rlbeekman
The Seattle Public Library
rlbeekman's Completed Shelf
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52 Ways to Walk52 Ways to Walk, BookThe Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at A Time
by Streets, AnnabelBook - 2022Book, 2022
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Mar 16, 2024
Directorate SDirectorate S, BookThe C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
by Coll, SteveBook - 2018Book, 2018
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Mar 06, 2024
The Big BurnThe Big Burn, BookTeddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America
by Egan, TimothyBook - 2010Book, 2010
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Mar 03, 2024
Lessons From the EdgeLessons From the Edge, BookA Memoir
by Yovanovitch, Marie L.Book - 2022Book, 2022
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Jan 28, 2024
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Jan 15, 2024
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Jan 07, 2024
Comment:
Zadie Smith is a fine prose stylist and this book is loaded with fascinating characters (most of them based on real people) and interesting Victoriana -- facts and features so important and ubiquitous yet so glossed over in common accounts of the Victorian era as to largely escape the knowledge of today's common reader. Who is "The Fraud" of the title? In addition to the Tichborne Claimant, who catches so much of reader and reviewer attention, at least two other major characters are explicitly depicted or questioned as different types of "frauds." There is Andrew Bogle, the former Jamaican slave valet, whose demeanor of simple rectitude and steadfast consistency makes him the most effective witness for the bogus Tichborne heir. And there is William Ainsworth, the pretentious and prolific scribbler of dreadful historical novels, who is the cousin, employer, and sometimes lover of the narrator, Eliza Touchet. Clearly, the author is concerned with the hypocrisy and truth-repression prevalent in Victorian England -- about sexual desires and activities, about illegitimate family relations, about literary reputations, and about the intertwining of British fortunes with the brutal chattel slavery of the Jamaican sugar industry and the wage slavery of industrializing England. However, it is not clear how all these stories hang together to convey a more exact and unified idea of what this book is "about".Zadie Smith is a fine prose stylist and this book is loaded with fascinating characters (most of them based on real people) and interesting Victoriana -- facts and features so important and ubiquitous yet so glossed over in common accounts of the…
I Can Do Hard ThingsI Can Do Hard Things, BookMindful Affirmations for Kids
by Garcia, GabiBook - 2018Book, 2018
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Dec 23, 2023
Squirrel's New Year's ResolutionSquirrel's New Year's Resolution, Book
by Miller, PatBook - 2010Book, 2010
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Dec 23, 2023
The Zealot and the EmancipatorThe Zealot and the Emancipator, BookJohn Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom
by Brands, H. W.Book - 2020Book, 2020
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Dec 17, 2023
Comment:
This is a remarkably fresh and illuminating historical recounting of all the complexities of the national politics of slavery and abolition from the 1850s' crisis of "bleeding Kansas" through the end of the Civil War. Author Brand accomplishes this by a focused comparison of the political context, motives, and effects of the actions of these two crucial figures, John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, relying entirely upon citing the evidence of original sources rather than borrowing the interpretations of secondary accounts.This is a remarkably fresh and illuminating historical recounting of all the complexities of the national politics of slavery and abolition from the 1850s' crisis of "bleeding Kansas" through the end of the Civil War. Author Brand accomplishes this…
The Peacock and the SparrowThe Peacock and the Sparrow, BookA Novel
by Berry, I. S.Book - 2023Book, 2023
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Dec 09, 2023
Comment:
Authentic-feeling setting in Bahrain among American ex-pats, most part of the embassy there, shortly after the wider Arab Spring. Interesting characters and a twisty plot with real potential, but the author didn't sufficiently supply all the dots along the way that get connected in a rush at the end.Authentic-feeling setting in Bahrain among American ex-pats, most part of the embassy there, shortly after the wider Arab Spring. Interesting characters and a twisty plot with real potential, but the author didn't sufficiently supply all the dots…
Nickel and DimedNickel and Dimed, BookOn (not) Getting by in America
by Ehrenreich, BarbaraBook - 2021Book, 2021
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Dec 08, 2023
Comment:
A classic.
The Art ThiefThe Art Thief, BookA True Story of Love, Crime, and A Dangerous Obsession
by Finkel, MichaelBook - 2023Book, 2023
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Nov 24, 2023
If ThenIf Then, BookHow the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future
by Lepore, JillBook - 2020Book, 2020
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Nov 21, 2023
Galileo's ErrorGalileo's Error, BookFoundations for A New Science of Consciousness
by Goff, PhilipBook - 2019Book, 2019
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Nov 10, 2023
The WagerThe Wager, Large PrintA Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder
by Grann, DavidLarge Print - 2023Large Print, 2023
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Oct 24, 2023
Comment:
Sort of a non-fiction cross of Mutiny on the Bounty, Robinson Crusoe, and Patrick O'Brian.
SearchSearch, BookA Memoir With Recipes by Dana Louise Potowski : A Novel
by Huneven, MichelleBook - 2022Book, 2022
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Oct 18, 2023
Comment:
Easy to read and a lot of fun, especially for readers interested in how local church ministers are chosen, particularly in liberal denominations like the Unitarians of this book. The general portrayal of Unitarian Universalist laypeople and clergy is often right on target, sometimes with satiric effect, sometimes more sympathetically. There are some highly improbable aspects in how the book's search committee is created -- by executive appointment rather than election by all congregants, an unrealized plan to remove one or two members of the search committee by its chair, two members of the search committee also being members of the board, one member of the committee not even being an actual member of the church, etc.). There is also little appreciation of the influence of parts of the national Unitarian Universalist bodies in "helping" local congregations with their searches and and in shaping their individual agreements with their ministers -- documents specifying not just compensation but variable aspects of ministerial responsibility and control within the local church. However, these simplifications and omissions allow the author to concentrate on the interpersonal interactions among "representative" congregants on the search committee and their different judgments of eight ministerial candidates. Some of the characters' behaviors do seem hyperbolic-- in particular, the unrestrained and vehement candor with which Jennie, who is one "villain" of the story, expresses her "ageist" and cultural prejudices.Easy to read and a lot of fun, especially for readers interested in how local church ministers are chosen, particularly in liberal denominations like the Unitarians of this book. The general portrayal of Unitarian Universalist laypeople and clergy…
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Oct 02, 2023
Comment:
A remarkable set of linked short stories that practically amount to a novel. Revealing, funny, and heartbreaking about the experience of Chinese people -- mainland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, North American -- in the last quarter of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st. At the intergenerational and intercultural intersections of politics and family life. I'm going to have think more about how Gish Jen does it. Recommended.A remarkable set of linked short stories that practically amount to a novel. Revealing, funny, and heartbreaking about the experience of Chinese people -- mainland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, North American -- in the last quarter of the 20th century and…
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Sep 28, 2023
Comment:
Powerful, persuasive polemic. Highly recommended.
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Sep 15, 2023
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Sep 14, 2023
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Sep 03, 2023
Empire of PainEmpire of Pain, BookThe Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
by Keefe, Patrick RaddenBook - 2021Book, 2021
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Aug 28, 2023
The Great DissenterThe Great Dissenter, BookThe Story of John Marshall Harlan, America's Judicial Hero
by Canellos, Peter S.Book - 2021Book, 2021
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Aug 19, 2023
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Aug 04, 2023
Comment:
Short, propulsive, very dark & violent story. Comparisons to Faulkner & Marlon James are appropriate, but the author has her own style..
FalterFalter, BookHas the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
by McKibben, BillBook - 2019Book, 2019
rlbeekman's rating:
Added Jul 29, 2023
Comment: