Category Archives: Books

BOOK: Transient Worlds by Arthur Sze

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Transient Worlds: On Translating PoetryTransient Worlds: On Translating Poetry by Arthur Sze
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Copper Canyon

Release Date: April 14, 2026

Just as people are fond of saying, “the book is always better than the movie,” there is an idea — widely accepted as truism — that goes, “a translation can never be as good as its source poem.” I don’t buy either of those views, but there’s certainly truth to the notion that a poetic translation can never perfectly echo style, tone, sound quality, and meaning at once. Each language is unique, and the more different two languages are the more one has to make decisions about what one will emulate and what one will craft. It’s also true that any translation will represent a drift away from the culture of the original (which is not identical to being worse.) In short, any poetry translation that seeks to be good had better be a work of art unto itself.

The current US Poet Laureate (as of this writing,) Arthur Sze, has written a book to help readers intelligently navigate the troubled waters of poetic translation. Sze certainly has insight, having not only translated Chinese poems himself, but also being Professor Emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts, he has multiple cultural lenses with which to view poetry.

This book consists of fifteen chapters exploring poems and poetry excerpts from around the globe — and their translations. The twelve diverse source languages include: Chinese, Navajo, French, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Danish, and Russian. The original poets include Tao Qian, Guillaume Apollinaire, Homer, Kobayashi Issa, Pablo Neruda, Marina Tsvetaeva, Aime Cesaire, Najwan Darwish, and Mirabai. Many of the chapters include multiple translations, offering the reader a means to see how different translators take to the task. Others offer only a single translation but turn their attention to specific considerations of translation. In one case, there is an interview with the translator. I enjoyed this varied approach to the exploring the topic. It made for a book with zero monotony and many facets.

If you are a poet or a poetry reader who enjoys reading poetry from varied languages or source languages, I’d highly recommend this book.

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BOOK: “Fight Ready” by Santino DeFranco

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Fight Ready: An MMA Coach’s Guide to Losing Weight, Getting Strong, and Kicking AssFight Ready: An MMA Coach’s Guide to Losing Weight, Getting Strong, and Kicking Ass by Santino DeFranco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher site –St. Martin’s

Release Date: May 19, 2026

MMA fighter turned coach, Santino DeFranco, offers an insightful and pragmatic overview of the process of getting one’s body shipshape, including: getting sleep, dealing with injuries, strength and conditioning practices, nutrition, and more. The book attempts to be of broad appeal, not just relevant to MMA and other competitive fighters, but to athletes of other sports and non-athletes as well. It was not clear to me that the book achieves said broad appeal. One of the most fascinating and engaging chapters dealt with the process of cutting weight, an activity that applies to few outside weight-graded combative sports. (And an activity which the author, with the pragmatic approach that makes the book so useful, attempts to dissuade general readers from attempting.) The book does discuss the calories-in-and-calories-out basics of nutrition in a more generally relevant manner, as well. And there is certainly wisdom to be gleaned for the non-fighter, but, overall, I don’t know that this would be a good book to send a person toward if they were a typically unathletic person trying to lose a few pounds and be in better shape. (Though I do acknowledge a sort of aspirational motivation that a book might have for such readers, particularly UFC fans.) [And it’s completely out of my wheelhouse to know how generally applicable strength and conditioning approaches are for completely different sports, but I can’t help but have doubts.]

That said, I did come across many thought-provoking tidbits of wisdom in this book. The author is clearly one prone to look to the science and established best practices and to challenge the fad-laden fitness influencers and not dive headlong into the trend du jour. The book uses stories and anecdotes to increase the book’s readability and relatability. Here I’d say the results are mixed, but the aforementioned Tracy Cortez weight cut story is one example of when it is done very well.

If you’re curious about the training life of professional fighters and are looking for a few health and fitness concepts you might apply in your own life, I’d highly recommend this book.

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PROMPT: Autobiography

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Daily writing prompt
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
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“And that’s how you do that!”

(I’m told that in medias res is the ideal narrative approach for memoirs.)

