Category Archives: Book Reviews

Cupid Loves a Reader: February Book and Short Story Reviews

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It’s Groundhog’s Day and Punxsutawney Phil has declared there will be an early spring, but I still wore my long underwear when I walked Ziva this morning. Valentine’s Day is twelve days away, and my Valentines are addressed and ready to mail. There is an extra day in February, which I plan to spend reading. I completed and submitted a creative nonfiction essay based on the theme migration. (I wrote about monarchs.) I was happy with the piece when I finally submitted it (just hours before the deadline). But while writing it, I contemplated ditching the essay to work on a short story I’m writing. Sometimes when I write a piece (like that migration essay), I feel like I’m wrestling with a tornado. To motivate myself, I kept my coffee cup on a coaster with a Ray Bradbury quote, which my sister had sent me — “You fail only if you stop writing.”

Today I’m returning to my short story. But before I dive into another writing hole, I want to share some reviews of recent reads that I have enjoyed. They are in no particular order.

Two States of Single: Essays on Family, Love, and Living Solo by Julie A. Jacob [Leaping Poodle Press, August 2020]

Julie A. Jacob’s book is a collection of well-crafted, engaging essays. Her essays follow the arc of her life as she describes her years in Chicago; a daring adventure in Brazil; joining sports clubs for young professionals; buying her own condo, then later on a house; taking a chance on love; caring for her aging parents; and losing her parents.

Vivid writing and crisp dialogue breathe life into Jacob’s essays, which resonate because of her ability to convey why each story matters, both to her and to her readers. By the time I finished Jacob’s collection of essays, I found myself longing to meet with a group of fellow readers, sip a good latte, and discuss Jacob’s essays. Her book would make a wonderful nonfiction read for a book club because we all have stories and insights to share about our choices, careers, loves, family, sorrows, and joys.

Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201 Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration by Sara Dykman [Timber Press, Inc., 2021]

Sara Dykman’s book is part memoir, part science, part ecology, part travelogue (for bicyclists), and completely engaging. I read her book as part of my research for my essay on monarch migration, and I learned a lot about the migration of monarchs, which is both complex and fascinating. I also learned how climate change and habitat loss are threatening monarchs and their migrating way of life. In order to inform the world about the plight of monarchs, Dykman bicycled over ten thousand miles, from the El Rosario monarch sanctuary in Mexico, up to New England, into southern Canada, through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, back down the central United States, then returned to El Rosario. She strived to keep pace with the monarchs. Along the way she visited classrooms and community centers and gave talks about monarchs and their habitats. She met interesting people, delighted in Mother Nature, and overcame logistical problems.

Dykman writes about biology using creative language and imagery, drawing readers into both her remarkable journey and the amazing migration of monarchs. Readers will learn so much about nature through her beautiful prose. When I wanted to give up on my monarch essay, I thought about the ten thousand miles Sara Dykman bicycled, and told myself to stop whining about writing a twenty-five-hundred-word essay.

“The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off” by Raymond Carver [This short story appears in Where I’m Calling From, a collection of Carver’s short stories. First Vintage Contemporaries Edition, 1989]

“I’ll tell you what did my father in. The third thing was Dummy, that Dummy died. The first thing was Pearl Harbor. And the second thing was moving to my grandfather’s farm near Wenatchee.” And so begins the narrator, who is now a grown man looking back at an event, Dummy’s death, that killed his father’s spirit.

There are two things Carver does brilliantly in this short story. First, the dialogue and descriptions he includes. Second, the conversations and actions he omits. And between what is on the page and what lives only in the reader’s mind, Carver tells a powerful story, layered with connected themes. I read it, and then a few weeks later, I read it again.

Two Bucks and a Can of Gas: Model A Adventures on the Gunflint Trail by Robert R. Olson [North Shore Press, 2012]

This is a charming series of nonfiction stories about the friendship between a man, his Model A truck, and the Gunflint Trail. Author Robert Olson develops his love of hunting, fishing, and the Model A Ford truck from his father. Olson is seven years old in 1952 when his father brings home the 1930 Model A truck.

Olson’s stories are well-written, and I liked learning about the versatile, can-do Model A truck. Once Olson has his driver’s license, he starts driving the truck to the Gunflint Trail for hunting and fishing, even during the bitter cold winters. At first he camps in an enclosed structure in the truck’s bed, then he builds a cabin. The Gunflint Trail calls to Olson, and he spends as much time as he can in the northern Minnesota wilderness. And even though roughing it during cold winters wouldn’t have been my cup of hot chocolate, Olson’s love for the wilderness, and the Model A truck that took him there, shines through.

