Book Review | The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain

The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain
The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain from Flickr User: Wolf Gang

The first one was better.  Could I end my review there?  Maybe.  But I won’t.  I really love the image of this guy above, this is sometimes how I see Bryson in his traveling books.  Bryson is a local guy, an American, but he moved to England for some time and has written about different locales all over the world, my favorite still being A Walk in the Woods.

To me, The Road to Little Dribbling, sounds like it could be a book about a baby that drools.  I’ve never understood why the names are themselves funny in England, I guess we have a lot of those in America too though.

Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson by Flickr User: The National Churches Trust

Bryson is a funny and engaging travel writer and I have read many of his books.  There hasn’t been one that I disliked.  All of them have been entertaining enough.  This is the only book that I know if that is a sequel to one of his other books, Notes from a Small Island. I gave both of these books 3/5 star rating.  Not great, but in no way bad.  Still entertaining and I will keep them and re-read them at some point in the future as well.

The only reason they got a low’ish’ rating is that there are a lot of inside jokes that only Englishmen will get.  Not being one a lot of references to people and places went over my head.  Maybe this is why I liked A Walk in the Woods so much.  Since that book takes place in the Application Mountains it’s a little closer to this California boy than England is.

Book Review | The Stranger in the Woods

Stranger in the Woods
Stranger in the Woods

This may have been my favorite book I read in 2017.  I just let go of The Stranger in the Woods and gave it to my brother-in-law to read.  It is the fascinating story of a hermit who lived by himself outside year-round in all the weather of Maine.  It is a fascinating story!

I ate up this story!  Of course, it is all true and amazing.  Ther hermit is eventually busted for breaking an entering and hauled off to jail.  Feeling incredibly ashamed of his crimes he pleads guilty yo more than one-thousand break-ins.  After several months they released him to the custody of his family.

I found the writing style and the story engrossing. Have you ever taken a long time to read a book, not because you didn’t like it, but because you didn’t want it to end? This is how I read this book. I could have finished it in a sitting or two, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to savor the story. I wanted it to last.  It earned a 5/5 rating from me!

Book Review | Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

This book!  First, it was great!  I only gave it 4/5 stars probably because of the depressing nature of the discussion the authors start with the reader.  However, this is exactly what the book sets out to do and he doesn’t sugar coat things.  Everything is laid out here and it is much worse than anyone thinks.  There is a very large portion of our America that can’t make rent and are either provided with unsafe housing for partial rent or evicted.  Then you see they have a record of missing payments and have an impossible time finding a place.  If they can find a place the new landlord knows that they can take advantage of this person because they have very limited options.  The vicious circle starts and never ends for these people.  It is not a small group, but it is a group and a problem that is easy for many of us to ignore.

Matt does a great job bringing these problems to the forefront by interviewing many people and living in the same conditions as many of them.  You can see how it was difficult for him and you feel for the people in his stories.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (22.9K reviews, 4.47 avg rating) has won more awards than you can shake a stick at:

  • Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (2017)
  • PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction (2017)
  • Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Current Interest (2016)
  • National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction (2016)
  • Andrew Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction (2017)
  • Kirkus Prize Nominee for Nonfiction (2016)
  • Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2016)

Book Review | The Five Orange Pips

The Five Orange Pips
The Five Orange Pips

This is the fifth book in the Sherlock Holmes Adventures.  This list from goodreads is the one I’m using to read them in a certain order.  I really enjoy these and they are very short, but I have a hard time remembering to read the next one because I switch around so much on the series that I am reading.

This particular adventure, The Five Orange Pips,  is another fun one.  At 40 pages, it made a great read for the summer reading program because it was a very fast read, but still enjoyable.  I can’t tell you much about this one as it is so short, to talk about it gives away a lot, but it involves the KKK in London.  A good albeit short read.  I recommend it as I do all of the Sherlock Holmes stories.  I rated this story 3\5 stars.

Book Review | What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

What If?
What If?

This was a book that was recommended to me by a librarian.  That’s about as a  good a recommendation as you can get?  I mean who knows books better!  What If? is from the creator of xkcd.com.  There are always plenty of cool stick figure art, with witty snappy writing.

I read most of this on a plane.  It was extremely helpful it distracting me from a long horrible cross-country flight from sunny beautiful California to New Jersy.  …Yeah.  Anything that can make that flight better is a damn good book.

I especially liked the discussion on how to rid the world of the common cold.  Really fun topics and plenty of real science behind every little story in here.  This read earned its 4/5 star rating.

Book Review | An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Owl Creek Bridge
Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce is not really a book, it is a short, very short story.  It is only 36 pages.  Readers of the blog probably know that I picked this one up primarily as a way to get another book under my belt during the summer reading contests that the local libraries always have.  The more books you read the more chances you have to win a prize.

