Category: Book Review
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Peter Mladinic’s Review of “The Lost Book of Zeroth” is up on the Journal Your Impossible Voice!
Thank you so much, Pete, for your generous and insightful review of The Lost Book of Zeroth (Alien Buddha Press, 2025). Here are Pete’s opening lines: The Lost Book of Zeroth is comic, tragic, and ultimately human. The irony is that the book’s first three sections are “peopled by robots:” Sophia,…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: The Weight of One Hummingbird Feather and Random Seed by Sharon SingingMoon
Sharon SingingMoon’s new poetry collection, The Weight of One Hummingbird Feather, is a tragic memoir of the loss of her son to drug addiction in early January 2023. These raw and honest poems reveal not just her son’s descent into addiction but also his healthy years of promise. Imagine a…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: Files of Information on People Who Don’t Exist by Peter Mladinic
In Peter Mladinic’s poetry collection Files of Information on People Who Don’t Exist (BlazeVOX, October 9, 2024), the minutia of daily forgetting become memoirs set in free verse. With the precision of a reporter, Mladinic uncovers our deepest impulses, surrenders, and sins. A keen observer, he writes with such honesty, we…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: “Seesaw” by Ken Tomaro and Nolcha Fox!
I hope you like my new column “Barb’s Wordy Blurbs”. It’s my opportunity to share short reviews of books I’ve read and support authors. Today I feature “Seesaw” (Prolific Pulse Press, 2025) by Ken Tomaro and Nolcha Fox. I recall the seesaw, that teeter-totter on the playground. Seated on each end…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: Samsara, a Poetry Collection by Shirani Rajapakse
This review first appeared on MasticadoresUSA. “Samsara” is a highly acclaimed collection of poetry. In 2023, it won the Boao International Poetry Award (China), was nominated for the 2023 State Literary Award (Sri Lanka), and shortlisted for the 2022 Gratiaen Award (Sri Lanka). Shirani Rajapakse writes poetry and short stories.…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: Poetry Treasures 5 (Small Pleasures)
I’m delighted to have four poems in this gorgeous new anthology complied and edited by Kaye Lynne Booth and Robbie Cheadle. Other authors include DL Mullan, Jude Itakali, Ivor Steven, Robbie Cheadle, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Gwen M. Plano, Elizabeth Gauffreau, David Bogomolny, Dawn Pasturino, Maggie Watson, and Colleen Chesebro. Isn’t…
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A Review of Three-Penny Memories by Ken Tomaro
Thank you, Ken, for reviewing Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir on Amazon! I appreciate your keen insights! (His review follows my comments.) Grief work is a sacred process. When I saw my mother failing and begged her to choose a child to live closer to, she chose me. My uncle’s…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: One Petal at a Time by Joni Caggiano
April 5 was the anniversary of the publication of Joni Caggiano’s poetry collection One Petal at a Time (Prolific Pulse Press, 2024). Congratulations, Joni! The title of Joni Karen Caggiano’s powerful poetry collection, One Petal at a Time, makes me recall what I used to say as a child while…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: “Fragments of Time” by Snigdha Agrawal
I’m delighted that my review of Snigdha Agrawal’s book, Fragments of Time, (Memoirs) was published on LatinosUSA – English Edition on April 3, 2025! Here is part of the review. The rest follows on the link below. Fragments of Time: Memoirs (Notion Press, February 11, 2025) is an inspiring legacy…
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Barb’s Wordy Blurbs: “Coming Home” by Smitha Vishwanath
Smitha Vishwanath posted that her book Coming Home is two years old this week, so I thought I would republish my review of it, which I published on MasticadoresUSA in September 2023. The Epigraph Poem for Coming HomeI dare to make mistakes I dare to ask for helpI dare to…
Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver 