Tag Archives: reviews

Review Round Up

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I’m not really sure I should call this a review round up but it is the closest description I could come up with this morning. Here are some things, in no particular order, that I’ve read – watched – otherwise interacted with over the last few weeks or so

I often use this TedTalk called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in class. It is inspirational but also informative as I try to encourage students to write a biorgraphy of someone for their informative essay. They rarely do the assignment, but they enjoy the video. I recently downloaded the book version of William’s story and it is a really good read. There are some passages that get pretty technical, explanining how he got electricity to work from his homemade windmill, but he is still an inspiration. How I love someone who LOVES to learn.

On Netflix I came across a documentary about the Rock-afire Explosion. Well, my spouse really told me to stop on it because I didn’t know who the Rock-afire Explosion were. Showbiz Pizza was one of those places that I had heard of when I was a kid, but it wasn’t a place I was ever going to go to. I did finally take my nephew to Chuck E Cheese as an adult. We didn’t live close to a Showbiz and even when we were closer to it I just don’t think I can picture my parents surviving through all that loud music and games. We preferred the quieter game rooms next to the laundrymat :) The documentary is pretty well put together and what fascinates me about it is how we all seem to have something from our childhood that is a safe place for us; something we look back to with almost reverence. Now, for many of us, maybe we went back and read the revered book, watched the favorite movie again etc as adults and thought – hmm – why did I like that so well? But, I appreciate the deciation that the Rock-afire fans still have to what represents childhood to them.

I was reading magazines and blogs on my Kindle, but it just got to be too much so I back to finding articles and blog posts to read via Twitter and Facebook feeds. I do want to subscribe to some print magazines again. Any suggestions? I have plenty of litmags and I have Poets & Writers I’m thinking more in the educational field and/or just interesting. I was reading The Chronicle and National Geographic on the Kindle.

Speaking of NatGeo I’ve watched quite a few documentaries there as well recently including one on the FBI. I also caught up on quite a few PBS ones that are now on Netflix including one on the Lost Treasures of Tibet that was pretty fascinating. Still, none of these things have been quite enough to get me writing where I want to be writing. My writing feels a bit off lately. I have faith that it is just a matter of time before my need to join one of these conversations that I’m reading, watching, and talking about above (and others) will pull me back into a poem, story or essay.

And, in the mean time, I’ll keep watching, listening, and journaling away as if it was summer vacation. Wait – I’m almost there!

What have you guys been up to?

Review: The Wonder of It All

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5

The Wonder of It All
The Wonder of It All by Elizabeth P. Glixman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (or it really should be a 3.5 but I don’t get that option!)

I have read a decent amount of Elizabeth Glixman’s poetry over the last few years and I was intrigued by her pop culture commentary poems (my term for them) that I saw in Frigg where she also comments, “These poems are about present-time experiences and the memory of past experiences (childhood, family gatherings, regular trash-collection pickup—kinder, gentler times (nostalgia perhaps?) and the effect the craziness of today’s world can have on our psyches. ” Granted that statement not be true about all of the poems in “The Wonder of it All” but I think that is a way to read them.

This virtually hand sized chapbook contains poems with titles such as “The Man from TSA–Unrequieted Love Did Not Stop Glenn Close” and “The Neti Pot and the U-turn” cover a wide variety of modern day topics with a wry sense of humor as well as a touch of surrealism.

My favorite may be “Avalanche Worry” which ends with a disjointed – yet oddly appropriate list for the avalanche worrier, “Always Carry Tums / A cell phone / year supply of groceries / a can opener / a snorkel.”

Normally I rate poetry books as either a 5 – blew me away or a 4 – really loved it but not quite a 5, but I decided to use a rare 3 here (which should really be a 3.5 if I could do that) because I really enjoyed a lot of the poems and how the book overall was put together (consistent tone etc). But. There were moments when I found msyelf wondering why a poem didn’t end sooner or when I found myself pondering why there would be several lines with no punctuation but then it would start? From an execution point of view I just wasn’t quite sure.

All that being said, this is a fascinating little read; a little book you could pretty much fit in your pocket to pull out instead of your ever present cell phone.

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Review: The Complete Essex County

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The Complete Essex County
The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This graphic novel collection was a Christmas gift that I’m very glad I received. I find it hard, at times, to purchase graphic novels because they can be expensive yet I can read them very quickly. I found myself slowing down with this collection, though, in a very good way. I wanted the story to last longer so I’d read maybe 10 pages at a time to make it last longer.

This collection is set in Essex County, Canada and there are quite a few characters who get to tell their various stories of farm life, rural nursing etc but somehow each of these people have a connection to the other which isn’t surprising when writing about small town life.

