Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009 by Elizabeth Kolbert





View all my reviews >>

UNDER THE DOME

Only about 400 pages into UNDER THE DOME, but it seems like Stephen King is back. LISEY'S STORY was pretty good. DUMA KEY maybe not as good. His short story collection released last year, JUST AFTER SUNSET, was pretty solid, but UNDER THE DOME is his best in a long, long time. Maybe since THE GREEN MILE. Loving it so far.

Summer's Here Again

Ok, so I haven't blogged in awhile, and I don't think anyone cares. But since summer is here again, thank God, I'm going to try to get in as many books as I can. Twenty was a good number, so I'll shoot for that again. Should be a little easier since my children are a year older. We'll see. I haven't blogged in about five months, so I may grow tired of documenting what I've been reading quickly, but at least I have good intentions.

JOHN TYLER by Betsy Ochester

Got a book from the library during my daughter's story time. It was a book written for probably middle schoolers, but I found it very informative. I didn't know how powerful John Tyler was as a president. He took over for William Henry Harrison, and many thought the vice president would assume the control of the country, but Congress would do most of the moving and shaking. Tyler felt he was president and insisted on taking the oath of office.

He wasn't the best political leader because he didn't know how to compromise, but he stuck to his guns even when powerful men like Henry Clay tried to take him down. A really underrated president.

ROCK SPRINGS by Richard Ford

I've been on a bit of a Richard Ford kick. I think he's an incredibly good writer. His words just flow, and it's been a pleasure to read his work.

ROCK SPRINGS is a collection of short stories set in Montana that all pretty much deal with family relationships. There are murder, cheating, divorce. All the good drama every family saga should have. I highly recommend this collection.

Clyde Edgerton

I read a great short story last night called, "Send Me to the Electric Chair" in the anthology BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 1997 ed. Annie Proulx, a Deering High graduate. Edgerton made the short story into a novel called WHERE TROUBLE SLEEPS. It is certainly a novel I'm am going to read in the near future.

THE SPORTSWRITER by Richard Ford

To be honest, I liked this book, but it moved way too slowly for me. I read three-quarters of it, but had to put it down because it took way too long for Ford to say what he had to say. But who am I to criticize Ford, one of the greatest writer in recent memory. THE SPORTSWRITER is superbly written, there is not doubt, but with so many books out there to read, I just couldn't finish this one. I do recommend it to anyone with a lot of time on their hands. Much of the writing is dated. For instance, the use of 'Negro' and Detroit being a city a tourist would actually venture to.

Brother One Cell

I guess from wanting to escape the cold Maine winter, I began reading some travel writing. I picked up the book, BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING 2008, and one of the notable writings that did not make the collection was "My Korean Nightmare" by Cullen Thomas. That title grabbed me, so I did a little research and found the book ONE BROTHER CELL that the article was actually an excerpt of.

With this book, I got to know the country of South Korea much better. I thought there might be some abuse and possibly some prison rape in this book, but no such luck. Instead, I got a thoughtful, sometimes boring, account of a privileged American who got caught smuggling pot into a country he was supposed to be teaching English in. Thomas, by the end of the memoir, seems to have learned his lesson. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in what it would be like to be an American who had to live in a S. Korean prison for three years or anyone who wanted to learn a little more about the country. It was very well written and insightful. The only problem I had is that maybe it was about 50 pages too long

A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens

There are some books you wonder how they ever became classics, and there are some that just scream it out loud. A CHRISTMAS CAROL falls into the latter, I mean, it's just about perfect from beginning to end. Most of the movies follow the story pretty much. But after reading it, I don't feel it's as much about money as I used to. There seems to be a pretty big play on redemption and charity in the eyes of God.

Excellent Book. Highly recommend.

Best American Short Stories 1990

There were some absolute gems in this collection that I'm sure I will read again. Of course, there were others that didn't impress me, but that number was quite small. I think it was 3, 4 at the most, out of twenty.

I really loved THE FIREMAN'S WIFE by Richard Bausch, which was basically about a woman who has grown disinterested in her marriage. She even has a bag packed to leave when her husband is brought home with both of his hands severely burnt. At the end of the story, she is doing EVERYTHING for him because it's hard to wipe your own ass without hands, but the reader is left only to assume, she'll eventually leave him.

