Review: Natural Voices: Celebrating Nature With Opened Eyes

A lovely collection of poetry and prose focused on nature,

Natural Voices: Celebrating Nature With Opened Eyes was published as a multi-faceted project. First, it created a concrete collection of the writings of many of the frequent participants in the Natural Land Institute of Northern Illinois annual poetry events. Second, it served as a fund raising opportunity for the Natural Land Institute. Third, and for a lot of the people who have had the chance to enjoy the book, it gathered some lovely and interesting works together to create a worthwhile collection.

It is a great project with pieces by Carolyn Bailey, Dorothy Bock, Mary Caskey, Ed Collins, Sandra Fenton, Carol Fox, Don Miller, Wilda Morris, Chelsea Peterson, Christopher D. Sims, Christine Swanberg, Lani Richardson, Dr. Karen Blake Ruffner, and Kaitlyn Tibbetts. 

If you happen across it or are in the mood to read some lovely nature poems inspired by the northern Illinois region, I recommend it. It is currently available on the Natural Land Institute's website.

before i go

This was a devastatingly good novel. Colleen Oakley cuts through the space between  the reader and her characters until their sorrows become one. With deft prose, Oakley uses the extremely mundane

and familiar to craft a tale which hits all too close to home.

What makes this book resonate is the humor with which Oakley writes. When it is dark and painful and your reader's heart is bleeding on the floor, Daisy will, with oh so realistic attention span, become distracted by something incongruous and hilarious by juxtaposition.

Uplifting, reaffirming, funny, heartbreaking, and intimate, before i go hurts, heals, and leaves the reader with hope, but mostly, it's just a downright good read, so long as one can read through the tears.

I admit, I found myself on the edge of actively crying while reading on the elliptical at the gym. I held it together until I was home, and reading on the porch swing, where no one would notice the quietly crying woman behind the overgrown yucca, still clutching her e-reader.

My only qualm with this book is that Colleen Oakley wrote the characters with too much blood in their veins: so much that I felt I was losing a friend along with Daisy's best friend and husband. It hurt. It hurt like wiggling a loose tooth. Of course a book about a woman setting out to find a new wife for her husband while she copes with her terminal diagnosis is going to be a tear jerker, but I didn't expect to care as deeply. Brava, Colleen Oakley, brava.

Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die: Caught me in first three pages. This is what YA should be: imaginative, independent, relevant, angry, thoughtful, hopeful.
— Biblivoracious (@Biblivoracious) July 30, 2014

It was an accident. I didn't mean to fall in love with Amy in the first three paragraphs, and be all in by page three. When I sat down in the parking lot, waiting for a meeting to let out, I didn't realize that I'd brought with me what needed to be a one-sitting book. Had I not needed to drive home halfway through, it would have been.

I'm not the biggest Wizard of Oz fan. Sure, I liked it. Yes, I even watched Return to Oz - don't. It's a terrible movie. Yes, I've read Wicked, Son of a Witch etc, and yes, I've seen Wicked, but.... not my fandom, not my flying monkeys. So, when my YA librarian slipped this to me with a knowing "you'll like it," I wasn't sure I believed her. This is the same woman who thought I'd like the disappointment that was A Discovery of Witches (though I admit it started strong and that was the only time she ever steered me wrong).

I bring up A Discovery of Witches because it's relevant here, and not just because Dorothy Must Die is about witches, which, of course it is kind of is. It's rather difficult to extract witches from Oz and still have a solid story. But A Discovery of Witches, in case you've read it (and yes, I'm comparing "grown up books" to "YA") does this thing that I hate, and it bears bringing up, because about a fifth of the way in, I was pretty sure Dorothy Must Die was going to do it too. In A Discovery of Witches, the first half of the book is a wonderfully detailed story about a brilliant researcher with a magical family, who wants to succeed on her own and goes to great lengths to survive apart from the world of witchcraft, vampires, and all the other creatures one doesn't really believe in, but suddenly finds herself being pulled back into that world. The first half is great world and character building. Then the scenery changes, she goes to France, and becomes a weak, simpering, bodice ripper damsel. The descent into a tawdry romance novel was such a disappointment. For many, the third location and shift in genre toward the end made up for that, but for me, it was hard to bounce back.

