by Richard Subber | Oct 13, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Poetry, Reviews of other poets
warmly readable…
Book review:
Sweet Juice and Ruby-Bitter Seed
by Merryn Rutledge
American Fork, Utah: Kelsay Books, 2023
69 pages
Merryn Rutledge writes poems like few people write poems.
There is no relentless rhyming, no uselessly bizarre collection of unrelated words.
These are poems written from the heart. They are invitations to feel what she feels.
They are warmly readable, both in silence and in your own voice.
These poems will lead you on some trails you may not have visited.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
A poet is a “maker”
…and it doesn’t have to rhyme…
–
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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Oct 8, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Poetry, Reviews of other poets
…or grab a flashlight…
Book review:
Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950)
New York: The Macmillan Company, c1914-1944, publ. 1967
306 pages
The reputation of Spoon River Anthology is indisputable.
The reality is a matter for each reader.
For my taste, this is an exotic but deadened miscellany that tirelessly revisits a few themes. I won’t say there’s no inspiration, but you need a miner’s headlamp to find it here and there.
Many of the folks who are pushing up daisies near the Spoon River just weren’t really terribly interesting people when they were alive.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Comanche Empire
the other story of the American West…
–
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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 26, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature
the doctor wants to help you,
you good with that?
Book review:
Black Man in a White Coat:
A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine
by Dr. Damon Tweedy
New York: Picador, 2015
294 pages
There is only one mystery about Black Man in a White Coat. The mystery existed for me before I read it. I had a more informed understanding of the mystery after I read it. Why is Tweedy’s story so damnably true?
Tweedy is a black doctor in a world with mostly white doctors, a world with too many people who disdain black doctors or don’t want to be treated by them.
Read Dr. Tweedy’s candid and insightful story of his own life—professional and personal—walk a mile in his shoes, and then tell a friend how you feel about your own life.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Scarlet Letter
the beating hearts…by Nathaniel Hawthorne
–
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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 15, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature
it’s good storytelling
Book review:
Brian’s Hunt
by Gary Paulsen (1939-2021)
New York: Ember, Random House Children’s Books, 2003
103 pages
Gary Paulsen writes for young people, but any adult reader can readily see that the stories are realistic, and fully readable. It’s good storytelling.
Brian’s Hunt is about a teenage boy who is at home in the woods, can survive on his own, and ultimately hunts a bear that is hunting him. Brian is a completely credible character. When he walks at the water’s edge, the reader can feel the mud between his toes.
The story line is simple and singular. The challenges of life in the wild are all too easy to experience vicariously. There is learning.
There is the satisfaction of the preferred outcome.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (book review)
consistent tension, a page turner…
by Erik Larson
–
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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 10, 2026 | Book reviews, Books
prepare to be delighted
Book review:
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
New York: Mysterious Press, 1903-1904, 1987
304 pages
Doyle revived the 19th century Sherlock Holmes stories at the turn of the 20th century.
The 13 stories in this collection are notably like the rest of the notable series—can you doubt that Holmes is a masterful detective?!
In the first story, “The Adventure of the Empty House,” it becomes apparent that Holmes did not die with Moriarty at the remote chasm. Maybe no one ever believed it to be true.
If you like the Sherlock Holmes style and successes, you’ll like The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
There’s no mystery about how sincerely these stories compel a reader’s delight.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
A poet is a “maker”
…and it doesn’t have to rhyme…
–
My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 52 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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 3, 2026 | Book reviews, Books
it seems dense
Book review:
To the Lighthouse
by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Boston: Mariner Classics, 1927
209 pages
Reading anything by Virginia Woolf for the first time is a brand new experience.
I guess that it’s doggone near impossible to pigeonhole her writing style.
The critical literary world has determined that Woolf was a “modernist” who characteristically used the “stream of consciousness” technique among other styles.
I guess you have to be in the mood for stream of consciousness. Most of the time it doesn’t suit me.
To the Lighthouse is, of course, a short novel, and that’s a plus in my book.
I’ll say that it seems dense. It’s a puzzling narrative, it just seems to spin the wheels on page after page. You can learn about the characters, but they aren’t very personable.
You may like it if it suits you.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: “The Gentle Boy”
The Puritans had a dark side…
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
–
Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 74 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”
* * * * * *