BOOK: “Of Love and Other Demons” by Gabriel García Márquez

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Of Love and Other DemonsOf Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher – Penguin Random House

This novel revolves around the young daughter of an aristocrat in 18th century Cartagena, Sierva Maria, who is raised by slaves, goes native, and – after being bitten by a rabid dog – is sent to a convent for exorcism. The other central character is the priest, Father Cayetano Delaura, who is dispatched to evaluate the girl and perform the exorcism. Father Delaura doesn’t initially believe the girl is possessed. Sierva Maria speaks the African tribal languages of the slaves who raised her (rather than speaking in tongues as the Nuns believe,) and she is a psychological wreck in large part because the Sisters treat her horribly, believing her to be demon infested. In the process of cleaning Sierva Maria up, tending to her wounds, and coaxing her to speak to him, the priest falls in love with the girl.

It’s a compelling story. Gabriel García Márquez opens the book with a prologue in which he proposes that it was a legend he was told by his grandmother that formed the seed of the story and the real-life discovery of human remains with extremely long hair that trigger his writing. (Sierva Maria has long hair because it was never cut because it was promised to the Saints in prayer when she was saved from choking on her umbilical cord at birth.)

Being set in the 18th century, the book features a fascinating mix of people who believe the problems of Sierva Maria can only be demon possession, an Enlightenment-influenced doctor of the view that it there are more logical explanations, and the many shades in between — epitomized by Father Delaura’s migrating views on the subject.

I’d highly recommend this book for readers of historical fiction.

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BOOK: “Scientific Jiu-jitsu” by Will Weisser

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Scientific Jiu-Jitsu: A Unified Theory of Grappling (Martial Science)Scientific Jiu-Jitsu: A Unified Theory of Grappling by Will Weisser
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – YMAA Publication Center

Release date: June 2, 2026

This book outlines principles of positioning, alignment, and movement used to gain advantage while grappling. It is not a technique-centric book but rather is a concept-centric one. Weisser does for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu what Jiichi Watanabe and Lindy Avakian did for Judo with their book alternatively titled The Secrets of Judo or The Art and Science of Judo. Watanabe and Avakian focused more on both technique and elementary physics than does Weisser, but there is common ground in ideas of what positions make a body strong and what movements bring vulnerability. The biggest area of divergence between Watanabe’s book and Weisser’s is simply the difference between Judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Watanabe and Avakian direct the vast majority of their attention to how one gets the opponent to the ground and relatively little on what to do when one gets there, and Weisser’s book is the other way around — i.e. primarily assuming at least one person is already on the ground.

Weisser’s book does assume that the reader has a background in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, using terms specific to that system without necessarily providing elaboration. I say this just to point it out as (to be fair) I realized that I would have thought nothing of it if it used Japanese Jujutsu / Judo terminology in the same way. (I did have to go to Google at one point to elucidate what turned out to be a Dragonball-Z reference that went right over my head.)

Weisser’s book uses a combination of graphics, including photographs. I found it easier to see the linkage between what the author was describing in the text and what was in the photos in some cases than in others. Often, there was a single photo catching one static situation, and if the grapplers were closely entangled (as grapplers are want to be,) it was not so easy to see — even with different colored uniforms. [Note: I should point out that I was reading an ARC galley, and so that may all be sorted in the final formatting.]

As one who knows little of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, but with some experience with other grappling systems, I found this book readable and thought-provoking. The statement of ideas is clear, and I’d recommend it for grapplers looking to engage in thinking about first principles of grappling.

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PROMPT: Budgeting

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Daily writing prompt
Write about your approach to budgeting.
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First, use what you’ve got to put food in your face. If there’s left over, acquire suitable shelter. If there’s some left, buy a book.