“The condemned man stands on a bridge, his hands bound behind his back. A noose is tied around his neck…” – From An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Finding books to read in this way has introduced me to many new authors I would not have found on my own.  For example, I had never heard of this book but it has 16,800 ratings on goodreads, with an average rating of 4.02.  Which I agreed with giving it a 4/5 rating.

The photo above is from the Ambrose Bierce Project.  This is not Owl Creek bridge, but a similar bridge on the same river to give you an idea.  More pictures are available at the website.

I would say you won’t lose anything by reading this book including your time as it is so short, but don’t take my word for it:

“I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read the greatest American short story, which is ‘Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,’ by Ambrose Bierce.” – Kurt Vonnegut

If you can’t trust Kurt who can you?

Book Review | When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation

When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation
When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation

A meticulously researched book with lots of details and stories and National Book Award Nominee for Nonfiction in 2014.  When Paris Went Dark was recommended to me by a friend who is very interested in Parisian history.  Of course I was somewhat familiar with this time in history, however, I didn’t know that Paris was occupied in such a way.  This is only 4 years, but as you read the book you feel that both sides of the war, the French and the Germans were uncertain and anxious about the occupation.  Ronald weaves the story well, incorporating anecdotes and facts seamlessly.

You get a wonderful feeling of the time, while also understanding that you will never know how the people on either side of the war really felt during this time period.  Having said that Ronald gets us very close.  History buffs and lovers of Paris (who isn’t) will equally enjoy this book.  This book gets 4/5 stars.  I’m including a video from C-SPAN book TV if you would like to hear more about this book.  I can’t embed it so just use the link.

 

Book Review | Eating Animals

Eating Animals

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is a very powerful book.  It may change the way you eat forever.  In the book, Jonathan tells the story of how he became vegetarian.  I think he did a lot more research than the average person.  This was the first book that I have read of his.  It was his first time writing non-fiction.  Since this book, he has gone on to write more non-fiction.

I picked up this book because it is at the top of the list for books about veganism and vegetarianism on goodreads.  Jonathan has filled the book full of numbers to drive home his points:

“Americans choose to eat less than .25%of the known edible food on the planet”

“Ninety-nine percent of all land animals eaten or used to produce milk and eggs in the United States are factory farmed.”

“… omnivores contribute seven times the volume of greenhouse gages that vegans do.”

There are more, many more.  Before you balk at these statements let me tell you that Jonathan had the book fact-checked by two independent professional fact-checkers.

When you read this you can’t dismiss it.  This is how our nation is creating food for us at low prices.  We are suffering for it.  I really don’t think that people know this is happening.  If they do they are ignoring it.  This is not good for us, the animals, our nation or our planet and we simply don’t have to do it.  If you have doubts read the book.

The documentary of this book came out on 9/2/17.  I can’t find it online.  I believe its release may have been limited to Sundance.  I’ll keep an eye out for it.  The bonus is that Natalie Portman narrates it.  She actually reached out to Jonathan to help him produce the documentary.

As if it needs to be said, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Book Review | Supergirl, Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton

Supergirl
Supergirl

Another comic and another failed review.  I wrote only two sentences to describe my review of Supergirl, Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton on goodreads.  Thirteen whole words.  I don’t have much to go on with this one.  I really need to catch up with my reviews and write them as soon as I finish the book or in this case the comic book.  I think the goal should be to write the review while I still have to book in hand.  Here I am writing about a book I finished months ago when I really need to be writing about the book I just finished this week.

What I do remember about this comic is that the artwork was good but not as good as Captain Marvel I had read just before.  I also know that I grabbed this from the library and it really confuses me why they would buy only one volume and then never buy the next?  Was it a request from a patron and then never followed up with a request for the next in the series?  I liked this Supergirl comic and would like to read more.

I’d like to read more comics of lots of different kinds, but my libraries really don’t invest much in them.  They do however have a subscription to Hoopla which recently acquired the rights to “lend” Marvel comics.  That’s very cool, that means they will have the Star Wars comics on there.  It’s been so long since I read one I don’t remember where I was in all the different series.  I will have to find out though!

5/5 Stars!

Book Review | Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Down

Captain Marvel - Down
Captain Marvel – Down

I failed as a goodreads reviewer on this one.  I read Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Down, but I failed to write a review.  I remember the story and the art from the issue but for whatever reason, I did not write a review of this comic.  I’ve been a fan of Captain Marvel for years.  She is very straightforward and wants to do the right thing.  She doesn’t seem to have an evil streak or anything sinisterly wrong with her like some other comic book heroes.

This comic had an interesting story where Captain Marvel meets with someone from her past and manages to get them fired up again.  I think it also has a positive effect on the Captain as well.  The artwork is perhaps the best of the Captain Marvels that I have read.

4/5 Stars!