Robust, unflinching thoughts on piloting life through all the reefs and shoals, whether you cherry pick her ideas or devour...
Lane’s deeply spiritual relationship with God touches each of these short, essayistic considerations of life’s facets, from acceptance to children to respect to self-discipline.
Lane has structured this book as an abecedarium, starting with reflections on acceptance and wending her way to wisdom and words. As in her earlier Relation Education Journal (2011), there is a strong infusion of Christianity—“Only the Spirit of Christ will lead our souls to freedom.” Still, there is never anything less than an abiding sense of inclusiveness, an invitation for all to dip into her thoughts in hopes that readers may partake of ideas that will be preventative, rather than having to partake in a long recovery process. The writing has a uniform polish to it, striving for an economy of expression, but not at the expense of burrowing into her topics, going deep, bringing her appreciation of God to bear, tendering her experiences, thinking and feeling her way to some crux. For instance, she starts her thoughts on right and wrong with a quick broadside against selfishness, then follows a thread to appearance (“Whether we appear right or wrong has more to do with the one who is looking.”) and then awareness (“when we are aware, our choices need to be bringing goodness and happiness to others…and that includes making good choices for ourselves.”) As in her earlier book, there is much to pull from these pages even if you do not share her Christianity. She has wise, often overlooked things to say about shaping character when young—“Start when they are young, with close-ended choices and their sense of cause and effect…develops along with great character”—though readers may quibble with “Character can only be learned in the formative years, otherwise consequences become the teacher.” Can’t one learn through consequences? But then Lane is all about engagement and never shies from tackling a topic; witness her frank and sprightly comments on sexuality.
Robust, unflinching thoughts on piloting life through all the reefs and shoals, whether you cherry pick her ideas or devour them whole.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-1453748930
Page Count: 590
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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