Random House -- hc
New York -- © 2007 -- 288pp
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6619-3
A collection of essays by Steve Almond.
"How This Book Became and Official Oprah's Book Club™ Pick (Not That You Asked)"
"Dear Oprah"
"Why I Crush on Vonnegut (Not That You Asked)"
"Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, Part One"
"Part Two"
Part Three"
"Postscript"
"About My Sexual Failure (Not That You Asked)"
"Shame on Me"
"Chestfro Agoniste"
"My First Fake tits"
"How to Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program"
"Why, Upon Publication of This Book, I Will Have to Leave the City of Boston Under Cover of Night (Not That You Asked)"
"Red Sox Anti-Christ"
"Concerning the Laughable Nature of Literary Fame (Not That You Asked)"
"How Reality TV Ate My Life"
"Blog Love"
"Heart Radical"
"Pretty Authors Make Graves"
"A Recipe to Die for, A Band to Worship (Not That You Asked)"
"Death by Lobster Pad Thai"
"Tesla Matters (Dude)"
"In Tribute to My Republican Homeys (Not That You Asked)"
"Cash Cowed"
"Where'd You Hide the Body?"
"Demagogue Days"
"How I Became a Baby Daddy (Not That You Asked)"
"You're What?"
"10 Ways I Killed My Daughter Within Her First 72 Hours of Life"
"Ham for Chanukah"
Acknowledgements
#####
For the record...I'm a fan of Steve Almond's writing, and; I do not like most modern essays. I'm probably one of the few readers who really can't stomach Augusten Burroughs and who finds David Sedaris to be only occasionally amusing, and nearly almost always self-aggrandizing.
Now that this is out of the way, let me address this book in particular.
Almond opens this book with the rather odd, and very immature little spoof/rant. Let's write letters to Oprah, trying to knock her down a peg, and then follow it up with a batch of letters apologizing. Ooh, how clever. How witty!
How terribly freshman!
Sorry, Steve, I wrote crap like this in high school and college. Yeah, you get the bucks to have it published, but it doesn't make it unique, clever, or, well, good.
I was worried, then, if the entire book was going to be this way. If I wanted dreck, I'd read Burroughs. Fortunately, I immediately began reading the "Why I Crush on Vonnegut" which hooked me in to the rest of the book.
THIS is an essay! This is how an essay should be written! A lot of personal reflection about a very personal (to the writer) subject, but not about the writer himself.
I felt every nuance, every pain or anger that Almond expressed. I want to go back and re-read every Vonnegut book, I want to go and knock the heads of the women on the panel with Vonnegut (I'll do something better...I will actively NOT buy their books). This essay alone kept me reading through the entire book.
The rest of the book falls somewhere in between these first two essays.
Anyone familiar with Almond's fiction writing knows that he writes about sex quite well, so his essays of a sexual bent are also strong. "How To Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program" is both, fun and informative.
"Red Sox Anti-Christ" didn't hit me particularly well. I'm not a huge baseball fan, and really, the essay wasn't 'about' anything, was it? It wasn't quite a personal reflection, it was more of an essay trying to be clever. The historical anecdotes, about growing up and being a fan of the A's was interesting, but trying to pin on the label of Red Sox Anti-Christ was just too much a of a stretch.
Enjoyable essays were "How Reality TV Ate My Life," "Death by Lobster Pad Thai," and "Tesla Matters." Here Almond explores a topic, again personal and with personal reflection, as an essay should be, but not really about the essayist (I would argue that "How Reality TV Ate My Life" is more about the phoniness of "reality" TV and selling out to it in general than it is about Steve Almond's absorption in it).
Of lesser interest were "Blog Love" and "Ham for Chanukah" -- two essays that I couldn't relate to and held little interest for me.
The rest were decent.
But I'd much rather read more fiction from this fine author.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND -- Nancy Armstonrg, editor
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS STORIES FROM THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS
Chamberlain Bros. -- tpb
New York -- ©2005 -- 238pp
ISBN: 1-59609-008-1
A collection of non-traditional newspaper stories. Stories collected from 'alternative' newspapers.
