Ron Slate

Received IOU as part of the mission of Concord Free Press.

After finishing IOU, I felt ready to put off reading for the foreseeable future. It's not that it was bad, it just draaaaaaagged. A few of the stories within were even quite engaging, but overall, it was difficult to keep going. But keep going I did, and here are my thoughts.

The book is comprised of short stories (some in the form of "advice"), poems, and two interviews. All of the pieces deal with money in some form. If you like show more poetry or spoken word, you may actually enjoy a good portion of the book. If I am going to read poetry, however, it should be moving, engaging, not just a series of short phrases, truncated for appearance-sake, about something not-that-surprising or unique. But, like I said, if you enjoy reading poetry, you will probably enjoy at least half of this book.

The two interviews are interesting. One is with a woman who was involved in a bank robbery in 1970 (Katherine Ann Power) and the other is with a woman who pled guilty to embezzling a couple hundred thousand dollars from her bank-employee (Donna Lee Munson). If not insightful (though the second certainly was), the interviews were entertaining.

And then the stories. These really varied, story-to-story. For a list of the stories and a 1-2 sentence reaction, see my blog ( All Book Reviewer). Overall, the book was disappointing because my feelings were often summed up with: "so, what's your point." Overall, 2 of 5 stars. Because occasionally, a story within was really good. show less

Rating low because of variable quality of contributions. Some stories are 5*. It should perhaps not be surprising that a collection of writing on money which is published by a company that gives its books away contains very little celebrating the joys of making money. That does, however, make the stories more relevant to the lives of the average reader. The first story. “Interest” by Michelle Huneven, reminded me strongly of my father, but I was fortunate that mine controlled his usual show more impulse to “know what is best” when I asked him for help with a house purchase.
The quality of the writing varies somewhat, or perhaps my preferences reflect my personal tastes. A fair number of the poems make no sense at all, but I did enjoy Hailey Leithauser’s use of poetic devices (alliteration, assonance, internal rhymes, repetition with variations) in her lengthily-titled poem. And Greg McBride’s “Back of the Envelope” is beautifully told.
My favorite non-fiction piece was “Local Money” by Douglas Rushkoff. He gives a good explanation of the development of alternative currency for daily transactions when dollars are tight.
With 25 poems and 22 short stories or essays (some of the stories deal with current issues and some may count them as essays), I wish I were able to keep the book to revisit my favorites. But I support the publisher’s goal of exchanging their publications free for donations—their form of Pay It Forward. Go to www.concordfreepress.com to find out when and where you can get their next book—and to see what donations have been generated by their readers. show less

Received IOU as part of the mission of Concord Free Press.

After finishing IOU, I felt ready to put off reading for the foreseeable future. It's not that it was bad, it just draaaaaaagged. A few of the stories within were even quite engaging, but overall, it was difficult to keep going. But keep going I did, and here are my thoughts.

The book is comprised of short stories (some in the form of "advice"), poems, and two interviews. All of the pieces deal with money in some form. If you like show more poetry or spoken word, you may actually enjoy a good portion of the book. If I am going to read poetry, however, it should be moving, engaging, not just a series of short phrases, truncated for appearance-sake, about something not-that-surprising or unique. But, like I said, if you enjoy reading poetry, you will probably enjoy at least half of this book.

The two interviews are interesting. One is with a woman who was involved in a bank robbery in 1970 (Katherine Ann Power) and the other is with a woman who pled guilty to embezzling a couple hundred thousand dollars from her bank-employee (Donna Lee Munson). If not insightful (though the second certainly was), the interviews were entertaining.

And then the stories. These really varied, story-to-story. For a list of the stories and a 1-2 sentence reaction, see my blog ( All Book Reviewer). Overall, the book was disappointing because my feelings were often summed up with: "so, what's your point." Overall, 2 of 5 stars. Because occasionally, a story within was really good. show less

This latest publication from the Concord Free Press is a collection of 48 writings (essays, poems, reflections) on money. As with any compilation, the selections run hot and cold, depending on your point of view. Many were thought-provoking, some elicited a "huh?" Overall, a quick and interesting read.