Debut memoir of a man’s discovery of spiritual rejuvenation while hiking Bhutan's daunting Snowman Trek.
In 2007, outdoors writer Grange began his 24-day journey along the “toughest trek in the world” by tying a string of prayer flags to some rocks, only to watch them flutter free, a setback representative of “all the loose ends in [his] life. As an unmarried, middle-aged, failed screenwriter, the author tackled the trail in order to surrender “to the adventure” and peer “resolutely forward”—yet throughout, he remained firmly cemented to the worries of the past. A man at odds with his dream, Grange continually contemplated the fading likelihood of his success as a screenwriter, acknowledging that “life had its own timeline,” and that the only control he possessed was the ability to put one foot in front of the other on the trail. In this way, the book is an adventurous travel memoir focused on perspective. In one instance, Grange gulped a beer and found his taste buds tingling, not because of the beer itself, but because “[e]verything tastes better on a hiking trail.” Similarly, he soon discovered that all successes were sweetest when laced with suffering. As the author endured the grueling trail, he began viewing the world through a different lens. While in a particularly grumpy mood, a fellow hiker reminded him that every hour of sadness costs a person “3,600 seconds of happiness”—a statistic that rattled Grange out of his funk once and for all. A highly readable journey of one man's renewed lease on life.
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8032-3433-8
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Bison/Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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