Tag: librarything

Lifeguard

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Fani, Eamon. Lifeguard: Absurd Tales and Minimals. Word Vulcan Press, Inc. 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Program for LibraryThing it is my responsibility to write a review in exchange for reading interesting books.

Fani takes readers into a world of absurd and strange with tongue-in-cheek humor and sleight-of-hand doses of life lessons. Because there is very little substance to each story it is difficult to linger on deeper meanings. I could not become attached to characters or their stories as much as I tried. I really didn’t care about the lessons they were apparently trying to teach. Much like the person who takes your ticket as the amusement park, the characters could be anyone. All you care about is the ride. Lifeguard is definitely a ride to remember.

Short stories in no particular order:

  • The Lifeguard – Arman is eleven and wants to become a life-saving human.
  • The Beggar – a story about having trust issues.
  • The Mustache – a man is fascinated with the facial hair of a prize-winning author.
  • How My Wife Became a cat – just that.
  • Some Pens and Another Item – working in a bookstore.
  • Going – we know something the driver does not.
  • Aremestan – a que of people using an ATM
  • The Student Who Had No Ethics
  • Abyss – code for apathy
  • Ascension – sheep herding
  • The Mouse and the Moon
  • The Plane-Tree Residents Across the Alley
  • Daisies the Size of a Fried Egg
  • Stonewalls and Hedgerows

Author fact: Fani is funny. You can tell just by his dedication in Lifeguard.

Book trivia: this is volume one of Lifeguard so one can only assume there will be more.

Rogue Entrepreneur

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Krentzel, Elise. Rogue Entrepreneur: Building a Life the World Didn’t Have a Name For. Kumi Books, 2026.

Rogue Entrepreneur is the second book in a trilogy. Under My Skin: Drama Trauma and Rock and Roll was the first. Confessional: I didn’t read it and I probably won’t read the third. So little time for so many books!

What an adventurous life Elise Krentzel has led! There are so many things to unpack in Krentzel’s memoir Rogue Entrepreneur, I am not sure where to begin. Throughout Rogue Entrepreneur she was portrayed as an odd mix of poet and trouble maker; risk taker and romantic. Imagine being taken to court for not following laundry rules in your apartment building or being swindled out of shares of a company she owned with her first husband! Most of Rogue Entrepreneur takes place in the 1980s and 1990s, a era when women were not respected in the music industry (or any business for that matter). Krentzel upped the ante by not only chasing a career in music, but she chose punk as her genre and decided to make a name for herself in Japan. After Japan she moved onto Queens (New York), Switzerland, Germany, Africa and the Netherlands. With the changing times came changing ventures. Krentzel was able to reinvent herself time and time again. She enjoyed challenges and took crazy risks.
I try not to judge an author by the lines they write, but I couldn’t help thinking Krentzel really wanted to emphasis her callousness when she described carelessly leaving one man for another. She wanted to paint the picture of being a hardcore badass. When she had a child at age forty-four, I somehow knew she would end up a single parent.
Even though Krentzel does not frequently orientate her readers to the changing times in Rogue Entrepreneur, her description of the phonebook hanging from a public payphone chain put the timeline into perspective. So did her ability to smoke in the hospital while recovering from peritonitis.
My favorite portion of the book was the advice she gave at the end. She’s not wrong! The was such a fun book that I now want to be friends with her!
I am sure this will be cleaned up in the final edit, but there is some repetition in one of the footnotes, whole sentences were repeated (“Uelie played piano…”) and key words (like a verb) were missing from sentences. I was confused by one inconsistency: Krentzel met Ueli in the spring when flowers were blooming, but says she watched snow falling while at a party that same day. The Land of Mud was as clear as mud to me.

Book trivia: Rogue Entrepreneur should have been published by August 27, 2026.