Book Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

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[Published in 2009 by Random House Publishing Group, Ford’s novel was a New York Times Bestseller.]

Why did I read this book?

First, the catchy title and the cover art intrigued me. Then, I read the synopsis on the back cover, and learned the novel was historical fiction, another plus. Next, I read the first page of the book, and I liked what I read. Finally, the cost of the book sealed the deal. It was $3.00. I was in a local hospital gift shop where they sell used books. Any time I go to either one of the local hospitals where I live, I stop in their gift stores. They have the loveliest gifts, and they sell used books, where I’ve purchased some wonderful books over the years. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is one of them.

What is this book about?

The story, set in Seattle, opens in 1986 in front of the Panama Hotel, a place that holds both bitter and sweet memories for Henry Lee, a Chinese American citizen, who is in his mid-fifties and has recently lost his wife, Ethel, to cancer. Since his wife’s death, Henry’s relationship with his adult son, Marty, has become even more strained because Ethel played go-between for the father and son. The story switches back and forth between 1986 and 1942. The chapters set in 1942 reveal twelve-year-old Henry’s childhood difficulties with his father; his friendships with Sheldon, an African-American jazz-playing saxophonist, and Mrs. Beatty, a cranky school cook; and his love for Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American girl who attends school with him.

An entrepreneur who recently bought the Panama Hotel has discovered suitcases and boxes of stashed possessions stored there for safekeeping by Japanese Americans in 1942 before they were transported to internment camps. But over the last forty-some years, no one has ever returned to claim their belongings. As Henry stands in front of the Panama Hotel, memories of his childhood sweetheart, Keiko, who was rounded up with her family in 1942 and sent to an internment camp, bubble to the surface. He decides to find an item that had special meaning to both of them, a symbol of their love for one another and their shared passion for jazz. He believes the item is somewhere among the hordes of forgotten objects in the basement of the hotel. Alone the search would overwhelm him, so he enlists the help of his son and his son’s girlfriend.

What makes this book memorable?

Jamie Ford’s novel has richly drawn characters and a finely crafted storyline that is, in turns, compelling, suspenseful, heartbreaking, and hopeful. This coming-of-age story about first love and forging one’s own way in the world, even against a parent’s wishes, is set against a backdrop of prejudice and misguided patriotism that rises to a crescendo after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942. It’s also the story of immigrants who come to the United States, hoping for a better life for themselves and their children. But the parents and their children often clash as the older generation clings to the ways of the old country and their children adapt to the ways of the new country. The universal themes in Ford’s novel, told in a fresh way and set during a reprehensible episode in American history, are as relevant today as they were in 1942.

[To learn more about Jamie Ford and his other novels, click here. To learn more about the Panama Hotel, which was a real place and still exists, click here. To buy a copy of Ford’s novel, click here.]

Book Reviews for December

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During December you can shop or you can read books. Or better yet, you can shop for books! Recently, I learned about a delightful Icelandic tradition called Jolabokaflod, which loosely translates into Christmas book flood. Every November the Icelandic book trade publishes a catalog of new releases, which is mailed to every household in Iceland. People buy books for their family and friends as Christmas gifts. On Christmas Eve after gifts are opened, everyone is encouraged to start reading their books right away. Imagine the peace and quiet and magic as each person slips into the pages of a book and into another time and place. Perhaps, one of these books will help you start your own family Jolabokaflod.

A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton (Mysterious Press by Warner Books, Inc., 1999)

Hamish Macbeth, the usually unflappable town constable of Lochdubh, a small village located in the Highlands of Scotland, is out of sorts. Christmas is fast approaching, and Hamish is disappointed because he cannot spend the holidays with his mother, father, and six siblings, who have gone to Florida for the holidays. Hamish must tend to his beat in Lochdubh and to another constable’s beat in nearby Cnothan.

Author M. C. Beaton (1936-2019) wrote a series of cozy mysteries featuring Hamish Macbeth who uses his intelligence, keen observation, and intuition to solve murders, showing up his superior officers. But it’s Christmas and in the spirit of peace and goodwill, Beaton’s A Highland Christmas is a very, very cozy mystery — skipping the murder.