Well, when Amy (spoiler alert) ends up in Oz, (are you that surprised? I'm pretty sure that's on the cover, so I guess it's not really a spoiler) and is met by the most painfully beautiful boy she's ever met with these magically green eyes, my heart fell. It was scene change genre change all over again, but I loved her character enough to stick with it, and I'm glad I did. Much to my delight, this did not signal the usual disintegration into a predictable YA romance. Before anyone argues that there's nothing wrong with a romance, no, there isn't anything wrong with a romance, and I kind of hope that this series sees a little more of it over the next few books, but what I absolutely adore about this book is that it's really not about Amy's relationship with some boy, it's about her relationship with herself and her family.

Although set against the backdrop of a dystopian Oz, Dorothy Must Die is really about Amy's personal and ethical journey of self discovery, and any book that starts with the main character telling the reader exactly how long she's known she was trash- that means a lot. This is a story about a girl who makes hard choices in difficult positions, who learns a lot about herself, and slowly overcomes the labels people have heaped on her as well as the ones she's allowed to stick. It's a story about a girl being asked to liberate a people who maybe, just maybe is going to liberate herself instead.

I like it.

Trickster

"I can't read this passage in a language I was never taught."

-Trailhead

Poetry is a curious beast. As Potts wrote in Fable, the piece illustrated on the cover, his collection "began innocently enough." In the classic sense of a trickster poem, the first poem invites one into a simple setting, then twists the scenario masterfully. However, my favorite poems throughout this collection were the ones that encapsulated complex moments and ideas.

A moving and diverse collection filled with earthy and naturalist reflections as well as visceral reminders of humanity's relationship with the animals with whom we coexist and upon which we depend for our food. At times, the grit and brutality with which Potts reduces breathing life to meat and bone unsettled me, I far prefer unsettling poetry that made me feel than simple rhymes that failed to evoke an emotional response. Through his exploration of the natural world and man's interaction therewith, Potts seldom fails to deliver on the promise of emotional awakening.

Trickster, from University of Iowa Press, is a diverse collection, and of course every poem will not appeal to every reader, and likely each reader will find some poems off putting while others will knit themselves to the reader's heart. Trickster is filled with images that will haunt and short turns of phrase that will echo in the reader's mind for years to come. This is a fine collection to enjoy in a light breeze under the evening sky, or perhaps in one's favorite reading chair in a living room that doesn't fill with smoke- though I suggest reading it on paper, because in a literary world seemingly devoid of modern technology,  there is something of a cognitive dissonance in reading it on one's e-reader.

I received a free eARC of this title for review purposes. I have not been compensated in any other way for my review, which was not swayed in any way by the free nature of said ARC.

Fine Cooking Cakes & Cupcakes: 100 Best-Ever Recipes

I don't know if I am enjoying the pictures, the possibilities, or the few desserts I've ventured into attempting so far. Full disclosure here- my aunt is the genius in the kitchen (read: five-star pastry chef)- I'm just a woman who really likes some delightful cakes and cupcakes. I mean, what is better than a cake? A cupcake. What's better than a cupcake? Just about nothing.
I like the witty upside-down upside down cake photos. I love that this cookbook breaks down the recipes into easy to understand and follow directions, and that the good folks at Fine Cooking Magazine also included the nutritional information on every recipe. It stopped me from trying a recipe or two that I wanted to, but it also gave me the conviction that a few I might have shied away from were absolutely a-okay to go ahead and give a whirl.
Fine Cooking Cakes & Cupcakes: 100 Best Ever Recipes has a lot of great points, one of which is that it doesn't focus on just one type of cake, or just on traditional flavors. Instead of a plethora of chocolate and vanilla and a smattering of fruits, there are ginger and cinnamon, and all sorts of delightful goodies, like caramel.
There are recipes for breakfast cakes as well as the decadent indulgences one imagines when looking a cake and cupcake book.
I'm very glad to have this in my arsenal for entertaining and for when I have to pull something fabulous together for a potluck.
Full points for optical eye candy, and full points for a great set of recipes.

I received a free eARC of this title for review purposes. I have not been compensated in any other way for my review, which was not swayed in any way by the free nature of said ARC.

Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden

In Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden, a diverse group of expert gardeners and an author with a sense of humor- come on, groundbreaking gardens, that's at least a little groan-worthy - come together to compile a variety of garden plans designed to meet different needs in different ways, but with one ultimate goal: grow food.

"But I have no space!" you say while gnashing your teeth and throwing a dis-empowered hand to the sky- they have a plan for you or adaptable for you. That's why Groundbreaking Food Gardens brought together so many perspectives, to offer solutions and ideas for a wide variety of spaces and special concerns. Some people have large open land, some people have a lot of shade, some people ha
ve a small terrace and a few containers, but everyone needs to eat. Yes, even you.

If Niki Jabbour is guilty of anything, it's of giving me a lot to think about in pulling together my (always last minute) garden plan this spring.  With detailed plant lists, guides regarding plant spacing and habits, and diagrams, this is a fabulous book for planning a garden, and takes the mystery out of providing your own salad greens or culinary herbs. That's right, culinary herbs. Don't even try to pretend that fresh herbs aren't worlds more delicious because they are. I am going to grow them. again, with a little more planning this year.

I like that Jabbour doesn't assume that the reader's only interest is in the standard tomatoes and squash garden I grew up with. She includes garden plans for those more interested in exotic peppers and garden plans for people more interested in wildlife. This is very much a book with something for everyone.

It's a good informative read, though more plan-heavy and less eye-candy than a lot of other garden planning books on the market. Ultimately though, when you're planning a garden for food, the point is the produce more than the breathtaking landscape, and careful, yet adaptable, planning is what Groundbreaking Food Gardens is all about.

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*I recieved an advance reader copy, only, in exchange for an honest review.

Banish Clutter Forever: How the Toothbrush Principle Will Change Your Life

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Banish Clutter Forever: How the Toothbrush Principle Will Change Your Life by Sheila Chandra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Embracing the simple yet fundamental truth, that organized people who live in clean spaces are actually just as lazy as the rest of us, Sheila Chandra's method to get your house to work for you involves work, but once you apply it, once you practice it, is actually something a person can maintain.
Although I don't love the way Chandra writes and her analogies reflect some truly cringeworthy biases and misinformation, like the nearly put-it-down-and-walk-away worthy "Does being overwhelmed by your stuff and being trapped by it feel like being overweight or in debt? That's because in a way it is. Being overweight or in debt is usually caused by the wish to defer the decision and effort it takes to take control of your health or finances. It is the 'Not now, I will be sensible/sort that out later...' philosophy." I don't approve with conflating obesity and laziness, or obesity and difficulty making decisions, or obesity and any other one thing. Of course, this is a book about taking control of one's possessions and surroundings, not one's body and health, so let's move on.
I liked that while Chandra shares her personal experience with clutter and the special sort of despair it can breed, the whole book doesn't live there. It isn't a constant reminder of how horrid it was to grow up with a mother with a mental disorder as organization books can turn into. Chandra deals with the emotional clutter when it's constructive, and moves on. Better still, rather than wasting the reader's time by saying "read my whole method, then try implementing it," she suggests trying chapter two before reading any farther. If it works for the reader, great- read on. If not, put the book down and find something else.
Of course, like a good girl, I read chapter two and (nearly) followed her directions. Why just nearly? Well... I hate following directions. Actually, I felt overwhelmed by the task of finding a notebook to write anything down and figured that it was a small enough bathroom that if it otherwise worked, I'd invest in (finding) a notebook for moving forward with the rest of the house.
As a FlyLady washout, we'll see. Right now, I feel like this can work, and if nothing else, the methods and techniques I'm putting into practice here are well worth knowing, even if I don't use them religiously.
Spring cleaning, here I come.

Dream Weaver

The long review in which I gush about Dream Weaver.

Endless

Check out my full length review here.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds

Click here for my full review.

Songs of the Humpback Whale

For my full review, click here

The Heavens Rise

Click here for a full review of The Heavens Rise

The Chaos of Stars

The Night Circus

The Night Circus