I'm sorry to say I found this memoir pretty boring. There is enough new here about Ted Kaczynski for a decent essay, but not an entire book. There is I'm sorry to say I found this memoir pretty boring. There is enough new here about Ted Kaczynski for a decent essay, but not an entire book. There is a lot of information about the author after her childhood, which I didn't find particularly interesting, and what felt like endless repetition of some version of "I needed to know more." I can understand her fascination with Kaczinski, since she knew him when she was a child and he was sending bombs to people and trying to blow up airplanes, but what she writes about her relationship with him wasn't fascinating to me. The author also jumps around in time a lot, which I sometimes found hard to follow.
The worst new thing I found out about Kaczinski is that on top of sending inexact bombs that didn't even kill the right targets, he poisoned and shot many pets over the years. This book might appeal more to readers who enjoy memoirs by ordinary people than people wanting insight into the Unabomber. The author was working through grief over the loss of her young sister and her father when she started this book. I hope she found some solace.
The most riveting part by far was the last quarter or so of the book, which details Kaczinski's crimes, arrest, and trial. Readers who already know a lot of about the Unabomber probably won't find anything new in that section.
I read an advance reader copy of Madman in the Woods from Netgalley.
Merged review:
I'm sorry to say I found this memoir pretty boring. There is enough new here about Ted Kaczynski for a decent essay, but not an entire book. There is a lot of information about the author after her childhood, which I didn't find particularly interesting, and what felt like endless repetition of some version of "I needed to know more." I can understand her fascination with Kaczinski, since she knew him when she was a child and he was sending bombs to people and trying to blow up airplanes, but what she writes about her relationship with him wasn't fascinating to me. The author also jumps around in time a lot, which I sometimes found hard to follow.
The worst new thing I found out about Kaczinski is that on top of sending inexact bombs that didn't even kill the right targets, he poisoned and shot many pets over the years. This book might appeal more to readers who enjoy memoirs by ordinary people than people wanting insight into the Unabomber. The author was working through grief over the loss of her young sister and her father when she started this book. I hope she found some solace.
The most riveting part by far was the last quarter or so of the book, which details Kaczinski's crimes, arrest, and trial. Readers who already know a lot of about the Unabomber probably won't find anything new in that section.
I read an advance reader copy of Madman in the Woods from Netgalley....more
Grim reading but also fascinating. I lived in Chicago when Laurie Dann went on her rampage. Fortunately she did not have access to an assault rifle.
TGrim reading but also fascinating. I lived in Chicago when Laurie Dann went on her rampage. Fortunately she did not have access to an assault rifle.
The rampage did not have to happen. Laurie Dann was so obviously seriously mentally ill for so long. Her parents should have had her hospitalized. There's not really an excuse for their negligence. Yes, she was an adult, but they clearly just didn't want to deal with her and her behavior.
This book was published in 1990 and it is weird to read about a school shooting written before school shootings became so depressingly common.
"Laurie's enormous ineptitude had dogged her to the end. If she had been successful in all she wanted to do on May 20, she would have fatally poisoned at least fifty people, shot to death at least a dozen schoolchildren, incinerated three members of the Rushe family in their home and burned down two schools with 440 children inside." (p. 298)...more
I tried to listen to the audiobook and failed. Will Patton may be a fine actor but he is not a good audiobook narrator. His high, lispy voice irritateI tried to listen to the audiobook and failed. Will Patton may be a fine actor but he is not a good audiobook narrator. His high, lispy voice irritated me and did not keep my attention. This is a long book, so I bailed. Maybe I'll read the print book at some point.
This is one of the things I like about book club - I would never have chosen to read this book if it weren't for book club, and I really enjoyed it. IThis is one of the things I like about book club - I would never have chosen to read this book if it weren't for book club, and I really enjoyed it. It captures the time of Covid and covers a lot of ground - things related to knitting and things not related to knitting. I hope it is a good discussion book.
(One quibble - I don't think she ever says her sweater was ugly. Probably an editorial decision to make the title funny.) ...more
Pastoral Song contains some beautiful writing, lovely, lyrical passages about how astonishing nature is and on the joy of farming. That said, it's a lPastoral Song contains some beautiful writing, lovely, lyrical passages about how astonishing nature is and on the joy of farming. That said, it's a little long, especially the first half about how badly we've damaged the planet. (We have.) I listened to about half of it and the audio narrator was good.
Any publisher or editor reading this: please for the love of all that's holy, CHAPTER BREAKS. There is no shame in chapter breaks. Switching back and forth between print and audio is especially challenging without chapter breaks.