However, Hamish’s pre-Christmas days are filled with small mysteries. Mrs. Gallagher, a detested, ill-willed spinster, rings up the police station to report her cat is missing and demands that Hamish find it. He also wants to discover why Mrs. Gallagher is a nasty-tempered old woman who bars and bolts her door and seldom leaves her home. Meanwhile, in Cnothan someone has stolen the town’s Christmas lights and tree, and Hamish is called to solve the Grinch-like crime. Hamish also wonders how he can convince a little girl’s Calvinist parents, who view Christmas as a heathen celebration, that their daughter should have gifts for Christmas, like the other children in her school.

A Highland Christmas is a warm-hearted novella filled with interesting characters who discover kindness is the best Christmas gift of all.

[If you wish to read this book, you will need to buy a used copy, make a visit to your local library, or listen to a digital copy because it’s out of print. I have listened to it twice as an audio book. It’s become part of my Christmas tradition, like watching A Christmas Carol. This year I bought a used hardcover version and was delighted to find that it has charming illustrations. I don’t know if the paperback version is illustrated.]

Beware of Cat and Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier by Vincent Wyckoff (Borealis Books, imprint of the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007)

Most of us are familiar with the letter carrier’s motto: “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” We know letter carriers sizzle under the hot summer sun, get wet in the rain, trudge through snow, and freeze on sub-zero winter days. But we don’t necessarily know about the rest of “their appointed rounds.

Wyckoff’s collection of stories about his job as a letter carrier made me smile, laugh, cringe, and cry. For over fifteen years, Wyckoff delivered mail in a neighborhood in South Minneapolis. He came to know the people on his route, most of whom were kind, although some could be difficult. Wyckoff is a wonderful storyteller and a very good writer. His stories entertain, enlighten, and educate. He encounters an attack cat, biting dogs, cranky customers, lost pets, and on one particular day, a young child waiting for his mother who isn’t showing up. He writes about people on his route who became his friends, sometimes inviting him to be part of their family milestones. Ever wonder how a letter carrier’s day starts or what happens when he has to deliver a registered letter? Wyckoff offers up a well-rounded, well-written, informative, and heart-warming collection of stories about his career as a letter carrier. As a bonus, readers come away with a better understanding of what it takes to deliver the mail.

I liked this book so much that when I couldn’t find any other way to let Vincent Wyckoff know, I mailed a letter to him in care of his publisher. [Vincent Wyckoff also writes mysteries. For more information, click here.]

Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt (The Dial Press, imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, 2010)

After my mother-in-law died, my father-in-law invited me to look through her books and take what I wanted. I found Mr. Chartwell on her bookshelf. The cover caught my attention. I turned the book over and one of the blurbs mentioned Winston Churchill and his “black dog of melancholy.” I knew Churchill suffered from bouts of depression. Intrigued, I placed Mr. Chartwell on the pile of books I wanted.

Mr. Chartwell, Rebecca Hunt’s debut novel, deals with depression — a heavy subject. (The cover art, which caught my eye, belies the book’s seriousness.) However, Hunt combines sardonic wit with verbal and situational irony, creating moments of comic relief that are at turns dry, surreal, and dark, but which also lighten the story’s somber mood.

Hunt’s story is set in England and takes place in 1964, from July 22 through July 27. Winston Churchill will soon retire from public service, and he isn’t happy about it. Mr. Chartwell, a large black dog, who has spent a lot of time with Churchill throughout his life, returns to keep him company. Churchill isn’t happy about that either because Chartwell is the black dog of depression. Hunt personifies depression through Chartwell who is a very large, intrusive black dog and who alternates between beating around the bush or cruel bluntness when speaking. Esther Hammerhans, a young widow of two years, advertises for a boarder, and Chartwell answers her ad. She is shocked when she meets Chartwell at her door because the big black dog speaks to her while extending his huge paw for a shake. Chartwell convinces Esther to let him move in, so he splits his time between Churchill’s estate and Esther’s house.

Hunt’s use of figurative language is often quirky and elbows a reader’s sensibilities off kilter, which mimics what depression can do to a person. Her use of unusual metaphors made me groan a few times, but overall, I admired and enjoyed her fearless approach to creating a unique narrator’s voice. Her striking prose invites readers to slow down, read each sentence carefully, and absorb the intricate range of emotions Churchill and Esther experience when confronted by Chartwell. Hunt deftly juxtaposes Churchill’s long-standing battle with Mr. Chartwell against Esther’s beginning struggles with the black dog.

Autumn into Books!

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It would be a groan-worthy pun if I had titled this piece “Fall into Books.” But on the race track of seasons, autumn is — by two horse lengths — my favorite season, plus I think autumn is a beautiful word. Autumn colors are magnificent, and this year nature outdid herself with luminous swaths of red, orange, and yellow. Autumn air is crisp (often code for cold and windy where I live), so it’s a good time to read. (Really, anytime is a good time to read.) And I read lots. I’m a writer, so reading is part of my craft. I hope to be inspired by and to internalize good writing: the plots and subplots, the organization, the characterization, and the dialogue. Before we get too far into autumn, I’m going to share some of my recent reads, all of which were enjoyable, stimulating, and page-turning. So, if you’re looking for ideas . . .

Gunshots in Grudgeville and Other Stories by Laurel J. Landis (Orange Hat Publishing – Ten 16 Press)

I loved the cover of this book and its catchy title. And Laurel J. Landis’s short stories beneath the cover are just as vibrant and intriguing as the autumn trees and the mysterious old shack — inviting readers to sit and connect with ordinary people living in a small town. Landis pulls readers into the lives of her characters and their tales of bad choices, grief, coming-of-age, love-gone-awry, and broken promises. I lived in a small town for three years, and Landis masterfully nails the feel of small-town life. Her characters and settings are authentic, reminding me of people I once knew in the unincorporated town of 350 where I once lived. Landis’s short stories remind us we don’t have to travel to faraway lands or other worlds because life happens everywhere, even in small towns. My favorites: “Tornado,” “Small Injuries,” “Breathless,” “Junction, County T,” and “Gunshots in Grudgeville.” [To order Landis’s book, click here.]

A Winter’s Rime by Carol Dunbar (Forge Books, Macmillan Publishing Group)

Mallory Moe, a twenty-five-year-old Army vet, works overnights at Speed Stop, a gas station and convenience store in rural northern Wisconsin. She is estranged from her family, in an abusive relationship, and drifting through life. While out on a cold winter’s night, Mallory encounters Shay, a teenage girl, who is hurt and on the run from an abusive boyfriend who is trafficking her. As she tries to help Shay, Mallory realizes she must confront her own traumatic childhood.

Don’t expect this book to be a thriller about rescuing trafficked girls from the clutches of evildoers at the eleventh hour. Carol Dunbar‘s novel is so much better, deeper, and smarter. She researched the science of PTSD, the brain, and current counseling practices that help people recover from childhood traumas. Dunbar deftly weaves her research into A Winter’s Rime, keeping it in the background, so it’s Mallory’s riveting story that drives the novel. Dunbar’s supporting characters, even the ones who make short appearances are memorable and believable. Dunbar likes to say her novels are character driven, and they are. But she is also a master of settings that are beautiful and haunting, often metaphors for the struggles the characters face.

The Last of the President’s Men by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster)

I read this book because I heard Cassidy Hutchinson, author of Enough, talk about it. I was fourteen when Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency because of Watergate. In my early twenties, I read All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward and Blind Ambition by John Dean. I decided it was time to read another book about Watergate.

Woodward held extensive interviews with Alex Butterfield, who worked closely with H. R. Haldeman and President Nixon. Both Butterfield and Haldeman knew about Nixon’s taping of White House conversations. During the Watergate investigation, Butterfield testified about Nixon’s tapes, effectively ending Nixon’s presidency.

The most frightening takeaway from The Last of the President’s Men is that so many of Nixon’s staff and supporters had blind loyalty to him, even though he broke the law, even though he believed his methods to maintain power were justified, even though he felt his presidency meant he was above the law — the behavior of dictators. Supporters saw Nixon as their president, and they ignored his abuses of power.

The Last of the President’s Men is well-researched and clearly written. Even though I knew Butterfield would testify about Nixon’s tapes and that Nixon would resign, Woodward’s book about Nixon and his staff, who believed it was their job to keep their president happy and do his bidding, even if they knew it was wrong, was very scary.

And if you don’t have time to read a book, try a single short story! Below are three choices to consider.

“APrayer4You.com” a short story by Kim Suhr (Published by Moot Point, a literary journal)

Isabelle and Blake are young, in love, and on their honeymoon. Everything is wonderful, until it isn’t. (My synopsis is short because readers need the joy of discovering Kim Suhr’s thought-provoking, well-crafted story for themselves.)

Suhr’s short story “APrayer4You.com” haunts my thoughts. I might go for weeks without thinking about it, then something nudges my brain, and I wonder, How is Isabelle coping? And what about Blake?

