Book Reviews from 2021

26 book posts · Books

Review of Coal: A Sonnet Sequence

John Gurney. Illustrated by Paul Peter Piech.

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I've written a review of Coal and will post it here when I have time.

Review of Terminal Moraine

James Fenton

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"Our Western Furniture" is the centerpiece of this collection. I recently read that poem as my introduction to Fenton, and it is fantastic work; a 5 on its own, without question. However, of the other poems in Terminal Moraine, I only liked a single one: "Put Thou Thy Tears into My Bottle, Part One." Stupid title, but unparalleled use of enjambment to create a rhythm that rolls incessantly from line to line.

Thus, considered apart from "Furniture," this collection gets a 1; and "Furniture" is so long a sonnet sequence, and makes up so much of the volume, that I have to rate it by itself, and won't let its score upgrade Terminal Moraine's.

Review of Dictionary of the Khazars

Milorad Pavić

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Oh, how I wanted to like this "dictionary novel." Unfortunately, it completely failed to deliver on both parts of that premise.

It is entirely possible to read a topic-specific dictionary and enjoy it in exactly the way that Khazars ought to have aped. For instance, I found it tremendously satisfying to read a 1980s cultural dictionary of Japanese which, apart from being a first-rate dictionary, introduced me to aspects of Japanese material and intangible culture which I had never heard of before. All Khazars had to do was be a made-up dictionary of the same kind, and I would have found it impossible to put down!

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