I’m really in awe of the variety of Canadian graphic novel work I’ve read over the last few years. Is that where the non-super hero comics are being made best of all?

Don’t think of this as a comic, but think of it as a novel with lots of pictures. A novel that covers generations of families in a small community. Think of it as a chance – if you haven’t read graphic novels before – for you to try a new genre at the top of its game.

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Review: Into Thin Air

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11

Into Thin Air
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read Jon Krakauer’s work when a friend was gracious enough to share a copy of “Into the Wild” with me. I really love his writing style and I almost gave this book a 5. The only reason I didn’t is because I found the number of “characters” a bit daunting. This isn’t his fault as he was trying to recount a very involved real life event. I also felt a bit bad for him that he had to add a section at the end of the book to update an ongoing debate from other participants (and writer’s of other books) in the tragic events in the 1996 Everest climbing attempts. I, however, appreciated that he did do that and I think it would be fascinating to discuss the situation with my students. We want, often, to write about something dear to us, but deciding when – if or how – to publish those details when others are involved is precarious at best.

Krakauer is a skilled writer and I feel he presents himself as “truthfully” as he possibly can given the magnitude of the tragedy that he is writing about. I’d highly recommend this book for anyone.

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Review: Catching Fire

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Catching Fire
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m surprising myself by giving the second in a series of books a 5 when I think I gave the first one in the set a 4.

I found the first in the Hunger Games series to be a tad predictable and I wasn’t really sure how I felt about the protagonist. I think Katniss is more real in the second book and there were moments that actually surprise me in the second volume. I found myself entranced even if there were a few sections that seemed a bit over the top. Then again, I’m speaking of a post-apocalyptic series of novels where children have to go to battle each other as tributes so . . .

I’ve seen some pretty varied ratings on the 3rd book in the trilogy, but I’ll definitely read it. I’ll probably have to wait until March when I can borrow again from the Kindle Lending Library. 30 days and only one book? That’s like being a kid and being only allowed to take two books out from the library.

But, hey, it is free.

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Review: Pitch: Poems

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2

Pitch: Poems
Pitch: Poems by Todd Boss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Todd Boss first came to my attention several years back when he was making video poems. At the time, I was editing “Shape of a Box: The First YouTube Literary Magazine.” I never had a chance to feature Todd’s work in my magazine, but his rhythmic style of writing really suited itself well to performance venues such as video. What, therefore, would I think of his work in printed form?

I can now answer that question after reading his newest collection of poems titled “Pitch.” Pitch is a word with many denotations and connotations which (except for baseball) Boss makes good use of throughout this book where there are literal instruments (primarily piano) addressed, but where Boss also tries out different tones, textures within the poems themselves.

Reading this collection made me think of buying my first cassette tape (I know I am dating myself a bit with that reference). I often picked up an album because of one particular song. There were always other tracks on the album that weren’t quite what I was looking for, but I still enjoyed having the collection together as a whole. This is how I felt reading “Pitch.” Not ever poem is one I found myself going back to re-read because maybe they did use a bit too much word play (slant rhymes, repetitions etc) but there were a wealth of poems that kept me coming back for how much fun they had with the sounds of words within a free verse writing style.

One of my favorites is “Blind” where Boss throws out some dark humor as he writes, “One day the doctor tells you that you’re blind / to the truth. . . . Truth is a wave-/ length in the spectrum you’re unable to detect.”

That’s just a taste, or perhaps I should say, a note. You should find a few more samples (chords) and then pick up a copy for yourself to see which track becomes your favorite.

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Review: The Hunger Games

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I also posted a writing prompt for my creative writing students based on reading this book so I’ll share it here as well: what kind of post-apocalyptic world would you create? Any genre could work on this. Is the world “over” because of disease, war, aliens, zombies? What kind of people are left? What kind of scenarios will you put them through?

The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I finally jumped on the bandwagon to read “The Hunger Games.” I have read quite a few post-apocalyptic books over the years, especially in the YA genre, and while Collins has a unique setting for her book, I still found myself for the first 100 pages of the book or so going – um, saw that coming.

The main character is interesting enough, but she did little that I wouldn’t expect her to do: the strong girl who lost a father who protects/provides for her family while not realizing how beautiful and amazing she is. That being said, the story did become a page turner and I found myself wanting to finish. I wanted to see the end of the Games. I’m also interested enough in the world Collins has created that I have added the second book to my to read list. Not enough that I’ll download it (I did read it on my Kindle Fire) immediately, but enough that I do hope to get to it someday.

Definitely worth a read and I can see why teachers love it as well because there is a lot for you to talk about with war, loss etc…

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