Richard Bausch has another story in the collection, which is rare for an author to have two stories, but he and Alice Munro do. Richard Ford said he didn't want to penalize a writer for having written more than one good story, which makes sense. If you're looking for the twenty best stories what does it matter two came from the same writer.

THE WIZARD by C.S. GodShalk is another really good one about a boy who sells drugs in a horrible neighborhood, but is a genius. It sounds like he has a photographic memory. He wins a scholarship to a well-respected private school, but the reader is left wondering if he'll be able to attend everyday with all the drama in his life.

Lorrie Moore has one of the strongest stories called YOU'RE UGLY TOO, about a woman is past the age at which most women have been married and sort of gets jealous when her sister announces her wedding date. At the end of the story, the reader finds out, along with the sister, that the main character has a doctor's appointment in which she is probably going to receive some bad news.

PROWLER is awesome, written by Elizabeth Tallent. Another strained husband and wife relationship, who have divorced, but are now fighting over their son. The former husband actually breaks into the ex-wife's appartment. It was so well-written my heart was actually pounding as he was walking around in the empty apartment.

Good, good stuff in this book. A true treasure that I'm happy to say, I own.

Best American Short Stories 2000

Does it get any better than this? I came home today from work and saw this book waiting for me in my mailbox. I am loving short stories. Over the past few days, I've read a string of memorable ones.

THE WAVE by Walter Mosely

I had heard good things about Walter Mosley and picked up THE WAVE, one of his newer novels. I'm half-way into it and am slightly disappointed. After picking it up from the library, I read a little about it and realized this wasn't his typical work. THE WAVE is in the rhelm of science fiction, which done correctly, I enjoy. I guess this is Mosley's only work in sci-fi. I'm still on the fence about how good it is. There have been times I wanted to forget about this book and move on to something else, but kept reading and was happy I did.

The whole part about 'the wave' where there are tons of bodies under the earth just waiting to be brought back to life, is hard for me to believe. I don't think Mosley was very convincing in his case.

So far, I'm determined to finish the novel. It isn't very long, so I don't feel I will have wasted my time if, at the end, I am disappointed.

Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006

This is the first Nonrequired Reading edition I've read, but I like it. I didn't read it cover to cover because the readings are so varied. For instance, there are graphic short stories, regular short stories, the Iraqi Constitution, comics, commencement speeches, scripts, and just about any other short form of writing a reader could imagine.

I will certainly pick up more of these editions.

My favorite section of the book was entitled, "Best American Answers to the Question 'What Do You Believe is True Even Though You Cannot Prove it?' and this was posed to some of the country's leading intellectuals. Carlo Rovelli, a physicist, made a very convincing arugment that time does not exist. David Buss, a psychologist from the University of Texas, believes that true love exist even though he can't prove it.

I could write about this book all day, but the last thing I'll mention is "Shipwreck" by Cat Bohannon. This piece creeped the hell out of me. Basically, it's deals with thi

THE BONE GARDEN

Almost finished with THE BONE GARDEN by Tess Gerritsen. It's such a good read, especially for a history buff like myself. The novel flips back and forth between present day and 1830, a time when medical practices were little better than barbaric. In between folks getting limbs amputated, a several murders and a love story happen. Such an incredible story with more plot twists a reader can count. I've also read THE MEPHISTO CLUB by Gerritsen and loved that too.

Cool Contest

Check out http://reviewerx.blogspot.com for your chance to win a copy of TWISTED SISTERS by Stephanie Hale.

"Breasts" by Stuart Dybek

I'm in the middle of reading THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2004 edited by Lorrie Moore. It's a huge collection. Most of the short stories are over 40 pages in length. I have been please with the ones I've read so far. "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" was great. It's about a Native American who finds his grandmother's powpow regalia hanging in a pawn shop. The owner gives him twenty-four hours to come up with the money, or it could be sold.

Basically, for the next twenty-four hours, the man earns money and finds a way to blow it, either on drinks or in some other frivolous manner.

But the story that really bugged me was "Breasts." I honestly didn't get it. It was violent, which I usually love, but it ended so poorly, I was left hanging. I didn't know what it was all about. If anybody has read it and could shed some light, I'd love it.

