Category: Reviews

Probably everyone has seen the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffman, Ray Liotta and James Earl Jones. To me, Field of Dreams is one of the most powerful movies ever made. W.P. Kinsella wrote the novel Field of Dreams is based on. That novel is Shoeless Joe, which I read and reviewed last year. I love the book as much as I love the movie.

Shoeless Joe is Kinsella’s best known work, but he has written six other novels and, I hear, over two hundred short stories. The Essential W. P. Kinsella was released from Tachyon Publications in March. It’s four hundred pages of some of Kinsella’s best short stories.

Much of Kinsella’s work combines baseball and magic, as is the case with some of the stories in The Essential, but magic isn’t present in all of these stories and neither is baseball. Nonetheless, they are all magical in their own way.

Some of the stories were joyful and some were sad, all of them were convincing. Some took me through the struggles of minor league players hanging in there, trying to stay out of trouble, while waiting or hoping for the day they are called up to the Bigs. And there was a story about two retired Major League players living together in an apartment, one of them reuniting with his loved ones who died years ago.

And there were stories about divorced men finding love again. One such story ended on a sad note and was dedicated to Kinsella’s wife who died in 2012. I felt his pain while reading that one.

Kinsella has a gift for getting emotions across in his writing and every one of these stories, no matter the subject, was rich with emotions. I loved them all.

I was introduced to the Borrowers some years ago when I saw the movie, the one where John Goodman plays the villain. I liked the movie and thought I should give the book a read, though it took me a while to get around to it. As is usually the case, the book is not quite like the movie.

The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, is a fun children’s book about tiny people living  under the kitchen floor of a great big house.. It’s never specified when the story is taking place, but I think it’s set around the early 1900s, in England.

Only one family of Borrowers is left in the big house owned by Aunt Sophy. The rest of the Borrower families have moved out for one reason or another and have not been heard from since. Though Arrietty, her mother Homily and her father Pod convince themselves that there are many more Borrowers in the world, they might well be the last of the Borrowers. Arrietty meets Sophy’s nephew, the Boy, and the Boy offers to help her find other Borrowers, if they can be found. Among other things.

Branch, by Gustavo Bondoni, is a novella about the discovery of a new human species. They look and behave like the rest of us, but they’re not quite like us. The biggest difference is that our species and theirs cannot breed.

So, there is a team of scientists working in India, at the village where this new species lives. Most of the scientists are good, decent and sensible people, but one of them is a royal pain in the ass.

When India’s soldiers move to the village to assure the safety and secrecy of the villagers, everything is peachy until the doctor with the bad attitude decides to spread the word about the villagers being different from the rest of the human race. The news spreads around the world and soon there are thousands of bigots who think the world would be better off if this new branch of the human race is eliminated, in the name of God, of course.

A fun read. Some bits stirred my emotions.  Bondoni did it right.

Not bad. Pretty damn good, actually. I usually don’t bother with self published books, but June 1942: A Boy Out Of Time, A Girl Out Of History, by Quito Washington, is one I’m glad I read. I’ll be honest, I think it could use a bit more editing. I spotted a lot of typos and there were places where commas should have been but weren’t. I also saw some point of view violations. But if you’re not anal about that stuff, this is a very enjoyable book.

I would say it’s science fiction with a mild blend of fantasy. Though there were times when I thought it was a ghost story, then I’d think it was contemporary fiction, but with some of the story set in the past. But in the end it came clear what this actually is and it was well played. The plot was strong, the story was convincing, the characters were believable.

Not bad.

I’ve been behind on my reading. Finally got back into the motion and finished off William Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.

I pretty much already knew the story of Romeo and Juliet, though I never actually read the book. I’ve heard about the story and I’ve seen parts of the Romeo + Juliet movie from 1996, though I don’t think I ever watched it all the way through. So, I knew what the story was about, but I didn’t have the whole story down and I figure I ought to know it.

Shakespeare’s usual poetic play of words is in this book just as it is in every other book of his. Yeah, he was a crafty writer. I kept imagining that I was watching the play as I read. I would see the actors waving their arms about as they spoke their lines. Some bits made me laugh out loud and other bits struck an emotional chord. So, I say Shakespeare did it right.

If you know me, you know I love baseball. I practically worship baseball. It’s like a religion to me. My team is the Detroit Tigers, but I love the game so much that I’m often happy to watch any teams. It doesn’t even have to be Major League teams. I’ll watch the minors, college, independents, even little league teams. And I like all things that have to do with baseball. Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, is one of my favorite movies. Shoeless Joe, by W. P. Kinsella, is the novel Field of Dreams is based on.

As is usually the case, the novel is not quite like the movie. There are plenty of differences between the two. But the movie is still an excellent adaptation of the story Kinsella wrote. Shoeless Joe is like the Baseball Bible. If you want to understand my insane love for baseball, read this book.  It talks about several interesting pieces of baseball history and, through dialog, it explains why baseball is so important to people like me. There’s also a very nice touch of humanity that is shared by several characters.

I absolutely loved this book.

The Price of Spring is a beautiful but sad tale of a world that is broken. An empire where women are no longer able to bear children has never recovered from the last war with Galt. It’s up to the poets to make the world right again, or to do further damage. But with the old grammar lost, a new grammar must be made in order for a poet to bind an andat, a small god that from the moment it is bound must do the will of its poet.

Daniel Abraham‘s world develops in a way that makes me think of a blooming flower garden. At first it was all dark and murky, but as I continued along the world became brighter and more colorful. The characters were interesting and lovable, and there were scenes, especially one in the epilogue, that stirred my emotions.

I don’t want to reveal much about the story itself. It’s a rule I try to stick to when writing these little pieces about the books I read. But this is a good book, a fun read, and all the usual things I say about the books I enjoyed.