TC (tcfenstermaker) (251 books)

TC is on page 74 of 170 of Plot Plot

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by Ansen Dibell

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TC rated a book 4 of 5 stars

All In: From Refugee Camp to Poker Champ
by Jerry Yang

read in April, 2013

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Unlike most poker-player memoirs, this one seems aimed at non-aficionados. Much of the author's tale is of his harrowing escape from Laotian communists in the 1970s into Thailand; he spends less time on his four years in refugee camps there, and even...more

TC is on page 16 of 128 of Chess Tactics for Kids

Chess Tactics for Kids
by Murray Chandler

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Shades of Earth (Across the Universe, #3)
by Beth Revis (Goodreads Author)

read in February, 2013

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After the dramatic improvement in storytelling between the first and second books, I had even higher hopes for the conclusion of this trilogy; they weren't exactly met, but neither were they disappointed. Instead, the book moves straight ahead tellin...more

TC rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Drunkard: A Hard-Drinking Life
by Neil Steinberg

read in February, 2013

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Unlike probably most people who read this, I'm not familiar with Steinberg's column or his style. I came just to read a book about one person's struggle with addiction, and that's what this is: a story about a guy who has to face that his drinking we...more Unlike probably most people who read this, I'm not familiar with Steinberg's column or his style. I came just to read a book about one person's struggle with addiction, and that's what this is: a story about a guy who has to face that his drinking went from something that was part of his life, to something he lived for. I feel it captured well what it must be like to wrestle with an addiction, particularly the constant rationalizing. For example, he doesn't want to let go because he paints beautiful, seductive pictures of wine tasting tours, sunsets on the beach, and jovial moments with literate co-workers at storied Chicago bars. Who would want to stop such sophisticated living?

But then, he relates the need to get a fix at 10:30 on a Saturday morning, and so grabs his son and deposits him at the local library as a pretext to buying some cheap vodka which he then consumes in the men's room--a lot of drinking goes on in bathrooms, in this story. Buying a cheap sweet liqueur on the sly and downing it in a disgusting porta-john while on a road-trip with the family doesn't have the same urbane ring as sipping a fifty-year port in a hotel lobby in Lisbon. No matter how much he might believe in the fantasy of the latter, his reality appears to be firmly of the former. I appreciate he was honest enough to share both.

Thanks to a court order, he reluctantly treats his addiction with the twelve steps, fighting each one (particularly surrendering to a higher power, good agnostic that he is). Yet it apparently provides enough of a structure and outlet that, despite his disdain, it helps him. He points out that until science properly understands the root of addiction and how to cure it, this and similar therapies are a bit like battling cancer by shouting at it. But for now, this is all we have.

Though the book ends on an uptempo beat--"one year clean and sober as of press time!"--it's clear there's nothing to celebrate here. He's an addict who can destroy his life with alcohol at any moment. I think he did a good job capturing the self-centerdness, the self-delusion, and the general selfishness of someone who is a functional addict, and the long hard slog they have if they choose to try to extract themselves from that self-focus, and instead focus on others. If you're an addict, maybe there's an inspirational story for you here. I am not one (and no, I'm not in denial), but if ever there was a reason to not become one, Steinberg's memoir provides plenty of misery showing why not.(less)

TC made a comment on Shanyn (Chick Loves Lit)'s review of Sky on Fire (Monument 14, #2)

"So I assume if you read this four months before publication, you got an ARC? How did you score that?"

TC rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet
by John G. Turner

read in December, 2012

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While much has been made that this is neither the usual polemic against Young, nor a typical church-sanctioned whitewashing, that doesn't necessarily make it interesting or fun to read. It is meticulously researched, and indeed the author is careful...more While much has been made that this is neither the usual polemic against Young, nor a typical church-sanctioned whitewashing, that doesn't necessarily make it interesting or fun to read. It is meticulously researched, and indeed the author is careful to maintain a neutral tone (and properly placing some of the behavior that doesn't age well, such as the parochial attitude towards blacks and Indians, in the cultural context of their day), but what results seems flat and academic. It was only by plowing through the pages and pages and pages of names of associates, wives, and Federally-apointed enemies, and glossing over the back-and-forth timelines, that I could finally start to imagine what it must have been like to be out on the edge of then-civilization, trying to build a closely knit community based on faith, while also defining that faith. Whatever his faults and whatever one's feelings of Mormonism, it becomes clear that Young was an extraordinary character who really did something remarkable that has endured.

