Tag Archives: 5 stars
Armchair / Shotgun No 2 by Marvin Shackelford
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
“The Kill Sign” by Marvin Shackelford is excellent in a way that is somewhat uncomfortable to read. It’s gritty, which is overused as a descriptor, but I am going to leave it here. It has that dark sort of griminess the South and any other rural, neglected area filled with neglected people has. The kind where you see it or read about it and it strikes you as reality on some deep level, but you don’t want to feel like you’re a part of it. The kind of place where incredible beauty or incredible ugliness can erupt from nowhere. The uncomfortable comes from realizing how like this sort of desperate broken person we all are on some level. Kind of a reminder of something largely forgotten which is also uncomfortable to admit. This and his other stories remind me of what the South is really like outside of the cities.
Disclaimer: Marvin Shackelford has been one of my closest friends for nigh 15 years. I don’t give the rating or review for that reason, but seemed like something I should mention.
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Leave a comment | tags: 5 stars, book review, down south, literary journals, marvin shackelford, review, short story, shotgun armchair, the kill sign, written by a friend | posted in Words
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Incredible. Parts of “How to Tell a True War Story” come to mind regularly. I love Tim O’Brien‘s writing. Those were the three things I had to say about The Things They Carried when I initially “reviewed” this book. I hold to all of those. This is my third reading and I found the book even better than it was eleven years ago. “How to Tell a True War Story” has probably influenced my views on writing and literature more than anything else I have ever read. There is a beautiful clarity and painful honesty that permeates this book. I can’t say enough good things about it.
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Leave a comment | tags: 5 stars, book review, books, favorites, fiction, historical fiction, history, jungles & swamps, military, non-fiction, re-read potential, read multiple times, recommended by a friend, review, the things they carried, tim o'brien, vietnam, war, xposted to OSgA reviews | posted in Words
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It would be difficult to overstate the creepiness of [b:We Have Always Lived in the Castle|861577|We Have Always Lived in the Castle|Shirley Jackson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1269310843s/861577.jpg|847007]. [a:Shirley Jackson|13388|Shirley Jackson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1196262589p2/13388.jpg] brilliantly weaves a story of three recluses who are all frightening in their own way. The book begins with the knowledge that something terrible has happened and something terrible is going to happen. The steady pacing and consistent revelation of just how terrible the lives of the Blackwoods are is countered by the arrival of a greedy, disruptive cousin. Despite knowing that the reclusive way the characters Mary Katherine, Constance, and Julian live is extremely unhealthy, I could not help hating their cousin for the way he behaves. The event for which you wait is traumatic to read, particularly for someone who cannot bear for beautiful things to be destroyed. Overall, while [b:The Lottery|6219655|The Lottery (Creative Short Stories)|Shirley Jackson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266579353s/6219655.jpg|15161007] is also excellent, I found this to be more powerful.
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Leave a comment | tags: 5 stars, book review, books, creepy, gothic fiction, horror, review | posted in Words
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Delightful! My mother recommended this to me, and it’s just as fun and pretty as she said. I recommend it for children of any age. 😉
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Leave a comment | tags: 5 stars, book review, books, children, picture book, review | posted in Pictures, Words
Watchmen by Alan Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pretty much brilliant.
That was the first review I wrote of Watchmen when I read it a few years back. I still feel that way, for all it is not my favorite of Alan Moore‘s works. A postmodern view of the 1980s that still feels relevant, this graphic novel is truly a literary work. Based on the concept of washed up superheroes, the book builds a sense of dread and questions the very concept of life and its worth. The discovery of a megalomonomaniacal figure pulling the strings of the world leaves a fair amount of uncertainty as to whether he is a hero or a villain. Ultimately, the question of whether or not the ending is good or bad remains. I have my own opinion. What is yours?
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Leave a comment | tags: 5 stars, book review, poet laureate, poetry, review | posted in Words
The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The description of The Forever War on Goodreads begins with “How they happened and why, how they’ve succeeded and failed. The Forever War is not that kind of book…” This is one of the primary attributes that made this without question the best book I have read about the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Rather than focusing on the politics and historical implications, Dexter Filkins chose to focus on the people. Part memoir, part oral history, he has woven a narrative based on his own experiences over the course of nine years in the Middle East and the tales of those people he met. We see the changes over time in his feelings, the dissonance between the different sides. We hear the fragments of stories of the Marines with whom he spent a considerable amount of time. We read of deaths that haunt him and moments of beauty that amazed him. This book brought tears to my eyes more than once and reminded me that I am thankful for the people who spend their time in these hellholes, regardless of my opinion of whether or not they should be there.
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Leave a comment | tags: 5 stars, Afghanistan, book review, books, Iraq, journalism, military, oral history, review, war | posted in Words