Music: Al Jolsen, Robert Plant, Bob Geldof, David Bowie, “1-800-273-8255” by Logic, B52s, Baby Grand, the Band, Barry Manilow, the Beatles, Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Redemption Song,”, Brinkley Schwartz, Bruce Springsteen, Chopin, Earth Wind and Fire’s “That’s the Way of the World,” Eddie and the Hot Rods, Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ “Allison,” Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Tarkus, George Sand, Graham Parker and the Rumours’s “Stick to Me,” “Squeezing Out Sparks,” “Don’t Ask Questions,” “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down,” “Thunder and Rain,” and “Discovering Japan,” Grandmaster Caz, Herc, Iggy Pop, Joe Jackson’s “Black and White,” John Lennon, Kiss, Leif Garrett, Lene Lovich, Masayoshi Takanaka’s “Sexy Dance,” Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “Champagne and Reffer, and “Honey Bee,” Nick Lowe, Noel Pointer, Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive album, Pink Lady’s “Kiss in the Dark,” the Plastics, Prince, Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Soldier of Love” by Sade, Sex Pistols’ “Never Mind the Bollocks,” Sinead O’Connor’s version of “Nothing Compares 2U,” Steve Khan, the Stranglers, Tot’s “Africa,” Talking Heads, Whipper Whip, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Yoko Ono.

Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done

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Van den Broeck, Vincent. Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done: How the Life You Build Becomes the Life That Saves You. Publish Nation, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read tragic yet inspirational books. This is one such story.

You get the sense that Vincent’s life was adrift in his younger years. Example: when considering higher education he chose a degree because it sounded impressive. Unbelievably, he did not actually having a clue what it was for. Losing his mother to cancer at a young age must have played a significant part in this drifting. Grief can untether you from reality. It wasn’t until he entered the world of hospitality did Vincent begin to shine and really find his focus. He became a workaholic, taking on too much too soon; opening one restaurant after another; drowning in debt. It took an accident that nearly killed him before he was forced to slow down, take stock of his life and find his future.
You will have to read for yourself, but there are some really beautiful sentences and phrases in Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done. So much so that I wanted more of the story. It was too short! I wanted to hear more. Imagine a bumblebee darting from one fragrant flower to another; never taking the time to linger on one bloom for very long. Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done is a bumblebee of a story. Vincent never digs into the details of his life more than he needs to…but I wish he did.
As an aside, Vincent called the accident inevitable. I want to know why was it inevitable? Instead, I argue that our system for dealing with reckless or illegal drivers is tragically flawed. If it wasn’t, the driver who struck Vincent would not have been driving at all. Think about it. The driver was dangerous enough before Vincent’s accident to have his license taken away. We can do better as a society.

Book trivia: in the advance copy I received Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done did not include photographs. I would have liked to see the restaurant or meet his amazing wife.

Small Tree in a Texas Hurricane

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Benson, Robert Henry. A Small Tree in a Texas Hurricane: a Memoir. Pauraque Ridge Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read moving memoirs. This is one such book.

Benson makes you feel as though the two of you are sitting on a big wraparound porch in the summertime gloaming. As darkness grows and we can no longer see each other’s face the mood turns somber; the words become quiet confessional. There is a great deal Benson wants to share in A Small Tree in Texas Hurricane. His childhood and early adolescence was not easy. Peeling back the layers of his father’s volatile personality Benson reveals a hair trigger temper followed by outbursts of violence and crime. Poverty was a constant. Benson had the potential to follow in his father’s hothead footsteps, but through gritty perseverance he chose a different path. Earning a Ph.D in Physics seems an unlikely success for a bricklayer and one-time high school dropout.
Benson’s story is remarkable, but what I appreciated more was the way with words Benson has. He may have a Ph.D. in Physics, but his real talent is writing. I inhaled this book.

As with any advance reader copy, there were a few typos here and there such as quotation marks where they did not belong and a handful misspelled words.

Music: “A Boy Named Sue,” Paul Anka’s “And They Call It Puppy Love,” and “Away in a Manager.”

Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road

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Asanuma, Ichiro. Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road: a Pilgrim’s Path: Adventures and Transformations (Volume 1: Departures). 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I requested a copy of Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road.