I wanted to like this more than I did. The topic is interesting, but the text is just not very dynamic. All the places discussed are in the Illinois WI wanted to like this more than I did. The topic is interesting, but the text is just not very dynamic. All the places discussed are in the Illinois Watershed, but I felt like connective tissue was missing.
It's short, and I'm glad I read it. Hurray for the people who have done this important work. ...more
I'm glad I read this. I lived in Chicago or the Chicago area for most of the years covered by the book, and I remember some of what is chronicled. I sI'm glad I read this. I lived in Chicago or the Chicago area for most of the years covered by the book, and I remember some of what is chronicled. I served on a board with someone who worked at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and we talked about how there would not be enough housing once the public housing buildings were torn down.
It does run on a little too long.
As someone who now lives in Galesburg, the home of poet Carl Sandburg, I am constantly amazed at how often he is quoted in books. It's particularly understandable for this book:
Put the city up; tear the city down; put it up again; let us find a city. - Carl Sandburg, "The Windy City" (on the page before the Table of Contents)...more
Human beings are a blight on the planet. If any species deserves to go extinct, it's homo sapiens.
This is possibly the most depressing book I have eveHuman beings are a blight on the planet. If any species deserves to go extinct, it's homo sapiens.
This is possibly the most depressing book I have ever read. It's a long and detailed (and probably exhaustively researched) description of animal life in North America and man's need to senselessly and ruthlessly slaughter it.
Trigger warning: detailed information about the extinction of the passenger pigeon at the hands of man. I hope I never read another book describing this indefensible, tragic, and pointless event in human history.
Is this a good book? I don't know, probably, but after reading it I feel utterly hopeless about what mankind has done and is doing to Earth and the other species on it. (Especially combined with the recent news story about that psychopath Cody Roberts in Wyoming who tortured a wolf to death for fun.)
Also the ending is a mess. The epilogue was unnecessary. Was he trying to hit some page or word count?
This was Overdrive's Big Library Read for May 2024. ...more
My father was in the Solomons in 1943, so I was inspired to pick up this book. The tone is very much in the "yay rah, go us" vein. Very matter of factMy father was in the Solomons in 1943, so I was inspired to pick up this book. The tone is very much in the "yay rah, go us" vein. Very matter of fact when telling, for example, of deciding whether or not to avoid the small Japanese troop or kill them all. As the title suggests, it is focused on the coastwatchers and not on the Marines. Still, it gave me some insight on what it must have been like.
I wasn't riveted but do admire what the coastwatchers risked. Hindsight is all 20/20, and since this was published in 1977 there is a weird, out-of-place chapter on JFK and his PT boat. Not being particularly enthralled with the Kennedys, I didn't feel like the chapter belonged in this book.
A warm, slow-moving, contemplative memoir from an English woman about becoming a beekeeper.
Many facts about honeybees from other books are scattered tA warm, slow-moving, contemplative memoir from an English woman about becoming a beekeeper.
Many facts about honeybees from other books are scattered throughout; she also documents her first steps in a new relationship with a friend of a friend.
Good for people who are really interested in honeybees. ...more
I'll admit, I was prejudiced by the opening chapter in which a cat meets a gruesome death. I had a hardParts of this book are better than three stars.
I'll admit, I was prejudiced by the opening chapter in which a cat meets a gruesome death. I had a hard time getting past that. Later, the author reminded me of the tragic death of Omayra Sánchez. The author seemed determined to remind the reader of how many sad and tragic things happen in the world (both in Colombia and the United States) and yet ends with a surprisingly easy and happy-ish reunion.
The passage that struck me the most was this one. Elena is in the U.S., taking care of her employer's child. Her mother has died in Colombia and her husband Mauro finds her. Mauro and their daughter are with the grandmother, and Mauro says he could feel Elena's presence.
"He said he could feel Elena in the room with them, as if she were in the air or in the plume of light parting the curtains. Elena told him it was true. She had been there with them. Even as she lay in that twin bed with a boy who was not her own in a house that was not her own in a country that was not her own. For those minutes, as the one who gave her life, the one she created life with, and the life she created, held one another and her mother's spirit slipped away, they were together again." (p. 178)
I don't read many memoirs, but my sister, who doesn't read much period, recommended this book, so I read it. You should read it too. Everyone should rI don't read many memoirs, but my sister, who doesn't read much period, recommended this book, so I read it. You should read it too. Everyone should read it.
Chanel Miller is a good writer who had a terrible thing happen to her, and her words about life as someone who charged someone elsewith sexual assault are powerful. It is truly terrible what we put people through. This book made me feel enraged, and sad, and I cried way more than I usually cry while reading any book.
