by Richard Subber | Dec 15, 2024 | Book reviews, Books, History, Power and inequality
“. . . lions led by donkeys . . .”
Book review:
The Donkeys
by Alan Clark
London: Pimlico, 1961, 1994
216 pages
Clark tells the terrible story of high-level British incompetence in leading massed armies in combat with everybody using terrifying weapons.
At the outbreak of World War I, Britain had a relatively small professional army (247,000 men). Nearly half of them were stationed overseas throughout the British Empire.
Thus, on the home island in August 1914, Britain’s generals mustered about 150,000 men to be the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that crossed the English Channel, to join the French in fighting the German attackers.
Within three months, that half of Britain’s professional army was gone. Most of the men in the BEF were dead. Their generals must take much of the blame.
As the horrific trench warfare became the hallmark of World War I, a German general, Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937), had a disdainful conversation with a fellow officer, Carl Hoffmann (1869-1927):
Ludendorff: “The English soldiers fight like lions.”
Hoffman: “True. But don’t we know that they are lions led by donkeys.”
p.s. Britain’s total WWI casualties: 673,375 dead and missing, 1,643,469 wounded
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shawshank Redemption
A world I do not want to know…
by Stephen King
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Writing Rainbows: Poems for Grown-Ups with 59 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
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by Richard Subber | Dec 12, 2024 | My poetry, Poetry
hair and gone…
Snood
A bag for hair,
the net surrounds,
it holds the hair entire,
less gracious than the dangling strands,
but a total wrap,
elegance enfolds and sways perchance,
the wild mane contained
but waiting to be free.
August 31, 2024
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.
Book review: Tales from Shakespeare
summaries by Charles and Mary Lamb…
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Writing Rainbows: Poems for Grown-Ups with 59 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Dec 10, 2024 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature, Joys of reading, Language, Reflections
give “…Pointed Firs” a try
Book review:
Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels and Stories
by Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)
New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1994
937 pages
Never heard of Sarah Orne Jewett? Give her prose a try.
Jewett’s characters are persuasively human—they are credible if not always completely likable. Her prose offers recurring truths about the human condition. It’s easy to feel good about her storytelling.
This Novels and Stories collection of course includes “The Country of the Pointed Firs,” Jewett’s first-rate short novel. You’ll also find “Deephaven,” the Dunnet Landing stories, and others.
“…Pointed Firs” is an 1896 novel that describes some of the people and places of coastal Maine, and tells their stories with comfortable familiarity, reflective insight, and respectful love.
Can an old fisherman’s consuming memories of his departed wife bring tears to your eyes?
Read the story and find out.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shakespeare’s Wife
Germaine Greer went overboard a bit…
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Seeing far: Selected poems with 47 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
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by Richard Subber | Dec 7, 2024 | Human Nature, Reflections, Tidbits
roosters know much…
An anonymous and potentially wise person said:
“The older I get, the more I understand
why roosters just scream to start their day.”
…and one of my favorite authors says she’s learned from others about the merits of this quick morning prayer:
“Whatever!”
I used to recite this one when I rolled out of bed:
“It’s show time!”
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Sea Runners
…it informs, it does not soar…
by Ivan Doig
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My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 53 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
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by Richard Subber | Dec 5, 2024 | Memoir, My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
a good glove gets old…
Whack!
Funny how it still fits my hand
after so many years,
I remember the stitching
and the thick pad at my palm.
It’s a “Rickey Henderson” glove,
I forgot the name.
The thing is,
a good glove gets old
but it’s still good,
the whack of a line drive
in the pocket
still sounds big,
you whack your hand
into the pocket
ten thousand times,
and the last one
still feels good,
and when my son,
a man now,
says “Dad, here’s your glove,”
he means:
“Here’s the glove
you let me use
a couple times
instead of my kid glove,
I always wanted
to have this glove,
and now I do,
but you can use it
for a while…
it’s still yours.”
August 17, 2024
your grandson probably can throw better than you…
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.
Old Friends (book review)
Tracy Kidder tells truth about old age…
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In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears with 64 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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