by E.H.R Schober illustrated by M.E.M Schober ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 9, 2012
Traditional glimpses of aging for fans of fun, light verse.
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Poet Schober’s debut collection of rhyming witticisms serves as a paean to the joy of life.
This collection presents simple, unpolished verse that’s somewhat old-fashioned at times but also somewhat infectious. The author infuses these short poems with humor as she laments the aches, pains and memory loss of aging, but she also celebrates the fun of discovering the senior discount at the movies. Schober has a tongue-in-cheek philosophy regarding hearing loss: At least she “can’t hear all the bad news anymore.” Overall, the poems temper life’s negatives with large doses of optimism, as when the author proudly embraces the wrinkles she has earned—most of which, she says, are the result of laughter. Schober also compares childhood to old age; in one poem, she describes how, as a child, she jumped off her squeaky tricycle to gaze in wonder at a little yellow wildflower, but when she grew up, she considered wildflowers to be weeds in her garden. Now older and wiser, she once again sees wildflowers as a “gift from the universe.” Readers may find some of the images and situations a bit stereotypical, as when the author describes sitting in a rocking chair, dreaming about days long gone. However, in many poems, the author resolves to live in the moment and pursue stimulating activities, such as reading every book on her dusty shelves or daring to wear vermillion. Several poems are simply short quips intended to make readers chuckle, including, “I used to skip and run. / Oh, what fun! / Now you hear me squawking / Just walking.” The individual poems are untitled, which works well with the format—pages adorned with cute black-and-white animal cartoons. The white space and larger print provides an easy reading experience. Readers shouldn’t look for serious poetry here, but there are serious themes beneath the humor. Although life has its share of sorrow and hardship, Schober admirably chooses to accentuate the positive in this collection.
Traditional glimpses of aging for fans of fun, light verse.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479336296
Page Count: 100
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Sloane Crosley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 2024
A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.
An essayist and novelist turns her attention to the heartache of a friend’s suicide.
Crosley’s memoir is not only a joy to read, but also a respectful and philosophical work about a colleague’s recent suicide. “All burglaries are alike, but every burglary is uninsured in its own way,” she begins, in reference to the thief who stole the jewelry from her New York apartment in 2019. Among the stolen items was her grandmother’s “green dome cocktail ring with tiers of tourmaline (think kryptonite, think dish soap).” She wrote those words two months after the burglary and “one month since the violent death of my dearest friend.” That friend was Russell Perreault, referred to only by his first name, her boss when she was a publicist at Vintage Books. Russell, who loved “cheap trinkets” from flea markets, had “the timeless charm of a movie star, the competitive edge of a Spartan,” and—one of many marvelous details—a “thatch of salt-and-pepper hair, seemingly scalped from the roof of an English country house.” Over the years, the two became more than boss and subordinate, teasing one another at work, sharing dinners, enjoying “idyllic scenes” at his Connecticut country home, “a modest farmhouse with peeling paint and fragile plumbing…the house that Windex forgot.” It was in the barn at that house that Russell took his own life. Despite the obvious difference in the severity of robbery and suicide, Crosley fashions a sharp narrative that finds commonality in the dislocation brought on by these events. The book is no hagiography—she notes harassment complaints against Russell for thoughtlessly tossed-off comments, plus critiques of the “deeply antiquated and often backward” publishing industry—but the result is a warm remembrance sure to resonate with anyone who has experienced loss.
A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780374609849
Page Count: 208
Publisher: MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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by Matthew McConaughey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2020
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
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All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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