Books

[The Duke]

Figured it's time to put this thread back at the top....

I have been reading a collection of short novels called "One Million A.D." edited by Gardner Dozois. It is an anthology of six short novels about the far future. I am on the third part of the anthology now, and I couldn't be more impressed. If I had more time, I would write more about it, but I can always comment a bit later on in the week. One thing I will say quickly is that the anthology is exclusive to the Science Fiction Book Club.

[Chick-O-Stick]

I reread "Fast Food Nation:The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser a while back and would recommend it to anyone. It delves into the corruption of corportions and our government where big business is concerned.

Currently I'm working on "The Truth (With Jokes)" by Al Franken. As with most books of this nature I have to put it down at some points and think about the last chapter I read. Finding out some of the things about our government shouldn't shock and disgust me as much as it does, but nevertheless I can only consume it in short bursts. So far it's a good read, as are all of his books.

Who else reads?

[mavhimself]

a good one that is rather pertinent to this site that i just got done reading is "so you wanna be a rock and roll star" by jake schlicter. schlicter was the drummer in the band semisonic who had one hit back in the late 90's with "closing time". the book documents the band's rise and fall to one hit wonder purgatory. a book that will have you thinking differently about being a musician.

[muthagoose]

Maybe that guy should have worked harder on his music and a little less hard on writing a book about being a one hit wonder.

Still sounds like a decent read though.

[mavhimself]

he didnt have to work too hard on the book thing, apparently the dude is a harvard graduate. and a lot of the book is his tour journals.

[Chick-O-Stick]

Finished a book this week called "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks of Scotland, it's not sold in US stores but you can pick it up on eBay or Half.com. It was a solid read, about a guy who lives with his dad on an island. A short synopsis - Chosen in a British poll as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century, this 1984 novel about a family's strange and repulsive secret has become a cult classic. Sixteen years old, Frankie has developed behavioral patterns involving the ritualistic killings of animals and insects to help predict daily events. As each successive day pass, Frankie receives phone call from older half-brother, Paul, who has escaped form an institution and is working his way home.

The back cover reads: " Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons that I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my you cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through."

Decent read if you're looking for a talented author of the horror/suspense genre. He also writes Sci-Fi which I haven't gotten to yet.

[muthagoose]

I got htis book for my birthday and have really enjoyed it. It is definitely worth checking out if you are a baseball fan or a fan of Babe Ruth,

THE BIG BAM: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth[/b][/color]



Overview:

In this day of overamped salaries, statistics, and physiques, it's useful to be reminded of the singular talent and impact Babe Ruth brought to baseball during his career (1914-35). He owned most of the hitting records for decades, including single-season and career home runs--and all this during the "dead ball" era. Even now, the baseball fan can only be awed by what Ruth accomplished, not to mention the adulation he engendered. And if Robert Creamer's highly readable Babe (1974) is still the benchmark biography, Montville (Ted Williams, 2004) brings fresh observations to his subject, one being that Ruth probably suffered from attention-deficit disorder, which accounts for his inexhaustible energy for everything from baseball to food to alcohol to sex, not necessarily in that order. And in his vivid account of the years Ruth spent at St. Mary's orphanage in Baltimore, Montville gives readers the measure of what made the man. Montville has also carefully sifted the factual from the hearsay, leaving us with a volume that's reliable, readable, and deserving of a place in the sports or American culture collection.

[The Duke]

Time to revive this thread somewhat!

I have been busy as of late, with little time to read due to added responsibilities of the job. One sci-fi writed I discovered recently, though, is John Scalzi. He has written Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Android's Dream, and others as well.

Sometime later this week I plan to write short reviews of some of Scalzi's work, but in the meantime I highly recommend him to sci-fi fans, and to anyone actually.

On a side note, does anyone out there have any recommendations as it relates to what you have been reading?

[The Duke]

Anything new out there anyone has picked up as of late?

[Chick-O-Stick]

I just finished "House of Leaves" by Mark Danelewski, it was his debut novel that was slowly released via the internet.



