Letters to Pablo Neruda - Viola Weinberg

Beautiful and sensual poems written in epistolary style of letters to the great Chilean poet and nobel prize winner. The author uses Neruda as a mentor, friend, and frequent presence in her life. The poetry is personal, emotional and questioning of the complexities of life. It is sad, funny, thoughtful, playful, and observant of life over many years. Rich verse, yet very approachable poems. Readers will relate to the wide variety of experiences and emotions from lost time to joyous frogs, from baseball to road trips to New Mexico.

Viola is an accomplished poet and the first poet laureate of Sacramento.


The lifecycle of the planet is bubbling up in the marsh
The lifeblood of the planet is thumping with energy
All along the fence, birds sit under the accidential hedgerow
of overgrown bushes of uncertain origin
nature is planning a come back despite the war
wanton weeds are on the march, busy little insurgents of life

No one knows why this force is stronger than the stock exchange
or more magnetic than busty, dead starlets--it just is
spilling out waves and rays of unreasonable hope
a splendid trick of the universe, Pablo
just as your lavish love of ordinary things made
a woman see what is real and what is a figment of the machine

A Conspiracy of Paper - David Liss

London, the year 1719
It should have been a simple matter. I dressed the part of a gentleman--ostentatious coat and sword, overflowing wig, gleaming silver buckles upon my shoes. I had learned to appear the perfect genteleman when, in my less scrupulous days, I had spent some time traveling about the country working as what we called a spurce prig. I would present myself to a landlord like a gentelman, rent a furnished lodging with no more security than my appearance, and then proceed to clean the place of everything of value. Now, with more honorable motives, my task was to imitate a man of means in the service of undoing theft, and this task called for a particular type of gentelman.

Thus begins an enjoyable adventure to unravel murders, deceit, and treachery in the emerging stock markets of London in 1719. The book is very smart and based on historical events from the period. The author is an expert on the time period but unlike other historical novels, he doesn't historical facts limit his story-telling to a reinactment of history.

The book places the reader in the streets of London during a fascinating time. Stock jobbers and competing financial organizations are coming into their own. With larges sums of money at stake, it will remind you of modern day fiascos like Enron, S&L crises, and the current home loan scandals. However, this is primarily a murder mystery that keeps you guessing until the last few pages. Every chapter brings several twists keeping the reader turning the pages.

This book is also lots of fun. The author is very smart in using a blend of old english and modern words and structures to make for a book that flows easily for a modern reader. I was very impressed with this skill. I look forward to reading more by this author.

On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

How could he fail to love someone so strangely and warmly particular, so painfully honest and self-aware, whose every thought and emotion appeared naked to view, streaming like charged particles through her changing expressions and gestures? Even without her strong-boned beauty he would have had to love her. And she loved him with such intensity, such excrutiating physical reticence.

It is rare to read a review of a McEwan book which doesn't use the terms masterful or master of... And I don't argue with McEwan's abilities as a writer. He is thoroughly enjoyable to read. His writing is rich, thoughtful and yet straightforward and simple. Like many great writers, I find myself wanting to read his words slowly, often re-reading sentences and paragraphs.

This short book let's the reader peer into the lives of two young people on their wedding night in 1962. McEwan quickly reveals deep-seated thoughts and insecurities as we learn about the newlyweds. The writer has an amazing ability to give us short descriptive sketches of two lives which let us understand their complex emotions and actions. The ending hits like the moral at end of a fable.

Beautiful Evidence - Edward Tufte

The latest book by Tufte is a collection of essays. All of his books are beautifully designed and this one is well-worth viewing the images. The text, as in most Tufte books, wanders into academic discussions more fitting a dissertation than an informative tool for presenters of information.

I concur with Tufte that well-presented information, or evidence, should foster understanding and reasoning. His essay on Microsoft Powerpoint elaborates on how most presentations inhibit the desired results from the audience. I also agree that most presenters would do better without Powerpoint.

Tufte has a cult-like following, especially with graphic artists and designers. My suggestion is to study the illustrations in this book and don't spend too much time reading the text.