Summer Vacation is Over

It doesn't look like I'm going to even come close to my goal of twenty books. This summer has been pretty busy with visiting family from far away places like Canada and Alabama, so I have good reasons for not making my goal. There were many days when my family, my wife and two young kids, took day trips to the beach or a park and reading simply could not be done. I'm fine with that. But for the last two weeks, I haven't been as foucused as I should have been on my reading because I was caught up in the Olympics. I probably could have gotten in a few more books, which there is no excuse for.

From now until Christmas, I'm going to try to read another twenty books. We'll see how close I come to that goal. I have two more days before my first deadline ends, so I should finish will eleven books over the summer. Could have been better, but I'll take it. Wish me luck on my next twenty.

I'll be putting up three new reviews in the next couple days.

Good Contest

Check out The Page Flipper to win tons of stuff.

www.thepageflipper.com

"One True Love" by Laura Lippman

This short story comes from THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2007. It was actually one of the stories that made me want to buy the book. Basically, it's about a soccer mom who just happens to be a prostitute. She's kept her occupation a secret for nearly ten years, but when a chance run-in, literally, with another boy's dad occurs, she's nearly outed. The story is incredibly well written with a couple plot twists that will keep the pages turning. I definitely want to read more from this author.

Okapi??

I'm about a quarter of the way through James Rollins's book, BLACK ORDER, and in it he talks of a rare animal called the Okapi. It's related to the giraffe. I guess it's endangered, which is maybe why I've never heard of it, but it's a pretty cool looking animal. I think giraffes are one of the coolest looking animals, so when I read about the okapi, I had to check it out. A few zoos in the U.S. actually have okapis. I'll have to check it out one day.

FREE BOOKS!

Yeah, you heard me right. Free books! Who doesn't love that? Check out Keri Mikulski's blog for more details.



Go to http://kerimikulski.blogspot.com/ to enter.

Lawrence Block

Last night, I read a short story from Lawrence Block called "Keller's Double Dribble." I hadn't heard of Block before, but he sounds like and author I'd like to get to know more of. He's created a hit man named Keller, who collects stamps. It's a pretty interesting situation. I mean, a stamp collecting hitman is in itself funny, but the way he got involved in stamp collecting is even funnier. He knew his career was winding down, so he took up a hobby, but now he's become so infacuated with his hobby, he can't afford to stop killing because of all the money he's spent on stamps. The short story was a great read and look foward to reading some of his other work like HIT MAN, HIT LIST, and HIT PARADE.

Best American Mystery Stories 2007

I was happy to find out Carl Hiaasen had edited last year's Best American Mystery Stories. He's one of my favorite authors and was thrilled to read what he thought was good literature. The first story, Chris Adrian's "Stab" was such an interesting read. It is told from an eight year old boy's point of view. The boy also has Autism, which adds an interesting element to the story because he doesn't talk. He hasn't talked since his twin brother died, which would make a great story, but Adrian adds one of the main character's classmates who just happens to enjoy stabbing animals. Great bone-chilling story. Creeped me out just like the best of Stephen King's best work.

Review of BLEED by Laurie Faria Stolarz

I did not like this book much at all. To me, this book was basically teen porn, which made me uncomfortable reading at times. There was a lot of sex in this book, which normally I'm all for, but concidering these characters were still in their teens, it made me feel like a perv.

Stolarz does address some issues some teens deal with every day like rape, cutting, and loss of virginity, but the overall plot was weak. Characters were flat.

Review- The Best American Short Stories 2001

It took me a while to finish, but I read through the whole thing. Twenty stories that Barbara Kingslover thought were the best of 2001, and I didn't disagree with her. The highlight for me was Roy Parvin's BETTY HUTTON. The opening line is "He was a big man who looked like trouble."

Parvin grabbed my attention with that. The story is basically about a man known as Gibbs who has spent much of his life in prison, but when he gets out wants to change his life. To do this he tries to actually make two wrongs turn into a right. He steals money and a car from his girlfriend in order to make a new life for himself in Montana. I don't want to spoil the story for those of you who may want to read this.

Some other short stories that were awesome are: "Servants of the Map" by Andrea Barrett, "Labors of the Heart" by Claire Davis, "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" by Ha Jin, "Rug Weaver" by Barbara Klein Moss, and "My Mother's Garden" by Katherine Shonk.

I only didn't care for two stories in this collection.

