Review: At Home in the World

At Home in the World by Joyce Maynard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I watched a couple of Joyce Maynard’s creative writing classes on Creative Live a few months back. I hadn’t heard of her, but she told of her relationship with J.D. Salinger and how the reactions she got from others prompted her to write a memoir of that time. In her writing she describes what happened, but she also describes her thoughts in a very sure footed way, not sharing more than necessary while giving interesting details. This is one of those books that didn’t leave me with any particular “oh I’ve got to remember that bit” moments, but it did leave me with an overall feeling of… understanding, I suppose. That’s not a feeling I get very often when reading books.

Having said I didn’t recall moments, I will share one that I did recall, because I could have seen my personality in this, as well as my daughters at times. Maynard exerts great effort to one-up her sister in getting writing gigs and winning writing contests. Quite understandable.


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Review: Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you are going to listen to Dolly’s audiobook of “The Songwriter”, I suggest a drinking game. Every time she says one of her songs is her favorite, take a drink. You might not make it halfway through. This is an interesting kind of audiobook. It is recordings of Dolly answering off-mike questions and talking about topics. Mostly she talks about her songs, but she also does talk about other singers, her history with Porter Wagner, her childhood, her movies and TV shows, and her lineup of movies on Netflix. I suspect Netflix sponsored this, as she mentions her movies on the platform a number of times throughout, and they were always named with the same trademarked series title. Dolly knows how to make a buck.

With this format, Dolly might have been at a loss for unique things to talk about given her songs as prompts. As you listen, you are first charmed by her responses, so country, so straight forward, so gracious. As the program continues, you find that Dolly tends to repeat a lot of what she has to say. There are plenty of platitudes repeated. I liked the presentation, but about a third could have been cut out without any loss of content. Given this is mostly a stream-of-consciousness recording, you aren’t getting well-thought-out sequences, it’s more hit-or-miss as to the anecdotes she relates. That is to say this isn’t a replacement for a good autobiography. The audiobook did have an occasional narrator to explain what Dolly was talking about (since they didn’t include the interviewer on audio), and an occasional song snippet when beginning to discuss a song. The song snippets were nice, and interestingly were the first lines of the songs, not the choruses.


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Review: Planetary Systems: A Very Short Introduction

Planetary Systems: A Very Short Introduction by Raymond T. Pierrehumbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: These Were the Sioux

These Were the Sioux by Mari Sandoz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A short, easy to read book, the author’s understanding of Sioux culture, looking from the outside in. The author was an early settler in Nebraska. She focuses on the rituals that she saw or heard about, and she explains them as she understood them. Quite interesting.

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Review: Civil War Prisons

Civil War Prisons by William Best Hesseltine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I grew up near the Rock Island Arsenal, site of a large Northern Civil War prison. I picked up this book for the description of that prison. There are seven prisons described in this short book, from both sides in the Civil War. I grew up in the generation that considered Hogan’s Heroes POW camp to be a reasonable depiction to start to understand war prisons. This book did portray the usual muddy, drab, cold environments, with limited food. I was surprised that the prisoners had as much freedom to move around the prisons as they did. I was also extremely surprised that the officer prisoners where treated so much better than the enlisted men, often getting their own prison, and able to buy supplies from neighboring businesses. It seems to a prison the guards tended to be the soldiers that didn’t have the temperament or intelligence to be in a fighting unit. As for the staff running the prison, it was hit or miss. The North seemed to try harder to “optimize” the running of their prisons, while the South seemed to promote from the guards, or at least share the same mentality, to the prisoner’s detriment. Quite an eye opening book, and one I will remember.

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Review: Hippie

Hippie by Paulo Coelho
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not my favorite of Coelho’s books that I’ve read. Not much happened. Having said that, I did like the story from the “hippie” point of view, and the cross continent bus trip itself was an interesting concept. I do believe there was more story that could be told there, as it ended somewhat abruptly.

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Review: Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing

Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing by Patrick F. McManus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Into the Twilight Endlessly Grousing” is one of the latest in a series of books containing magazine articles written by Patrick McManus. I’ve read most of his books, and greatly enjoyed them all. This one was one of my least favorites, though. It felt as if the editors had cherry-picked his best for the earlier books, and this one was not as up to snuff. Also, many of the articles were obviously newer, in that they mentioned bits of previous articles. One example is “The Stupidity Alarm”, where McManus mentions a number of predicaments in earlier articles, but felt like a column writer stretching for content. Some articles also felt quite a bit longer than I’ve seen in his earlier books. And some of the nostalgia he dredges up is not so much humorous as maudlin, generally the ones about aging. He does have the regular crew here for a few stories, such as Bike Ride. McManus has wonderful humorous descriptions that feel like Twain at times. Good collection.

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Review: They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?

They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? by Patrick F. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m reading my way through Patrick McManus’ books of his articles from sporting magazines, and am nearing the end. “They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They?” is the one for today, and I say that I enjoyed this one quite a bit. There seem to be more of my favorite types of stories here, the ones from the author’s childhood, with his normal cast of characters, and with some new introductions, like the sporting goods store owner and Sneed, the fish and wildlife guy. Favorite of the bunch is a dog story, called Skunk Dog, of course about his dog Strange. McManus’ stories remind me not necessarily of what I and my friends did when we were young, but what we considered doing… Funny, one of his better ones.

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Review: White Fang

White Fang by Jack London
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having missed reading Jack London in school, I’ve read two recently, with “White Fang” being the third. I enjoyed this story of the choices a wild wolfdog makes as she grows up, learning the ways of the world, and understanding the mean and the friendly. It was also the story of becoming the best by learning, then starting over when things change. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the dog’s pull to master other dogs, yet to be ultimately and willingly mastered by a friendly human. This one felt a little less pertinent than “Call of the Wild” to introspection, but still a wonderful story, with plenty of opportunities to see the morals in the story.

My sister always complains about stories where the dog dies at the end – she hates investing your heart into a story with a guaranteed sad ending. Here’s what I’d tell her: (view spoiler)[ While White Fang doesn’t die in the end, he faces plenty of violence at the hands of wild animals, other dogs, and people. In fact, a lot of the book is about overcoming or better preparing for violent situations. So it’s a rough emotional trip, but with a reasonably happy ending. (hide spoiler)]


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Review: My Grandfather's Son

My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this you appreciate the difficulty Thomas had in rising from his roots to become a Supreme Court justice. Mostly you understand his rise is a rise from poverty, and that he had support of many, especially his first political boss. But key was his drive to better himself and to live the way his family taught him. Worth reading for the truly American story of bootstrapping one’s life.

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Review: The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life

The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life by John le Carré
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While most would probably say the main interest here is Le Carre’s real world spy history, I found the bits about how a well-off writer does his research to be most interesting. Le Carre takes us into his day to day life, sometimes listening in to his conversations at breakfast or seeing the background research questions concerning a hotel. Quite interesting in the chosen detail, but overall not what I was expecting.

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