Even though “APrayer4You.com” is a short read, under 1,600 words, savor each word, sentence, and paragraph because Suhr weaves a gripping story in a short space. There are so many layers of meaning in her story that it would make a good selection for a book club. (Or, brilliant idea that just occurred to me: a short story club for readers who have busy lives!)

Note, if you’re a writer, read Suhr’s story as a reader first. Then go back and read it again as a writer. Pay attention to her use of opposites in the story. Opposite situations, opposite ideas, opposite beliefs, opposite personalities, opposite actions. Suhr skillfully uses all these opposites to create tension in her story. [Suhr has also published a wonderful collection of short stories titled Nothing to Lose. Visit Suhr’s author page. Click here to read “APrayer4You.com.” ]

“Effie’s Trinket” by Diana (wonkagranny blog)

Euphemia, Effie for short, has run away from home and the insults of her older brother. But she’s young, and so she’s hidden herself away in the yard. She refuses to come out of hiding when her mother calls her for supper. In a swift 690 words, Diana creates a story with a magical sense of wonder that takes readers back to a time when all things were possible to a young child.

I don’t want to say too much about this story and its themes or the different ways to think about it because I want readers to have the joy of reading this gem.

Diana writes the blog wonkagranny. Even though I follow her blog, I don’t know her last name, but she gave me permission to post a link to “Effie’s Trinket.”

Note, if you’re a writer, you will enjoy reading Diana’s comments about her writing process, which appear before and after “Effie’s Trinket.” Also, be amazed at how a simple story can be layered with the many textures of life.

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London

On an “exceedingly cold and gray” day in the Yukon Territory, a man who is inexperienced with the brutal arctic winters decides to walk to another camp to visit friends. Before leaving, he is warned about the dangers of hiking alone in the extreme sub-zero temperatures. But he has the arrogance of a newcomer, who neither respects nor understands the perils of his new home. His hike does not go well.

Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is one of my favorite short stories. On a micro level, this story is about the arrogance of one man who brushes off the warning from an old-timer who tells him he shouldn’t go out alone because the temperatures are dangerously cold. On a macro level, this story can be read as a metaphor about the arrogance of the whole human race, who are newcomers on Earth, and their disregard for nature.

Note, if you’re a writer, part of what makes this story so horrifically chilling is London’s accurate, detailed, and graphic descriptions about what his character experiences, physically and emotionally, as he slowly freezes to death. London’s attention to these details teaches me that even in fiction, research is important to a story.

[The link I provided is for the 1908 version of London’s story, in which the protagonist dies. In the 1902 version, the protagonist lives. London was right to modify the story’s ending. The tragic version is powerful and thematically more complex.]

Lois Hoitenga Roelofs’ Memoir Earns Well-deserved Honor: Marv Taking Charge: A Story of Bold Love and Courage Is a Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Finalist

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On May 5, 2023, I wrote about Lois Hoitenga Roelofs’ wonderful memoir Marv Taking Charge. It’s the story of her husband, Marv, and his decision to skip chemotherapy when he is given a terminal cancer diagnosis. He decides to live what is left of his life without the often debilitating side effects of chemo. Roelof’s book is a well-written and important story. Readers learn about the process of hospice and dying. She covers the emotional and practical aspects with honesty and courage. Congratulations on the award, Lois! Marv would be so proud!

Click Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Finalists to see the list of the 2023 finalists.

What I’m Reading This Week: Marv Taking Charge: A Story of Bold Love and Courage by Lois Hoitenga Roelofs

Book Review: An Obesity of Grief: A Journey from Traumatic Loss to Undying Love by Lynn Haraldson

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[I’ve read many good books in the past few months. I’m reviewing some of them in a series of blog posts. So, if you’re looking for a summer read, maybe you’ll find a book to enjoy in one of my book review posts. Note: Autumn Equinox begins September 23!]

Why did I read this book?

I follow Lynn Haraldson’s blog. I love her writing — how she expresses herself, how she captures the essence of an experience, and how she weaves the past into the present. After all, our pasts are part of us, always influencing our current lives. She blogs about many things, including some of the events in her memoir An Obesity of Grief. When her book came out, I bought it, certain it would be very good. I was right. I read her book in two nights — on both of them staying up much later than I normally do, telling myself over and over, “I’ll just read one more chapter.”

What is this book about?