BOOK: “The General in His Labyrinth” by Gabriel García Márquez

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The General in His LabyrinthThe General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Penguin

This is a work of historical fiction by Gabriel García Márquez that tells the story of the last days of Simón Bolívar as the revolutionary hero attempted to flee Latin America toward exile in Europe. (Bolívar led a big chunk of Latin America to independence from Spain and ruled over Gran Colombia — a country that included Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and parts of other adjacent countries.) The story covers a trip up the Magdalena River from Colombia’s interior to the coast and on to Santa Marta, where his trip (and life) would end. [FYI: The title comes from words Bolívar spoke slightly before his death when he was putting together his will in which he said, “…How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?”]

There is some contention about the degree to which the book is historical fiction verses a historical account. It seems there are some fictionalized elements, but because García Márquez leans into the degree to which Bolívar was quite ill during this period the book may be more accurate in some ways than more hagiographic accounts.

The events of the story took place in 1830, and the times present an interesting contrast to our own as Bolívar travels to places that have not yet gotten the news that he is no longer President and treat his visit as one would that of a head of state.

At the book’s end there is a brief epilogue by the author as well as an extensive timeline of Bolívar’s life. The latter is quite useful because this book covers only a short period of time, though one of is great interest.

I’d highly recommend this for readers who enjoy literary fiction and / or are interested in Latin American history.

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PROMPT: Books

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Daily writing prompt
What books do you want to read?
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I’ve always gotten bogged down in Joyce’s Ulysses. There are some books you need to be in the right headspace to attack.

I should probably read the Bible and the Koran, speaking of literature I’ve never had the mental energy to take up.

BOOK: “Four Chapters on Freedom” by Patanjali [Commentaries by Satyananda Saraswati]

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Four Chapters on Freedom: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliFour Chapters on Freedom: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Satyananda Saraswati
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher – Yoga Publications Trust

This book holds the Bihar School of Yoga commentaries on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In addition to providing each Sutra in Sanskrit, a Romanized transliteration, a word-by-word literal translation, and a readable free translation into English, the book offers a commentary for each Sutra. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali consist of just 196 lines of Sanskrit, explaining the nature of yoga and how it is to be practiced. Because the Sutras are so sparse and open to varied interpretations, a commentary is essential and one’s learning experience is only as good as the translation and commentary. There are many English language commentaries on Patanjali’s Sutras available, but I don’t think one can do any better than this one.

In general, I have found the publications put out by the Yoga Publications Trust of the Bihar School to be as useful as they come. Their books are pragmatic, focused, and readable.

This book does, by necessity, use a fair number of Sanskrit terms repeatedly because there are not English words for many of the key concepts and to try to put them into English would be tiresome and confusing. However, there is a glossary at the end of the book (in addition to an index) to help the reader negotiate this Sanskrit terminology. The appendices also include a key to help English language readers with the pronunciation of Sanskrit terms. There are also appendices with the sutras written out in Sanskrit and Romanized transliteration in list form.

This book is well worth reading, whether one has read other commentaries on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or not.

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BOOK: “Wildness” by Lydia Willsky-Ciollo

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Wildness: Henry David Thoreau and the Making of an American TheologyWildness: Henry David Thoreau and the Making of an American Theology by Lydia Willsky-Ciollo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher — University of Notre Dame Press

Release Date: March 1, 2026

Willsky-Ciollo argues in this book that Thoreau built a uniquely American theology with nature at its core, a theology that didn’t just draw on Greco-Roman philosophy and Abrahamic religion (as other schools of thought have) but also on Indian ideas of both the South Asian and Native American varieties. (The book speaks more extensively to the latter.)

For a scholarly work, this book is readable and doesn’t require jargon proficiency or any special academic background. I can’t say I found it compelling to think of Thoreau’s teachings as a theology (rather than a philosophy, or a strain of Transcendentalism.) That said, to someone outside the field, I don’t think that is a particularly interesting question, given that scholarly disciplines are inherently subjectively defined and prone to mutability. What’s more important to me is that I did gain numerous insights from this book, particularly regarding Thoreau’s unfinished final work Wild Fruits (which is discussed in some detail,) and Thoreau’s views on American Indians and their influence on his worldview.

If you’re interested in Thoreau, and looking for some insight that one might not gain from reading his most well-known works, this is a book well worth reading.

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