PositiveThe San Francisco ChronicleA defense of her record in Congress and a right-wing offensive ... Pelosi’s words are a demonstration of how power is wielded — and shrewdly maintained — how a more perfect union is shaped, how the victories are especially sweet and how falling short of the ideal is part of the process.
Anne Lamott
PositiveThe San Francisco ChronicleLamott confronts the most complex of emotions in all its forms and contradictions ... Lamott’s homespun homilies, patchworks of common wisdom and slogans like \'one day at a time\' might sound basic, but her boatload of self-awareness is genuine, and her dedication to craft elevates the writing from self-help journal to a companionable reader.
Thurston Moore
PositiveThe San Francisco ChronicleMoore, 65, does not use the pages of Sonic Life to spill too many tales of rock ’n’ roll glory or a young man’s fancy. Nor does he impart advice from lessons learned. Rather, Moore uses nearly two-thirds of a long book to take the reader on a detailed walk through his New York, the Lower East Side of the ’70s and ’80s — the milieu that made him ... Less about success, disappointment or failure and more like a fan’s notes, Moore’s listings are comprehensive, from the influential records and people he met along the way ... Moore writes self-assuredly and aware but without conceit.
Bob Dylan
MixedThe San Francisco ChroniclePart humor, part history and part hogwash – a little like love letters to analog life and rebukes on the world gone wrong with a twist ... Dylan’s \'philosophy\' is at once curious, mercurial, inconsistent and, at times, off-putting ... The Philosophy of Modern Song is patently a product of Dylan’s wiles and times ... Far more concerning than any possible slights or absences is an excess of off-color commentaries on women ... It seems reasonable to hope that an artist of Dylan’s magnitude would publish words in solidarity with half of humankind in this critical hour of rights rescinded; rather, he chooses demeaning stereotypes.
Bob Kaufman, Ed. by Neeli Cherkovski, Raymond Foye, and Tate Swindell
RaveThe San Francisco ChronicleThe body of work is small but voluminous in intensity, spirit and soul, with a lineage that runs from Charles Baudelaire to Charles Mingus. Kaufman — with his commitment to the art, his surreal eye on the urban experience and beyond it, and his jazz timing — brings San Francisco to life ... Kaufman’s unique contribution is his surrealist’s eye on the street and beyond it, demonstrated in verses that earned him the nickname The Black Rimbaud, as he was dubbed in France, where he has long found an appreciative readership.
