by Richard Subber | Aug 19, 2025 | Book reviews, Books, History, Human Nature, World history
the not so “Dark Ages”
Book review:
The Bright Ages:
A New History of Medieval Europe
by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry
New York: HarperCollins, 2021
Gabriele and Perry offer quite a few things you never knew about the so-called “Dark Ages.”
The Bright Ages lays out an alternative view: life went on after the “sack” of Rome in 410 CE.
Various regional rulers and peoples continued to call themselves Romans for hundreds of years.
There was some beauty in the “Dark Ages.”
Human frailties were in full force before, during, and after the “Dark Ages.”
* * * * * *
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Financier
Theodore Dreiser’s villain…
–
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 | Aug 7, 2025 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature
…how to spot the howlers…
Book review:
Liespotting:
Proven Techniques to Detect Deception
by Pamela Meyer
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010
236 pages
Pamela Meyer says the average person encounters a lie almost 200 times a day. Wow.
Seems like it’s a good bet that you’ve told a lie in the last few hours.
Liespotting is a how-to book—not how to tell a lie, but how to read the clues when someone isn’t telling you the truth.
It turns out that it’s real hard to lie without some part of your body giving you away. Your face, your tone of voice, your word choices, your syntax, your shoulders, your feet, you name it…
Meyer offers plenty of bullet point reminders about how to spot the howlers, the white lies, and the tells when you’re in the middle of an important negotiation.
Honestly, that’s what that lady said, I think.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Jul 31, 2025 | Human Nature, Reflections, Tidbits
pass the light forward…
“The goodness inside you is like a small flame,
and you are its keeper….
so long as your flame flickers,
there will be some light in the world.”
from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman
New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2016
p. 201
* * * * * *
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
84, Charing Cross Road (book review)
Helene Hanff, on reading good books…
–
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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Jul 29, 2025 | Human Nature, My poetry, Poetry
bears thinking about…
bearly
I think I’m running away—
I don’t know where to go,
I still love Mommy and Daddy,
they don’t want to come.
Bobby wants to come.
Bobby grabs my hand,
he always smiles,
Bobby’s not a real bear
but he’s a real friend,
he’ll stay with me
in case I get lost
‘cause Bobby always knows
which way to look
to see the way home.
April 22, 2025
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Lord of the Flies
Never more relevant…
by William Golding
–
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.
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Jul 26, 2025 | Human Nature, Theater and play reviews
good guys sort of win…
Movie review:
Dinner Rush
An honest-to-gosh suspense movie doesn’t come along all that often.
It’s a good bet that you’re not going to be able to guess how Dinner Rush (2000, rated R, 99 minutes) ends before you get to the end. It’s worth the wait. The good guys sort of win, kind of. At least you’ll be rooting for the right team.
Danny Aiello as Louis Cropa, a restaurateur-small time bookmaker-small time mob guy, carries the story line in a confined setting: almost the entire movie takes place in Cropa’s restaurant, Gigi’s, a Tribeca eatery with an acclaimed chef that has a long line of waiting patrons.
The nominal themes are good food, gambling, mobster violence, and an extended debate about portrait art.
The real themes are human frailty, family loyalties, and valiant personal character.
A bonus: the supporting cast is really quite entertaining.
* * * * * *
Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Tales from Shakespeare
summaries by Charles and Mary Lamb…
–
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 | Jul 22, 2025 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature, Joys of reading, Reflections
a lifelong quest…
Book review:
Atonement
by Ian McEwan (b1948)
New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2001
351 pages
Atonement is a story of the profound sadness of a child. The sadness is a burden on several lives. McEwan invites the reader to learn to understand the life of a child who learns to understand that atonement can be a lifelong quest.
The child Briony knows she is a writer. She spends most of her life trying to understand how writing can be more than a fancy, and learning how to make it a substitute for real lives.
Briony, mature and nearing her own death, writes the final draft of her regrets for the childish impulse that unmade the lives of her beloved Cecilia and her beloved Robbie.
Briony learns that atonement can fill every space in a life, and she learns that atonement can be impotent.
* * * * * *
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shakespeare’s Wife
Germaine Greer went overboard a bit…
–
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”
* * * * * *
