Reviews

Want to know what our librarians and staff are reading? Browse through a variety of reviews added to our catalog from a variety of genres.

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  • The Neo-pagans : Rupert Brooke and the ordeal of youth by Delany, Paul.
    ★★★★★

    Reviewed by Kay W on May 5, 2011

    Tagged: Biography and Autobiography

    Reading the bios of poets who lived before the advent of half-way decent mood disorder drugs is usually like watching a short party quickly turn into an overlong funeral procession. Delany, who concentrates his bio not only on the mercifly short-lived Brooks, but also on the circle around him, what influenced them and what they influenced, manages to delay the funeral to the last fifth or so of this well-written portait of a boychick and his age.

     

    This makes for a charming, often delightful book, where most of the subject matter deals with a halcyonish upper-middle class England whose children were beautiful, intense and both highly civilized and a bit wild at the same time. Since it was a mood that reappeared during the 1960s and early-70s, Delany somehow transports us from Dr. Arnold and Rugby to 100 years later while showing the connections in between. This is very fine social history that reads like a good novel.

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  • Good poems, American places by Keillor, Garrison.
    ★★☆☆☆

    Reviewed by Kay W on May 3, 2011

    It may well be a defect in the taste and sensibility of this reviewer, but, to this reviewer, the majority of these "good poems," read as boring, prosy, tone-deaf, overly-minute descriptions that doen't manage to offer access to deep sentiment nor to original insight nor to new possibilities of any kind.

    This felt especially disappointing because this reviewer happily embraces the premise of the selection: poems about places that the average, educated poetry-reader will find engaging and easily understandable. Obviously a few of the poems here fit the criteria and are enjoyable--but so many seem based on fairly common-placed insights presented with too little rhythem and not enough melody (Except, of course, for "Folsom Prison Blues," which can at least be sung.)

    Perhaps the dull setting does make great lines stand out: "You were the lyrics I sang but never wrote down," (Deborah Garrison on New York,) "the pennycandystore beyond the El, is where I first, fell in love with unreality,"(Lawrence Ferlinghetti,?) or "The low sandy beach and the thin scrub pine, The wide reach of bay and the long sky line," (George Santayana hypnotized by Cape Cod.) If poetry is memorable speech, a poem should be something you half memorize without even trying to. Perhaps someday, such an analogy, and anthology, will once again grace our shores.

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  • Seer of Sevenwaters by Marillier, Juliet
    ★★★☆☆

    Reviewed by Teresa G on May 2, 2011

    This is a mildly entertaining story of Sibeal, whose destiny to give up secular life to become a Druid comes into question during the summer she spends on the Irish island of Inis Eala. Shortly after arriving on the island a ship is wrecked along the shore and three mysterious strangers are rescued, one rescued by Sibeal herself. As tensions between the three survivors grows, Sibeal begins to unravel the mystery that holds them together. Sibeal and her romantic feelings for Felix, the man she rescues from the icy waters, are at the heart of this light magical romance.

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  • Mr. Mendoza's paintbrush by Urrea, Luis Alberto.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Allen M on Apr 29, 2011

    Interesting tale about a self-proclaimed "Graffiti King" who has appointed himself as the conscience of a Mexican village. Teenage peeping toms with overactive hormones, long dead monks, and even JFK are targets of his caustic messages that anger, intrigue, or amuse the villagers depending on their point of view. Everyone in the village gathers on the day Mr. Mendoza says he's going to heaven. No one wants to miss his fascinating final act.

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  • The conscientious gardener : cultivating a garden ethic by Reichard, Sarah H.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Kay W on Apr 28, 2011

    This is an interesting book on, as the subtitle says, cultivating a garden ethic. It manages to bring alot to the table, scientific ecological and medical know-how, snippets from gardening and ecological classics, and a personal style that communicates easily and clearly. Any serious gardener will find something of use here.

