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Tag Archives: book reviews

Fiction and Non-fiction: Spinning Facts Into Gold

When I began writing my first memoir I was under the impression that other people would find my story spellbinding—woman begins dating again after two divorces, discovers that dating at 60 is not like dating at 18. I was wrong. My first critics, though kind, were bored. Elmore Leonard’s writing advice, “Just cut out theContinue reading “Fiction and Non-fiction: Spinning Facts Into Gold”

AMERICA AND THE IRAQ WAR: a review of A STRANGER IN YOUR OWN CITY, by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

One point of the book is summed up on page 126. An Iraqi man torn between warring factions says, “‘I am between two fires, my Sunni neighbours who would kill me if I don’t go out with them into the street, and the Shia militia.’ He paused before correcting himself. ‘No, three fires—there are the Americans, too.'”

How To Write A Family Memoir

Anyone interested in writing a family memoir would be well advised to follow Cherington’s progress in writing the book, as she allows the reader to do.

THE DEATH OF A PEOPLE’S DREAM: Two remarkable books, Black Elk Speaks and Born in Tibet

These are cautionary tales in that they suggest that we should “awake, awake, take heed,” as the Buddhist evening mantra goes, and confront the destruction before it swells to flood stage. Failing that, these stories are also an affirmation that all is never lost. There is gold to be woven from the dross of persecution; we’ve seen it over and over again. Look inward to find it.

Review of ONE FRIDAY IN APRIL, A Story of Suicide and Survival, by Donald Antrim

Antrim breaks all the rules in this just-published memoir, achieving a result that is unique and profoundly moving, fascinating, and informative. The story that holds it all together issues from an addled mind where reality is mixed with passion, memory, and illness. Of the classic storylines, this is a man takes a journey, or perhapsContinue reading “Review of ONE FRIDAY IN APRIL, A Story of Suicide and Survival, by Donald Antrim”

Review of A MATHEMATICIAN’S APOLOGY, by G. H. Hardy

In assessing his worth, Hardy writes, “A man who sets out to justify his existence and his activities has to distinguish between two different questions. The first is whether the work…is worth doing; and the second is why he does it, whatever its value may be.”