Asanuma began his journey in 2006 after surviving a life-changing traffic accident. Walking was prescribed as part of his physical therapy. To feel truly healed he resolved to stand on the Sanjo-Ohashi in Kyoto. Walking along the ancient Tokaido Road became a sixteen year long adventure. Using money from an insurance claim he was able to afford the trip, but he admits that he didn’t really pay much attention to the landscape he traveled through.
Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road (volume one) documents the beginning of Asanuma’s journey across Japan’s historical and cultural landscape. Told in three sections, Asanuma begins with “Departure (2006: from Tokyo to Shizuoka).” Part Two is “Insight and Memory (2009) from Shizuoka to Nagoya.” After the first trip, Asanuma started to pay more attention to the people around him. Part Three is called “New Beginnings (2022: from Kuwana to Kyoto).” This section is the final leg of the journey that was previously unfulfilled.
Like many other reviewers I could not identify a genre for this book. It could be seen as a personal memoir. Asanuma shared intimate details about his life such as the fact that he lacked the personality and social skills to mingle with strangers. Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road is confessional in that he shares deep feelings.
Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road could also be called a photo-journal. Asanuma included and explained in more detail the many different photographs he took; more so than he did of the actual journey. The gorgeous photography sets this book apart. The images are candid, raw and sometimes, moving.
Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road could be seen as an historical essay. For example, Asanuma describes the Edo period and the significance of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido.
I enjoyed the color illustrations as well as the photographs. As an aside, the map of the hedgehogs is cute.

Everyone Kept Quiet So I Did Too

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Djukicin, Aleksandar. Illustrated by Dorde Balmazovic. Everyone Kept Quiet So I Did Too: Tales of a Reluctant Soldier: a Graphic Novel. do-dju, 2025.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read interesting books. I think this is my first graphic novel in nonfiction.

Three friends, three very different paths. Each sharing their experiences in the Balkans War between Serbia and Croatia in 1990. It was interesting how each side spun the same events to fit their personal narrative: the main theme being coward versus hero. In reality there are more than two sides of the coin to being a coward. You can be afraid of facing prison for not accepting the draft or you can be afraid to face the war for fear of death. Fear of inflicting violence on another human without understanding why. Such is the senselessness of war. As a graphic novel, it goes without saying that the visual images need to match the intensity of the words. The storyline was made more powerful by the illustrations of Dorde Balmazovic. Most striking was the line of soldiers waiting to go home fading to black.

As an aside, the illustration of the soldiers urinating after liberation made me chuckle.

Music: Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue,” and Toma Zdravkovic.

Because I Deserve It

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Dominguez, Kenitra W. Because I Deserve It: What Chronic Illness Taught Me About Finding My Voice in the Healthcare System. Avocet Books, 2026.

Reason read: at first glance this might seem like an odd choice for me to request from LibraryThing. I am not Black nor do I suffer from a chronic illness. The only thing I have in common with Kenitra is that I am a woman. I requested Because I Deserve It from LibraryThing because of the subtitle “…Finding My Voice in the Healthcare System.” I am not confident when it comes to speaking up and being my own healthcare advocate. I chose this book because I wanted Kenitra to teach me how to stand up for myself when it comes to my own wellbeing. I knew there would be so much to learn. For example, why is it that women become apologetic or mute when dealing with a medical professional?
The best part of Because I Deserve It is the clear recommendations at the end of each chapter. I appreciated the section about navigating the myriad of questions a patient should ask and when. I also loved the idea of an audio journal to document how you are feeling every single day, whether you have an appointment with a provider or not. Finally, the advice to research your medications! Just because a white-coated professional prescribed a medication does not mean it is the right one for you. You are not Alice! You don’t not have to swallow what they put in front of you.
Kenitra also advocates for self-described introverts. She was spot on when describing an introvert’s characteristics which gave credence to her information.
The only criticism I found with Because I Deserve It was the repetition in some areas. Saying the same thing too many times gives the impression the author has run out of worthwhile things to say. Stressing a point is one thing, but echoing information over and over is quite another.
All in all I am glad I requested Because I Deserve It because I learned a great deal.

As an aside, as a librarian I practically applauded Kenitra when she said do not accept Google’s top results. I do not know how many times I have said that to students.

Confessional: I had never heard of idiopathic intracranial hypertension. It sounds like a nightmare.

Stars That Fell

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Short, Gary. Star That Fell: Poems. University of Nevada Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I am starting to read more poetry.

Childhood memories and adult laments weave vivid snapshots in time. The poems of Stars That Fell are autobiographical and fragile in nature. Honest emotion is slowly revealed through sparse words and economical phrases. The pain of losing a mother to cancer. The pain of an abusive father. The pain caused by the death of a brother. Different pains caused by different family members, yet all deep rooted grief all the same. I hope there is catharsis in the telling. I practically wept for the sheer beauty and innocence of the narrator’s voice. There is a raw honesty to Short’s writing so much so that I will be seeking out his previous works.

The a mention of some of the poems:

  • Little Makeweights of Guilt – the destruction of a hive
  • I Lay My Brother Down – a memory of a brother
  • Flying Over Sonny Liston – the great boxing legend’s life in a poem
  • Herida de Amor – Mexico
  • Driving Down Highway 93: Nevada – an inadvertent drive in the desert
  • Brothers Playing Catch on Christmas Day – a family memory
  • Psalm – did he save the goose or not?
  • Gathering – childhood crushes last a lifetime
  • The Stars That Fell – a loss of innocence when confronted with death
  • The Collector – secrets, capturing insects, learning of a mother’s love before dad
  • American Light – test bombs and an innocent hope.
  • What I Believed – coming of age
  • Dust – who knew dust could be so beautiful?
  • Teaching Poetry to Third Graders – the things that matter to children
  • Imperfect History – what do you remember from childhood?
  • George Pascho Miller – the death of a friend
  • White – cancer
  • Sway – a vulnerable moment finding his father in the barn
  • Gentle Blue Sway – a remembering of a fight of his parents.
  • France Blue – abuse and a troubled relationship

Line I loved the most (please keep it in the final publication), “never mind these footprints in front of me…”

Music: “Night Train,” “Herida De Amor,” and Willie Nelson.

Author fact: Gary Short has written other poetry books.

Question of When

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Fosco, Cory. The Question of When: a Practical Guide to Knowing When It’s Time for Assisted Living, Memory Care or Skilled Nursing. Campion Hall Press, 2026

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often chose books that seem interesting to me. Very rarely do I chose a book because it pertains to my personal situation. This is one such book.

Confessional: it took me a very long time to read Question of When. Not because it is poorly written (it isn’t). Not because I did not believe Fosco’s words (I did). But because the subject matter hit home in ways I did not expect.
Nearly everyone has to go through the painful process of watching a parent age. It is either from a remote distance across the country or painfully up close and personal in the same house. Neither scenario is all that comfortable, but Fosco does an excellent job of clearing away some of the confusion surrounding the hard (and harder) decisions to come. Even if you think you have all the answers, Question of When makes you think again. Second guessing your knowledge and preparedness is a good thing. You are forced to ask the painful questions like, “are we merely adjusting to mom’s decline and losing perspective? Are we making excuses for the forgetfulness and erratic behaviors?” The difficult answer could be yes.
Fosco delivers a primer on territory; knowing the difference between the various facilities available to the aging loved one. Long term care versus assisted living or memory care. Each chapter ends with a takeaway piece of advice and a single action step to take. Small bites for a daunting and often overwhelming process.
Almost immediately I started to think about my own situation with my aging mother. If something were to happen unexpectedly, would I know what to do? Do I really know what mom wants for her final years, but more importantly, do I have the financial capacity to fulfill those wishes? There are financial implications with every situation, planned or unplanned. This is a book I will buy for my sister and not before it is too late.

Author fact: Fosco has thirty-four years of experience.

Dames, Dishes and Degrees

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Mittelman, Amy. Dames, Dishes and Degrees: Faculty Wives in America. Cynren Press, 2026

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I sometimes win interesting books. This is one such book.

Dames, Dishes and Degrees thoroughly researches a woman’s place in academia and beyond. No one has tackled the historical perspective of faculty wives quite like Amy Mittelman. The aspect of Dames, Dishes and Degrees I appreciated the most was getting to know some of the women who were considered trail blazers in equality for women. For example, Julia Bogholt made a name for herself in politics, thanks to her inability to get a PhD in science. She sought to change the employment laws after that. [As an aside, she reminded me of my niece and her quest to become a research scientist.] Alison Lurie is another influential woman. As a faculty wife at Amherst College she wrote about her experiences and shed light on the prejudices. Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley was an early member of the Howard University Faculty Wives group. She was the Head Librarian at Moorland-Springam Research Center for 45 years and the first African American woman to earn a masters of library science degree at Columbia! I could go on and on.
It is interesting to note that statistically speaking, a daughter of an academic father typically went on to be a faculty wife. Amy Mittelman studied the effects the Great Depression and World War II had on working women in addition to researching the wives of college professors. [As an aside, I thought of the short-lived television show Homefront when reading about women trying to maintain employment after their husbands came home from World War II.]
Did women know they were getting around the rules about nepotism was by having a lesbian relationship? You could have a career alongside a colleague and even live with that same colleague if you were not married to them. To have a career like a man meant no husband and no children; there was a choice and sacrifice to be made.
One aspect of Dames, Dishes and Degrees that was completely unexpected was the histories of colleges such as Mount Holyoke (their search for a president after Woodley), Smith, University of Chicago, and North Carolina.

As an aside, I wonder what Mittelman thinks of Hampshire College closing. It is one of the colleges she talks about in Dames, Dishes and Degrees.

Music: “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Pack up Your Troubles,” “My Dear Old Southern Home,” and Lohengrin’s “Wedding March.”

4 Weeks to Sleep Mastery

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O’Sullivan, (Belake) Blake. 4 Weeks to Sleep Mastery: A Proven System to Maximise Your Recovery and Energy in Just 30 Days. 2026.

Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program I often chose (and win) interesting books. This time I chose a book that could potentially help me with my situational insomnia.

Straight away O’Sullivan does not want you to think he is a licensed medical professional. He was an athlete looking to improve his performance and had an ah-ha moment about sleep. His advice is mostly common sense: stay away from caffeine and your phone before bed; expose yourself to light as soon as you wake up; take cold showers in the mornings and warm showers in the evening; remove all light sources from your bedroom and so on. O’Sullivan uses a lot of analogies to get his point across. He also repeats himself. There was a lot of redundancy surrounding the checklists for each week.
I have always heard the advice about how to get a good night’s sleep, but thanks to $ Weeks to Sleep Mastery, I have a better handle on the science behind the advice. I also appreciated O’Sullivan’s breakdown of information into two categories: simplified and advanced.
4 Weeks to Sleep Mastery is short. O’Sullivan could have added more depth to his book by including advice for the outliers. What about the people who are at work before the sun makes its appearance? What about seasonal changes when the sun doesn’t always rise before you do? I have a friend who gets up at 2am in order to get to work at 4am. How is he supposed to get early morning sunshine to signal his brain to wake up? He also works in the belly of a ship for eight to ten hours a day. He doesn’t even have enough time on a lunchbreak to see the sun, let alone the sunset anchor.
As an aside, why not call the heart the drum? Why violins? Are drums too cliche? As another side, O’Sullivan can be a little didactic (he told me what attenuated meant). As yet another aside, I am not downloading another app that is free but utilizes third party ad services which use cookies to target personalization. No thank you.
I would have liked to see more information regarding diet and special circumstances, like traveling or having a chaotic life event (new baby, job loss, foster puppies) that keep you up at night.

Author fact: Belake is twenty years old at the time of publication. My burning question is why point that out to readers? Why draw attention to your age and create doubt about your knowledge base? Stand firm with the knowledge and you should not have to make excuses. Because of that one disclosure about age my immediate thought was you are a life coach? Have you been alive and on the planet long enough to be a coach?

Like Friends, Like Foes

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Russell, Andrew B. Like Friends, Like Foes: Japanese Americans and Nevada Through World War II. University of Nevada Press, 2026.

Reason read: This was a selection from the Early Review Program for LibraryThing.

If Nancy Pearl were to update her Book Lust chapter called “Companion Reads” I would want her to add Like Friends, Like Foes: Japanese Americans and Nevada Through World War II to be read with the government document WRA: a Story of Human Conservation. While WRA is a no-nonsense report of the internment of West Coast Japanese-Americans during World War II (and riddled with errors), Russell begins his nonfiction with the arrival of the first Nikkei in Nevada in 1900. Writing in a warm and approachable style, Russell moves through history documenting Japanese contributions to mining, farming, and the expansion of the railroad and ends with the onset of paranoia and prejudice during World War II. Unlike WRA, Russell offers extensive personal perspectives by including carefully researched interviews, journals, letters and photographs of four decades of Japanese Americans in Nevada. His obvious respect for his subject matter is readily apparent from the very first chapter. Hopefully, Russell will keep writing about this topic.
The genesis for Like Friends, Like Foes was Russell’s masters thesis “Hearts of Gold and Hostile Times: Wartime Reactions to the “Japanese Question in Churchill County Nevada” and is part of the Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in Nevada History.

Broken Mirrors, Steady Ground

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Parkview, Alex. Broken Mirrors, Steady Ground: Self Published, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program I often read heartbreaking books. This is one such book.

I am writing this the day after Memorial Day; the day to remember, honor, and thank the military men and women who have served or are currently serving our country. In Broken Mirrors Parkview (obviously a pseudonym) bares his soul to release demons and pain. After serving several tours in Iraq Parkview came home a broken man. A soldier is not supposed to show weakness or vulnerability. A soldier is supposed to be made of Kevlar for strength and Teflon for resilience. Nothing fazes a soldier. Parkview is all Kevlar and Teflon. But, he suffered abuse long before Iraq. Drinking Wild Turkey and smoking before the age of fifteen; becoming sexually active at the age of nine. These things can damage a young person beyond repair. He spends considerable time trying to find his place in the world after the military, both physically and mentally.
Broken Mirrors has a few broken records. Parkview mentions sexual situations in a way that makes me sense he used physical intimacy as a drug to mask pain. He was addicted to hiding his true self with women. As an aside, when Parkview wasn’t crudely talking about sex his writing was beautiful and almost lyrical. There were many good lines that I hope make it into the final publication.
The was a very slim volume with wide margins so it made for a very quick read. I was able to finish it in one sitting. I will probably read it again. Maybe I’ll see something different a second time around.
As an aside, I hope Parkview learned that broken relationships are most likely the result of an inability to truly love yourself. Like that oxygen mask you are supposed to put on before helping others, you are no good to anyone else without caring for yourself first.

Playlist: Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train,” Cat Stevens’s “Father and Son,” Harry Chapin, and Kesha’s “Cathedral.”

Pitted

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Cleary, E, M. Pitted. EverWhen Stories, 2026.

Reason: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program I get to read interesting stories. This is one of them.

Mothers have complicated relationships with their daughters. At thirteen, Alice does not understand her mother at all. Left to take care of her younger brother and run the household, Alice resents her mother’s long hours as a surgeon at the hospital. She quietly keeps track of all the times her mother has offended her and looks for ways to even the score. One day she seizes her chance and defiantly eats a peach pit. Everything changes.
Thus begins E.M. Cleary’s short story, Pitted. It is a mere twenty-four pages long but packed with themes of trust and love. Every relationship needs a hero and Alice finds hers in the unlikeliest of places.
You can find more short stories at E.M. Cleary’s website.

Natalie connection: I am reminded of Natalie’s song “Tell Yourself” a song about a young thirteen year old girl struggling to come in her own. It’s a tough age to be.

Drummer Girl

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Noel, Sarah. Drummer Girl: How I Became Metal, a Memoir. Self Published, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review Program I like discovering people. Sarah Noel seems like an interesting one.

Confessional: it took me a little while to get into Drummer Girl. Sarah’s writing style conveys a hurried urgency – as if she is impatient to get out every little detail of her her story as quickly as possible…in a soap opera, teenaged rambling sort of way. She seems to be trying to portray the raw and honest account of a naive musician, struggling to find her place not only in the music industry but within a circle of so-called bandmates/friends. The latter takes dominance in the story. By the third time she was kicked out of the first band I would have said good riddance to the entire lot of them. It is hard to say what made her be the glutton for the verbal abuses they peppered her with every time they wanted to have a discussion. Their main beef was that she was not progressing as a drummer, but they had some choice words about her attitude as well. If you are metal aren’t you supposed to have an attitude?
As mentioned before, I felt the pace of the story moved quickly and without substance mostly because a fair amount was copied verbatim MySpace messages and texts. The vibe was Coming of Age California Style. First band. First car. First grown up job. Lots of gossip and raw deals. While the music didn’t last I was encouraged that Sarah remained open minded and kept trying.
Drummer Girl includes two sections of photographs and as an aside, if you search around YouTube you can find a video or two of Sarah’s bands.

As this is a book about music I would expect nothing less than an extensive list of songs and bands. I was not disappointed: Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy,” Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind,”, Korn, Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” No Doubt, Iggy Pop, Children of Bodon, “Strutter” by Kiss, Kurt Cobain, Beatles, 1812 Overture, Coldplay, Lamb of God, Arch Enemy, System of a Down, Django Reinhadt, and Nena’s “99 Luftballons.”