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  • The informed gardener by Chalker-Scott, Linda.
    ★★★☆☆

    Reviewed by Kay W on Apr 28, 2011

    This is a tiny(in terms of content,)book that addresses common gardening misconceptions. It is a collection of 35 columns originally targeted at professional landscapers, and frankly, if I had paid for this book, I would have felt cheated by the small number of topics. There is too much white space in this book, too little information for $25. However, the information contained is excellent, the author knows her stuff and communicates it clearly, so -- as a library book which can be read for free,-- it is a highly worthwhile read. Recommended for any serious gardener.

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  • The resurrection of the Romanovs : Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the world's greatest royal mystery by King, Greg, 1964-

    Reviewed by Helen A on Apr 26, 2011

    The first “real” biography of a woman named Franziska Schanzkowska, also known as Frau Tchaikovksy, Anna Anderson and Anastasia Manahan. For decades this woman was able to somehow convince some people that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia who survived the post-revolutionary massacre of her family. Incredibly, not only did her supporters believe that she was the grand duchess (despite the fact that she did not resemble the latter in the least, and even though those closest to the real grand duchess did not accept her claim), but they continued to uphold her claim even after the DNA results showed that she was none other but the missing Polish woman she was suspected to be all along. As strange as it sounds Schanzkowska’s story is not that unique - history is full of pretenders (especially royal ones) who gained their share of followers just as she did. Her claim was distinct in a sense that it was recent enough to have photographs of both individuals for comparison, and the fact that modern science put an end to the question of this woman's identity once and for all (at least for most reasonable people). In this book the authors (who were for many years major proponents of Anna Anderson/Franziska Schanzkowska as Anastasia) collected and organized the mountain of archival data to allow the reader to see how this strange saga evolved and reached its out-of-control proportions, and how various information got distorted in the process. This is an absorbing tale covering not just the life of a woman who would have remained in complete obscurity if she had not - with lots of help from her friends of course - take on someone else’s identity; but this is also a look at human nature: the power of dogma and denial, a story which would have made a fascinating psychological study.

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  • Double Fantasy by Holt, Cheryl
    ★★☆☆☆

    Reviewed by Camille T on Apr 25, 2011

    I can describe this book in three words - drama, drama, drama! The plot of this "romance" novel is so ridiculous you know you should stop reading but you can't because you gotta see how this soap opera will play out. If you have some time to spare and want to read a book which will cause you to utter, "no way!" numerous times this is the book for you.

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  • Dirty by Hart, Megan
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Camille T on Apr 25, 2011

    Wow... I don't know how Megan Hart mixes the erotic with such sadness so well. I haven't read many erotic novels but I can assume they aren't filled with such broken people. But don't let that deter you from reading her novels.

    This is an interesting story of a woman living but not living and suddenly finds herself in a "relationship" which she doesn't want but she enjoys. We learn about her life and what made her live this way... and well, it's painful.

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  • Founding gardeners : the revolutionary generation, nature, and the shaping of the American nation by Wulf, Andrea.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Kay W on Apr 25, 2011

    When reading history, it is easy to become so caught up in events and ideas that one forgets the lived lives at the center of the rucus, as well as the living enviroments that formed these lives. This thoughtful, fascinating book looks at 4 of our founding fathers, 3 Republicans and 1 Federalist, and shows what they all had in common, for they were all sons of the soil. We see Adams, with his manure/seaweed obsession, Washington, focused on setting forth an elegantly plain, native style in landscape design, polymath Jefferson especially rabid for new seeds, new strains, and Madison, working to keep up with the other three. We see them in friendship and in emnity but always sharing a sense of the land and its enormous possibilities.

    Wulf explores the details of each one's evolution as both a politician and as a farmer. Each one found refreshment from working the soil(in Adams case,) or in directing others, sometimes slaves, to do so(Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Adams too.)Each one found in the healing solace of nurturing nature a necessary balm against the strife of politics.

    Since the frontier closed and urbanity became the rule, it has been hard for us to properly imagine what the land meant to these men. It formed them as they formed it ... and us. This book is a salutary corrective to our contemporary assumptions.

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  • The Witch's Daughter by Brackston, Paula
    ★★★☆☆

    Reviewed by Teresa G on Apr 23, 2011

    When Bess Hawksmith's father, brother and sister die of the plague in 17th century England her neighbors turn against Bess and her mother. In order to keep her daughter alive, Bess' mother sends her to live and study with Gideon Masters. This decision affects the Bess' life for the next four hundred years.

