writesdave's reviews
356 reviews

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

Call it confirmation bias on my part but Goldberg's zen approach to writing is exactly what I need. Though I write nonfiction on a daily basis, I yearn to get the story of stories on the page and Goldberg's explanation of writing as a meditative practice resonated. A must-have for any writer's shelf.

Fine Just the Way it Is by Annie Proulx

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Having lived in Wyoming for more than 14 years, I developed a certain realistic sentimentality about the place where I've lived longer than any other save my "home" state of Michigan. Realistic, because like everyplace else I've lived, the people there have a pride bordering on arrogance about taming the land, making it home, and fuck anybody for trying to live here if'n yer not reddy.

Annie's stories come from a deep and intimate knowledge of place, and really hit home with me even if my experience didn't reflect our protagonists contained within this collection. It reminded me not only of what I loved about the state but what I didn't love, and why I'm glad to have left for other pastures, not necessarily greener. What Ms. Proulx did was snuff out any sentimentality I had for the 307.

The devil stories pretty much crushed a 5-star rating, like she couldn't find another collection for them so why not put 'em in here? Otherwise, Ms. Proulx remains one of the best living American writers, an uncanny gift for describing a place and creating realistic and compelling characters.

The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

challenging hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

"Do what you love" backed with data. Excellent, informed rebuttal to the carrot-and-stick motivation at work that has governed employment as long as I can remember. Of course, skeptic that I am, I will note the book doesn't point out that most workplaces will use your desire for "doing work with meaning" or "loving what you do" as leverage, nor does it address what to do in that case. But the existence of the book gives me a glimmer of hope that the world of work will have to wise up.

The Border War: The Bronze Boot Rivalry Between Colorado State and Wyoming by Ryan Thorburn, Robert Gagliardi

informative lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Absolutely brutal and necessary read, especially for anyone in a position to send our citizens to war. While we get to know the men of the platoon intimately, we also come to understand the cost of war in terms of sanity and emotional casualties, walking every step of an endless and pointless mission with them, feeling every pang of longing and hurt. Veterans can probably relate painfully, and those who didn't serve can only imagine. Chalk this up as one of the best books I've ever read—and one I have no desire to read again.

The Best of Frank Deford: I'm Just Getting Started... by Frank Deford

challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Frank Deford was a brilliant writer, the sportswriter I and my peers wanted to be, but the look back was jarring. Not surprisingly, the takes of a middle-aged sportswriter from an Ivy League college do not hold up well, owing to a blindingly unenlightened viewpoint generally. Seriously, I found myself cringing over some of the NPR scripts and wondering how NPR felt about these opinions emanating through their airwaves.

By the way, this book would have come out just before his soft-core profile of Anna Kournikova for Sports Illustrated (ca. 2002), though I will consider his editors gave him marching orders for the kind of story he was to report and write. The story just oozed with something, knowing who wrote it, and I doubt Deford considered it among his best.

Again, though, the man could turn a phrase. Highlights include the profile of a 40-year-old Bobby Knight, and the closing feature on sports' immortal barriers coming down.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities by Lisa Dickey, Herbie Hancock

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

In assessing memoirs/biographies, I'm never sure whether I review the life lived or the storytelling of that life. And it's hard for a figure to take on their memoir without coming off like a self-indulgent egomaniac.

Nonetheless, Herbie Hancock comes off as one of the most interesting men in all of music. He has played with anybody and everybody who has come to him with a forward-looking concept, or who buys in to whatever his vision for a project happens to be. From his origins as a math-science nerd who played classical piano at the urging of his parents to the musical visionary we all know and love, he lovingly and thoroughly chronicles his journey. Equally insightful with the people and projects, you learn quite a bit about both—that two words of praise from Miles Davis could make your month, let alone your day; that salesmanship from Herbie's managers and producers to record label executives saved more than one groundbreaking project from the scrap heap; that Herbie learned well from Miles the trait of always looking at the horizon for the next thing, if not with the art than with the application of technology; that Herbie had to overcome his own musical snobbery to truly follow his instincts.

I also gained some insight into Buddhism, which has clearly made a huge difference in his life. I didn't find this discussion to be as overbearing and distracting as some others, but I won't start my own practice right quick, either.

For learning how one man has forged his musical path through life, it doesn't get much better than Herbie Hancock pulling back the curtain in this must-read for any music lover.

North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent

dark funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0