The biography is drawn around Dickens’ novels, which become the timeline for his life. This makes for fascinating reading, coupling literary criticism with a deep analysis of the relationship between life and art. In particular, the book explores the maturation of Dickens’ vision and maps the development of his work to the events in his life, attempting to find answers to the question of who Dickens was, through the material he left us.
Category: Non fiction reviews
A review of Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford by Leslie Brody
Leslie Brody has a big story to tell, and she tells it well, deftly manoeuvring through an extraordinary life filled with multiple significant figures, historical episodes, social action, tragedies, world war, children and writing. Her style is easy and fluent, lively and engaging, enhancing what is a captivating life story.
A review of Theatre and Theatre Companies of New York by Anthony Rubino, Jr. and M. Stefan Strozier
The book is enjoyable to read, humorous, and informative, and contains a great deal of black and white images that comprise virtually a walking tour of theatres in NY and Brooklyn.
A review of The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn
She interviewed volunteers and experts, and got to it. It pays to be a food writer, with chef friends in restaurants all over Seattle. Lessons opened with a taste test to demonstrate how the variety within one category of food. Every taste test was a revelation. The most expensive canned tomatoes were not the Best in Show. Salt substitute really is a subsitute, and a poor one. The real lesson: Trust your tastes.
A review of Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor…the life of Colin Kerby, OAM by Jan Mitchell
It’s an odd sort of progression from surgeon to sandwich maker and from confectioner to showman. It’s hard, at times, to believe that this is a book about one person, though there is a kind of entrepreneurial, inventor thread that links everything Kerby does.
A review Of Falling For Me: How I Hung Curtains, Learned to Cook, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love by Anna David
What’s so endearing about Falling For Me is that David does not try to portray herself as perfect. She’s just like any other single woman out there, putting her best foot forward trying to fall in love—the only difference is, she’s working on falling in love with herself first.
A review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
While I didn’t find myself showering with my copy of Ready Player One, I did find it an enjoyable read. However, I feel that fans of virtual gaming will get far more from this story than I did. Young adult males, in particular, will eat this up. Ready Player One is Willy Wonka with balls; it’s Total Recall meets The Matrix meets the Mario Brothers. It’s scarily familiar and horribly possible.
A review of The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes
The Sense of an Ending is a beautifully crafted exploration of a character arc that happens too late to affect change. The motion from clever smugness to painful self-awareness is flawless. The absolute control of Barnes’ prose coupled with the philosophical power of his meditations has resulted in a book that’s as dense and powerful as it is readable.
A review of Waiting for the Apocalypse by Veronica Chater
One of the lovely parts of the story is Veronica’s language—she paints a complex picture of her family, using heavy doses of metaphorical language and lots of questioning about how her life unfolds. She is quite trapped in her lifestyle. She writes much later, looking back and many of the incidences described are all about falling away, falling down, or just not making it.
A review of The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images by the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS)
Most essays take a vivid and telling image as their point of departure, but then range more widely. On the whole, the essays are provocative and richly suggestive, rather than exhaustive; and it is unlikely anyway, to my way of understanding, that the meanings and resonances inherent in a symbol can ever be fully enumerated. That is why they remain vital as symbols, able to intrigue, fascinate and transport.