Review: Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine by Max Lucado
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sermons loosely based on the topic of grace, which is loosely defined, so they could be about most anything. As sermons, I enjoyed the writing. As for discussions of grace, there are plenty of stories. Thing is, everything I read I expected to read. I didn't find anything standing out, or controversial, or even providing much in the way of definition. Truly a "comfort food" type of book, fine if you are looking for comfort in familiarity, but lacking if looking for the novel. For the first book by Lucado that I've read, I was hoping more for the latter. Now I know - expectations reset.

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Review: The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming Into the Void, and Make People Love You

The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming Into the Void, and Make People Love You by Shane Snow
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've read quite a few business storytelling books over the past few years, and I'm always looking to pick up some new ideas and get some great examples. But it ends up that this book is a sales pitch for the author's services, and is focused on management of the process of creating stories for marketing. Not my cup of tea. I enjoyed the style, not so much the message.

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Review: The Aspern Papers

The Aspern Papers by Henry James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I approach James cautiously. I'm turned off by some of his vintage sentence phrasing. I figured a novella would limit this exposure. I also liked the short summary of the book, which sounded similar to one of my favorites of decades back, Byatt's "Possession". Well, no comparison. Totally different kinds of stories. This was readable, and even enjoyable, in part due to the short length. James was still vintage, but not as flowery as others I've read. The story, showing the lengths one can go to for academic curiosity, but also showing how people can use each other, was interesting. My take, James earns another shot on my reading list with this solid story.

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Review: Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby by Charles C. Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The other reviewers on the whole have it right, Hornsby comes across as a single-minded jerk, thinking only of baseball. Well, that's not exactly correct. As many reviewers note, he also enjoys betting on the horses. But I also noted another interest that is repeatedly mentioned throughout the book -- Hornsby likes his money. There were three things I found interesting in this biography. One was that Hornsby was aware of his money. I don't know from the book whether you could say he was smart about his money, but the author chose to focus on his subject in part through his financial dealings. Hornsby was an investor, and was willing to use the courts to increase or maintain his wealth. Another interesting aspect of Hornsby's life was his interest in women. He went through multiple wives and there's an episode where his "housekeeper" was holding some of his money in order to hide it from his wife. Given Hornsby's gruff personality, I found his ability with women unexplained. The third thing I found interesting was personal. When Hornsby first bought a house in St. Louis, the author notes his address, and it ends up it was a block from where I lived during a summer internship about 50 years later. Time-shifting brush with greatness?

Overall, I found this an interesting read of a mostly unsympathetic character. I enjoyed the financial aspects of this biography -- it's something you don't see often -- but I suspect I'm in the minority on that. I'd read more by this author, but no more on Hornsby.

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Review: Purposeful Retirement Workbook & Planner: Wisdom, Planning and Mindfulness for Your Happiest Years

Purposeful Retirement Workbook & Planner: Wisdom, Planning and Mindfulness for Your Happiest Years by Hyrum W. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read Smith's book that this workbook was based on a few months back. I liked the audio of the book, as it had a personality that came through in the writing that was not typical for such books. It felt more friendly. I assumed this would have that same personality. It really doesn't, but only because the writing here is pretty brief. I found one section of a page or two that had a different take on a retirement topic than expected, and so for that it was worthwhile. Given this is a "workbook and planner", you expect worksheets, and here you get a lot. The first half or more of the book consists of about half page of writing and half pages of questions and blanks to fill them out. Most are typical. One example, what did your parents do during their retirement. Mostly thinking, feeling questions, with a few lists (think bucket list). Nothing deeply financial. The second half or so of the book was very specifically focused on two exercises for time management. Given the author was the president of the company responsible for the Franklin Day Planner, I expected a focus on time planning. What I didn't expect was that there would be two exercises that take up almost half the book. The first exercise is to lay out the perfect day in retirement, assigning activities to hours, then to create additional schedules of perfect days that have slightly different focuses. Say a learning day, and a chores day, and a visit friends day. There are worksheets for five or ten of these day plans. Then, covering roughly the last 1/3 of the book, the author includes about 50 blank weekly schedules. Your assignment is to fill out the weekly schedules for the bulk of a year with those perfect days. Shades of Franklin and Day Timer and other time management systems, but applied to your retirement time.

I read this as an ebook, so the worksheets weren't very helpful, beyond getting me to think about the questions being asked. But I believe any reminder to plan and to think through your options is a good thing, so I will rate this positively. But don't expect miracles, and do expect the guy from Franklin will have something to say on planning your time. This doesn't repeat what was in Smith's book of the similar title, so it could be used as an additional resource.

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Review: Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina

Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina by Chris Frantz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Back when I was in high school, I had musical tastes that ran counter to my traditional rural Midwestern classmates. While most were headbangers, or the milder version of arena rockers, or into post-outlaw country, I tended to the occasionally cerebral, often fun songs by artists outside of the mainstream as it existed where I was. Which means I enjoyed new wave, art rock, and the like, much of it British. Out of that conglomeration of sounds came “Psycho Killer”. I was a fan of Talking Heads from the time I first heard them. Got the vinyl, saw a 1982 concert, got some of the post-band albums, and even (much more recently) read David Byrne’s books on music and bicycles. Now, with Chris Frantz’s new book, you get the story from Chris and, maybe, wife and bandmate Tina Weymouth. Chris tells a personal version of events, from his early years to the formation of the band. His early band years stories are quite interesting, mixing the rock and roll business stories of touring, writing, and partying with his own story of falling in love with Tina. It seems they have their rolls here – David Byrne as the self-centered occasionally crazy one, Chris as the drug-taking but earnest one, and Tina as the beauty/Mom/responsible one (she's the Winnie Cooper of New Wave). Frantz provides an extremely detailed retrospective of their lives, with quite funny stories about the first major tour with the Ramones. Some of the later stories showed some reflection, as he talks about the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and about sailing.

As I listened to this audiobook, I found myself wondering a few things. One, how did he keep track of all the venues and all the anecdotes he relates here. At times, he even mentions the food they ate, forty years ago. I didn’t catch an explanation. Also, what was Tina’s role in the writing of this book? Perhaps this was described in the paper book, but in the audiobook with no addenda or intro, she is the often mentioned party who happens to live with the author, and who would have made a great co-author. This makes me wonder if Tina has her own book in the pipeline. When it comes to Tina, this book is a tribute to her from Frantz. He has absolutely nothing bad or critical to say about her. Perhaps she was greatly involved in writing this book but didn’t want her name on it because of this. Nevertheless, this is refreshing as a celebrity describing the love of his life, and I am surprised to say that this is the part, or theme of the book I feel I will remember the best.

I also wonder why Frantz reads the unabridged audio of his book. His tempo is very slow and plodding. I don’t think I could have listened to the entire book at normal speed, but at double speed it moved at a good pace. Still, there are a lot of stories here. Fans will find a lot of interest. I found it enjoyable, but you're left with a kind of bad taste for David Byrne. So now, I deserve a little break with some Tom Tom Club. Play that bass, Tina.


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Review: The Smell of the Night

The Smell of the Night by Andrea Camilleri
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another enjoyable Camilleri mystery. This one touches all the personal plot points from earlier books, such as the girlfriend, the nearly adopted son, the food,… We also find Montalbano, angry at the loss of a favorite olive tree, committing some serious vandalism to a house being built (including some strangely out of place and not further mentioned Disney statuary). Nice to see again that he’s human. The audio has the various policemen narrated in comic, “New Yark” accents that work better in cartoons. The extra “comic relief” the voices provided were not appreciated by me. I think the story stands well without the 40s movie wise guy talk.

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