Back from Alabama

The family and I were in Alabama for about two weeks visiting family. We had a great time, but it was such a busy two weeks that I didn't get to read too much. I did finish a rather lengthy book, THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2001 edited by Barbara Kingslover. I really enjoyed this collection, so many quality short stories. There were only two that I didn't care for, which out of twenty wasn't too bad. I'm thinking I should read a couple short novels if I'm going to get my twenty books in. It ain't looking good to be honest. I might have to settle for 15.

Another Book in the Books

I finished HERO TYPE last night by Barry Lyga. I really liked it and recommend it, but can't say more than that because we're loading up the car, getting ready to drive to Alabama

Bama Bound

I'll be leaving for Alabama tomorrow and won't be able to blog for a little over two weeks. I'm hoping to finish three book while I'm there, but who knows. Wish me luck. I'll be driving with two small children pretty much straight through, stopping only for food, play, and bathroom visits.

Montana

What's up with Montana? It seems over the last couple months, I've been running into tons of books and authors that have connections to Montana. The final straw was a book my daughter and I randomly picked up at the library and found out the author lives in Montana. There must be some kind of writing revolution going on in Montana.

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July weekend has really made it difficult to get my reading in. We've just been so busy since Thursday. I know my loyal fans are jonesing for a new review and are hoping I get to my 20 books, so I'll make sure I get my stuff together.

Short Stories

I am all over these short stories featured in the Best American Short Stories Series. I am reading through the 2001 edition right now. I've read portions of the 2007, 2005, and 2003 editions and have been introduced to some incredible authors that are not right at the front of all the bookstores. In my opinion, the authors at the front of the stores, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, and Stephen King, do not write as well as some of the authors I've read in these collections like E.L. Doctorow, Andrea Barrett, and Rick Bass. I'll be raving about these stories all summer, but I just wanted to give props to these writers that really should be the bestselling authors, which some are, but are not appreciated by the book-buying public like they should. If you haven't read any of these yet, I encourage you to do so. You might want to start with the 2007 edition edited by Stephen King. King picked out some truly memorable reads.

Review- THE MIST

I thought THE MIST was just an average read. I love King, but this is more of the same from him. Creepy thing, could be mist, zombies, vampires, aliens, or whatever else you can name, invades a small town and kills people. I get the fact that this was written during the 80s when nuclear power was more prevalant, and this is King's warning on that subject, but all in all, I think THE MIST missed the mark. I never really got into it. There were a few creepy parts that made me shiver, but that was it. Not even close to being his best. Give me THE STAND or THE DEAD ZONE any day. If you've never read King before, don't start with this one.

"Servants of the Map" by Andrea Barrett

On a better note, I'm currently reading a short story and am blown away by it. The writing is superb and the plot is captivating. It is so deep and detailed. I highly recommend it. It so far reminds me of Abigail and John Adams letters to each other.

Review-KILLING FLOOR

Just finished KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child. It started off with a bang. About a hundred pages into it, I was thinking this might be the best book I've ever read. It was filled with action on just about every page, and since it was told in first-person, I felt I was right inside Jack Reacher's head. Child sets Reacher up to be this ex-milliary guy with tons of tactical knowledge, and that part's really cool, but by the end, I was just wanted the book to be over. And by the last twenty pages, I was almost laughing out loud at the lameness.

Reacher has taken on four to five armed guys several times in the book and has just wasted them with relative ease. The final show down is Reacher with two guys, one the chief of detectives with over twenty years of experience against two old men with shotguns. Now, these two guys have hostages, but still, they're in their seventies. And Jack Reacher is nervous? Come on, now.

If it were me who wrote this book, I would have had one of the old men and his son switch places. The son was set up to be this ruthless killer with a crazy streak. It would have been better to have a bigger climax towards the end. I was a little disappointed with this ending, but overall I was really impressed with Lee Child's first novel. I will definitely be reading the next one.

HERO-TYPE

Looks like I'll have to add another book to my reading list. An advance reading copy of HERO-TYPE, Barry Lyga's third book, just came UPS. What a wonderful problem to have- too many books to read.

Book Five-THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2001

I got a book I ordered in the mail today. I'll probably start reading that a little at a time. Since I have massive reading ADD, I figured reading short stories every once in a while might help. Besides some of the best writers in the world write in that publication. I might be able to get some tips. I'll, of course, keep you posted.

