Reviewed by Dorianne Laux Ron Salisbury’s poems in Miss Desert Inn move us from the poverty of Maine, to the grittiness of New York, from the glitter of Las Vegas, to the glamour of California’s coast, informing us of the truth about this life, harsh as it may be, sorrowful, and wondrous and brief as it is. This is one man’s journey, and we learn as he does what it means to live with loss, with memory, with desire. An accomplished first book, informed by the poetry of Gilbert, Hugo and Kowit, these are poems of the middle passage, where there’s sometimes a woman and a glass of wine, always a good dog nearby, and a bad but beloved cat slipping out the side door. Dorianne Laux‘s poems have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Romanian, Dutch, Afrikaans, and Brazilian Portuguese. Her selected works, In a Room with a Rag…
Category: Book Reviews
Flight of Destiny by Francis H. Powell
Reviewed by Anthony Jones Flight of Destiny is a great collection of quick reads that will linger with you after you’ve read them. Powell has mastered his craft and, more importantly, clearly acquires his material from an authentic place. I’m a huge fan of surreal/disturbing/magical realist stories and am always on the lookout for authors who work in that genre. I find it frustrating, however, that the majority of them usually “fake it.” It’s usually pretty obvious that they’re engaged in a race to the bottom in a mad scramble for the oddest or most disturbing ideas they can come up with. The ethic of weird = interesting ironically results in nothing weird at all. Instead, it usually amounts to little more than sophomoric stories with no arc and no emotional engagement. Not so with Powell. His stories are genuinely unnerving and very original. He doesn’t just throw weird random…
Toxic Mom Toolkit by Rayne Wolfe
Rayne Wolfe’s voice is strong, courageous and honest throughout her book, Toxic Mom Toolkit. She writes about her birth mother and adoptive mother — both toxic. Rayne writes about her childhood with clarity and writes about her toxic moms with compassion. Toxic Mom Toolkit travels Rayne’s journey from abusive childhood to learning the necessity of distancing herself from these toxic women. Rayne tells her story without whining, without self-pity, without a poor-me attitude. Toxic Mom Toolkit clearly illustrates what a toxic mother is. Thankfully, she had a wonderful step-mother who showed Rayne unconditional love and kindness, illustrating good mothering. If you don’t have a toxic person in your life: Hooray. You might want to read Rayne’s book for both entertainment and education, in case someone toxic comes along. It could happen, you never know. If you think you have a toxic person in your life, read this book. It will help…
Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
We’re talking about sensory detail in writing this month on The Write Spot Blog. Delicious! by Ruth Reichl is rich in sensory detail: . . . I could taste the cake in my mind. Strong. Earthy. Fragrant. I remembered the nose-prickling aroma of cinnamon when it comes in fragile curls, and the startling power of crushed cloves. I imagined them into the batter. Aunt Melba was grating the orange rind now, and the clean, friendly smell filled her airy kitchen. Delicious! is filled with this type of glorious descriptions about smells. Reichl is a restaurant critic and cookbook author. No wonder she knows about smells! Delicious! is . . . well. . . delicious with lovable characters, a charming story, delightful scenes and interesting premise. Characters’ stories circle around one another, building upon detail until the end, when it all comes together in a satisfying scene. “Got any ginger?” “What…
Night Wings: A Soulful Dreaming and Writing Practice
In 2005, I attended a talk by Sally Nelson, author of Night Wings: A Soulful Dreaming and Writing Practice. Nelson talked about foreshadowing life experiences in dreams. She suggested we track the things that surprise us in our dreams and that we are really foreshadowing real life events. She said dreams come from some place beyond the ego and to try to understand our dreams, we can ask, “What is the ego grappling with?” Nelson kept a dream journal for years and had several dreams that didn’t make sense. Then, in December 2004, she, her fiancé and their combined children took a trip to Thailand. Her son had been injured before the trip but they decided to go anyway. They were supposed to return home on a certain date, but decided to stay a day longer. Sally, her fiancé and one of the daughters were on a boat at sea…
Share your favorite books.
Sundays at The Write Spot Blog are for book reviews. Do you have a book that you love and want to share with others? Email your review to me (Marlene) and I’ll post. It can be an old favorite or a new author you just discovered. I look forward to reading and posting your reviews.
Splinters of Light by Rachael Herron
Rachael Herron has done an amazing job creating believable and likable characters, twins Nora and Mariana, and Nora’s teenage daughter, Elle. We journey with Nora as she navigates the tricky maze of a newly discovered disease and the equally difficult struggle as single parent to Elle. Herron writes with grace, love and authority about a difficult subject. I admire her ability to tackle a subject that isn’t easy to talk about: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Towards the end, I stayed up into the wee hours, reading. I had to find out what would happen to these characters I grew to love. Brilliant writing, exquisite characters, excellent story line. Splinters of Light is one of the best books I have read. I adore . . . LOVE . . . these characters. They now live in my heart. Phew! Worked up a sweat typing this. Need some lemonade to cool down….
Space in the Heart by Rodney Walther
Rodney Walther is an accomplished author, but new to me. I thoroughly enjoyed Space in the Heart and didn’t want it to end. Perhaps there will be a follow-up. The characters are likable (important to me). The characters inhabiting this story feel real. I care about them. I’m interested in their lives. The plot is believable and intriguing. The dialogue is superb. A well-crafted story with some surprises. I love twists, hate predictability. This is the second Walther book I have read. He’s quickly becoming a favorite author!
The Upstart Startup: How Cerent Transformed Cisco by Rob Koslowsky
The end of the year seems like a good time for a book review about people who changed the landscape of Sonoma County, people who had amazing foresight about technology, and people who did not, would not, give up nor compromise their visions. The Upstart Startup: How Cerent Transformed Cisco is a story about the people who comprised Cerent and how their beloved Cerent 454 revolutionized the telecommunications world. It’s a story that has drama, intrigue, and involved massive amounts of money that landed in California’s Sonoma County, one of the premiere wine-growing locales in the world. Sharing this story is a tribute to the 210 employees that were the lifeblood of Cerent before Cisco took over. “The team at Cerent had this tenacity and unbelievable conviction in not just building a product but a platform for a successful and sustaining business. Rob’s book captures the innovation in every step and…
Hollywood Holidays by D.D. Scott
Hollywood Holidays by D. D. Scott is a delightful “take-me-away” story, transporting lucky readers to a world populated with interesting and likable characters. The story line is enjoyable and easy to read (making for comfortable reading) and on a deeper level, contains important messages covering issues of women’s self-esteem and men’s treatment of women. This “easy to read with an important message format” isn’t an easy feat to accomplish. D.D. Scott successfully created a world in which the heroine, Harper Cantwell, moves from depending on her husband and his activities for self-worth to a woman in an emotionally abusive relationship, then to an assertive woman and finally to a wonderfully self-adjusted woman, comfortable in her skin and new-found freedom . . . freedom to be herself. Hollywood Holidays should be required reading for engaged couples. . . good instructions how to create and cultivate a loving relationship. Click here for…