It's a complex book but full of vivid descriptions that leave a haunting feeling. Here is an excerpt from a review (which is better then anything I could come up with)- House of Leaves begins with a first person narrative by Johnny Truant, a Los Angeles tattoo parlor employee. Truant is searching for a new apartment when his friend Lude tells him about the apartment of the recently deceased Zampanò, a blind, elderly man who lived in the same building as Lude.

In Zampanò's apartment, Truant discovers a manuscript written by Zampanò which turns out to be a very academic study of a documentary film called The Navidson Record.

The rest of the novel alternates between Zampanò's report on the fictional film, Johnny's autobiographical interjections, and occasional brief notes by unidentified editors, all woven together by a mass of footnotes. There is also a fourth narrator, Johnny's mother, whose voice is presented through a self-contained set of letters titled The Whalestoe Letters. Each narrator's text is printed in a distinct font, making it easier for the reader to follow the sometimes challenging format of the novel

Zampanò's narrative deals primarily with the Navidson family: Will Navidson, a photojournalist (partly based on Kevin Carter), his partner Karen Green, an attractive former fashion model, and their two children. Navidson's brother, Tom, and several other characters also play a role later in the story. The Navidson family has recently moved into a new home in Virginia.

Upon returning from a trip to Seattle, the Navidson family discovers a change in their home. A closet-like space shut behind an undecorated door appears inexplicably where previously there was only a blank wall. A second door appears at the end of the closet, leading to the children's room. As Navidson investigates this phenomenon, he finds that the internal measurements of the house are somehow larger than external measurements. Initially there is less than an inch of difference, but as time passes the interior of the house is found to be seemingly expanding, while maintaining the same exterior proportions. A third change asserts itself: a dark, cold hallway in their living room wall which, according to the laws of physics, should extend out into their yard, which it does not. Navidson films this strange place, looping around the house to show where the space should be and clearly is not.

It's not for everyone, the copy I have is the full-color version with certain words being a different color throughout the book. The typography is crazy, with some pages having to be read backwards or in a spiral. There are codes in the book, such as one of the letters- you have to take the first letter of each word to come up with what the letter actually says. But it was well worth the time and I recommend it to those with a more open mind who are looking for something that isn't a quick thoughtless read.

[muthagoose]

Getting ready to start this and it is getting good reviews....


The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero
by William Kalush, Larry Sloman



Book Description
Handcuff King. Escape Artist. International Superstar. Since his death eighty years ago, Harry Houdini's life has been chronicled in books, in film, and on television. Now, in this groundbreaking biography, renowned magic expert William Kalush and best-selling writer Larry Sloman team up to find the man behind the myth. Drawing from millions of pages of research, they describe in vivid detail the passions that drove Houdini to perform ever-more-dangerous feats, his secret life as a spy, and a pernicious plot to subvert his legacy.

After years of struggling on the dime museum circuit, Harry Houdini got a break that put him on the front page of a Chicago newspaper. He never looked back. Soon Houdini was performing for royalty, commanding vast sums, and exploring the new power of Hollywood to expand on his legend.

At a time when spy agencies frequently co-opted amateurs, Houdini went to London and developed a relationship with a man who would run MI-5. For the next several years, the world's most famous magician traveled to Germany and Russia and routinely reported his findings.

After World War I was successfully concluded, Houdini embarked on a battle of his own. He created a group of disguised field operatives to infiltrate the seamy world of fake spirit mediums. In doing so, Houdini triggered the wrath of fanatical Spiritualists, led by the esteemed British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Death threats became an everyday occurrence, but the group would pose an even greater danger to Houdini's legacy.

Rigorously researched, and as exciting as a good thriller, The Secret Life of Houdini traces the arc of the master magician's life from desperate poverty to worldwide legend, initiating the reader along the way into the arcane world of professional magic. In this remarkable book, Kalush and Sloman decode a life based on deception, providing an intimate and riveting portrayal of Houdini, the man and the legend.

[muthagoose]

This book made quite a stir on The Howard Stern Show this week...

Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz



With more than 1,750 porn films under his belt (and director of more than 135), Jeremy is still cranking them out two decades after most adult film performers have retired. His memoir (co-written by humorist Spitznagel, author of Fast Forward: Confessions of a Porn Screenwriter) details a life of relentless self-promotion that often borders on the excessive (who else would call himself "the biggest porn star on the planet" and attach an appendix of the mainstream projects he was almost cast in or was cut out of the final product?). Fans won't find much introspection, and the incessant celebrity name-dropping is daunting, but the book is like Jeremy: self-effacing, affably vulgar, eager-to-please and constantly on the run. The anecdotes fly by: trying to direct a performance out of John Wayne Bobbitt's reattached organ in Uncut; having sex with an 87-year-old co-star; battling the LAPD on pandering charges; offering instructions on autofellatio; and hanging with Sam Kinison and Rodney Dangerfield. "I've given confidence to millions of men across the world," Jeremy boasts. "They look at themselves in the mirror and think, Y'know, compared to Ron Jeremy, I'm not that bad looking at all. At least that's what I tell myself whenever I go back to the buffet for seconds."

From Ron Jeremy

Dear Reader,

You probably think you already know me because you've seen one of my two thousand porn movies, or maybe you caught me on VH1's The Surreal Life, or rented my movie Pornstar, or heard me rapping in someone's music video. . . . Yeah, that's me. But believe it or not, that's not the real me. The real me is just an average guy trying to make it in the world like everyone else.

Well . . . sort of . . .

I always wanted to be a legitimate actor (that's right, don't laugh). But when the gigs didn't come I didn't let it get me down. Instead, I'd fall into the arms of beautiful women and let them heal my bruised soul. One of them insisted on taking nude pictures of me and sending them to Playgirl. For some reason I agreed, and when it was published, I got tons of phone calls. One of them was from a casting director who wanted me in his next picture. There was only one problem: it was a porno.

"What do you think?" I asked my dad.

He rubbed his chin and paused for a moment.

"I think you should do it," he said. "I mean, you're already halfway there, and . . . at least you'll be performing, right?"

That's exactly what I thought. From there, my life only got better. I traveled all over the world, made tons of money, and got more famous every year. But more than anything, I wanted to be legit, so I started doing stand-up comedy, moved to Hollywood, and kept my acting hopes alive by mingling with every major—Wait a minute, you don't care about any of this, do you? You just want to know about the celebrity orgies, the constant sex, and how I learned to blow myself. . . . All right, fine.

But keep reading. . . . I guarantee you'll get more than you bargained for. . . .

—Ron Jeremy

[The Duke]

My type of book! Yes sir!

[frauleinadams]

You should get a book called 'BERLIN BLUES' by Sven Regener!

Finally it's translated it english for all of you!
The german title is 'Herr Lehmann' which means 'Mr. Lehmann' and he is actually the main-character of that book.
Sven Regener is the singer of a famous old punkband called 'Element of Crime' they've been around forever...and i was lucky enough to see them live last year in Bremen, where i live and where Sven Regener is from. Herr Lehmann is a Bremer as well, but the book takes place in Berlin! (the title obviously gives away!)

"From Publishers Weekly:
More like a lovely dirge that the blues, this novel, is set in 1989, just as Berlin's East-West divide is fading, features Frank Lehmann, nearly 30, examining his slowly dissipating track. He lives in a studio apartment on the West side, works at a bohemian Kreutzberg district bar, has moderate drinking habits and various romances: he judges himself content. However, a tension between Frank's self-assessment and what we see of his actual encounters drives this gentle book forward. Episodic chapters like "The Dog," "Mother," and "A Late Snack" cover precisely what their titles name, in a manner that mirrors Frank's what-you-see-is-what-you-get nature. His inchoate affair with a beautiful chef named Katrin never quite turns into a full-blown relationship. The closest thing he has to a best friend, a sculptor named Karl, is deeply unstable. A trip to the East with an envelope of family money goes lightly awry. By the time the Wall actually falls, "Herr Lehmann" (as friends jokingly call him with mock formality) has made no decisions of any sort, despite very involved internal negotiations. In most books, Frank's Warholian flatness would come off as pretentious or thin; here it is sweet, if a little cold, and the incidentals of old West Berlin make for a nice backdrop."

Go and get it!

