Tag Archives: review

A Review and a Call for Readers to Write Reviews!

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This is a short review, of a very technical book, but I want to mention it because I want to reinforce the idea of readers (especially those who write) writing reviews. These don’t have to be fancy reviews. You could simply post your thoughts on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook (how about Twitter reviews?). Just share the love for the books you love!
Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice
Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice by Charles E. Bressler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It is never easy to review a textbook and I really want to give this book more like 3.5 stars because I just can’t quite review it as a 4.

The initial chapters on the history and general theory behind literary criticism were great, but I found as more detail was given on the specific genres of literary theory that I was skimming the material. Because of that I wouldn’t be able to assign this as a text, but instead I could see having it with me to use as a reference when students want an overview of say Russian Formalism etccc

Not a simple read, but a good resource when you need a refresher on a particular type of theory.

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Review: 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides

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5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides
5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides by The Oatmeal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the very first book I read on my brand new Kindle Fire (an early Christmas gift this year).

My rating, in some ways, is not completely fair to the book itself because the book itself is nearly a 5, however, the format of the book on the kindle notched it down just a tad into the 4 range.

Let’s talk about the book first: hysterical! I came across “The Oatmeal” website when planning a lesson on the semi-colon for my students. I bought a 2012 calendar based on several of the comics and I think I want to get the poster of just the semi-colon section to put up in my office. Not all of the comics are grammar related and might be deemed a little low-brow by some (like guys peeing in a public restroom . . . ), but I still enjoyed the book. I found myself laughing out loud at quite a few of the jokes so my childish humor was satisfied this holiday season.

The reason I have to mark the book down just a bit for its appearance on the Kindle is that you could not zoom in and some of the text was quite small. Granted, I have reading classes right now and perhaps I could have read it on my computer, but I think that is something the publisher should think about when releasing any further comic/graphic type books for devices with non-huge iPad type screens.

Read a few samples and then pick up a copy for you or someone else for fun!

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Review: Jam Tree Gully: Poems

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Jam Tree Gully: Poems
Jam Tree Gully: Poems by John Kinsella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is a pleasure to thoroughly enjoy a book so different from anything you would normally read. I have a tendency to read the poets from the contemporary American South (where I live), but this time I dove into John Kinsella’s rural landscape of Western Australia where I still found myself feeling at home.

The dedication and table of contents of “Jam Tree Gully: Poems” set up a chronology of place. Kinsella’s poetic speaker is moving to the Australian countryside where he and his family must contend with the wildness of nature as well as the urban (and/or unsavory) parts of life sneaking in to their Walden.

My reference to Walden is no mistake because even if Kinsella never quoted from Thoreau (he uses several quotes as epigraphs for this poems), you’d still get the sense of the man trying to find peace with nature that definitely resonates with the famous essayist.

Kinsella is skillful as he plays with free verse, rhyme and intricate word play. It is hard for me to pick a favorite piece because this is a pretty good sized poetry book with a wide variety of poems, but I want to mention “Greedy after this gossip” because it is so fun to read out loud: We don’t need to meet each other // to know each other. Sheep at goats far down low / are suddenly bleating at your door though // nowhere to be seen.

I found myself writing down page after page that I enjoyed, especially in the first 3/4 of the book (which is impressive) but the final 1/4 seemed to become a bit repetitive which is pretty understandable given the heft of the volume at over 150 pages, but stick with it to the end. You will enjoy the journey, the landscape and especially the Red Cloud poems that close out the collection.

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Chapbook Review – A Walk Through the Memory Place

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Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis (all ? of you), know how much I love chapbooks, so I am happy to be bringing you a review of a chapbook today. I am considering making book reviews more of a feature on my blog.

A Walk Through the Memory Palace by Pamela Johnson Parker won the 2009 qarrtsiluni Chapbook Contest judged by Dinty Moore.  Qarrsiluni is known for being a really great looking e-zine and they translated that design into this chapbook.

I read the print version but there is also a very nicely formatted online version with the interactivity of a downloadable podcast or the chance to hear the poems read as you access each page. I love how qarrtsiluni has combined the best of print and online publishing.

The print version has a fantastic look and feel to it (although the font size was a little small for me, but maybe I’m just getting old!) and you can sense the attention to detail in overall layout and design. The poems inside are also well crafted.  I particularly found myself noting that the poet was very attuned to language and most specifically vocabulary.

My favorite poem in the collection: “Archaic Fragments” is a perfect example of the poet’s skill with language and her obvious love of words.  The first fragment is NARCISSUS: NARKE and Parker writes, “For days the gods talk / Of nothing but your / / Spine in the dark, white / Coral . . .” I just love the description of the spine in the dark and the fantastic contrast by comparing it to white coral. This kind of fresh image coupled with unique word choice is a hallmark of Parker’s collection.  She seems to build her poems word by word.

In the next fragment the beautiful imagery and phrasing continues. One of my favorite examples is very short and compact, as the lines and stanzas are. Parker writes, “after he // Described the dovetailed / Masonry”. You know you were expected something to do with wood working! I know I was.  I love when a poem surprises me.

If there is any real drawback to the collection, it may be the length of some of the poems. That is one of my own failings, I fear, as a poetry reader. You really have to work hard to get me to connect with a long poem. I found quite a few in this collection that were successful but I still prefer the shorter pieces to the longer ones.

This is, of course, just a small sampling of what I took away from this neat little chapbook, but you should stop by and check out some more poems and considering ordering a print copy for yourself.