en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:49:06 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7530103588 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:49:06 -0700 /review/show/7530103588 Doug gave 5 stars to Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt Dinniman
bookshelves: fun, litrpg, audiobook, adventure, best-of-2025
Fun, escapist LitRPG in the best way possible. Also, My first LitRPG. Great characters in Carl and Princess Donut with an odd couple dynamic.
I met Matt at Authorcon IV. Really nice guy, btw. His booth struck me because it was near mine and he had crowds coming up for signings. I knew I had to check out his books. I’m glad I have! They’re wonderful. There’s a good reason this book has so many high ratings in Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. I won’t be able to recommend it enough!
In it, Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat enter into a dungeon crawl that is broadcast to the entire universe. They have to fight monsters like goblins and meth lamas, grow their experience, find the stairs to the next level before this one collapses, and figure out how to ultimately win the game. It’s hilarious in a way that re-readable, which isn’t easy to do, has lots of fun action.
The audiobook is insanely good. Best one I’ve ever listened to. ]]> ReadingNotesCollectionPlaceholder4321978 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 16:16:20 -0700 Review7521292486 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 15:50:29 -0700 /review/show/7521292486 Doug gave 4 stars to Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning (Hardcover) by Cathy Park Hong
bookshelves: 2025, biographies-and-memoirs, contemporary
Sometimes you stumble into greatness, and that's what happened to me with this book. I'd never heard of the author. I'd been reading poetry by Mary Oliver and watching 1923 on Paramount. The combination led me into an internet search for cowboy poets and cowboy poetry. I read Badger Clark's A Cowboy's Prayer" and Bruce Kiskaddon's "When They've Finished Shipping Cattle in the Fall" as well as others. My remedial internet sleuthing took me to Wikipedia's page on cowboy poets. One name stood out, Cathy Park Hong. I did what I was doing with the other poets, looking for the books from my library system. She had one book, something called Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. Even better, it was available to read right then. I downloaded the ebook and began reading it.

This book obviously isn't cowboy poetry. Now, I want to make this part clear if I can. I haven't read the poetry of Cathy Park Hong. I don't know if she is a cowboy poet or not. I really have no idea, but this book is a treatise of Asian American Reckoning, an education of Americans of South Korean ancestors and the racism they've faced in America. It's about shame and power, but also about writing about races. I'll be honest when I say I wasn't in the right head space for the book. But, a good book is a good book, and I couldn't put it down even though at times it read like a book on literary criticism.

The book is at its best when Cathy is reviewing her own life, which is why I have it cataloged under biographies and memoirs, but to call it one is too restricting. I really got into her college years, learning about her life and the lives of the women who went to Oberlin College with her. It's interesting and sucks you in, but that was at the halfway point. Up until then, I had a hard time with it and nearly returned the book once. I'm glad I didn't. ]]> Review7497104347 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:52:17 -0700 /review/show/7497104347 Doug gave 4 stars to Upstream: Selected Essays (Hardcover) by Mary Oliver
bookshelves: 2025, essays, outdoors
The first essay, Upstream, is my favorite. I have thought often about her lines:

You must not ever stop being whimsical.

And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.

Wow! That’s heavy truth! In this time of unease and chaos, I’ve thought of those lines. I think of my children, and I’ve shared them. What else must be said? Keep yourself fed and healthy?

Her essays on Emerson, Whitman, Wordsworth, and even Poe made me feel back in school, trying to keep up. However, a few of the lines chosen from Whitman are reminders of the power of his poetry. “I celebrate myself, | And what I assume you shall assume, | For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.�

After the literary essays, Mary returns to her favorite subject, the natural world. Some of the essays I read in other books, but I hadn’t read Who Cometh Here? And Ropes. I was struck by the final lines in her essay about the Bear that walked into town and then was chased away.

“Someday maybe we’ll wise up and remember what you were: hopeless ambassador of a world that returns now only in poets� dreams.� God bless the hopeless ambassadors of our dreams.
]]> ReadingNotesCollectionPlaceholder4300425 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:49:18 -0700 Review7457973404 Sat, 12 Apr 2025 12:45:14 -0700 /review/show/7457973404 Doug gave 5 stars to Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays (Kindle Edition) by Mary Oliver
bookshelves: 2025, outdoors, poetry
“As for myself, I am not yet a god of even the palest flowers.�

That line sends a shiver of dark delight up my spine. It’s from the poem Kookaburras. It’s not the only one. Mary Oliver’s poetry is magnificent and wild and full of tenderness, too. My favorite poem is Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field.
The only drawback is the essay “Bird,� and my only problem is this feels like many chapters, if not an entire book, could be written about the injured seagull they brought into the house. I wanted more. I won’t fault writers for making me want to read more of their ideas, though. ]]> Review6415593021 Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:39:24 -0700 /review/show/6415593021 Doug gave 4 stars to The September House (Kindle Edition) by Carissa Orlando
bookshelves: haunted-houses-and-other-things, horror, 2025
“This is my home, and I am excellent at following the rules.�

I love a fast-moving book with a cool premise. September House reminds me of Casper or Ghosts or any of those civil shows where people interact with ghosts. The difference is that while those often stay firmly within PG ratings, September House says screw that, we’re going to be scary horror. The first half of the book was the kind that I read only in the daytime. The last hundred pages I finished in a day. It got me into it and I had to see it to the end.

The things I like are all those interesting mysteries that aren’t only associated with the ghosts of the September House but with the characters. Where has Hal gone? Why does Margaret always give in and follow the rules? What is up with those hints about her past?

The only down side is that I figured it all out way too quickly. At 9%, I made the note that “x happens.� That’s what happened. And I get it. Not everything should be Shyamalan! But in this case, it almost felt like there were no twists.

Still, I think this is a great book and a fun adventure. ]]> ReadStatus9264603162 Wed, 02 Apr 2025 18:35:59 -0700 /review/show/7457973404 Doug is currently reading Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver
]]> ReadStatus9264355452 Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:26:29 -0700 /review/show/7457804487 Doug wants to read Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag
]]> ReadStatus9259583528 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 13:46:23 -0700 /review/show/6415593021 Doug started reading The September House by Carissa Orlando
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