The second book 'Neue Vahr sued' is basically the story about the younger years of 'Herr Lehmann'. It's not translated yet, but i keep you updated- because it's even better and takes place in Bremen!

[The Duke]

I will/can post a review later, but for now, trust me when I say check out "The Rising Tide" by Jeff Shaara.

[muthagoose]

Will have to check that out Duker Dog!

[The Duke]

Jeff Shaara's "The Rising Tide" is an historical novel (heavily based in factual research) about the North African theatre of World War II. It follows American generals Eisenhower and Patton, British General Montgomery, and German field marshal Erwin Rommel, considered to have been great tactical minds, all.

I have never been one to be greatly interested in historical fiction, but this one grabbed my attention form the get-go. It is action-packed, but more importantly, is thought-provoking and really paints a vivid picture of that time period.

It is rather lengthy, but that is not to be feared, as the novel reads very quickly, and you will certainly not want to put it down. Without a doubt, I give it a strong recommendation. Enjoy it!

[Üncle Snake]

Here is a great book I just finished reading. It's a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in American history and researched so thoroughly that it reads like a novel.



Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincon's Killer by James L. Swanson

www.amazon.com/Manhunt-12-Day-Chase-Lincolns-Killer/dp/0060518502/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0804858-9123109?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175463188&sr=8-1

The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history - the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to the 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry and detectives on a wild, twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia, while the nation, still reeling from the just-ended Civil War, watched in horror and sadness.

At the very center of this story is John Wilkes Booth, America's notorious villain. A Confederate sympathizer and a member of a celebrated acting family, Booth threw away his fame, wealth, and promise for a chance to avenge the South's defeat. For almost two weeks, he confounded the manhunters, slipping away from their every move and denying them the justice they sought.

Based on rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln's own blood relics, Manhunt is a fully-documented work, but it is also a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, this is history as you've never read it before.

[muthagoose]

Sounds pretty interesting. I will add it to my list.

Thanks for posting it.

[The Duke]

Agreed....that sounds like a worthwhile read!

[The Duke]

Right now I am about 1/2 of the way through "Oddessy" by Jack McDevitt....I can barely stand to put it down! Review to come shortly!

[muthagoose]

What do you all make of this little bit of news?

Tolkien's New Tome

34 years after his death, Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien has a new book coming out. The tome is called The Children of Hurin, and it's based on an unfinished manuscript that Tolkien began writing in 1918. It was actually completed by his son, Christopher. The younger Tolkien has spent 30 years completing the story, working with various drafts penned by his father.

UK paper The Independent reports that The Children of Hurin will be published in the UK in less than a month's time, on April 17. Houghton Mifflin will publish the book in the United States.

What's it all about? Well, publisher HarperCollins is closely guarding the details of the story, but it's been billed as "an epic story of adventure, tragedy, fellowship and heroism." And here's how the official website of the J.R.R. Tolkien estate describes it:

The Children of Húrin takes the reader back to a time long before The Lord of the Rings, in an area of Middle-earth that was to be drowned before ever Hobbits appeared, and when the great enemy was still the fallen Vala, Morgoth, and Sauron only his lieutenant. This heroic romance is the tale of the Man, Húrin, who dared to defy Morgoth's force of evil, and his family's tragic destiny, as it follows his son Túrin Turambar's travails through the lost world of Beleriand.

Artist Alan Lee, familiar to Tolkein faithful, has created the cover art as well as 25 pencil sketches and eight paintings for the book.

With The Hobbit adaptation still up in the air (although New Line still claims it will be made in 2009), could it be that The Children of Hurin will make it to the big screen first? Surely the studios are watching this one very closely.

Chris Crawshaw, chairman of the Tolkien Society, stoked the fires when he told The Independent, "It would probably make a very good movie, if anyone can secure the film rights."

[The Duke]

I've heard of this, and plan to pre-order it soon. Should be a classic read.

[The Duke]

In reference to the above Tolkien book, it was decent, a 6 on a 10 scale. Glad I read it, but overall not worth purchasing.

Anybody gonna read Harry Potter Boook 7?

[Üncle Snake]

That's disappointing to hear about the Tolkein book. I'll still probably check it out, but maybe I'll wait for paperback.