Book 4- THE MIST

My ADD is setting in again. I started my fourth book before I finished my third, but it's all good. I do it quite often, and like a lot of readers, may have four or five books going on at a time. I started THE MIST by probably my favorite author, Stephen King. The setting for THE MIST is very familiar since it is only about forty minutes from where I live and spend many summer days on the lake Mr. King writes about. King's writing is very different from what I've been reading lately. I've come to realize, word for word, King isn't the best writer. He has a great way of telling the story, but line by line, he lacks substance. Nothing like Michael Chabon.

KILLING FLOOR

I'm only a third of the way through the book, but KILLING FLOOR may be my favorite. Wow, this is good. I highly recommend it. I can't wait to read the rest.

Next Book

Just started the first Reacher novel, KILLING FLOOR. I have a feeling I'm going to like this one. I'm about fifty pages into it and already hooked. Review should be up soon.

THE BOOK OF BOOKS-Book Two-The Review

Sorry about the cheesy photo, but that was all I could find.

THE BOOK OF BOOKS is a book I bought for like a dollar. It's a great little book that lists anywhere between 5 to 15 or books for many different categories. For instance, the authors list their seven favorite hard-boiled detective novels, or their eight favorite short story collections, or their nine favorite Native-American Novels. The best thing about each listing is that a short synopsis is included for each book. Since I own the book, I went through and circled the books I thought I might like to read. I totally recommend this book for reading suggestions, but I think it's pretty hard to find.

TO THE BONE-Book One-The Review

Well, I did it. Got one book down. I was pleased with TO THE BONE. It is a quick, but pleasant read. Not as good as McMahon's latest, QUICK SILVER, but still great. QUICK SILVER was just so flawlessly written, it's hard to compare the two. McMahon has definitely evolved as a writer in the eight years since TO THE BONE has been published. McMahon is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

The books is basically about a doctor, Carroll Monks, who happens to have a patient die on up under very strange circumstances. Dr. Monks is a magnet for bad luck, thus the four books McMahon wrote about him. I am going to try to read at least one more of these Monks books over the summer. Anyways, Monks does a little digging and finds his patient was recently had breast surgery. The plastic surgeon has a reputation for fixing the rich and famous, but is connected to some strange characters, who Monks pretty much labels as suspects. Classic 'who done it' from there.

I couldn't help but notice McMahon's subtle connections to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There was a sort of theme to this book where, without going into much detail, Dr. D'aton, the plastic surgeon, was paying a price for making the rich women more beautiful. Kind of like his creation coming back to haunt him.

I suck at this reviewing stuff, which I don't really think anyone will read anyways, which is probably a good thing. On to book two. Should be a quick one.

Sorry about any spelling or grammatical errors. As an English teacher, I should be concerned, but AH, it's the summer.

Neil McMahon and Cats

Neil McMahon must like cats because in the two books I've read by him, TO THE BONE and DEAD SILVER, his protagonists have been cat owners.

"Old Friends" by Thomas McGuane

There's no question I have ADD when it comes to many things, but especially reading. I skip around from story to story. Today, I read a short story called "Old Friends." The story first appeared in THE NEW YORKER, but I read it in The Best American Short Stories 2005. For someone like me, that ADD I talked about before, short stories are great. I read them for a few minutes or an hour and BOOM done. Move on to the next thing. If it's a disappointment, well at least you haven't invested a bunch of time. I don't feel my time was wasted on "Old Friends," but I was a little disappointed. It caused me to think about it for a bit, which is one trademark of a good story, but I wasn't blown away by it. If anyone is looking for a great short story, stay in the same book and read the first one by Tom Bissell called, "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face." Great Stuff.

To The Bone- Book One

The first book I'm going to get through is TO THE BONE by Neil McMahon. I just finished DEAD SILVER by McMahon and loved it, so figured I should try another book by him. I'll post a review of the novel as soon as I'm finished, and if I'm going to read 20 books this summer, I should have the review up soon.

The Plan

I am a school teacher, so this summer I've have a bit more free time to read. I do have two small children, who will take up a good chuck of my time. My goal is to read 20 books over the summer and to keep track of my progress on this blog. I will probably shelf this plan after a week, if I'm lucky, but I thought I'd give it a try. Wish me luck.