Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing: Volume Four Is Now Available!
My latest collection of book reviews, Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing: Volume Four, is now available in paperback and as an ebook at various online outlets. Links to these are below.
As I wrote recently in my essay “Book Reviews as Autobiography”:
To write about the thoughts and impressions brought about by a book is as valid as writing about a physical journey that I take to another location. The author of the book serves as my traveling companion. To undertake the reading of a book is a fascinating experience in that as a reader I have voluntarily stripped myself of my senses, except the vision that allows me to see the words on the page, and I have put myself at the mercy of someone, most often a stranger, who constructs a mental and emotional world out of words, places me in it, introduces me to its inhabitants, and then draws me into a story based on all the assembled parts. This is true for nonfiction as well as fiction.
Every writer approaches their subject matter differently, and every book review says as much about the reviewer as about the book.
And this is from the introduction of the new volume:
Picture a book as a gateway to a new land and a book review as a tantalizing glimpse of it, a brief travel memoir of someone who has been there and come back. A large part of what makes life so thrilling is our appreciation of the interpretations of experiences that we find in books. So sit back in your favorite chair or couch or lie down on your bed or chaise lounge and dive in. Allow these reviews to assist you in your own literary explorations by guiding you to new worlds of imagination and adventure.
