My Dad the Book Critic

My dad is an amazing man. My favorite color is yellow because I remember him always choosing the yellow game pieces when I was younger. He is the reason I love Shakespeare and gets full credit for my eccletic music tastes. He adopted me when I was four years old and has since remained a quiet, thoughtful hero in my life. One thing I have noticed recently is that he writes excellent book reviews. Seriously. He posts them on goodreads. I enjoy them so much, possibly in a comforting manner, that I am going to be reposting them here. I hope you enjoy them as well...


08/26 Clint gave 3 stars to: The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates
status: Read in August, 2009

The first chapter of this book gave me the impression that this was a story of growing up in the inner city of Baltimore which piqued my curiosity. It is less that and more a memoir about the author and his family. His parents emphasis on knowledge and education are inspiring. Coates prose and use of language are masterful.

The father is a fascinating character: A former prominent Black Panther expelled from the party and declared an enemy of the people who starts a publishing company reprinting works of African History.


08/26 Clint gave 3 stars to: The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey by Thomas Merton
status: Read in September, 2008

For a monk devoted to contemplation and solitude Merton had a busy social life, but his contradictions make him all the more interesting. I thought there was a lot of material here that should have been edited, but that is to be expected in a posthumous publication. There is, however, plenty of first rate material here.

There is this strange and disturbing foreshadowing throughout the book and he contemplates whether or not to go to the conference in Bangkok, wonders if he can obtain permission to go and ponders the logistics of the trip.

This is the first of his journals that I have read and after reading this I would like to read more of them.

Riddle: What do Thomas Merton and John Lennon have in common?


They were both killed by fans.




08/26 Clint gave 2 stars to: Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis
status: Read in August, 2009

This is probably a better book than I give it credit for. I thought the of the humor and satire were too easy and obvious of targets. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for comedy and satire.

Portis's prose is fairly good and he has a nice style. I may try another of his books.