Lynn Haraldson is nineteen years old, and deeply in love with her husband Bruce. Their life together — filled with dreams — stretches ahead of them. They plan to be married for seventy-five years. They have recently taken over the farm owned by Bruce’s parents, who have retired. They are the joyful parents of an eleven-day-old baby girl. Then Bruce dies in an accident.

The day Bruce dies begins as an ordinary day. Lynn takes care of their infant daughter while Bruce leaves the house to tend to the farm. But Lynn never sees Bruce again. He dies in a tractor-train collision. Filled with grief, she wants to see her husband’s body, to touch his hand, to say goodbye. But people tell her she shouldn’t because it will traumatize her, better to remember Bruce as she knew him. Because Lynn is nineteen, older adults treat her more like a child than a grown woman who has just lost her husband.

After Bruce’s death, Lynn tries to hide her grief, telling people that she is just fine. But her grief won’t stay put. It manifests itself in two failed marriages, in gaining and losing over one-hundred pounds twice, and in recurring nightmares featuring Bruce. She struggles with a nagging question: How could Bruce not see or hear the oncoming train?

For years, even though Lynn’s life moves forward in some ways, she remains stuck in a cycle of grief-driven behaviors until she begins therapy, confronting Bruce’s death and her grief.

What makes this book memorable?

Haraldson tells her story with unflinching honesty. If readers have experienced a tragic loss, reading An Obesity of Grief will help them understand they are not alone in their thoughts about grief and their struggles with it. If readers haven’t experienced the type of profound loss Haralson confronts, the book will help them understand the impact of grief because chances are they know someone who has faced the untimely death of a spouse or loved one.

Haraldson’s prose is both lean and powerful. She tells her story, moving back and forth in time, building suspense for her readers, taking them along with her on her journey. And as she grapples with the painful memories and emotions surrounding her grief, she gives readers a memoir that is deeply moving, insightful, and offers hope.

[I’d like to give a shout-out to the cover art on Haraldson’s book. It’s stunning and haunting, and it captures the essence of her memoir.]

Book Review: Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy by Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano

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[I’ve read many good books in the past few months. I’m reviewing some of them in a series of blog posts. So, if you’re looking for a summer read, maybe you’ll find a book to enjoy in one of my book review posts.]

Why did I read this book?

A few weeks ago, I visited the library and spotted Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano’s book on display. In 2018, I had followed news stories about the devastating Camp Fire in northern California. I decided I wanted to learn more about the fire because there are so many fires now, both in the United States and all over the world. I often read books about current events because I learn so much more than can be presented in a brief television news broadcast.

I worry about fire. I live in a small urban area that is surrounded by lots of woods and fields. While the temperatures tend to be cooler where I live (thank you, Lake Superior), we have been short on rain. And I wonder what might happen if the drought-like conditions continue for several years. If intense, uncontainable, hotter-than-hell fires can happen out West, on Maui, in Canada, and on the other side of the world, they can certainly happen here — in my backyard.

What is this book about?

The Camp Fire ignited on the morning of November 8, 2018, in Northern California in Butte County. Before the fire ended, it would burn most of the towns of Paradise and Concow and a large part of the towns of Magalia and Butte Creek Canyon, destroying more than 18,000 structures and killing at least eighty-five people. The fire, which cost over $16 billion, spread with unprecedented speed and intensity.

Gee and Anguiano’s narrative follows the stories of a variety of people who live in Butte County on the day the fire started. We learn something about their lives before the fire destroys their way of life. We learn how the violent fire spreads as it torches over 153,000 acres, and why the fire is able to devour so much so quickly. We learn about the attempts of both firefighters and civilians as they try to save homes, businesses, and people. And we learn about the fire’s aftermath as people struggle to rebuild their lives.

What makes this book memorable?

Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano are both journalists. Gee has written for the Guardian, The New Yorker online, the New York Times, and the Economist. Anguiano has written for the Guardian and the Chico Enterprise-Record. They have researched and written a clear, concise piece of journalism covering the who, what, where, why, and how of the deadliest wildfire in California’s history.

As I finished reading Fire in Paradise, the fire in Maui started. I was struck by the parallelism between the two fires. Drought made each fire more potent. Once both fires started, they spread so quickly that evacuation of people was severely hindered. People in both fires survived by jumping in water. High winds played a part in making each fire more violent and deadly. Destruction in both Butte County and Maui was widespread, demolishing homes and businesses — the economy of whole communities.

