Reading More Than Novels: Poetry and 2 Biographies

by Susan Roberts

I don't read a lot of non-fiction books, but have read several in the last few months that were very interesting and well-written.  Here are reviews of a book of poetry. a collection of Holocaust stories, and a book about the greatest rock band of all time.  

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.  Free books were provided for honest reviews.

What the Deep Water Knows by Miranda Cowley Heller

July 2025; Zibby Publishing; 979-8992427622
ebook, print (144 pages); poetry

If I could fly backward, I would.

To the safety of branches, to the time

when my heart still raced for you,

twelve hundred beats a minute.

Way back when I was in college as an English major, I read and loved poetry.  I haven't read much poetry in the years since, so I decided that it was time to get out of my selected genres and give it a try.  This book of poetry was the perfect place to start.  It describes the author's feelings from childhood to marriage and divorce and motherhood.  Her joy and her pain shine through her beautiful words.  Some of the poems didn't resonate, but others touched me deeply.  I'm so happy that I took a chance on this well-written and emotional poetry

“I stand in bare feet at the break,

icy water soaking my cuffs.

A scoop of pelicans dives on bait fish

– relentless, cruel.

Kelp fronds mourn them in the glassy deep.

A hermit crab creeping on to shore

skittles its way across the sand.

In the blue, a soot tern wings loop-the-loops.

And I lift my face into the wind.”

from “Things the Tide Has Discarded”.

Buy What the Deep Water Knows at Amazon

Four Red Sweaters: Powerful True Stories of Women and the Holocaust by Lucy Adlington

March 2025; Harper; 978-0063375161
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); biographies

Stories of four Jewish girls during the Holocaust, strangers whose lives were unknowingly linked by everyday garments, revealing how the ordinary can connect us in extraordinary ways.  

I read a lot of World War II historical fiction, and the stories of the strong women in many of these books always touch my heart. I found that reading the true stories of four young women during the Holocaust was even more emotional. 

The four women in this book never knew each other, their paths never crossed, but they each owned a red sweater that was important in their lives.  The author did extensive research on these four women and their lives both before the war and after the war as they struggled to acclimate to new lives.  She showed that all of these young women were strong and resilient, but remained kind even during the worst of times. Reading about their lives reminds me once again of how important it is to know about the past so that we can fight to make sure that it doesn't all happen again.

"Hate, hard as bullet-pitted concrete or spikes of barbed wire, is endlessly renewable.  I'd like to think that love, soft and fragile like woolen yarn, lasts longer." (p286)

Buy Four Red Sweaters at Amazon

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie

April 2025; Celadon Books; 978-1250869548
audio, ebook, print (448 pages); biography

John Lennon and Paul McCartney knew each other for twenty-three years, from 1957 to 1980. This book is the myth-shattering biography of a relationship that changed the cultural history of the world.

I was a teenager in the 1960s and fell in love with the Beatles when I heard their first song.  I lived in a large city and had the opportunity to see them in concert in 1964 and 1966.  Even though I could barely hear them sing because of all the screaming - those concerts were my favorite concerts ever!  I've read a lot of Beatles books over the years, and there wasn't a lot new in this new book.  It was still great to read and be reminded of what a major change the writing duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney had on music at the time and how it affected future popular music.  I thought that the author did considerable research and managed to put all of the information together in an organized fashion.  This book was a pure joy for me as it looked at the ups and downs of the long-term friendship between these two musical geniuses who influenced my younger years. 

Buy John & Paul at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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