The Return

Review: The Shipping News E. Annie Proulx 1993 Charles Scribner’s Sons Proulx can write!!   At least as far as this book goes.   I've seen a few reviews that mentioned this one as a bunch of nowhere nobodies doing nothing essentially.   They are welcome to their opinions, but I couldn't disagree with them more strongly.   Those nobodies from nowhere have stories, lives, and are doing plenty that amounts to really living.   All the while the undertow constantly pulls against them.   Character development is the strongest I have read.   There's a touch of the mysterious all the way, and always a bit of suspense and uncertainty.     Always the feeling that more is being said than is being said.   Gives the reader the urge to think about this book and that, to me at least, makes this one to recommend to you.

Review: The Never-Open Desert Diner James Anderson Crown Publishers 2015 If you haven’t read this one, I think you are missing a good book.   Feels like a flashback to an earlier time when reading was enjoyable, the story absorbing, tender but authentic, and well spun.   The title says much more than I first thought.   Lots of other things are not open in this desert.   Doors are locked and behind them the pasts that hold people in the desert.      The dust cover front leaf says, “ The Never Open Desert Diner powerfully evokes an unforgettable setting and introduces readers to a cast of characters who will linger long after the last page.”   Generally, these descriptions go overboard, but this one describes what I found in this book.   Ben Jones and Walt will remain with me for a long time.   They might be archetype characters.   The author does have an MFA after all and has done some editor type work.   He ...

Review: Resolved: 10 Ways to Stand Strong and Live What You Believe Lina Abujamra Baker Books 2016 I had no idea who Lina Abujamra was when I picked up this book.   That was my loss, but she’s definitely on my radar now.   She’s a doctor---MD type---that has the time and energy to write.   She also maintains an active blog and a speaking ministry.   Check this site out in a minute. www.livingwithpower.org   There’s even some freebies available.   What about this book? After admitting that good intentions don’t get it done she says this, “No matter how strong we claim our faith in God is, when life is hard it all comes down to resolve.   Do we really believe what we say we believe?” (15)   Her writing is clear, direct, and spot on.   Her doctor side comes through in her narratives when she cuts to the chase, goes for the root cause, rather than treating just the symptoms.   Gotta love that!   I appreciate it anyway...