Breasts

It was a little frustrating.  Whenever I mentioned to someone that I was reading Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History by Florence Williams, I would get a chuckle and a knowing, “of course you are.”  The web site Better Book Titles accurately sums up the assumptions here.  But NO!  Really, breasts is an amazing book of science reporting that I came by honestly.   I first heard of the book when the author was interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air.   I listened to most of the interview parked in front of my house.  The discussion of environmental contamination and its potential for health effects is quite literally my kind of science.  I bought the book immediately.

The book begins with an overview and a discussion of the evolutionary science theories about the human breasts appearance and location, which is different from all other mammals.   Many physical anthropologists suggest that the obvious answer to these questions is to signal and attract men.  The scientists that promote these male-centered theories are typically men.  Williams then delves into “women-centered” theories that are much more compelling for their consideration of what the breasts actually are and do.  It’s an important distinction:

What’s appealing about these women-centered theories for the breasts is that they make some attempt to understand how the organ actually works.  The boobs-for-men theories do not.

By the time Williams is done, the boobs-for-men theorists have surely packed up their labs and moved on to other subjects of inquiry.

Williams also distinguishes between the “aesthetic breast” and the impossibly complex biological machinery breasts.  She visits “boob job ground zero: Houston” to get a first-hand glimpse at the breast augmentation medical/industrial complex.   Williams tells the bizarre story of the first modern medical implant patient (she only wanted an ear tuck) and the evolution of the implant industry.  In the early days of breast augmentation surgery there were only three sizes of implants: small, medium, and burlesque.  Williams notes that the “burlesque” is merely average by today’s Houston standards.

Williams then connects the world of implants to the larger world of chemicals:

The same year that Timmie Jean was exchanging an ear tuck for a boob job, Rachel Carson published a book about the destructive power of pesticides.  These two events had more in common that it might appear, for both heralded a new era of synthetic compounds that would forever alter breasts.

The discussion of the chemical assault on breasts and its health implication is where I think that Williams writing really shines.  The problem, in a nutshell, is that many man-made chemicals that are long-lived and persistent in the environment are structurally very similar to estrogen.  These compounds are then able to activate estrogen receptor sites, which may in turn wreak all kinds of havoc.  Because of their chemical properties, these chemicals are preferentially stored in breasts (and other fatty tissues) and can be passed to infants through breasts milk.  The health implications, ranging from early puberty (which has its own consequences) to breast cancer are staggering.

Breasts is an endlessly fascinating and important book.  I couldn’t stop discussing it with whoever was closest to me at any given time.  According to my Kindle, I underlined 82 passages, which easily destroys my personal record for making notes in an e-book.   Time will tell if Breasts will join landmark environmental books in the pantheon created by Silent Spring, but, to this reader at least, it has that feel.

The Paris Wife

Like fellow BGB Blogger, Shaft, I love Paris. In fact, I am traveling there in a couple of weeks to introduce the City of Lights to my eight year old daughter. I had seen The Paris Wife by Paula McLain in every bookstore window but knew nothing about it until Shaft’s great review (read it here). I knew I had to put it on my list immediately and decided to listen to the audio version. Shaft’s review is dead on, so my commentary is only to confirm “what he said” without repeating too much.

The Paris Wife is indeed the story of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson’s marriage as told from Hadley’s point of view. The story moves easily from their meeting to their marriage and through all of their travels – Paris, Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada. They moved around a lot. In each location they were able to make friends with all the vanguards of the era: Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Scott Fitzgerald, Sherman Anderson. I was amazed at the lifestyles they lead including sexually open marriages and a motherload of cocktails and wine.

The 1920’s was an interesting time in history, for women especially. The 1920′s woman was emerging as a stronger force then she had been, more edgy and more opinionated. She cut her long hair into a bob (VERY edgy) and the corsette accompanying those long Victorian dresses were giving way to a more comfortable style à la Coco Channel. Hadley, eight years older than Ernest, was still a bit old-fashioned. Despite their lack of money and her frequent unhappiness, Hadley was willing to sacrifice her life and her career as a concert pianist, for Ernest’s ambition. She tried her best to keep the relationship going even while Ernest’s eye began to wander and he eventually bedded her best friend. Although when they married, Ernest was still a relatively unknown, during their marriage his popularity gained momentum with the success of The Sun Also Rises based on their travels to Spain. Their childhood experiences make their attraction inevitable. Ernest didn’t want a wife like his mother, and his egocentric personality boded well with the nurturing Hadley.

Although at times Hadley struck me as a woman all too eager to suffer for love, I was thrilled that she ultimately gained the strength to do what was best for her and their son. Even though Hadley had no clue what the future held, we know that Ernest Hemingway was destined for a miserable life, but she wasn’t.  And that made me happy.