One of the passages that stayed with me: "I'd told my boss I was at a doctor's appointment, but it ended up feeling more like a job interview. They were deciding whether I'd make a good victim: is her character upstanding, does she seem durable, will the jury find her likable, will she stay with us moving forward. I walked out feeling like, You've got the job! I did not want this job. I wanted my old life. But let him walk away? I could not let it happen." (p. 57)
After her victim statement was published anonymously and read online by 15 million people, she received many letters. One of them was from Vice President Joe Biden. "I see you," he wrote. "What did it mean that the vice president of the United States of America had stopped every important thing he was doing, to write I see you," Miller asks. She had grown up on the margins, she writes. "Yet people kept pulling me up and up, until I heard from the highest house in the nation."
She thanks author Jon Krakauer for his encouragement in her acknowledgments, which I found interesting because I kept comparing Know My Name to Into Thin Air. When something awful happens and we get a book, it's usually (a) a terrible book because the person writing it isn't a good writer or (b) ghostwritten by someone who wasn't there and doesn't have the passion of someone who was there. In these two books, the raw pain and passion come through from two people who are very good with words.
I’m with Ernest Hemingway when it comes to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I’m a huge fan, and I’m always interested in (and usually disappointed I’m with Ernest Hemingway when it comes to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I’m a huge fan, and I’m always interested in (and usually disappointed by) new books that reimagine it. And so I read James by Percival Everett.
It’s very readable. I understand wanting to make Jim a main character in this story. I fully support showing that he is a person with hopes and dreams and his own life aside from his adventures with Huck Finn. There were parts that I found enjoyable, although “ferociously funny” is a stretch. James does not capture the wit and genius of the original, and it reads like historical fiction, not contemporary fiction. The author really really wants us to understand that Jim understands irony, and sarcasm, and can read and understand great works, and can write. I found the need to make us understand that belabored and repetitive.
“We waded through water inside the wrecked house, with clothes floating everywhere. It had settled at a severe angle so it was a bit of a climb to the kitchen cabinets. Huck opened one and squealed, ironically, like a pig, as he found a rasher of bacon.” (p. 36 of the advance reader copy). That manages to both dehumanize Huck (which I assume is the point) and remind us, again, that Jim gets irony!
BIG SPOILERS AHEAD, don’t read my spoilers if you plan to read this book. My biggest complaint is that, like the author of Finn,(view spoiler)[Everett makes Huck Black. Huck cannot be Black. Huck must be a poor, abused, ignorant white boy for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to have any meaning, which I believe it does. Having Huck be Black, never mind the son of Jim, completely changes everything. And having Jim know that Huck is his son undermines every important thing about their relationship in the original book. And in this one. (hide spoiler)]
I do not believe that children should be forced to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The earliest it should be on required reading lists is in college literature classes (and even then it would be best as an option). The use of the n word is problematic, but I will point out that it appears many times in James (in case anyone is thinking James will make a better read for high schoolers).
The ending is where this book really reveals itself to be historical fiction. (view spoiler)[The end is a triumph of Black slaves rising up against cruel white masters, and nothing is going to end well for the slaves involved in the pre-Civil War South. (hide spoiler)]
Your reaction to James may vary greatly from mine. James might actually be better if you haven’t read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley....more
One of the questions I often ask in book club discussions of nonfiction books is "Did you feel there were too many scientific facts, or not enough, orOne of the questions I often ask in book club discussions of nonfiction books is "Did you feel there were too many scientific facts, or not enough, or just the right amount?" Flight Paths unfortunately was a little too science-y to truly qualify as popular nonfiction. There were sections I really could not follow (or perhaps I just didn't want to make the effort to follow). ("Imagine you're a deuterium atom." Say what now?)
But in between the love of scientific facts, the author's love of birds does come through. Migration is truly amazing, and awe over the migration spectacle also comes through. I always enjoy reading about banding birds (and how weirdly attitudinal some birds are, and that there are even birds that seem to enjoy being caught in mist-nets), and I liked that she included information about citizen science projects like Project Feederwatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count.
The book is well written and seems well researched. I liked that when it came to the attaching of tracking devices to tiny birds, she asked not just researchers but also an animal ethicist whether this is the right thing to do. ("How do we decide when the benefits of the knowledge we gain from these studies outweigh the potential harm to the individual birds?" p. 140)
If you really love birds, you might find Flight Paths worth the effort. (And as always, I encourage you to give yourself permission to skim pasts any parts that make your eyes glaze over.)...more
I checked this book out because I'm going to see the film Dumb Money. I ended up skimming because it is so boring. OMG fall asleep boring. I didn't fiI checked this book out because I'm going to see the film Dumb Money. I ended up skimming because it is so boring. OMG fall asleep boring. I didn't find the Gamestop thing interesting when it was happening and I didn't find it interesting in this book. Should I be interested in how the stock market works? Sure. And maybe I should be interested in the underdogs chronicled in this book. But I wasn't. I literally could not make myself understand and get into this book.
