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The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Nonfiction Kindergarten for oenophiles CORK DORK: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste By Bianca Bosker 329 pp. Penguin Reviewed by Marty Carlock Journalist Bianca Bosker thought it would make a good story to train to be a sommelier. What could be cooler? I mean, visit vineyards, hang out with some of the most discriminating people on the planet, and drink lots of wine. It turned out to be much, much harder than it sounds. You can’t just start pouring wine and call yourself a sommelier. “Sommelier” is a title reserved for a studious, elite, fanatic group that has passed grueling examinations given by the Court of Master Sommeliers. For fun, they meet for blind tastings several times a week. They study flash cards. They go to distributor events to taste scores of wines in a few hours. They hone thei...

Minik, the New York Eskimo: An Arctic Explorer, a Museum, and the Betrayal of the Inuit People Havover, NH: Steerforth Press $17 (US), $20 (CA) By Kenn Harper Reviewed by Russell A. Potter This is a new, and substantially revised edition of Kenn Harper's book, which was originally titled Give Me My Father's Body: The  Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo. Originally published in 1986 by Blacklead Books in Iqaluit (then still known as Frobisher Bay), the book recounts in plain yet passionate detail the sad details of the life of Minik (or Mene) Wallace, a young boy who was among a group of Inuit brought back from northwest Greenland by Robert Peary, at the seeming behest of his sponsors, particularly Morris Jesup of the Museum of Natural History, and the anthropologist Franz Boas. The first US edition of the book came out from Steerforth in 2001; we reviewed the book in what was, at the time, only the second 'issue' of the Arctic Book Review. And we stand by everything w...

THE DEVIL ORDERS TAKEOUT by Bill A. Brier 345 pp. Black Opal Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen First time novelist Bill A. Brier makes a memorable debut with this compelling crime thriller. When the rich get into deep trouble with the IRS, they turn to brilliant tax lawyer Grayson Bolt to get them out of it. But he’s about to get into some deep trouble of his own, from which he may not get out alive. The story begins with Grayson and his wife Sandra leaving for their anniversary vacation. During the drive, Sandra takes the wheel when Grayson gets a migraine. She just barely misses an unusual obstacle in the road – a fallen horse trapped on an icy patch, unable to pick itself up. Grayson soon finds the horse’s rider – a little girl named Kim – clinging perilously over the edge of a cliff after being thrown by her horse. He tries to get the horse to its feet and make it pull her up. Then her grandfather, a nasty old drunk named Gus Stockard, arrives on the scene and tries to take over. The...

Nonfiction My heart is alive IT’S NOT YET DARK By Simon Fitzmaurice 165 pp. Hachette Ireland Reviewed by Sue Ellis If this were a memoir only about Lou Gehrig’s disease, you might wince at the thought of the predictable outcome. But it’s not that, which is to say, It’s Not Yet Dark puts succumbing to the disease where it belongs, at the bottom of Simon Fitzmaurice’s list of considerations. Before reading this book, you might have assumed that it is impossible to have any quality of life while hooked up to a ventilator, but Fitzmaurice eloquently dispenses with that line of thinking, explaining how he chooses to live fully despite his handicap and the attendant gadgetry that makes life possible. His story begins by describing a pre-Lou Gehrig’s moment of success in his chosen field. Fitmaurice is an award-winning writer and film director, holding degrees in both Anglo-Irish literature and drama, and in film theory and production. The moment of success was a call from the Sundance Film ...

Nonfiction Embrace their return THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE By David Finkel 256 pp. Picador Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey David Finkel spent fifteen months on the frontlines in Baghdad with Second Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment during the surge of 2007-2008. He documented that experience in his 2009 The Good Soldiers . In this more recent Thank You for Your Service (2014) , he revisits a handful of these men, now returned home, as they deal with the experiences and the injuries, some visible some not, that still plague them from those deployments.   Because of the continued stigma and reticence to seek help, the number of soldiers returned with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and suicidal depression will probably never be known. Estimates are that 20 to 30 percent have been psychologically damaged to some degree by their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, “[m]ost are O.K., and others are not.”   This book gives faces and names to those...

Fiction Careful what you eat! BETRAYAL AT IGA: A Hiro Hattori Novel By Susan Spann 256 pp. Seventh Street Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen Mystery writer Susan Spann is back with the fifth entry (the previous entry, The Ninja’s Daughter, is also reviewed on this site) in her series of mysteries set in a most unusual time and place and featuring a most unusual pair of sleuths. The time and place is 16 th -century Japan, and the sleuths are Hiro Hattori, an honorable samurai and deadly shinobi (ninja) warrior, and Father Mateo, the Portuguese Jesuit priest for whom Hiro has been hired by an unknown party to serve as a bodyguard and translator. Hiro is impressed by the foreign priest’s intelligence and courage, while Father Mateo is impressed by the shinobi warrior’s wisdom, compassion, and devotion to honor and justice. The two men have become close friends and acquired well deserved reputations for solving baffling murders and bringing killers to justice. Betrayal At Iga opens with Hir...

Nonfiction Solace in stone A RIFT IN THE EARTH: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial By James Reston, Jr. 284 pp. Arcade Publishing Reviewed by Diane Diekman This book could be considered a biography of this national memorial. Having many times visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and having followed the controversy as it was built, I looked forward to reading this story. I especially wanted to learn if those who opposed it so violently have come to realize The Wall’s importance in healing rifts from the Vietnam War. Author James Reston, Jr., has done an excellent job of researching volumes of information and pulling all the disparate pieces together into a readable story. Reston is a Vietnam-era veteran but not a combat veteran. Although he became an anti-war advocate, his personal views are kept out of the objective telling of this important memorial’s story. With the nation so divided, it could be expected that building a memorial to the s...