Book Review by Zinta
Aistars
Publisher: Rathole
Books, 2010
Price:
$18.00
ISBN-10 0977111946
ISBN-13 978-0977111947
I met Tim Bazzett—virtually but not yet in person—through an
email exchange about books. Of course. We exchanged thoughts about the novel of
a Michigan writer that he felt, by reading some of my reviews, that I perhaps
understood better than he. That got my attention. How many people do you know
who have approached you to say you may just get something better than they do?
Sharp guy. Actually, I’m not sure I did get that book better
than Bazzett, but we got a good conversation going, and one book leading to
another, he sent me one of his own books: Booklover.
Is this going to be a very long, elaborate listing of all the books this book
addict has ever read? I wondered. Well, something along those lines. Only
Bazzett adds in plenty of his own lines, managing to tell his story while
talking about the stories written and told by others.
Booklover is one
of several memoirs Bazzett has written. He begins by expressing his disdain for
the reading fare that kindergartners are given, if the children are given
books to read at all, and with that introduction, he had me on board. (I, too, am an admitted book addict.) From
there, this memoir describes Bazzett's moves from Michigan to California and to
Europe, part of that being his military service. It is also the story of his
marriage and the family.
It's a down home story, and Bazzett tells it in a friendly,
easy style that makes you feel like you are sitting on the front porch with him,
making friends. He can be charmingly self-deprecating, willing to open his door
to the reader in a frank manner, if sometimes perhaps a bit too frank. There
are times that I don't want to know where his guy's mind wanders, moments that
tingle on my feminist bone when he muses on the female gender, but in the next
moment I've forgiven him, because, well, he just comes off as a genuinely nice
guy.
I could also do without the repeated "but no
matter" continuously inserted into the telling of Bazzett's story, but
that's it, those are my only complaints. Bazzett is a classic. He excels at
being himself, no pretenses, rather than trying to outdo someone else among the
literati. He has a fun way of inserting his sense of humor, even while building
up the reader's desire to go to the nearest library or book store and bring
home a mountain of books to read that Bazzett has recommended. It is with his
insights into literature and authors that we realize just how sharp-minded he
is. I hope I do get to sit on his front porch, or mine, with him sometime.
Bazzett lives in Reed City, Michigan, with his wife and his
books. He has published five memoirs and a biography. He is a book reviewer for
The Smoking Poet.
