A lovely set of writings that draw inspiration from the natural world.
A collection of meditative essays centered on the practical and spiritual aspects of gardening.
Frode, the author of the short story collection Dreaming of Fish & Other Apocalyptic Stories of Foreboding and Grace (2018), among other works, assembles 56 short reflections inspired by his life and his love of gardening. Each chapter features small, full-color illustrations that include garden images. The mood for each essay is set by an opening quotation from a thinker and writer, such as Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas Gandhi, Wendell Berry, W.S. Merwin, or Thich Nhat Hanh. The entries cover a wide range of topics, from the practical to the sublime, making the volume of interest to both seasoned and novice gardeners. Frode explores the myriad possibilities of the garden’s revolving seasons, which he describes as “metaphors for life and death.” His reflections are sometimes highly personal, giving the volume a memoirlike quality. The chapter “Hands” features a photo montage of the author’s own hands, front and back, and reflections of what they’ve handled over a lifetime, including model cars, a concrete Japanese lantern, and, of course, garden vegetables. In another essay, he pays tribute to friendships and lessons that he learned during his younger days at a Trappist monastery.However, the volume is most successful when the reflections consider universal themes, such as the wonders of the natural world; the meanings of longing, memory, and healing; and the notion that “Gardening is an exercise in beginnings and ends.” The chapters vary in form, from original poetry in “Garden Poems” to spiritual instructions in “How To Grow a Garden.” Although the author suggests that gardening is a form of prayer, the emphasis throughout his book is on contemplative practice rather than religious faith. The work’s meditative qualities, attractive design, and evocative, graceful prose make it a treat for well-read gardeners.
A lovely set of writings that draw inspiration from the natural world.Pub Date: March 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-79483-116-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Lulu.com
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A personal ’90s music overview that is far from definitive, but nevertheless instructive and often poignant.
An oddly entertaining collection of essays that covers more than 100 songs but doesn’t really explain the decade that created them—which may be beside the point.
A senior staff writer at the Ringer, Harvilla adapts this book from his podcast of the same name, in which he outlines the importance of a song from the 1990s and then discusses it with a guest. The adaptation can be clunky, as the author looks for writing conventions to group often disparate songs and artists together under themes like “Chaos Agents,” “Villains + Adversaries,” and “Romance + Sex + Immaturity.” The way he switches gears from rapturous praise of Celine Dion to the misheard lyrics of Hole’s “Doll Parts” is as jarring as riding with a teenager driving a stick shift for the first time. Harvilla deftly moves from explaining a song’s backstory to how it connects to him or the music of the time. However, he rarely connects a song to the outside world, which may be by design. He purposefully removes Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from everything that came after its stunning success. “What I’m saying is that sometimes you gotta let the singer be the singer and let the song be the song, and not hold its former culture-throttling ubiquity against it, nor hold its long-term unbearable biographical baggage against it,” he writes. “Empty your mind of all unpleasant and unnecessary context.” That approach doesn’t help to explain the ’90s—musically or historically—despite what the title promises. It can be forgiven, though, because Harvilla successfully captures what the ’90s felt like through his personal stories’ intriguing observations—e.g., “paging through somebody’s CD book was…like drinking beer out of someone else’s mouth.”
A personal ’90s music overview that is far from definitive, but nevertheless instructive and often poignant.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781538759462
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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