I lived in Paris in the 1980’s and although still cool – the famous Parisian eras of impressionist painters and Hemingway’s literary cronies were long over. Heck, even Madonna who began her career in France had already come and gone. Throughout The Paris Wife, Ms. McLain reminds us that the Hemingways and their famous friends hung out at places where even I have memories: the Latin Quarter, Boulevard St. Germain, La Coupole, La Rotunde, Deux Magots, Montparnasse, and Brasserie Lipp. In its splendor, Paris remains a character in this and many other novels and stories, as it should be. You can’t forget Paris!

Prior to reading The Paris Wife, I am ashamed to admit that my knowledge of Hemingway consisted of The Old Man and the Sea from high school and his house in Key West with the seven-toed cats. I can honestly say that A Movable Feast (based on his life with Hadley in Paris) and The Sun Also Rises are now on my list.

Book Time with Meg: 12

This week, Meghan and I talk about Carl Hiaasen’s first book for young readers, Hoot. Judging from Meg’s reaction, it looks like we’re going to be reading more of Hiaasen soon. That’s good news.

Book time with Meg: 12

Hoot

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The Ben Tanzer stops by for a blog tour stop

Long-time friend of the blog Ben Tanzer stops by Baby Got Books today for a blog tour stop. He’s talking about two books, Repetition Patterns and New York Stories, with his son Myles.  Little brother Noah also shows up briefly for some face time and backing vocals.

Friday Links. On Thursday.

We’ve got something else planned for tomorrow.  Accordingly, you get your Friday Links today.  Onward:

Do you like to read?  Then watch this:
 

 
Amazing cartoonist Joe Sacco, famous for his depictions of war zones, tells the story of West Virginia coal miner.  Read it.

If Westeros had Super PAC-style attack ads…

The New York Times faces that problem all parents face sooner or later: how to read a racist story to your kids

Colin Meloy (The Decemberists and author of the Wildwood series) and sister Maile Meloy (author of The Apothecary) tell a road trip story to NPR

The books that make you undateable.

12 of the most surprising sophomore novels ever

The Anna Karenina movie trailer needs a few hip hop songs

Sci-Fi movies get pulp fiction-style covers 

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, the debut novel by Ben Fountain, came highly recommend from personal sources as well as the press, and with good reason.  For a first-time novelist, Fountain has got the goods.

Our title character is a young infantryman from Stovall, Texas, whose Bravo group recently won a historic battle in Iraq that happened to have been caught on video by a news crew and who are being hailed as conquering heroes on a two-week whirlwind “Victory Tour” in the U.S. before they’ll be redeployed back to Iraq.  The bulk of the book takes place during their stop at Texas Stadium for the annual Thanksgiving Day football game, where they are (mostly) treated like superstars and given access to things that young men normally can only dream of (e.g., sharing the halftime stage with Destiny’s Child/Beyonce).  But Fountain digs much deeper into the events of the day, looking into the minds of our characters and into their regrets, ambitions, and plans, and takes us through subplots that are funny, sad, and just plain thought-provoking.

Upon their return from Iraq, the surviving members of Bravo — guys with names like Dime, Mango, and Crack – partnered with Albert, an old-school Hollywood producer who is pitching a movie deal about the team; at the Cowboys game, Albert presents them with the opportunity to partner with the Cowboys’ brash, obnoxiously wealthy owner.  The proposal made by the owner puts the Bravo squad to the test, testing their loyalty and examining their values and why and how they believe their story deserves to be heard.

Lots of other stuff happens — the soldiers sneaking Jack and Cokes, an amazing encounter with a cheerleader, conflicting reactions from both the best and the worst of the American population — and Fountain manages to tell all of it from the perspective of a man who is so young yet has experienced the most horrible things imaginable.  The blend of innocence and wisdom is profound.

I will confess that for the first third or so of the book I was a bit confused, waiting for the greatness I had expected to manifest itself.  Sure, the writing is well done, and I think I “got” the characters (to the extent possible for a civilian), but I couldn’t really figure out how Fountain was going to make the magic happen during the remainder of the book (and the second half of the Cowboys game).  But he did.  As he moved the needle on the reader’s understanding, sympathy, and support for our characters and weaved the subplots together, a fabulous story unfolded.  I suspect this one will be up for some awards.

Outlander

(This is another guest post by our friend Shannon here in Atlanta.  Thanks, Shannon!)

I picked up Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander based on a recommendation from a friend without really knowing anything about it.  Had I known in advance that this is actually the first book in an eight book series (eighth book to be released early 2013) with a spin-off series, I should have read a few other books in my nightstand stack before jumping in because now I am hooked.