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  • Liar by Larbalestier, Justine.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Joel N on Apr 20, 2011

    Larbalestier has created a claustrophobic world narrated by someone who might be the most unreliable narrator in the history of YA fiction. Of course we know that Micah is a liar from the title, and from the fact that she keeps telling us over and over again. But as soon as the lies get stacked too high and the reader catches on that Micah might not even know what is true and what is not, the plot takes a surprising and shocking turn. Be forewarned though: it's not a twist that tells truth. Here be monsters!

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  • Moses Montefiore : Jewish liberator, imperial hero by Green, Abigail.
    ★★★☆☆

    Reviewed by Kay W on Apr 18, 2011

    This is an adequate, fact-filled biography of an important figure in 19th century European and Middle-Eastern Jewery. Montefiore was an intelligent, wealthy, well-connected, assimilated, devout Italian/English Jew who did much to further awareness of the various plights of the disporia in the 19th-century, aiding the process of Jewish liberation from injustice while also setting the stage for the Zionism which ultimetly led to the founding of the modern state of Israel.

    This reader's main quibble is that the author's approach and prose style makes not only her subject seem a bit boring, but also his contemporaries and their shared world as well. Montefiore may have been too self-consiously the proper public man to have left evidence of an inner world to set a biography alive, but his outer world was no less fascinating than our own today. This 400 page tome, while informative , would have benefited from a bit more ...pizazz.

  • Between planets by Heinlein, Robert A. (Robert Anson), 1907-1988.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Jeff B on Apr 18, 2011

    The fourth of the Heinlein "Juveniles," preceded by Red Planet and followed by The Rolling Stones (aka Space Family Stone .). As always with juveniles: clear, simple writing; depth of social and cultural constructs; characters you can root for...or despise; just fun reading! This will be the fourth Juvenile for me, too, out of 12. Here's a quick list of all twelve, if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles

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  • Why I am a Buddhist by Asma, Stephen T.
    ★★★★★

    Reviewed by Jeff B on Apr 18, 2011

    "No-nonsense Buddhism with red meat and whiskey," the subtitle says it all. Asma brings out the main tenets of Buddhism and looks at them through the prism of being a single Dad raising a very young son by himself. He also applies his love of jazz music and his times as a member of a band to his understanding of what Buddhism means. He goes out of his way to be respectful of other world religions and makes very few comparisons, but Asma shows that Buddhism is a vibrant, contemporary, clear-eyed religion/way of life that is as much a part of (maybe even more of)this modern day as is Christianity, Islam, or Judaism.

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  • Stars in my pocket like grains of sand by Delany, Samuel R.
    ★★★★★

    Reviewed by Jeff B on Apr 18, 2011

    Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is a science fiction masterpiece. A tale on sexual attractiveness, and an examination of interstellar politics among far-flung worlds. First published in 1984, the novel's central issues—technology, globalization, gender, sexuality, and multiculturalism—are still relevant toay, maybe even more so. The novel's topic is information itself: What are the repercussions, once it has been made public, that two individuals have been found to be each other's perfect erotic object out to "point nine-nine-nine and several nines percent more"? What will it do to the individuals involved, to the city they inhabit, to their entire world society, especially when one is an illiterate worker, the sole survivor of "cultural fugue," and the other is you, the reader!

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  • Secrets of the Tudor court. by Emerson, Kate.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Helen A on Apr 15, 2011

    Tagged: Fiction

    Normally I would say this book is a little too much of a "romance" for my unromantic taste, and would not give it more than 3 stars. Since I was not familiar with the life of the protagonist of this historical novel (Elizabeth Brooke), I did not know how historically accurate this novel is. I wasn't even sure if this person actually existed until I read up on her while I was still in the middle of the book. Turns out, the story is rather accurate historically, which is why it gets 4 stars. Yes, there is some conjecture, as in any novel based on real events, but on the whole all the events that take place in the book actually did take place... It was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end, although the writing style was just mediocre, IMO. And I did learn a lot more about Henry VIII's last brother-in-law, William Parr.

