Category Archives: Book Reviews

BOOK: “New Comic Limericks” ed. by Ivanette Dennis

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New Comic LimericksNew Comic Limericks by Ivanette Dennis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This anthology consists of 63 pages of whimsical limericks with amusing cartoon illustrations by Louis Marak. There aren’t laugh-out-loud yucks to be had here, but the wordplay of these poems is clever and the limericks are more well-crafted than most. It should be pointed out that there is nothing risqué in the collection either. The most best-known limerick writers included are Ogden Nash, Edward Lear, Gelett Burgess, and Charles Barsotti. [Incidentally, the most famous writers included are Rudyard Kipling, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., and Robert Louis Stevenson.]

The pieces take a wide variety playful approaches to the limerick from eye rhymes, slant rhymes and the shape poetry of Charles Barsotti.

If you’re interested in limericks and wordplay, there is a lot to learn from the examples presented in this anthology.

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BOOK: “Lonesome Cities” by Rod McKuen

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LONESOME CITIES LTD EDITLONESOME CITIES LTD EDIT by Rod McKuen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Google Books Page

Rod McKuen is the posterchild for poets who were loathed and brutalized by critics, yet who had massive popular followings. He is the Minecraft Movie of poets. McKuen was also a songwriter and recording artist. Poet and lyricist seem almost identical career fields (one makes money for being a simplified version of the other [the poor] one,) but I suspect in their differences one finds a big chunk of the resolution to the aforementioned disparity. At the end of this collection is a chapter entitled “13 Songs” that contains a baker’s dozen of poems that are pop lyric-esque. Until I got to these, I thought McKuen may have been getting an unfair wrap for being schmaltzy and pedestrian, but when I got to them, I could see the truth in the criticism.

This is not to say McKuen would have been as harshly judged today as he was in 1968 when this book came out. He was a bisexual man who is most famous for writing “Seasons in the Sun” (an unambiguously schmaltzy song made popular by Terry Jacks in a much more up-tempo version,) and in an era in which academics were “total squares.”

At any rate, this collection, which is largely organized by city, is a fun read.

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BOOK: “The Writing Life” by Annie Dillard

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The Writing LifeThe Writing Life by Annie Dillard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher site – Harper

This essay lays out what it takes to write through discussion of Dillard’s first-hand experience writing. Issues discussed include the ability to not only hack away at one’s work but sometimes to wholly abandon it to restart from a blank page, the time it takes, and the need for a space of one’s own and solitude. The final chapter takes a twist, telling the story of a stunt pilot who lived in the same area as Dillard, a story that I took as an allegory for the writing life.

I’d highly recommend this book for writers, but also for those who like to read well-crafted writing.



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BOOK: “Food Rules” by Michael Pollan

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Food Rules: An Eater's ManualFood Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author’s booksite

This book consists of sixty-four rules for healthier eating / escaping modern quasi-food, most with a brief explanation or discussion of exceptions and pitfalls. It is arranged in three parts according to Pollan’s famous food haiku — i.e. “eat food // mostly plants // not too much.” While a lot of the rules are (by the author’s admission) redundant, the clever statement of varied rules keeps them from feeling stale.

Some of my favorites are:
2.) “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”
7.) “Avoid food products containing ingredients a third-grader cannot pronounce.”
13.) “Eat only foods that will eventually rot.”
18.) “Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.”
31.) “Eat wild foods when you can.”
36.) “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.”
39.) “Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.”
40.) “Be the kind of person who takes supplements — then skip the supplements.”
47.) “Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.”
52.) “Buy smaller plates and glasses.”
57.) “Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.”

I’d recommend everyone read this book. It’s a quick and amusing read with punchy statements of food wisdom that stick in the brain.

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BOOK: “Night Lights” by Molnár József & Péter Szilas

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Night lights (Our Budapest)Night lights by Jozsef Molnar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher – Atlantisz

Budapest was a city on the cutting edge in the 19th century. This fact is often lost to people who today see it as a city that’s doing okay getting to its feet in the wake of the Cold War, but it’s worth noting that it was a major world capital before that. This is exemplified by the fact that Budapest had the first subway train (Line No. 1., opened in May of 1896.) It’s also seen in the subject of this book, the development of streetlights and lighting of public spaces.

This pamphlet / book of 56 pages is put out by Budapest’s City Hall and includes a great many color photos of important structures, historic and modern, from around the city (all taken at night to display said lighting.) The text covers the history of Budapest’s public lighting from a 1777 decree by Maria Theresa (ruler of the Hapsburg monarchy, 1740-1780) that set the stage for the first street lighting to the post-World War II floodlighting of major sights (e.g. Parliament and the Vajdahunyad Palace.) So, the book covers the period from gaslighting (and oil lighting) through the modern electrical grid, as well as the transition between.

I’d recommend this little book for those interested in the development of cities. It’s fascinating considering what the world was like in the absence of infrastructure that we now take for granted.

