lisa_nog's reviews
1282 reviews

Practical Gods by Carl Dennis

inspiring reflective

4.0

Surprised to see such divisive reviews of Practical Gods.  I really enjoyed it.

It's very reflective and pulls heavily from classical and biblical themes.  There's a deep sense of loneliness and coming to terms with the end of one's life.  

Some lines that really stuck with me:

From Department Store:

"Thou shalt not covet," hardest of the Commandments,
Is listed last so the others won't be neglected.

From Not the Idle:

The few who refuse to live for the plot's sake,
Major or minor, but for texture and tone and hue.

From Prophet:

If you're going to be a prophet, you must listen the first time.

From A Chance for the Soul:

Have I planted the seed of my talent in fertile soil?  Which seemed a musing right at home with the best of Mary Oliver.

And finally, all of The God Who Loves You, worth savoring in its entirety. 



It must be troubling for the god who loves you   

To ponder how much happier you’d be today   

Had you been able to glimpse your many futures.

It must be painful for him to watch you on Friday evenings   

Driving home from the office, content with your week—

Three fine houses sold to deserving families—

Knowing as he does exactly what would have happened   

Had you gone to your second choice for college,   

Knowing the roommate you’d have been allotted   

Whose ardent opinions on painting and music   

Would have kindled in you a lifelong passion.   

A life thirty points above the life you’re living   

On any scale of satisfaction. And every point   

A thorn in the side of the god who loves you.   

You don’t want that, a large-souled man like you

Who tries to withhold from your wife the day’s disappointments 

So she can save her empathy for the children.   

And would you want this god to compare your wife   

With the woman you were destined to meet on the other campus?   

It hurts you to think of him ranking the conversation   

You’d have enjoyed over there higher in insight   

Than the conversation you’re used to.

And think how this loving god would feel   

Knowing that the man next in line for your wife   

Would have pleased her more than you ever will   

Even on your best days, when you really try.   

Can you sleep at night believing a god like that

Is pacing his cloudy bedroom, harassed by alternatives   

You’re spared by ignorance? The difference between what is

And what could have been will remain alive for him   

Even after you cease existing, after you catch a chill   

Running out in the snow for the morning paper,

Losing eleven years that the god who loves you   

Will feel compelled to imagine scene by scene   

Unless you come to the rescue by imagining him   

No wiser than you are, no god at all, only a friend   

No closer than the actual friend you made at college,

The one you haven’t written in months. Sit down tonight   

And write him about the life you can talk about   

With a claim to authority, the life you’ve witnessed,   

Which for all you know is the life you’ve chosen.

Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott

informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

This is genuinely such a great, informative read about the complex systems that bring us water, electricity, and data.  

One thing that has irritated to no end with the rise of graphic novels is the finished product that had no real reason to be a graphic novel.  A textual endeavor with some pictures shoe-horned in.  Hidden Systems is not that.  In fact, I don’t think its message could be as effectively told merely in text.

So hats off to Dan Nott, I learned a lot and enjoyed doing so.

Loving, Ohio by Matthew Erman

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.25

Dark one shot graphic novel about teens whose parents are in a cult in a fictional town in Ohio.  It's vague in a way that I found somewhat frustrating.  The art is very well done.  

The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein

informative fast-paced

3.0

I put this on my to-read list in 2012.  It’s an interesting look at both the sad life story of a teen hell bent on doing nuclear experiments and public policy and reception to nuclear energy from the 50s thru publication. 

Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.25

Gruesome AF.  The artwork is stunning.

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien

informative fast-paced

3.5

This was a very quick, engaging read about a CalTech biologist who raises an orphaned barn owl.  A lot of the information about owls was genuinely fascinating.  She and her winged companion had an unbreakable bond. 

Oranges by John McPhee

informative relaxing medium-paced

3.75

This is the perfect book to listen to whilst working or doing chores.  Orange facts, soothing narration, and a delightful writer's voice.  I've never read anything by John McPhee but this really was a delight.

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Jason Reynolds is such a gem.  I enjoyed the vignette format, even if I found some chapters better than others.  I’d recommend it highly for 6th-9th graders. 

The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle

dark informative fast-paced

3.0

I would recommend reading the first 75% of this book.  It gets quite loose and speculative at the end.  The first 3/4s of the book are case studies of communities in the United States specifically that have been affected by climate change.  The author typically outlines the disaster that occurred (some are fast like wildfires, some are very slow like bayou erosion), how the community was impacted, and where the residents were displaced to.

I found some chapters more engaging than others.  Perhaps because I've already read a lot about the Tubbs and Camp Fires, those chapters felt redundant.  But the chapters about Il de Jean Charles in Louisiana and water rights in Arizona were fascinating.  

This book is fairly recent and already feels out of date given the context of the LA Wildfires.   

Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar

dark fast-paced

4.0

At a certain point, this became more of a hate listen than anything else.  The corruption is so blatant, the greed is so profound, it is hard for a regular person to wrap their head around.

It's easy to see this book was exhaustively researched, and explained fairly complex stock market issues well enough for a novice like me to understand.  I found the first half of the book more gripping than the second and some of the deeply biographical chapters lagged a bit, but I would still highly recommend it.