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  • Kardashian konfidential by Kardashian, Kourtney, 1979-
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Helen A on Apr 15, 2011

    Tagged: Self-Help

    Ok, yes, I am a little embarrassed that I read a Kardashian book... especially one that is intended for teenage girls. And yes, I have also been known to watch their show. So now you know, but moving right along. In it, all three K sisters are doling out advise about life - from fashion and beauty to sex to selling and buying on ebay, as well as reminisce about their celebrity lives, past and present . I tried to read it from a point of view of a teen girl, and decided that it really is an interesting book if you are one.

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  • A conflict of visions : ideological origins of political struggles by Sowell, Thomas, 1930-
    ★★★★★

    Reviewed by Kay W on Apr 12, 2011

    It is not difficult for a liberal to praise this fine book by the Hoover Institute's Thomas Sowell. Sowell shows how part of the disconnect between most liberals and conservatives rests with their subscribing to different concepts of human nature. These different concepts then color our perceptions, causing us to define issues in different ways that play havoc with our ability to effectively communicate with each other. Everyone interested in politics can find useful concepts here.

    Sowell's divide is between what he calls the constrained, versus the unconstrained, vision, and like all good scholars, he recognizes that neither vision could lead to human flourishing without some admixture from its complement. Sowell takes up this divide, starting in the 18th century, without mentioning its roots in theological debates of the 5th century when Augustine and Pelagius covered much of the same ground. But Sowell's concern is the modern world, where the realms of politics and economics are privilaged, for it is in these realms that he traces how the divide plays out.

    The constrained version is the idea that human endeavor is limited and often mistaken, that no amount of human effort or knowledge can lead to unmitigated goods. Hence Adam Smith and laissez faire economics, Hamilton and limited government, Holmes and limited morality from the bench, Burke and limited political change.

    The unconstrained version is based on the idea that people can know the good and do it. Education and research are the backbones of this absolute. In this reviewer's opinion, here Sowell's offering of exemlers such as William Godwin and Marx, who were unpleasant, often irresponsible human beings, shows a slight tendency to setting up paper tigers. It is not hard to show Godwin as profoundly mistaken. But what of Abraham Lincoln?

    Sowell also never fully explains how conservatives can be so adamant that it is equality of processes, not equality of results, that matters. For what human being does not naturally allow at least part of his or hers judgement to be touched by results? It goes against common sense to never take results into account.

    In short, Sowell sets up two absolutes that do not really exist in complete purity(as he himself admits.) It is in the admixture of the two that real growth can occur. It is interesting that the Judeo-Christian ethos, which has survived for over 3,000 years, includes just such a mix. On one hand, there is the realization that man is not perfect, nor perfectable by his or her own powers. But there is also the affirmation of a prophetic vision of greater justice and mercy(and salvation through a messiah,) that should be attended to here in this imperfect world. The longevity of this vision, and its ability to birth and nurture Western civilization, perhaps argues for the need to understand the limited validity of both end's of Sowell's polarities, if either is taken as the last word on truth.

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  • Hail, hail, euphoria! presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck soup, the greatest war movie ever made by Blount, Roy.
    ★★★★☆

    Reviewed by Kay W on Apr 9, 2011

    This is a book by Ray Blout about the Marx Brothers, their comedic style and the movie Duck Soup. As such -- it has got to be great, right? Well, almost right.

    To make his magic, Blout uses a flexable and febrile prose style to mimic the brothers' just-this-side-of-making-sense chaos. This works, if you just want a pleasant, amusing book--which may have been all Blout was aiming at. This reviewer, however, was hoping for some undefinable more(perhaps unfairly.) For all the self-depreciation in Blout's style, his work occasionally rises to a sort of weird wisdom that could only come from him. Like a new ice-cream flavor that shouldn't work but does, you get a craving for it once in a long. And this poor reader was hoping for a few more licks( with lots of silly Marx Bros. sprinkles on top,) than the book delivered.

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