real sofistikashun: essays on poetry and craft –by Tony Hoagland

Nonfiction / Essays

224 pages

5 Stars

I can't think of anything I enjoy more than reading a good poem unless it's reading a good essay, and in this book, I had the best of both worlds. It was not easy forcing myself to read one essay at a time, rather than to read the book cover to cover. 

Hoagland's book talks about modern poetry in an easy-to-understand and accessible manner; he discusses many of the current poets, and how and why they write as they do. 

If you're a poet, there are jewels of great value to be mined in real sofistikashun, if you're a reader of poetry, this book will become necessary to your bedside table. (If you put it on the shelf, it may not be as readily available as you will want.)

Buy this book! Read this book! You will not be sorry.

Humor Me (Life Without a Field Guide Book 2) --by Lill Hawkins

Essay / Humor

119 pages / 2155 KB

5 Stars

After reading Funny You Should Ask, also by Lill Hawkins, I enjoyed it so much, I bought her next book, Humor Me. It's more of the same – short essays about the weirdness that surrounds her, from her dearly beloved, aka Geekdaddy, to Son and Daughter, aka Son and Daughter, and their adventures living in the backwoods of Maine.

I did manage to parse out the essays into a 2-sit read, but it wasn't easy. Her essays are short, and chocked full of humor. She makes Maine sound almost like a place I want to visit. Visit, not settle in.

Read the short excerpt at Amazon about Maine's seasons (I always thought they were Cold and Colder, but she actually talks about Summer and Autumn, snowfall and grilling.

Well worth the time and the cost. Buy it, read it, review it!

Funny You Should Ask (Life Without a Field Guide Book 1) --by Lill Hawkins

Nonfiction / Essays

128 pages / 2868 KB

Footnotes/Endnotes: None

Illustrations: None

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

I was asked to read this, and write an honest review. The book was free.

WARNING: This is a one-sit book. It brought to mind The Adventures of Stout Mama by Sibyl James, and Revenge of the Paste Eaters and Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs by Cheryl Peck.

A collection of short and humorous essays by a woman who holds a love-hate relationship with Maine (she loves the people, the weather can be iffy depending on the date), who home-schooled her children as a secularist (they are now in college, so she obviously did a good job), who lives with a husband as afraid of spiders as I am (she thinks they are nice and moves them to safe places away from him), and writes about some of the laugh-out-loud people and or experiences she and her family have had.

The title comes from the fact she home-schooled her children and often took Son and Daughter out during the day, and was forever being pelted with questions about why weren't they in school?

For a good time, don't call—buy this book! If you're thinking of home-schooling your kids, use this book as a primer on how to do it to get the best possible results. There are two more books out by Lill Hawkins in this series, which are now downloaded to my Kindle, so excuse me for cutting this short. I need a few more laughs today!

Feasting Around the World

A Moveable Feast: Life-Changing Food Adventures Around the World –Don George, editor

Travel/Food Literature

297 pages / 313 KB

Footnotes/Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

I hesitated to buy this book because there are so many 3 and 4 Star reviews on Amazon. Actually, when I bought it, there were six 5 Star reviews and six of the other two. I'm delighted I overcame my hesitation.

This book is a collection of short essays by chefs, travel writers, and writers. Each essay tells a story of how the author was deeply touched and or learned something from a single food or food experience they met along their journey.

Some of the essays are written by well-known chefs from television, most were by people I was only vaguely aware of, not reading the magazines they write for. All were excellently written.

Two of my favorite (and it's really hard to pick a single favorite) take place in Italy. One is about a glass of fresh orange juice in Venice, the other a wedding feast in Sardinia. How could one read, and not laugh out loud, off the gentleman who fixed freeze dried scrambled eggs for his host, and no one could eat them. Another favorite takes place in a small village in Thailand.

Not only did I enjoy this book, it inspired me to dip my toe back in the Essay pool. I had forgotten how enjoyable short essays are. (I love the longer essays of John McPhee, especially his essay "Oranges.") For the arm-chair traveller, for the kitchen-challenged cook, get and read A Moveable Feast. It's a fun and delightful book.

Thank you, Don George, for putting this together.