A faulty electric transmission line started the Camp Fire, a recurring problem that had caused other fires in Northern California. The 2023 Maui wildfire is suspected to have been started by a sparking power line, and previous wildfires in Maui have been started by power lines. Burned buildings and cars leave behind toxic materials that pollute soil, water, and air, endangering the health of people and wildlife. Similar, heartbreaking stories are told as survivors hope to find their loved ones alive. The death toll in the Camp Fire was high, but the death toll in Maui will probably be much higher. People’s lives are forever ruptured.

Why is this book important?

Global warming caused the Camp Fire to be deadlier, faster, and more violent than fires that have preceded it, and the Camp Fire is part of an escalating trend of intense fires occurring around the world, like the recent wildfire in Maui. Fire in Paradise is an important story because global warming doesn’t care if some people deny its existence or if some people procrastinate, thinking there is more time to deal with it. Because global warming doesn’t care, we need to care. Fire in Paradise gives readers a chance to understand the enormity of what happened to people and whole towns. Perhaps reading personal stories about people who survive intense fires, storms, and floods attributed to global warming will make the cost of ignoring it more real.

Book Review: The Things They Carried by Tom O’Brien

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[I’ve read many good books in the past few months. I’m reviewing some of them in a series of blog posts. So, if you’re looking for a summer read, maybe you’ll find a book to enjoy in one of my book review posts.]

Why did I read this book?

I’m a writer, and I’m always trying to improve my craft. So, I take classes about writing, I read about writing, and I listen to other writers talk about their writing. Many, many times I’ve heard writers and writing teachers reference The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. But I’d never read it, so I kept promising myself that I’d get a copy and read O’Brien’s collection of short stories. It seemed that to be a short story writer but to not have read The Things They Carried would be like training to be a surgeon, but skipping the class on suturing.

Then a few weeks ago, I walked into a bookstore and The Things They Carried was on display. It was destiny. I bought the book and carried it home with me. O’Brien’s book was triaged to the top of my to-be-read pile of books, and I began reading it that night.

What’s this book about?

The Things They Carried is a collection of related short stories with recurring characters set during the Vietnam War, but some of the stories occur before and after the narrator’s time in Vietnam. These are the stories of young men who go to a war in a hot, humid jungle, so unlike any place they grew up; who don’t understand what they’re fighting for; who fight against what they often can’t see; who watch friends die horrible deaths; who die horrible deaths themselves. These are the stories of soldiers who survive, sometimes broken in body but always broken in spirit to some degree, with some of them permanently alienated from their former lives. The Things They Carried is an unvarnished war story without heroes and romanticism.

What makes this book memorable?

O’Brien’s beautiful, but haunting prose gives life to the torrid heat, claustrophobia, and disorientation soldiers faced in the jungles, swamps, rice paddies, and mountains of Vietnam. His prose gives life to the emotions of the soldiers: their fear of dying, their uneasy boredom, their numbness, their guilt over killing and their guilt over surviving. His beautiful but haunting prose helps readers through the horrific events that happen to the soldiers in his stories. And the horrific events he writes about are an integral part of the stories. It sounds like a paradox, but without O’Brien’s beautiful prose and story-telling skills, it would be difficult to digest the heartbreaking stories of the American soldiers in the Vietnam War; a war, which killed over 58,000 Americans and between two and three million North and South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, and left countless survivors wounded and emotionally destroyed.

As a writer I will read O’Brien’s book again. I have to because the first time I read it, I was caught up in the characters and their stories, important stories that have so much to say about the human cost of war. The next time I will read the stories as a writer, paying attention to O’Brien’s writing techniques, hoping to better understand what makes his stories so powerful.

[To read excerpts or listen to a complete interview of Tim O’Brien from February 2021, click here: Fresh Air NPR.]

Book Review: Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

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[I’ve read many good books in the past few months. I’m reviewing some of them in a series of blog posts. So, if you’re looking for a summer read, maybe you’ll find a book to enjoy in one of my book review posts.]

Why did I read this book?

Three reasons. One, Christina Clancy’s novel Shoulder Season is set in East Troy and Lake Geneva, an area of Wisconsin where I spent time during my growing-up years. Two, the novel’s main character takes a job as a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; I wondered “What would that be like?”* And three, I attended a writer’s residency at Write On, Door County in April, and Christina Clancy was my roommate for part of my stay. She is a kind, funny, and interesting person, who generously gave me a copy of her novel Shoulder Season before she left.

What is this book about?

