Reader’s Diary

If you love to read you have to see this movie. “Stone Reader” is a documentary about one man’s search for the author of a forgotten book. There’s some deep sadness in it, but I was smiling much of the time I watched it. It’s a lovely film. For me to say any more would spoil it for you. Watch the trailer, but don’t Google for it, don’t look at the rest of the film’s web site, just get it, watch it, and post a comment telling me what you thought of it.

Reyner Banham

This book may have the most obscure subject of any book reviewed at Reader’s Diary in the nearly seven years that the site has been in existence. It’s about US concrete factories and grain elevators and their influence on European modernism and the International style as exemplified by Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.

The first two sections of the book cover, respectively, factories and grain elevators. Banham has an engaging personal style and a particular appreciation for Buffalo’s elevators. He also mentions Minnesota’s elevators, notably the Peavey-Haglin experimental concrete grain bin, which is probably the least-known landmark in the Twin Cities.

The third section of the books deals with the influence these US structures had in Europe. It’s not as interesting as first two but there’s some interesting material on Fiat’s Lingotto plant and its famous rooftop test track, an icon of European modernism that, ironically, Henry Ford, creator of the Highland and River Rouge plants, probably would have scoffed at as impractical.

This is definitely not a book for everyone, but I liked it.

David Poyer

I enjoy Poyer’s “Tales of the Modern Navy” series because, unlike most military fiction, it’s not jingoistic. However, this one, unlike the last one, is only a fair seagoing adventure. Poyer’s main character (Dan Lenson) is detached to the Korean navy as a wargame evaluator, there’s bad weather, and the North Koreans get aggressive. There’s nothing wrong with the book, it just isn’t terribly exciting.

Bill Holm

Bill Holm is a Minnesota poet who spends part of his year at a remote village in his ancestral homeland. This is a collection of essays about and from that town. I enjoyed the pieces about Icelandic farmer/poets but didn’t care for his occasional crankiness, which is of the knee-jerk, non-entertaining variety. I liked his previous work better.

Richard Ross

This short collection of photographs shows bomb shelters from around the world. Most of them are from the Cold War, but World War Two shelters are featured as well. The builders are mostly governments but include Utah Mormons and Texas cults. The individual photos are competent enough, but it’s the range that’s striking.

It’s odd to reflect that when I, an admittedly odd kid, was collecting fallout shelter brochures at the Minnesota State Fair in the 60’s, my Russian contemporaries in Moscow were expecting to have to dash to the basements of their apartment blocks, almost every one of which incorporated a bomb shelter. We’ve built a strange and fearful world.

Julian Stockwin

In this, the latest in Stockwin’s Kydd series, war has once again broken out with France and Kydd has been assigned to patrol the coast of England in search of privateers and smugglers. The coast itself becomes a character. It’s an unusual environment as well as good example of Stockwin’s ability to come up with fresh ideas within the “fighting sail” genre.

Stockwin’s books aren’t all storm and cannon fire. In this novel Kydd’s social advancement seems assured when he reaches an “understanding” with his admiral’s daughter but eventually he must decide whether he values love more than status.

As usual with the Kydd books, I read this one quickly and am eagerly awaiting the next one.