a car, stuck, feeling like everyone including a "family of snails" are travelling faster than you.

I may now have to include a poetry book or two by the bedside table for daily reading.

other read Billy Collins books:

The Trouble With Poetry - Sept.2011

Nine Horses - June.2006

Questions About Angels - January.2003

Sailing Alone Around the Room - Aug.2002

Picnic, Lightning - January 1999

Review 238: Legends of the North Cascades

Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve been binge watching the television show Alone and this book seemed to fit right in with the theme, wilderness survival. Perhaps I have seen too much of that show as I was a bit critical of the survival methods in this book, but that wasn’t the point. This is about a man, Dave Cartwright, with PTSD from serving too many tours in Iraq. He’s finally done with his service, comes home and his marriage is falling apart. Yet at one point they have a long, long talk and things are better and now they are having a baby.

In the present time for the main story the baby, Bella is seven, nearly eight years old, and they just lost the glue of the family. Dave doesn’t handle this one more loss well and gives up on society, thinks that everyone has everything wrong and what we need is to return to nature, to feel what is real. So he takes his daughter into the mountains, the North Cascades to live. Dave found a cave that is secure, they go to town for supplies and library books.

Meanwhile Bella “hears” or “understands” this life from a long time ago, a woman S’tka and her life, starting as S’tka and her husband were kicked out of the clan. Then she is pregnant. S’tka and her family end up at moments mirroring what is going on with Dave and Bella.

In town, Dave’s brother and family, have a hard time with letting him just go live in the woods with a young girl. A social worker hikes out to visit them, a ranger. Dave’s brother takes custody for a while. There are brief snippets from people in town about what they thought about “Cave Dave”.

The chapters are short, and we have Bella's point of view as well. Having the little bits from the town people ultimately did not add anything to the story. At first, I wasn’t sure where the ancient people’s stories were going, why was it added into the novel, but with the mirroring aspect it does add another layer to the overall story. It has its own tale to tell, about being alone in the world separated from your community and what it takes to survive.


Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 237: An Alphabetical Life

An Alphabetical Life: Living It Up in the World of Books by Wendy Werris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A book about books, or rather book selling. While some books are mentioned that the author, Wendy Werris, like or enjoyed, there really isn’t any sense of the actual books themselves. So this becomes more a book about selling, and it could be anything really. Although it’s not anything, it’s books and bookstores and occasionally authors.

It starts with her first job, almost as a whim to do something the summer before heading off to college. Werris talks her way into working at a bookstore, Pickwick in Hollywood, one of the family favorite bookstores. She enjoyed the job and the people she worked with so much that she chucked school and stuck with the bookstore job, quickly raising in the ranks with next managing the children’s books.

We get a glimpse into her life growing up, with her father a writer of comedy, writing jokes for people like Johnny Carson and Jackie Gleason. In fact the work with Gleason took him away from the family for months on end caused a lot of issues for young Wendy, which is brought up many times throughout the book. Around 2/3rd the way through there was mention of a sister, and so little was there about her two sisters that I was thinking she was an only child!

I wasn’t thrilled by the writing style or the way Werris would categorize and talk about people, and the structure of the book was a little off at times. It was mostly linear but not entirely so we had this going back and forth in her career that fit the story about a specific person, but made for some confusion on my part. Then we get to the latter part of the book and even more personal for her, when she writes about a late-night intruder who raped her. Now the writing got much better, even the last few chapters seemed to improve. It was almost mirroring her life in some ways, as before she went to counseling to deal with the rape and her “missing” father she found solace in drinking and drugs, and wild spending. After counseling she was better, and so was the writing.

I ended the book enjoying the book much more than the first half, for a little insight into the book industry, although how it was back in the days before big box stores and internet bookstores. The demise of small independents is a sad note in the book industry, but there is hope as some still do exist and not all have gone away.