Shoulder Season is a coming-of-age story that takes place around 1980. Nineteen-year-old Sherri Taylor is an orphan. Her mother, after a lengthy illness, has recently died, and her father has been dead for several years. After caring for her terminally ill mother, Sherri wants to leave East Troy, her hometown. She craves fun and adventure and an escape from grief. She also needs to earn a living. Sherri’s best friend convinces her to interview for a job as a Playboy Bunny. Sherri, much to her surprise, gets the job and fun and adventure. But being a Playboy Bunny is difficult and at times demoralizing work. Left without family and alienated from her best friend, loneliness, confusion, and insecurity cloud her judgment, and she makes choices that lead to heartache.

What makes this book memorable?

Shoulder Season grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. Clancy’s story-telling skills compelled me to repeatedly wonder: What’s going to happen next? And how is it all going to shake out in the end? I was never disappointed.

Clancy’s main characters are well-developed with shades of nuance. Like real people they have strengths, weaknesses, insights, and blind spots. And she has taken care to develop secondary characters that are engaging also. We care about her characters, even if we don’t always like them all the time. If her novel were a movie, I’d say it has great casting from the leading roles to the supporting and minor roles.

Clancy’s power of description and setting bring East Troy, the Lake Geneva Playboy Club, and other locations in her novel to life. I grew up near East Troy and Lake Geneva and often visited those areas. I saw Journey play in East Troy in the early 1980s. Clancy nails the feel of those places during the early 80s. She smoothly weaves setting and story together, each element adding to the power of Sherri Taylor’s journey into adulthood.

Shoulder Season is a moving coming of age story for adults. Without ever becoming sappy or sentimental, Clancy’s beautiful prose takes readers on an emotional ride with Sherri Taylor as she struggles to follow her dreams, while at the same time taking readers back to their youth when they too were filled with dreams and so much was possible.

[* As a teenager, I’d heard about Hugh Heffner and his magazine, his playmates of the month, and his Playboy Clubs. The Playboy magazine came to our house every month. My parents hid it, but my siblings and I sometimes “read” it. Well, actually, I often did read the short stories because they were very good, better than the syrupy romantic stories that appeared in the women’s magazines my mother bought; although, as a teenager with starry-eyed romantic notions, I read those too. I came of age in the late-1970s, and I also remember hearing about Gloria Steinem and her undercover assignment as a Playboy Bunny.]

Book Review: The Wolf’s Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves by Thomas Peacock

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[I’ve read many good books in the past few months. I’m reviewing some of them in a series of blog posts. So, if you’re looking for a summer read, maybe you’ll find a book to enjoy in one of my book review posts.]

Why did I read this book?

Three reasons. First, Thomas Peacock’s novel, The Wolf’s Trail is the 2023 One Book Northland community read, so it’s displayed in local bookstores. I like visiting bookstores, so the novel and I were bound to meet up. Second, I love the book’s cover, created by James O’Connell, an artist from Madison, Wisconsin. O’Connell’s cover art reflects the soul of Peacock’s novel. Third, the story is narrated by a wolf, which intrigued me.

What is this book about?

The Wolf’s Trail is a series of connected stories within a larger story. Zhi-shay, the Uncle wolf, is an old, wise wolf who “talks story” with the pups about creation, love, family, survival, and the Anishinaabe people. The stories are told to help the young wolves learn about the history of their world, the relationships between all living creatures, the nature around them, and the cycle of life and death. It’s the story of the importance of passing on wisdom, of passing on the wolf’s story; and through the wolf’s stories, the passing on of the Anishinaabe’s story.

What makes this book memorable?

Zhi-shay is a quintessential story teller. He is kind, wise, generous, humorous, reflective, and honest. His lessons are sometimes joyful and sometimes sorrowful, but they are all worthy of reflection. Each time I had to set the book aside, I longed for the time when I could pick it up again and sit with the wolf pups and listen to Zhi-shay, the Uncle wolf.

Peacock’s book is a beautifully written Native American literary narrative that does what powerful fiction should do: It builds bridges of understanding between people, and it expands a person’s view of the world. Without preaching to the reader, the book is a meditation, a guide for a better way to be in the world as we pass through our days on earth.

[Other Native American literature that I’ve read in the last couple of years and loved:

  1. Dance Boots by Linda LeGarde Grover. This is a linked collection of amazing short stories.
  2. There There by Tommy Orange. This poignant novel explores the life of Native Americans living in urban settings.
  3. Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah. You can read my review of Hokeah’s book by clicking on the title. And you can read more about Oscar Hokeah by clicking here.]