by Richard Subber | Oct 3, 2023 | American history, Book reviews, Books, History, World history
a nightmare in slow motion
Book review:
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War
by William Manchester (1922-2004)
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980
401 pages
Manchester’s quietly passionate memories of being a young Marine fighting in the Pacific theater in World War II are terrible to behold.
In Goodbye, Darkness he tells all of his story: the good, the bad, and the really hard to read parts.
Reading Goodbye, Darkness means watching another man’s nightmare in slow motion.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.
Book review: An Empire on the Edge
by Nick Bunker
Of course the British really wanted to win
the Revolutionary War,
but they had good reasons
for not trying too hard…
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As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 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 | Sep 19, 2023 | My poetry, Other, Poetry, Reflections
no victory, but only ending…
Wonder
We’re on a strange road,
there is no straight ahead
on this strange road,
there are turnings
we have never seen,
we’re not in a race
but there is a finish line,
we’re doing it together,
one leg each in the sack,
no turning back,
no victory
but only ending,
this is a way
we’ve always imagined
but never known,
this is a strange road
and we’re learning
as we go along,
we take new steps
and wonder as we wander along…
December 18, 2021
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.
Book review:
American Scripture:
Making the Declaration of Independence
…basically, this is trash talk to King George
by Pauline Maier
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As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 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 candid comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Sep 5, 2023 | Book reviews, Books, History, World history
more than one Christianity…
Book review:
Christendom:
The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300
by Peter Heather (b1960
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2022
704 pages
Christendom is not a cheerleading book written by a true believer.
Heather makes it plain that Christianity never had an unchallenged inside track to be the dominant religion in the Western world, although it has predominated for centuries.
There was more than one variety of Christianity from the beginning, and papal leadership was not established until the 11th century.
Christian leadership is a largely manmade circumstance.
The reader has the opportunity to learn much about the Christian church and Christendom that was unacknowledged until historians started to dig deeper in the modern era.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.
Book review: Seven Gothic Tales
by Isak Dinesen,
these are lush and memorable stories…
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Aug 26, 2023 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
…when “far away” means “down”
Bird brain
Her world gets bigger as she rises.
Does that robin know that she’s flying?
Does the creature know
that flight once was not foreseeable?
Does she dream a fantasy
about walking around the track?
Does she give up on the dream,
thinking “these skinny legs will never make it?”
Does avian awe intrude
in her vista when she’s airborne?
What’s it like when
“far away” means “down”?
Does she wonder what “falling” means?
Can she imagine a world
in which “flapping” and “useless”
do not have joint meaning?
Does she hide a smile
when she comforts the chick
who hesitates to make the first jump?
May 24, 2023
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.
–
As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 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 | Aug 24, 2023 | American history, Book reviews, Books, History, Human Nature
you can’t change your socks…
Book review:
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
by Eugene B. Sledge (1923-2001)
New York: Oxford University Press, 1981
326 pages
Marine Cpl. Eugene B. Sledge (his Marine buddies called him “Sledgehammer”) knew there is no glory in combat. There is fear, comradeship, pain, duty, hunger, honesty, sadness, loyalty, and death.
With the Old Breed is a shockingly restrained and horribly candid account of Sledge’s experiences in the attacks on Peleliu and Okinawa by the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, of the 1st Marine Division in the last year of World War II.
Read it, and you can mumble their prayers as you share the troubled joy of combat soldiers who survive the fighting in which their friends die.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.
–
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”
* * * * * *
