Monthly Archives: August 2017

This collection of short essays by writer Peter Orner had me thinking a million thoughts about how we read and how we write. Wow. I picked up Orner’s Am I Alone Here? Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by chance — it was on the library shelf next to something else I was looking at. I picked up Orner, and didn’t want to put it down. So I didn’t.

Orner, a novelist (but one I have not read or even heard of before), writes from a very different slant of reader. First of all, his eclectic tastes in authors and books gave me little center of gravity, but that wasn’t a problem. I wanted to know who these writers were that I didn’t know. I reveled in his stories of finding books in corners of used book stores. I wanted to know the stories of the stories, and the stories themselves.

Orner’s brilliant approach to these essays is to use various novels and writers and stories as a “way in” to think about his life, and life in general. Literature as a lens on our life. It’s hard to explain his technique in this book but Orner’s perceptions and voice are so strong here, it’s as if you pulled up a milk crate in his garage studio, plucked a book from his stacks and stacks, and started to talk over coffee about literature and life.

Even as you read about Orner’s connection to texts, you will begin to ponder your own. Or, at least, I did. That makes for a powerful and personal reading experience.

Peace (between the pages),
Kevin

Middle school seems to make most students feel like wandering aliens on a strange and unforgiving planet full of odd customs and interactions. Novelist Michael Merschel uses that concept to full effect in his first book, Revenge of the Star Survivors. Our protagonist, Clark Sherman, moves into a new community when his father gets a new job and then immerses himself in Festus Middle School.

The narrative voice of Clark is that of an alien space explorer, as if he were not some middle school boy but rather an astronaut on a mission. Someone who has landed on some unknown world, gathering information about life forms and culture idiosyncrasies for his commanders (ie, his parents). His favorite television show — Star Survivors — gives his first-person narrative a frame.

This storytelling technique could easily get old, quick, but Merschel wisely moves us into emotional territory, creating a landscape of quirky characters set up against the concept of middle school bullying and confusion. As Clark navigates the unfolding middle school drama, he is both a target and ultimately, a protector. The story gets deeper and richer as it unfolds, and comes to a satisfying conclusion with heart and wisdom.

“I like to think that with real friends, hailing frequencies are always open.” — Clark

This novel would be a nice fit for middle school classrooms, but also for upper elementary readers looking ahead to what awaits them in that strange galaxy of the unknown.

Peace (here and beyond),
Kevin

PS — Michael Merschel sent me a copy of Revenge of the Star Survivors to review after I responded to something he wrote over at Nerdy Book Club. I made no promises about the kind of review I would write, nor did he ask.

So, I believe this book by Timothy Snyder — On Tyranny — should be required reading for everyone in America. Sure, that statement shows my political bias against the Trump Administration and its visible objective to slowly dismantle all institutions in order to build more power into the president’s hands … so what? I’m biased.

Snyder’s small book (in size and in length) is a powerhouse of ideas, drawing both on the history of the rise of Fascists, Nazis and Communists to remind us that American institutions, and Democracy itself, is always more fragile that at first appears. The “twenty lessons”  in On Tyranny are pivot points for individuals to make small decisions that have larger ramifications of the world.

What I pulled from this book, which I will be re-reading again and then sending off with my son to college with a “read this book!” message, is a reminder that people are what allow institutions to crumble and fall, through small actions that don’t seem consequential in the moment. Tyrants take advantage of those moments (or invent moments, such as “terrorist” emergencies that allow a usurping of the rule of law to change the nature of the state.)

Those of us who would think that the American institutions are strong enough to withstand the moment we are in still need to remain vigilant and active. Change happens suddenly. Elections have consequences.

But the people, and the community you are part of, have a voice, and power, too. Make sure we use it for the greater good of all. Read On Tyranny  and think.

Peace (let it be),
Kevin