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BOOK: “Falling Up” by Shel Silverstein

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Falling UpFalling Up by Shel Silverstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher – HarperCollins Children’s Books

This is the third and final (not inclusive of posthumous greatest hits collections) poetry collection of Shel Silverstein. The collection is considered children’s poetry and has the usual features of such (rhyming verse and doggerel, moral lessons, and occasional grossness.) The poems are generally written in a suspensive form with a twist, i.e. a punchline but aimed more at silly than humorous.

The collection bounces between whimsical and absurd and is highly entertaining to read.

The book has pencil drawings of matching tone for most of the poems.

If you like silliness and rhyming verse, this is fun read.

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BOOK: “Venus in India” by Charles Devereaux

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Venus in India or Love Adventures in HindustanVenus in India or Love Adventures in Hindustan by Charles Devereaux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Available online – Wikisource

This novel is presented as the erotically-charged memoir of a British military officer stationed in India. While separated from his wife by his assignment, he has a couple major (and many minor) dalliances with other women, one with the loose wife of another officer and the other the daughter of his commanding officer — who he is charged with mentoring.

Compared with other Victorian erotica, this book does have more story and character development than other books with which I’m familiar. In other words, what goes on between the sheets (or in the grass or on a table) is not the sum total of the book. Interesting events happen outside the sex and there is at least the pretense of emotional arcs for important characters. This makes the book feel more like a true memoir rather than a collection of “Dear Penthouse” tales.

If you like stories of the historic ex-pat life and / or Victorian erotica, you’ll likely enjoy this book.

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BOOK: “Mallapurana” ed. by Bhogilai Jayachandbhai Sandesara & Ramanlal Nagarji Mehta

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Mallapurana: A Rare Sanskrit Text on Indian Wrestling especially as practised by the Jyesthimallas (Gaekwad's Oriental Series No. 144)Mallapurana: A Rare Sanskrit Text on Indian Wrestling especially as practised by the Jyesthimallas by Bhogilal Jayachandbhai; Mehta Sandesara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available online – Internet Archive

The Mallapurana is a several hundred-year-old Sanskrit manual on wrestling as practiced in India, specifically by the Jyesthimalla caste. In 1964 two scholars from the University of Baroda released an edition that included a summary and detailed elaboration for an English-language readership, written to be understood by a reader without a background in the Indian wrestling tradition. (The text does include the original Sanskrit text for those who can read it, but I can’t comment on it.)

The manual is not just a discussion of wrestling techniques. In fact, a good portion of the manual covers issues like diet, training, the rites and logistical details of wrestling matches, characteristics of wrestlers, and strategies of matches. The authors include discussions of training methods and other details. The material is presented for a scholarly audience. While the readability is not challenging, it is arranged in a way that may feel tedious for the general readership. There are occasional descriptions that may leave a general reader befuddled.

I found reading this manual to be informative. It turned me on to many ideas with which I was unfamiliar. I’d highly recommend it for those interested in wrestling, martial sports, or the evolution of fitness practices.

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PROMPT: Read Over

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Daily writing prompt
What book could you read over and over again?
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孙子兵法, i.e. “The Art of War” by Sunzi (孙子) is one that I can and have read more than twice.

I’m not a huge re-reader, but others include “Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras,” “Hamlet,” “Leaves of Grass,” and Miyamoto Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings.” Translated literature is often good for more than one read because translations vary so much.

BOOK: “The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace” Trans. / Ed. / Introduction by N.E. Sjoman

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The Yoga Tradition Of The Mysore PalaceThe Yoga Tradition Of The Mysore Palace by N.E. Sjoman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Online

This book consists of a translation of The Śrītattvanidhi, a description of 122 Hatha Yoga postures (asana) that has been attributed to Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (Maharaja of Mysore – b.1794 – d. 1868,) as well as notes and commentary on the postures by the Sanskrit scholar, N.E. Sjoman, notes that serve to map said postures to their present-day counterparts. Sjoman also writes an extensive introduction that explores the evolution of the body of yogasana as we now know them, with discussion of varied sources, his research rooted in archival study in Mysore. A copy of the original The Śrītattvanidhi, (of varied readability) is included in the text.

Because India is top-heavy in terms of population and influence, outside of India yoga practitioners might be forgiven for failing to understand how important Mysore and the patronage of the Wodeyar royalty to T.T. Krishnamacharya was in the development of asana-centric yoga as we know it today. Krishnamacharya taught Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga Vinyasa,) B.K.S. Iyengar (prop yoga,) and Indira Devi (Yogini to the stars,) among other prominent 20th century teachers. It is from these teachers onward that yoga practice would be recognizable to the average practitioner of today.

This book links the postures of The Śrītattvanidhi to the names / versions known today (typically linked by the names from B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga.) Sjoman also maps these asana to other prominent sources like Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, Krishnamacharya’s Yogamakaranda, Pattabhi Jois’s Yoga Mala, and Yogeshwaranand Parmahansa’s First Steps to Higher Yoga, linking them primarily through a series of indices.

If you’re interested in the evolution of yoga postures over time, I’d highly recommend this book as a quick way to get a basic grasp of the subject.

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