Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

26
May

#Poetry The Lost Arabs

  1. I struggled with this collection.
  2. I admired just 23% of the poems.
  3. When Sakr wrote about his family, ancestors…
  4. he reached me emotionally.
  5. Favorite poem was “Chances”.
  6. When Sakr spoke with “no holds barred”
  7. (he does not exercise any form of self-censor)
  8. ...I felt only his rage, anger and frustration.
  9. I felt the first 20 poems were written by a completely
  10. different poet than the rest of the poems.
  11. A collection is written over the course of years (2017-2018)
  12. …so the world and mind of a poet is dynamic….
  13. and that can change his creative vision.
  14. Sakr’s voice is unique
  15. …but I don’t know if everyone will enjoy is writing!
  16. #MixedReactions

24
May

#Poetry Fire Front

  1. Poetry is personal. Period. End of review!
  2. This anthology of Blak Australian writing is impressive.
  3. I read 53 poems.
  4. ..read about each poet before opening the poem.
  5. Each poem was a gift tied up with a ribbon
  6. …never knew what I was going to get.
  7. 38% of the poems were excellent…
  8. Favorite? It has to be Melanie Mununggurr – Williams
  9. 2018 SLAM champion.
  10. You can enjoy her poem “I Run”… on You Tube.
  11. I was speechless, so beautiful!
  1. I almost forgot to mention the introduction by editor
  2. Alison Whittaker…don’t miss it!
  3. She reveals that poets are holders of the “fire”.
  4. Each poet has his or her own style to let the language “burn”.
  5. Title: Fire Front
  6. — how the fire (poetry) keeps moving responsibly
  7. — with the threat of reckoning….and the offer of restoration.
  8. #MustRead anthology
  9. …you won’t regret it!
23
May

#Non-fiction The Betrayal

  1. Scathing exposé of the ‘bungled actions’
  2. of USA….during the Vietnam War.
  3. The Powers that Be threatened W. Corson with court martial
  4. if he proceeded to publish this book in 1968.
  5. This book brought back many memories.
  6. I was just as stunned as many in USA in 1960s with the
  7. daily reports from Vietnam and the body count
  8. while watching Walter Cronkite CBS evening news.
  9. ….I am speechless…truly speechless.

  1. Ch 1-4 back round information about struggles in Indochina 1950-60s.
  2. Generals Thieu, Ky, Loan.
  3. Remember Gen Loan in the iconic execution photo by Eddie Adams?
  4. Gen. Loan was head of the National Police and made Himmler’s Gestapo look
  5. like the board of overseeres in a Quaker church!
  6. Ch 5 great explanation about the Vietcong
  7. …organization, recruitment, reasons for its success and what to do about it.
  8. The book looses its punch in chapters 6-10
  9. …too many stats that did not interest me.

  1. Corson closes the book with 2 great chapters….
  2. Ch 11- Birdwatching in Vietnam
  3. Visitors such as …congressmen, managers, LBJ’s cronies,
  4. scientists, defense undersecretary…
  5. the author compares them with birds
  6. …vultures, magpies, parrots, dodo, owls, woodpeckers etc.
  7. They all turn war into a spectator sport.
  8. Ch 12 – To Stay, or Not to Stay?
  9. Corson highlights problems and possible remedies.
  10. #MustRead …..
  11. for anyone who still wants to
  12. make sense of the Alice in Wonderland politics of Vietnam.
21
May

#Short Stories Raymond Carver

  1. Love and Marriage
  2. Estranged couples
  3. Adultery
  4. Influence of Alcohol
  5. Male bonding during hunting trips
  6. …these were the main themes in this collection.
  7. 17 stories and I only lked 4! (23 %)
  8. There were a few stories about friendship
  9. …older couples during  an evening playing bingo
  10. …and a confessional conversation between a father and son.
  11. #HugeDisappointment
  12. I recommend Carver’s collection Cathedral (1983)
  13. that was a great series of short stories!
20
May

#AWW2021 Jessica Anderson

I had this book shipped all the way from Australia (…via Amazon.com)

Little did I know I ordered a ‘gem’!

8 short stories that are EXCELLENT!

Part 1 (5 stories) reflects the title

Stories told from the point of view of Beatie, (Jessica Anderson)

a young girl growing up in Brisbane (…the “warm zone”),

She recreates family relationships and trace

the path from adolescence to adulthood.

Rhoda, Sybil and Neal represent the author’s siblings.

Part 2: Sydney Stories

2 unhappy marriages + one happy relationship.

The last story can easily be a ‘novella’…took 3 hrs to read

…but oh, so good!

This is the first short story collection I’ve read with

a perfect 100% score….all 8 stories are worth your reading time.

#Bravo Jessica Anderson!!

20
May

#Non-fiction Bloodlands

  1. This book is a MEGA disappointment.
  2. …hours and hours of shock and awe during my
  3. bike rides with this #audio book.
  4. Every day when I left the house I kept saying:
  5. “The book will get better….it must because it can’t get worse”!
  6. The author seems for the most part concerned
  7. with the mathematics of the dead…
  8. …the numbers just keep coming.
  9. Where is the analysis? Where is the judgement? Where is the scrutiny?
  10. The book was a waste of time
  11. ….I’d recommend you read the 1960 classic
  12. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by W. Shirer.
  13. …objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.

