Like most people, I don’t read nearly enough poetry. Despite marvelous luck with my last two poetry reads: Billy Collins collection: SAILING ALONE AROUND THE ROOM (alternately funny and touching) & Edward Hirsch: GABRIEL (utterly devastating—the very soul screams with pain), still I hesitate. I think I’m slow to read new poetry because it is such a high wire act. Prose has the luxury of enough words to fill landscapes while poetry is just that small puddle after a brief rain. Poetry has so little margin for error that I lose hope quickly if it doesn’t grab me right away. Thankfully Danez Smith’s DON’T CALL US DEAD starts in a way that moves and informs and opens communication for the poems that follow. The poems are a skin you’ll use to feel how young gay men of color live and die and move back and forth between the two. Many of these poems shout across this divide with anger and despair like nails across that skin. The beauty of this book is the tangible sense of the life somehow going on after the young man has been lost to drugs or violence or at the hands of the law. There is a kind of gossamer existence that continues shining back what might have been had the lives not ended early. There are a few parts that didn’t work for me but the rest was so good I just considered them a moment to rest.

Loved this book. THERE, THERE feels like a landmark—a generational one-off not easily repeated. Affected me the same way as Ralph Ellison’s INVISIBLE MAN, Leslie Marmon Silko’s ALMANAC OF THE DEAD, & John Kennedy Toole’s CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. They are all books that achieve a beautiful pirouette capturing so perfectly what they portray that there isn’t one more word to add. Multiple story lines thread effortlessly together, always picking up at the right point and dropping gracefully to the next. Native American life off the reservation, assimilating to the dominant culture, their lives at once universal and unique, presented as I had not seen them before—with echoes of other minority/immigrant/coming of age stories making it accessible and compelling. As all lives are inevitably drawn toward their conclusion so this collection of interwoven stories is drawn to a shared finale. Reminded me of Robert Alman’s NASHVILLE (probably Atman’s best, maybe one of the best ever) balancing multiple story lines with humor and pathos masterfully—both ending with a shock that seems to reinforce everything that went before it.

Informative, well organized take on the Japanese nuclear disaster that suffers from apparently being aimed at a younger audience. Shrinks back when it could more fully describe the human disaster and comes up short discussing the more technical aspects of the meltdown. Considering I won it as a Goodreads giveaway, I’m certainly not complaining. Likely would satisfy the appetites of most readers but I’m now looking for something morn in-depth. To it’s credit, this was interesting enough to spur me on.

I’m a Dodger fan with a sketchy memory, so this was right up my ally. Gimmicky structure doesn’t make much sense after a while—almost nothing in the book is something you do other than buy a dodger dog or go to the ballpark. Multiple delights—reminders of favorite players and their exploits with a different perspective on some items—fleshed out my memory as if living through them again. Unfortunately there were multiple items that could have used one or two more sentences. The anecdote didn’t quite seem finished or a person was introduced but there remained a question what happened to that person. For example a trade is discussed but only mentions the players on one side. Maybe I’m just a trivia junkie but it bothered me. Overall, a breezy fun read with an extra star for the personal memories.

My first Westbrook and the first book in his Dortmunder Series is an imaginative and fun read. The idea came first of an emerald that won’t stay stolen, then Dortmunder was created to live it out. Love heist scenarios pulled off by smart people and the structure of this allows for several well-crafted heists. The central question of why would they keep trying after repeated bouts of bad luck was handled with deft character work and humor. If this were ignored or glossed over with a “because it’s there” trope, I would have become irritated and either quit reading or finished the book with a chip on my shoulder and a grudge. Truly funny, the humor does not detract from the action. Actually adds to the momentum of the goings on which builds heist upon heist until a nice twisty conclusion. The gimmick of having to steal the same emerald again and again never feels like a gimmick. Each time their situation falls apart, it’s funny and a surprise. Liked this enough to leap right into another Westlake GOD SAVE THE MARK—a stand alone non-series entry that had it’s own gimmick I felt was a little forced. Still good but it made me appreciate THE HOT ROCK even more.