Regarding those overlapping timelines: the author does present the story chronologically, from Young's family's reformist Methodism, to his beginnings with Joseph Smith in New York, through their time in Missouri and Illinois, his move to Utah, and on through to the end of his life. It's exhaustive and complete. But he also, within each period of time, then focuses on different aspects of what was going on (his many wives, his fights with the Federal Government, etc), and this results in chapters sometimes going back ten years from where the previous left off to tell the stories of his life from a new perspective, again. It is not, however, necessarily clear that that's what's going on, so it can be confusing at first. It's emblematic of the dryness of this work, I think.

Still, if you can take the effort to read it, it certainly seems to paint a complete a fascinating character. What I saw when I finished was what is expressed in the subtitle: a pioneer prophet, building a brave new world inside a brave new world of the American Frontier.

[Coincidentally, after reading other reviews here, it seems many readers are Mormons. I am not, nor do I have any experience with the church, other than knowing one or two co-workers, and shooing the occasional Mormon missionary off my stoop.](less)

TC rated a book 2 of 5 stars

MFA in a Box
by John Rember

read in January, 2013

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This is pretty much what I'd expect an MFA to be: a bloviating gassbag of a baby boomer, still fighting against the War and ranting about evil Robert McNamara is and whatnot, rambling at length about the emptiness of "modern society" because it "isol...more

TC has challenged himself to read 45 books in the 2013 Reading Challenge

He has read 6 books toward his goal of 45 books.

6 of 45 (13%)

Create your own 2013 Reading Challenge »

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TC is on page 74 of 170 of Plot Plot Plot Plot by Ansen Dibell progress:	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13 mag. 20:49 · like · see status
TC rated a book 4 of 5 stars All In: From Refugee Camp to Poker Champ by Jerry Yang read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Unlike most poker-player memoirs, this one seems aimed at non-aficionados. Much of the author's tale is of his harrowing escape from Laotian communists in the 1970s into Thailand; he spends less time on his four years in refugee camps there, and even...more
28 apr. 09:29 · see review
TC is on page 16 of 128 of Chess Tactics for Kids Chess Tactics for Kids by Murray Chandler progress:	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26 mar. 22:18 · like · see status
TC rated a book 3 of 5 stars Shades of Earth (Across the Universe, #3) by Beth Revis (Goodreads Author) read in February, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
After the dramatic improvement in storytelling between the first and second books, I had even higher hopes for the conclusion of this trilogy; they weren't exactly met, but neither were they disappointed. Instead, the book moves straight ahead tellin...more
19 mar. 08:00 · see review
TC rated a book 3 of 5 stars Drunkard: A Hard-Drinking Life by Neil Steinberg read in February, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Unlike probably most people who read this, I'm not familiar with Steinberg's column or his style. I came just to read a book about one person's struggle with addiction, and that's what this is: a story about a guy who has to face that his drinking we...more
10 feb. 11:47 · see review
TC made a comment on Shanyn (Chick Loves Lit)'s review of Sky on Fire (Monument 14, #2) "So I assume if you read this four months before publication, you got an ARC? How did you score that?"
29 gen. 23:16 · see review
TC rated a book 3 of 5 stars Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet by John G. Turner read in December, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
While much has been made that this is neither the usual polemic against Young, nor a typical church-sanctioned whitewashing, that doesn't necessarily make it interesting or fun to read. It is meticulously researched, and indeed the author is careful...more
01 gen. 20:03 · see review
TC rated a book 2 of 5 stars MFA in a Box by John Rember read in January, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is pretty much what I'd expect an MFA to be: a bloviating gassbag of a baby boomer, still fighting against the War and ranting about evil Robert McNamara is and whatnot, rambling at length about the emptiness of "modern society" because it "isol...more
01 gen. 19:32 · see review
TC has challenged himself to read 45 books in the 2013 Reading Challenge He has read 6 books toward his goal of 45 books. 6 of 45 (13%) Create your own 2013 Reading Challenge »
01 gen. 13:11 · like · view books

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