Review: Bad Company

Bad Company by Arkas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is "interesting" subject matter - a prisoner incarcerated for 622 years - but it does manage, quite handily, to be darkly humorous and appealing. And the illustrations, though limited in palette, are actually well done.

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Review: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book many years ago, so I won't write a full review. It remains a book that I remember fondly, which says a lot for it.

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Review: Dealing with Dragons

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book so much I have written an entire musical about it - with Patricia C. Wrede's permission. (Song, lyrics, script, and piano accompaniments)

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Review: Raymie Nightingale

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know I am an outlier here, but Kate DiCamillo just isn't my style of writing. That said, if you do like her style, this book is well written and touching. And, yes, she probably is a great writer. Why don't I love her writing? For me, there is a sing-songy quality to the writing. It is almost as though she is singing a song to you saying, look at this extremely good writing and this lovely story I am writing for you? Aren't the metaphors perfect? Look how realistic all this dialog is, yet it is just edgy enough to be fresh and new. And all of these quirky characters, aren't they all fascinating? Don't you just want to keep reading about such interesting people? Keep reading? We are glad to have you here.

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Review: Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury

Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury by Stephan Pastis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I know, I know. Pastis' whole schtick is making fun of people and we are supposed to always take it with a bit of irony. But sometimes, for me, it seems to cross the line into just plain mean. I hope his work doesn't go the way of Get Fuzzy, which became so mean that I stopped reading it.

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Review: Das große Los

Das große Los by Meike Winnemuth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am enjoying this book a lot. It is a bit of a struggle for me, as it has been 50 years since I was a foreign student in Germany, but I have worked hard to keep up with some of my German, so I am understanding most of it.

Lots of interesting questions: where in the world would I go if I had the opportunity to spend one month in each of 12 cities? What would be a perfect day for me? How should I spend the time I have in this life?

This isn't just a travel book, although it is that, it is an exploration of self through travel.
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I have now finished this book and I enjoyed it a lot. I am sure I didn't understand everything, but I found her adventures and her musings about them interesting as well as instructive. I hope to make similar choices - to try new things, to re-invent myself when I want to. In a way, I am doing that now that I am thinking of myself as officially retired. Writing music, even if it turns out to not go anywhere, is my current adventure. It is enough to want to do it - being good at it is not required.

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Review: Love, Aubrey

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book in one day. One of the things that captured me, I think, was the realness of the voice of the main character, Aubrey.

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