Countdown 1945…book review

Countdown 1945…book review

imagine that you had been there…

 

 

Book review:

Countdown 1945:

The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb

and the 116 Days That Changed the World

 

by Chris Wallace with Mitch Weiss

New York: Avid Reader Press, 2020

312 pages

 

There is quite tolerable intensity in Countdown 1945, in tandem with the horror of the use of the atomic bomb in Japan at the end of World War II.

There are gripping revelations from all of the principals involved in the development of the bomb and the decision to use it. There is dialogue more or less on every page. Countdown 1945 is not so much a book as it is the integration of tales told by the men and women who were there, doing it, and living through it.

This is one of the very few books I’ve read from cover to cover in the past several years.

It was a learning experience, and I was completely aware that I was vicariously sharing the terrible experiences of the folks who had anything to do with Little Boy and Fat Man.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

“The beginning is always today.”

(quote, Mary Shelley)

so get started…

click here

 

Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 73 free verse 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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

reach out, “touch the music,” my poem

reach out, “touch the music,” my poem

that toe is tapping…

 

 

touch the music

 

The horn is a sweet river

   of hot icing,

sprites chase the notes,

toe tapping just happens,

the sax galumphs

   and then it’s power and pout

      and plaintive moan

         and tickled scales,

a raft of rhythms that pushes through

   to almost endings,

the growly sax can make a joy

   to bounce inside our ears,

all dulcet, warm, and lazy…

 

January 26, 2024

 

easy listening in the Fireside lounge on a Friday afternoon

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

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”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

“…turn the unspeakable into words…”

 

 

Book review:

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

 

by Anne Lamott

New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1994

239 pages

 

I prefer to think of Anne Lamott’s free-spirited commentary on writing as “some encouragement” and “some guidance.”

If you want to be a writer and don’t have a clue about how or why you want it, I guess that reading Bird by Bird may be entertaining but I think probably it won’t give you the mojo.

Lamott is talking to fellow writers when she’s probing the yin and the yang of the whole messy, oh so personal business of committing the right words to paper. Her tidbits about life will be mostly familiar to just about anybody, and sometimes they seem like they originated in post-it notes on her fabulous collection of index cards that she uses to jot down those special words and insights and dream talking.

Bird by Bird seems to be an appealing excuse to feel good about the tribulations and the ecstasies of writing, and all the stuff that happens in between. It’s a gossipy, comfortable walk through Lamott’s life of writing. She mentions this: “John Gardner wrote that the writer is creating a dream into which he or she invites the reader, and that the dream must be vivid and continuous.”

Her passion for writing is mostly obvious, and motivational if you’re inclined to be motivated.

I think this line is as good a summary as the reader can hope for: “…the writer’s job is to see what’s behind [the closed door], to see the bleak unspeakable stuff, and to turn the unspeakable into words—not just into any words but if we can, into rhythm and blues.”

Did you hear the drum riff?

*   *   *   *   *   *

Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

“…and dipped in folly…”

only Poe knows how to say it…

click here

 

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

wrath and anger…each a no no

wrath and anger…each a no no

among the abominations….

 

 

“Wrath and anger, these also are abominations…”

 

Book of Sirach, 27:30

 

Resist the temptation…

*   *   *   *   *   *

Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: The Sea Runners

…it informs, it does not soar…

by Ivan Doig

click here

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…connected to my past…”…“amaze,” my poem

“…connected to my past…”…“amaze,” my poem

walking on…

 

 

amaze

 

I seek a knowing path,

would know familiar walls, and doors,

each one reveals another track.

I walk on, connected to my past.

The errant ways return me to me.

I am the connection.

In myself I live, and will live.

 

I seek a knowing path,

I make my way,

I know familiar walls…

   mirrors serve as well.

 

June 29, 1995

Bethany Beach, DE

 

walking on the sand alone

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: Shawshank Redemption

A world I do not want to know…

by Stephen King

click here

Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 73 free verse 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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Pin It on Pinterest