In this largely chronological story of the life of King David, Brooks clearly aims to write a book that is historically plausible, true to the biblical events and interesting to any contemporary audience. She largely succeeds on all three levels, so why am I not more enraptured by the book? David’s tale is certainly one Read More …
Category: Book Reviews
These are my reflections on books immediately after I’ve finished reading them.
Book Review: All The Light We Cannot See
There is a shortcoming in Anthony Doerr’s beautiful novel, but the book’s abundant strengths are so profound and overarching that it feels wrong to issue even a mild complaint. This is, simply, an awe-inspiring book. Its imagery is lush, its descriptions precise and highly detailed. The pacing of the prose is lyrical and diverse, the story telling Read More …
Book Review: How We Got To Now by Steven Johnson
It’s a real pleasure to take a look at the world through the prism of someone who has taken time to reflect deeply on the historical foundations of advances so ubiquitous that we may not realize the role they’ve played in the development of our comfort and our culture. Johnson’s book takes this approach to Read More …
Book Review: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
How do you make two self-effacing, quiet Ohioans who do almost nothing in the prime of life but work on a wild dream interesting? Give them over to David McCullough and let him tell their story, that’s how. As with everything else of his that I’ve read, McCullough manages through the simple description of events Read More …
Book Review: Two years, eight months, and twenty-eight nights
I have to say, I found myself chortling a bit to myself as I began reading this book. “Hoo, boy,” I thought, “Here we go again with the Birdman nonsense.” By that, I refer to my disdain for a movie that I considered pretentious and undisciplined in its imagination and disguising its author’s lack of a Read More …
Book Review: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
I love Vonnegut’s style and his endearing cynical humanism, though I have to say that I do not see the human race as base and pointless as he does. But I also have to confess that, while I’ve read almost all his books and can cite certain images and scenes from most of them, if Read More …
Book review: Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran
I picked this book up at the library because I was in the mood for an adventure story, and I liked the idea of something from a very different cultural perspective than what I’m used to. The latter was certainly the case – as the story centers on the queen of an Indian kingdom and Read More …
Book review: The March by E.L. Doctorow
I’m not sure what stirred me to choose this as my introduction to Doctorow, but it was an excellent decision. It probably had something to do with my interest in the Civil War, and in that context, this was a very satisfying look at the effect of the war on individual lives in its Read More …
Book review: Wilson
For many years, without knowing much beyond the basics about Wilson, I greatly admired him for his idealism and his commitment, ill-fated as it was, to the League of Nations concept. Then, I ran across some references to his attitudes toward race, and I seriously questioned the depth of my understanding of who he was Read More …
Book review: The Bully Pulpit
I love how Doris Kearns Goodwin develops evocative themes from history. Team of Rivals is so much more than a biography of Abraham Lincoln or yet another examination of the Civil War years. In the same manner, The Bully Pulpit is no mere biography, but a thought-provoking study of a dominant theme of an era – the evolution Read More …