Review: A Different Pond

A Different Pond by Bao Phi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the muted colors and tone of this book. It is a sweet and simple story of an immigrant's life. I hope many people will use this to understand their experiences.

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Review: Enemy of the People: A Cartoonist's Journey

Enemy of the People: A Cartoonist's Journey by Rob Rogers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is as political a post as I will usually write. I am against the firing of a political cartoonist, because his politics disagreed with the new management of his newspaper. Being critical of the president is his job - even if it is a President I like. Of course, it is a bit easier to come to his defense with the current president. Criticizing this insanity is NECESSARY.

That said, his cartoons don't always strike the mark for me. Some of them are close; some are brilliant; some fall short. But that is always the case for any given political cartoonist - at least for me. I have collected political cartoons for many years and enjoy the craft of them.

He has a Patreon account. I may support him there.

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Review: Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a re-read for me.

What a different world we live in now. It seems so unusual to trust children with managing their lives and affairs, with only the fairly remote, but still watchful eyes of adults. Nowadays, if children camp out, they are generally under the watchful eyes of parents or camp counselors; their food preparation in camp is completely supervised; even their activities and "free" time are carefully regulated. Perhaps this is only true where I have lived - and camped, but it seems strange, at any rate.

And the degree to which the children and some of the adults take part in the shared fantasies is also interesting. Perhaps the interest in Harry Potter is similar, but that is one of the few books that has captured people as much as Robinson Crusoe. Or maybe Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit count, too.

The pace and sensationalism of the book are also different from many of the books I have read lately. Long passages about sailing details; descriptions of knowledge needed for sailing; details about fending for themselves in the camp site. It is a slower view of life.

I enjoyed it.

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Review: The Cuckoo's Calling

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am not a big fan of mysteries, so, in the end, I mostly just skimmed this one. I don't particularly like looking for clues and trying to fit all of the details into a likely picture of what happened. On the other hand, for some odd reason, I did really like Cormoran Strike and Robin. It is interesting to me that they as characters were more intriguing than the mystery itself.

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Review: The Best We Could Do

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not generally a fan of graphic novels, but this one turned out to be more interesting for me than I expected, probably because the war in Viet Nam was a salient part of my growing up years. My brother served two tours of duty in the army in Viet Nam, and I protested the war in Viet Nam during my college years. The positives for this book are that it is well illustrated and the story is compelling. The biggest negative for me was the jumping around in time. I had trouble following the narrative, because of that. I would think it would be worse for those who didn't live through those years, but maybe not. Maybe they can just ignore the chronology and look at the incidents separately and cumulatively. I also did especially enjoy the author's attempts to reconcile her parents' pasts and her own in a more complex view of family relationships and forgiveness for herself and her families.

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Review: Mr. Putter & Tabby Toot the Horn

Mr. Putter & Tabby Toot the Horn by Cynthia Rylant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet, simple book. Lovely and enjoyable. Reminds me a bit of Pettson and Findus.

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Review: Mr. Putter & Tabby Toot the Horn

Mr. Putter & Tabby Toot the Horn by Cynthia Rylant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet, simple book. Lovely and enjoyable.

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