Introduction -- Steve Almond
"The Hobohemians" -- Ben Ehrenreich LA Weekly
"Evil Eyes" -- Glenna Whitley Dallas Observer
"Bound By Fear: Polygamy in Arizona" -- John Dougherty Phoenix New Times
"I Was Queen for a Day" -- Chris Wright The Boston Phoenix
"Academia Under Siege" -- Barbara Solow The Independent (Durham, NC)
"Spray It, Don't Say It" -- Andrew Kiraly Las Vegas Mercury
"An Unresolved Death" -- Mike Keefe-Feldman Missoula Independent
"Blue Lines, Steel, and the Hour of Myth" -- Celeste Fraser Delgado Miami New Times
"Dead Wrong" -- Wendy Grossman Houston Press
"Good-bye to All That" -- David Ritchie New York Press
"What About the Kids?" -- Jessica Rae Patton The Fairfield County Weekly
"A Village Transformed" -- Brita Brundage The Fairfield County Weekly
"Soul of the Brute" -- Kevin Hoffman Cleveland Scene
"Quitting the Business" -- Eileen Loh Harrist Gambit Weekly (New Orleans)
"Haidl Your Daughters / Unreasonable Doubts?" -- R. Scott Moxley OC Weekly
"Dope" -- Dan Savage The Stranger (Seattle)
"Out of The World" -- Mara Shalhoup Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
"Stalking the Bogeyman" -- David Holthouse Westword (Denver)
"When Girls Go Wild" -- Geri L. Dreiling Riverfront Times (St. Louis)
"Vanishing Act" -- Carlton Smith Willamette Week
"Hip-Hop Turns 30" -- Greg Tate The Village Voice (New York)
"The Last Executioner" -- Jennifer Gonnerman The Village Voice (New York)
#####
Journalism, the way it was intended.
Today's newspapers are little more than twitteresque reports and media splash -- hook 'em, tell them something dramatic, move on.
This collection of newspaper stories from "alternative" newspaper -- generally those free papers with lots of ads and night-club listings -- break the rules by actually going a little in-depth, reporting, interviewing, AND ... personalizing and offering opinions.
Not all of these stories grabbed me. Some still felt incomplete. Yet overall, these were much more interesting, and in many ways, still relevant, than most daily newspaper stories.
Ben Ehrenreich teaches us that riding the rails as a 'hobo' is still something that happens, though the days of the transient worker is a fading memory. Today's hobos treat it as an extreme sport, or a fun dare.
Glenna Whitley scars us with the in-depth exploration of a serial killer who manages to escape true punishment, and who threatens, again and again, to continue killing.
Although the television media had a field day with the polygamy and compound marriages to teens not too long ago, John Dougherty goes deeper into how a town and a state can keep polygamy on the fast track, and how hard it is for anyone to escape from the beliefs.
Not every story moved. "I Was Queen For A Day" didn't do a thing for me. Perhaps I've just never even considered dressing like a woman and going out on the town. Perhaps the writing just wasn't strong enough. either way, it was my first let-down in the book.
A number of stories seemed interesting, but I'd like a follow-up -- they didn't resolve it. Okay...not all stories get resolved, but newspaper stories, collected and published in a book...could we get just a little more, please? Some of those stories, for me, where..."Academia Under Siege" "What About the Kids?" "Quitting the Business" "Vanishing Act" and "The Last Executioner". All of these were interesting and I just wanted to read more.
Those that really didn't touch me include: "Blue Lines, Steel, and the Hour of Myth" "Good-bye to All That" and "A Village Transformed".
Even so, this is a collection worth reading. No collection will please 100%, but this is a nice way to start.
Chamberlain Bros. -- tpb
New York -- ©2005 -- 238pp
ISBN: 1-59609-008-1
A collection of non-traditional newspaper stories. Stories collected from 'alternative' newspapers.
Introduction -- Steve Almond
"The Hobohemians" -- Ben Ehrenreich LA Weekly
"Evil Eyes" -- Glenna Whitley Dallas Observer
"Bound By Fear: Polygamy in Arizona" -- John Dougherty Phoenix New Times
"I Was Queen for a Day" -- Chris Wright The Boston Phoenix
"Academia Under Siege" -- Barbara Solow The Independent (Durham, NC)
"Spray It, Don't Say It" -- Andrew Kiraly Las Vegas Mercury
"An Unresolved Death" -- Mike Keefe-Feldman Missoula Independent
"Blue Lines, Steel, and the Hour of Myth" -- Celeste Fraser Delgado Miami New Times
"Dead Wrong" -- Wendy Grossman Houston Press
"Good-bye to All That" -- David Ritchie New York Press
"What About the Kids?" -- Jessica Rae Patton The Fairfield County Weekly
"A Village Transformed" -- Brita Brundage The Fairfield County Weekly
"Soul of the Brute" -- Kevin Hoffman Cleveland Scene
"Quitting the Business" -- Eileen Loh Harrist Gambit Weekly (New Orleans)
"Haidl Your Daughters / Unreasonable Doubts?" -- R. Scott Moxley OC Weekly
"Dope" -- Dan Savage The Stranger (Seattle)
"Out of The World" -- Mara Shalhoup Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
"Stalking the Bogeyman" -- David Holthouse Westword (Denver)
"When Girls Go Wild" -- Geri L. Dreiling Riverfront Times (St. Louis)
"Vanishing Act" -- Carlton Smith Willamette Week
"Hip-Hop Turns 30" -- Greg Tate The Village Voice (New York)
"The Last Executioner" -- Jennifer Gonnerman The Village Voice (New York)
#####
Journalism, the way it was intended.