I hope I like the movie better.
I must quote this.
"Keith Gill, thirty-four, with high cheekbones, piercing brown-hazel eyes, and a magnificent mane of shoulder-length hair that perhaps tended toward mullet when you saw it from the side, stood in the frozen grass of his postcard-sized lawn, straining his arms to lift his two-year-old daughter onto the top of the plastic slide that squatted in the shadow of his three-bedroom home." (p. 19)
Am I reading a book by a frustrated, wanna be novelist?
Righteously angry, persuasive and educational. I wish I could remember his arguments and use them in conversation, but I won't, and I admit I had trouRighteously angry, persuasive and educational. I wish I could remember his arguments and use them in conversation, but I won't, and I admit I had trouble following some of his points. Still, this is well worth a read for anyone who knows that many things about the U.S. government are broken. ...more
Since I live in a railroad town and I can hear the trains go by my house, I was interested in Walk Through Fire. I was in high school when the WaverlySince I live in a railroad town and I can hear the trains go by my house, I was interested in Walk Through Fire. I was in high school when the Waverly Train Disaster happened, and even though my parents are both from Tennessee, I don’t remember hearing anything about it.
Ali was a child in Waverly when the disaster happened. Her parents are physicians who emigrated from the Middle East to Waverly and played critical roles in the one bright spot during the disaster – the triage work that took place in the small local hospital after the explosion. Ali is justifiably proud of them and interested in the disaster, and her personal interest is reflected in the book.
Ali covers a lot of ground. Some of the information did not add much to the story for me as a reader. For example, there is a long part about Union Forces in Tennessee during the Civil War and the laying of tracks by Black laborers, and the information about what caused the disaster was very detailed. But Ali really cares about the town and its people, and she knows many of the survivors, and her empathy for the people of Waverly really shines through. I can tell she did a lot of research and conducted a lot of interviews. She describes the terrible burns that people suffered with compassion and her own medical knowledge as a doctor.
I actually feel better about the unknown cargo on trains coming through Galesburg each night after reading this book. A lot of mistakes were made that led to the Waverly explosion, by the railroad and by local law enforcement because they had no idea how dangerous the situation is. A full investigation led to a number of changes to regulations and standards and to the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
I listened to the author read much of the book. She’s not a professional reader, and some of her phrasing was a little odd. However, her own passion for the subject kept me going.
If you live near trains or are interested in how disasters shaped our lives for the better by prompting safety changes, you might want to read Walk Through Fire. ...more
Something about 9/11 this year made me want to learn more about United Flight 93.
I'm glad I read this book. It seems well researched and is very respeSomething about 9/11 this year made me want to learn more about United Flight 93.
I'm glad I read this book. It seems well researched and is very respectful of the passengers and crew and the families and friends they left behind. There's a bit of padding, probably to reach a certain page count, but the chapters about the flight and what might happened onboard are very interesting without being sensational. ...more
I read an essay about the brother of one of the Pan Am 103 victims and that prompted me to learn more. This was the only book I could find in3.5 stars
I read an essay about the brother of one of the Pan Am 103 victims and that prompted me to learn more. This was the only book I could find in our library system.
It was published in 1992 so it feels immediate but also dated. I learned a lot I didn't know and I'm glad I read it. My biggest issue is that there were 270 people killed and most of them are mentioned only once, in the list of people killed. I kind of feel like it would have been ideal to have either a photo of everyone or more of a description in the list.
I'm also sorry to say that I feel like another terrorist act like this could happen tomorrow. ...more
While the quality of the writing in the 12 essays in this book is probably the same for all 12, my interest level varied a great deal. I foun3.5 stars
While the quality of the writing in the 12 essays in this book is probably the same for all 12, my interest level varied a great deal. I found some of them very interesting and some of them quite boring.
The most interesting to me were the essays The Avenger (about the brother of one of the victims on Pan Am flight 103; I knew the mother of one of the other victims); A Loaded Gun (about mass shooter Amy Bishop); and The Worst of the Worst (about Judy Clarke, who defends notorious killers). Wine, Dutch mafia, financial scandal, El Chapo, Donald Trump, tax evasion, arms dealing, African mining, and Anthony Bourdain not so much.