An enjoyable set of works that, at its best, finds connections between nature and human sociability.
In this contemplative poetry collection, Bohm explores the appeal of bodies of water, the tug of romantic longing, and the need for calm.
In the opening poem, “September,” the speaker contemplates the fleeting nature of time, the heart’s endurance, and the “space between bank and boat, / the vast and impassable moat.” Water and shoreline imagery recur. In “Cold Feet,” the speaker asks, “Can I know this country / without putting my feet in the waters?” “Unconditional” reflects on the sea’s nonjudgmental, undemanding nature, which reflects the state of the speaker’s soul. “Nazaré (‘Et Vivam’)” expands on this sentiment, noting that the tides’ ebbing and flowing actions are “a balm for my heart.” “White Sails” and “The Distance” describe waiting onshore for a boat and searching the horizon for home, respectively, while in “The Seagulls,” the speaker compares herself to the titular birds, always returning to the sea. The speaker eagerly awaits chilly weather in “Autumn,” while “Winter” captures the empty restlessness of that snowy season. Other poems focus on love’s uncertainty and complications. In “Fragment,” for instance, the speaker walks under a gibbous moon, wondering, “Of what value is loyalty / without love in the heart?” “In Your Gaze” finds the speaker struggling to decide whether “To love you or to let you go,” and “Suspended” grapples with desire, comparing it to fruit still hanging on the tree. Later poems circle images of morning and night as speakers seek joy, peace, and rest. “Legacy” concludes the book with a poetic wish to be remembered for having loved.
In this understated but affecting set of poems, Bohm masterfully connects natural landscapes with human interactions, using bodies of water as a metaphor for the fluidity of relationships. “Something Like Grief” accurately depicts the pain of loss, and how it leaves one feeling “robbed of something that I had never possessed.” Many pieces, such as “It’s Not the Waiting,” offer astute wisdom, including “It’s not the waiting / that causes suffering, / but the doubting / and the unknown.” A pleasant musical quality runs through other poems such as “Synesthetic,” which describes music as droplets falling on the skin, and “Beat the Drum,” which conjures a beloved’s heartbeat. Most entries are in an easy, free-verse style, but the rhyming poem “Before the Dawn” stands out as unique, thanks to its rhythm and proverb-like content: “Impatient blossom, hear my song!— / I know the winter lasted long, / yet he wins faith who trusts in Time, / who, far removed from warmer climes, / would heed this counsel that I bring / and overwinter till the Spring.” The economy of Bohm’s poems is another strength; the writing often conveys a lot in little space, as in “I Came as a Stranger,” which states, “I came as a stranger, / even as a friend; / but I sang like a lover / and fell in love with you.” At times, though, that same spareness may leave some readers wanting more context and fuller characters. An enjoyable set of works that, at its best, finds connections between nature and human sociability.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798999570925
Page Count: 277
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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