Today's newspapers are little more than twitteresque reports and media splash -- hook 'em, tell them something dramatic, move on.
This collection of newspaper stories from "alternative" newspaper -- generally those free papers with lots of ads and night-club listings -- break the rules by actually going a little in-depth, reporting, interviewing, AND ... personalizing and offering opinions.
Not all of these stories grabbed me. Some still felt incomplete. Yet overall, these were much more interesting, and in many ways, still relevant, than most daily newspaper stories.
Ben Ehrenreich teaches us that riding the rails as a 'hobo' is still something that happens, though the days of the transient worker is a fading memory. Today's hobos treat it as an extreme sport, or a fun dare.
Glenna Whitley scars us with the in-depth exploration of a serial killer who manages to escape true punishment, and who threatens, again and again, to continue killing.
Although the television media had a field day with the polygamy and compound marriages to teens not too long ago, John Dougherty goes deeper into how a town and a state can keep polygamy on the fast track, and how hard it is for anyone to escape from the beliefs.
Not every story moved. "I Was Queen For A Day" didn't do a thing for me. Perhaps I've just never even considered dressing like a woman and going out on the town. Perhaps the writing just wasn't strong enough. either way, it was my first let-down in the book.
A number of stories seemed interesting, but I'd like a follow-up -- they didn't resolve it. Okay...not all stories get resolved, but newspaper stories, collected and published in a book...could we get just a little more, please? Some of those stories, for me, where..."Academia Under Siege" "What About the Kids?" "Quitting the Business" "Vanishing Act" and "The Last Executioner". All of these were interesting and I just wanted to read more.
Those that really didn't touch me include: "Blue Lines, Steel, and the Hour of Myth" "Good-bye to All That" and "A Village Transformed".
Even so, this is a collection worth reading. No collection will please 100%, but this is a nice way to start.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
THE UNICORN CHRONICLES: BOOK TWO - SONG OF THE WANDERER -- Bruce Coville
Scholastic Press -- hc
New York -- ©1999 -- 330pp
ISBN: 0-590-45953-8
Cara attempts to cross Luster in a desperate effort to rescue her grandmother. Each stage of Cara’s journey brings new peril, wondrous new characters, and new clues to the mystery of her grandmother’s past. And through it all threads the haunting melody of the “Song of the Wanderer”.
*****
If you read any of my reviews, you'll know that I'm a fan of Bruce Coville's writing. His Unicorn Chronicles is one of the best series for fantasy readers of any age.
Although I first read this book many years ago, I've begun reading the series to my boys, ages 11 and 12, and they absolutely love it.
They were both hesitant at first, and neither would read the series on their own, thinking that it was a 'girl's' book. But neither wants me to read anything else now until I've started the series.
The first book was fun, but this second book begins to weave an intricate tale. Alliances are defined and the characters take on a depth that helps us identify with them. The adventure isn't so new, but we discover new areas to Luster (the land of the unicorns)and meet new characters.
It's a thrilling adventure and really makes us thirst for the next book.
New York -- ©1999 -- 330pp
ISBN: 0-590-45953-8
Cara attempts to cross Luster in a desperate effort to rescue her grandmother. Each stage of Cara’s journey brings new peril, wondrous new characters, and new clues to the mystery of her grandmother’s past. And through it all threads the haunting melody of the “Song of the Wanderer”.
*****
If you read any of my reviews, you'll know that I'm a fan of Bruce Coville's writing. His Unicorn Chronicles is one of the best series for fantasy readers of any age.
Although I first read this book many years ago, I've begun reading the series to my boys, ages 11 and 12, and they absolutely love it.
They were both hesitant at first, and neither would read the series on their own, thinking that it was a 'girl's' book. But neither wants me to read anything else now until I've started the series.
The first book was fun, but this second book begins to weave an intricate tale. Alliances are defined and the characters take on a depth that helps us identify with them. The adventure isn't so new, but we discover new areas to Luster (the land of the unicorns)and meet new characters.
It's a thrilling adventure and really makes us thirst for the next book.
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