16
May

#20 Books of Summer 2021

 

26
Apr

#Non-fiction Ghost Wars

Finally finished…
Surprised how Steve Coll decided to end the book.
….bit of a disappointment.
Afterword is dated 2004…mentioning the hope of capturing Bin Laden.
Well, we know the answer to that!
Was this book worth ALL the listening hours (26 hrs 46 minutes) and a Pulitzer Prize.
No.

  1. Extensive research but just so detailed it felt like a internal CIA report rather than a book that would engage the general public looking for some
    general historical knowledge.
  2. I found it very VERY difficult to stay engaged with it
  3. I also had a bit of trouble following along with who everyone was throughout most of the book, as major players drift in and out over the long span of time covered by the book.
  4. The savvy reader knows the US government doesn’t declassify anything until after 25 years so many events are still to current to have anything “secret” revealed.

Notes from Goodreads.com

March 25, 2021 – page 38 5.34% “New book for bike rides!
Prologue: 1986 USA 2500 Stingers weapons were given away by CIA to Afghan rebels. Now CIA wants to buy them back! Feels like “close the barn door after the horse has bolted”!
ch 1: Harrowing description of the sacking US Embassy 1979 Islamabad. Gen Zia (Pakistan) left Americans to die…it took 5 hours to make a max 30 min drive to the embassy. Zia = #FairWeatherFriend”

March 30, 2021 – page 70 9.83% “Ch 3: 1981 Howard Hart is CIA station chief Pakistan…the CIA has NO strategy for this war (Afghanistan)…just money, mules and mortars. “You’re a young man; here’s your bag of money, go raise hell” was the way Hart understood his orders.”

March 31, 2021 – page 95 13.34% “Today we learn more about CIA Director William Casey (1981-1987).
Why did Casey fly secretly to Rome in a windowless C-141 black jet and be taken undercover to the Vatican? Hmmmm….”

April 4, 2021 – page 150 21.07% “1985….very boring chapter about CIA undercover activities in Afghanistan. Really, I cannot keep up with all the names: Massoud, Rabbani, Abdul, Mazar, mujahideen. CIA did send Buffalo sniper rifles to Massoud. You could shoot a target 1-2 km distance!”

April 11, 2021 – page 220 30.9% “Part II: just read about the plane crash that killed Pakistan’s Gen Zia August 1988. C130 aircraft performing as expected on a clear, cloudless day. Yet it had inexplicably fallen out of the sky. Usual suspects: KGB – CIA? Why was no effort made to unmask the perpetrators? Why was so much effort expended on suppressing incriminating evidence? Crash is still a mystery…Afghan….truly a Ghost War!”

April 18, 2021 – page 370 51.97% “If there is anything I learned in this book is that corporate interests (gas) were more important than political (USA) interests in Afghanistan.
1996 pipeline agreed upon, 2015 construction…operational gas line 2020. Because the line passes through 5 provinces that are Taliban strongholds…no wonder USA is probably striking a deal with them. We’re leaving as long as you guard and don’t interfere with the gas line.”

22
Apr

#AWW2021 Song of the Crocodile

The first chapter was wonderful..using the classic rule:
Panorama, zoom in to “Darnmoor, The Gateway to Happiness”….zoom out.
The chapter describing matriarch Margaret Billymil working in the local hospital
was very good. (The book should have just been about Margaret and her life)
Then I lost interest.


Ms. Simpson is a well-known storyteller in Australia.
I found that her objective was to share her tales about her ancestors.

The spirits hover over the town offering advice and support.
But truth be told…I found these passages jolted the flow of the story.


Nardi Simpson created a 3 generational story (Margaret, Celine, Mili)
…but there are no stand-out characters.

If this book were to be made into a film there is no character

the powerful indigenous Australian actress Leah Purcell

…could really get her teeth into.


Last thoughts:

The story is predictable. My interest was waning.

I think this was due to the unbelievable conversations that took place

…became overly sentimental towards the end.

#Disappointed

6
Apr

#Non-fiction Urk

 

It took me four days to read this 296 page book.

Why?

I did not want it to end.

Absolutely fascinating book about a small fishing town in

The Netherlands that you probably never heard of.

It is shrouded in an ultra Calvinistic believe and has 25 churches

for a population of 20.000.

Belgian journalist M. Declercq decides to move to Urk for 6 months.

Can he discover the “hidden” undercurrent that flows through the village?

I hope this book is translated into English very soon.

It is nominated for Brusse Prize 2021.

The Brusse Prize for best Dutch-language journalistic book of the year.

The book is a GEM…and I love the cover.

#MustWinThePrize

Last Thoughts:

Did Mr. Declercq discover the ‘undercurrent’ in the village?

Oh, yes ….but it took him 6 months to win the trust of many people he interviewed.
Many people did not want to speak “on the record” but there were a few very brave people who told Declercq what really happens in the village. The Lord doesn’t care how many bible verses you have memorized….He cares about how you treat people.
This was the best book I’ve read all year….and surprise…a book in Dutch, right in my own backyard!

 

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »