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5 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels book reviews thursday july 2 2026 my reading and fiddle playing journey in first half 2026 at the midpoint of the year on the hottest day of the year i m almost halfway through my book reading goal for the year i might have been ahead of pace had it not been for the fiddle and the guinness following are review in reverse reading order regime change inside the imperial presidency of donald trump by maggie haberman my rating 5 of 5 stars an important work of journalism not a lot new here but thorough and well written it will be a source for future generations it left me despondent everything is tuberculosis the history and persistence of our deadliest infection by john green my rating 4 of 5 stars i admire john green as a writer and this short book was selected by my book club i knew not to expect fiction but i didn t know i d learn so much by reading this this is happiness by niall williams my rating 5 of 5 stars i loved this book it took a while to get used to since the story took its time to unfold then took twists and turns in the end it was a long journey that i didn t want to end it also explained a good bit about the sensibilities and mysterious ways of my irish wife which i m grateful for this was a lovely life affirming read on earth we re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong my rating 3 of 5 stars i can t write as well as this lyrical author but then again every page here screams look at how well i can write meanwhile there s the story ostensibly a letter to his mother which it isn t graphic sex shifting povs flights of dense prose offset by what logo was on what t shirt and what song was playing in the background in the author s memory of the scene this was another book club selection and i admit i m being exposed to different authors i wouldn t normally read which is good but i eventually stopped trying to read this and tried listening to it taking the lyrical nature of the writing literally but then i found it easier to listen to if turned the speed up to 1 2 and then 1 5 now i can honestly say i finished the book neither betraying my experiments in fiction nor the good intentions of the book club at my local library the keeper of lost art by laura morelli my rating 4 of 5 stars this was an uncomplicated read and i enjoyed the insight into the art world i kept waiting for more about the horrors of war but this had just enough of that to keep me reading without putting the book down i ve grown so thin skinned lately because today s real life is so scary art is still a refuge and this book reflects that nicely again this was a book club read and i highly recommend joining a club to explore genres you might not normally read on your own lincoln in the bardo by george saunders my rating 3 of 5 stars the good it s like a journey through a haunted house atmospheric and bewildering it also helps if you listen to the book since it has so many narrative voices the bad i remember reading george saunders a swim in the pond in the rain it was as ai reminds me a masterclass on writing focusing on the technical craft of storytelling and the connection between writer and reader if only george and i feel especially after reading his vulgar passages that we re at least on a first name basis had taken his own advice in writing this book lincoln in the bardo is i think pretentious it does not try to connect with the reader at all it reminded me of being lost in a corn maze it s a swim for survival in a murky pond through a dense fog bunnicula a rabbit tale of mystery by deborah howe my rating 4 of 5 stars simply charming my grown daughter gave it to me as a christmas gift and i read it recently imagining myself reading it to her as a little girl project hail mary by andy weir my rating 3 of 5 stars this is an extremely dense read it s hard to get through but much better when listening to the audio version i understand from reading pre reviews that the upcoming movie is wonderful how this book will translate to a movie is a mystery to me but one i am looking forward to exploring i liked the ending of this book very much but i kept shaking my head throughout all the other parts thinking about politics and current events people aren t really this smart this book could be characterized as hard science fiction fantasy ps i give the movie 5 stars the irish fiddler s playbook 50 easy fiddle tunes with step by step fiddling guide by julia termeer my rating 5 of 5 stars i don t think i ll ever truly finish this book but i m having a lot of fun along the way i m playing my grandmother s old violin i mean fiddle the difference between a violin and a fiddle you don t spill beer on a violin small things like these by claire keegan my rating 4 of 5 stars a trifle disappointing because i had heard so many good things about this novella it seemed to be set in the early 1900s but then there are unexpected details that let you know that you are reading something set in the near present day which was fascinating but disconcerting all the same there s much more to this story than the way it ends and all that leads up to it which is also fascinating but disconcerting all the same the end of drum time by hanna pylväinen my rating 2 of 5 stars read this as part of a book club i know it s been well received and well reviewed but i found it hard to follow cue the college ulysses flashbacks big blocks of type with shifting pov and many different characters i did not find the story compelling in any way i slogged through it because i joined the book club to read books i wouldn t normally read which is always revelatory but not always enjoyable our mixtapes ourselves the happy sad story and soundtrack of generation x by david grady my rating 5 of 5 stars i finally can say in all honesty that i started reading a book i couldn t put down and now my wife thinks i m crazy because i had my iphone at my side and kept listening to snippets of the songs written about here without airpods because i wanted her to ask me what the heck i was doing and then i could explain to her why i loved this book so much thank you david grady and thanks for posting your brother s drum intro to middle of the road at https thosesongs blog view all my goodreads reviews posted by bob varettoni at 6 12 00 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels book reviews friday june 19 2026 a visit to gethsemane on juneteenth the entrance to gethsemane cemetery gethsemane is usually associated with the sacred site at the foot of the mount of olives in jerusalem christians believe that jesus christ prayed there undergoing the agony in the garden prior to his crucifixion but gethsemane also exists close to home in bergen county on an acre of land on a hill off route 46 in little ferry it s a county historic site with the graves of over 500 souls stipulated in the 1800s for use as a cemetery for the colored population of the village of hackensack on this juneteenth the bergen county parks department opened the site to visitors thanks to the efforts of the county s division of cultural historic affairs whose representatives handed out detailed guides and provided links to even more online resources about the historic final resting place for the area s black community the handout a pdf guide is available online here and a youtube video tour is available here following are a half dozen photos of gravesites along with information provided by the county left in memory of sarah wife of john layton who died on october 26 1838 aged 17 years 9 months and 11 days right the headstones of wife and husband elizabeth 1818 1899 and edward 1836 1909 jackson left richard r mattison died november 27 2892 aged 23 years 10 months and 29 days richard was a railroad porter who died of the effects of diabetes right henry white died may 25 1911 aged 25 years his granite tombstone had been buried in the ground face up for more than 30 years until it was reset on its base in 2007 left in memory of harry jones died april 24 1888 aged 87 years a headstone that according to county s guide was vandalized and broken after the original cemetery restoration in the 1980s it was repaired and resent on a new base in spring 2007 right cora oblenus who died of acute bronchitis just before her 15th birthday her stone is carved in the shape of a tree stump symbolizing a young life that was cut short posted by bob varettoni at 5 01 00 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels history new jersey monday may 18 2026 it s never too hot for poetry in teaneck poet scott pleasants i was excited to learn that scott pleasants the poet laureate of teaneck nj was planning a new poetry series so close to home this past sunday it s being held in a small garden adjacent to the town s recently renovated library and it includes an open mic i woke up sunday to a sudden burst of mid summer weather and decided to write a poem for the occasion i normally struggle for days weeks months years decades to write a single poem but i didn t have anything appropriate at the ready the result is below a poem i read on sunday afternoon that didn t exist on sunday morning it s set in teaneck and based on current celestial events i arrived early and commented to scott what weather it s too hot for poetry which he assured me is never the case more than two dozen people showed up in the shade including chris rockwell founder and editor of soup can magazine and two local poets i ve participated in recent workshops with tara temprano and tammy smith scott s next event at the garden sunday afternoon at 2 on may 31 and here s my less than day old poem ps with slight revisions in june when venus and jupiter converge over teaneck at the onset of june 2026 the recent blue moon has begun to sweep past venus and jupiter as the two brightest planets visible on earth slowly converge in the early evening sky merging tail lights on route 4 summon my gaze that lifted by fireflies beholds a revelation the same sight that more than 2 000 years ago evoked the star of bethlehem i take refuge in art this prophetic verse at the conjunction of passion and spiritual growth a celestial fever dream a feather of hope i believe that at dusk on june 9 2026 a new messiah was born in teaneck nj in a two family house with thin walls because thin places are the closest between heaven and earth because tiny houses make the loudest memories holy and anointed welcomed by venus and jupiter s cosmic kiss heralded by a murmuration of starlings descended from aurochs and angels she is a golden goddess without a statue she will be revered by all faiths she will change the world forever end all wars redistribute wealth protect our sons and daughters she will share her immortality and save us with humility she will dispel self serving myths we have chosen to believe she will inspire our epic poetry scott s ode to teaneck displayed in the library garden posted by bob varettoni at 10 01 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels new jersey poetry writing monday may 11 2026 poetry month revisited in new jersey among the poems i wrote each day during national poetry month in april is the following trilogy poem set where else in new jersey i consider this my retirement poem as i wander the state these days without any 9 to 5 commitments my days as an idle king a trilogy part 1 odyssey in rural new jersey i begin a 10 hour journey past the intersection where my first girlfriend lived i recall decades ago how my heart would skip a beat at the magical right at the light today a half man guards the driveway of a neglected shop he wears protective goggles under a logoless baseball cap his hands buried in the pockets of worn and baggy black clothes a sign overhead heralds my arrival to dent wiz in block red letters except for a faded shadow in shape of the fallen letter n part 2 sussex county past neglected farm buildings to the north and west stands an abandoned church surrounded by abandoned graves and a traffic sign thou shalt not park here past here i cross a one lane bridge leading to fairy tail forest theme park and venue shuttered until memorial day with only one other car a cadillac for sale in the lot i continue travels on route 206 past the now gated stone ruins of st paul s abbey to yetter s diner which serves breakfast all day eggs over easy bacon rye toast what dad would have ordered if he were alive part 3 ulysses made weak by time returning home my cats don t acknowledge me stretching and yawning in the dying slivers of sunshine where they passed their day and warmly ignore me until their stomachs remember it s time to eat i have no suitors to slay i am only a hero to the tiny mouths i feed with only one way bridges before me my days as an idle king refers to the opening lines of tennyson s ulysses this isn t my first attempt at a poetic trilogy set in the garden state nor is it my first swing at a pretentious title or subtitle i ve played with and re edited the following poem over the years in the spirit of french poet and philosopher paul valery who famously said a poem is never finished only abandoned the subtitle of new jersey trilogy really belongs to lolita a favorite book before i had daughters i plead maturity both in having another view of the book these days and in shamelessly using its subtitle t s eliot once wrote immature poets imitate mature poets steal or as interpreted by steve jobs years later good artists copy great artists steal the final stanzas below are set in a favorite place overlooking a favorite city immortalized by a favorite poet william carlos williams who remains a favorite poet as i grow old and grey and full of sleep new jersey trilogy or the confession of a white widowed male 1 thunder road revisited the scene annabel my wife of 35 years scans people magazine after sunset in our suburban living room a song begins six verses and a bridge a screen door slams in the distance while under the spotlight of a table lamp annabel sprawls across her favorite chair her right leg hangs over the armrest like hyman roth in the godfather part 2 a movie we saw long ago when we lived across the river on this night annabel is reading that julia roberts favorite lyrics are from a springsteen song show a little faith there s magic in the night you ain t a beauty but hey you re alright he could only have written that when he was young says annabel it s filled with she pauses irrational passion so i look her in the eye cross the room to her side and turn out the light revealing an ordinary night annabel raises a curious brow i bow to steal a kiss and take her by the hand baby i say let s go for a drive 2 gatsby in paramus a year later after annabel died i wait alone for my eye exam in the showroom of cohen s fashion optical at the mall surrounded by 100 sets ...