The story starts in 1945 with Claire and her husband, Frank, recently reunited after the war for a second honeymoon in Scotland.  Frank is a history professor who is fascinated with genealogy and is taking advantage of his time in Scotland to research his ancestor who was an officer in the British Army serving in Scotland during the late 1700s. While Frank is meeting with historians in the town, Claire spends her time talking to the locals and collecting flowers and medicinal herbs.  One day while on a hike she discovers a mysterious circle of large standing stones on the top of a hill (I imagine very much like Stonehenge).  One of the stones is split, and a strange buzzing sound is emanating from within.  Claire leans into the rock to investigate and falls through some kind of time portal that takes her to 1743.  This is when the book gets really good.  Claire finds herself face to face with Frank’s British Army officer ancestor who turns out to be a real bad dude, is taken in by a Scottish clan, and falls in love with a Scotsman, Jamie Fraser, who is wanted by the British Army.

I don’t know what you would consider this book (maybe a time travel science fiction historical romance), but I really enjoyed it.  There’s time travel, witchcraft trials, fun Scottish accents, really bad guys, scandal, abuse from a political regime, and a romance that is actually exciting to read as opposed to the to remain unnamed romance novel that everyone is currently obsessed with that really belongs in a “how to know you’re in an abusive relationship” warning pamphlet.  Ladies, Jamie Fraser is kind, smart, strong, protective in non-creepy way, funny (when did we start fantasizing about men that don’t make us laugh?), and could kick Christian Grey’s ass.

According to the author’s website, each book of the series is supposed to be written so that each book can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone book.  However, I love getting wrapped up in a series in a way that makes you miss the characters when you are done, and if the rest of the series is as good as the first book, then I’m in it for the long haul.  Stay tuned for book two.

Book Time with Meg: 11

On this week’s episode, Meg and I discuss Amulet:The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi.  We remembered it finding out about the book from this list on Wired, but apparently we were mistaken.  It was definitely on a list though.  Somewhere.  We have also read Kibuishi’s Copper, which we also really liked.

Book Time with Meg: 11

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Friday Links

This awesome Mr Rodgers auto-tuned tribute is awesome

10 Worst Book Covers in the History of Literature

The Best Book Covers (from upcoming books) at Book Expo America 2012

If Dr Seuss did Star Wars

Frog and Toad coming to the big screen

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown is pretty great. This post shows why.

Thomas Pynchon has finally allowed electronic versions of his novels. Which is great because it resulted in this book trailer.

A new pub in Knoxville, TN is named for the Cormac McCarthy novel Suttree.

Dolly Parton is a model for childhood literacy

Jane Austen is My Home Girl. For reals:

Calico Joe

So, Father’s Day is this weekend.   You may find yourself scrambling to find a book for dad.   If so, you may have wondered if the new John Grisham book Calico Joe would do the job.  I suppose the answer is — it depends.   I read the book over two sittings while watching the Braves with the sound turned down.   I enjoyed it just fine in that context.  Th questions you need to ask yourself are: Does dad like Grisham? and Does dad enjoy sentimental baseball stories steeped in the unwritten rules of the game?   If the answer is yes, then Calico Joe is a good bet.

The titular Calico Joe is a rookie phenom with numbers that would seem impossible were it not for a rookie this season who is putting up similar numbers, Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals.  Joe is from Calico, Arkansas (hence the name) and quickly makes a region of Cardinal fans into Cubs enthusiasts.  Joe puts up ridiculous numbers until a veteran pitcher decides that he has to be taken down a peg (this happened to Harper also).  The pitcher’s actions in this case not only take Joe down a peg but serve to end his young career.   The story is told from the perspective of the young son of an abusive father who happens to also be the veteran pitcher that ends his hero’s career.

Father and son become estranged as a result of this and, really, many other issues.  When his father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, the news sends him not to his father’s bedside but to Calico, Arkansas to find out what ever happened to Joe.  The story unfolds as a tale of the wrongs that father’s can do to sons and the things that sons can do to make things right.  It’s a good story.

I think that there are not a small number of readers that don’t like Grisham.  I’m not sure why that is.  All of the Grisham books that I’ve read, and it’s been a while, have been well written and tightly crafted.  I couldn’t help but feel while reading this one that Grisham just makes it feel too easy.  You get the sense that he could crank out stories like this one all day long.  I’m not going to hold it against him.  This is a good baseball story.  Pick it up for dad if he likes good baseball stories and he doesn’t hold a grudge against Grisham.  If you’re still unsure, let me make a plug for the excellent  The Baseball Codes by Jason Turbow (with Michael Duca).  You can check out my review of that one here.

World War Z

(This is another guest post by our friend Shannon here in Atlanta.  Thanks, Shannon!)

I think it is fair to say that my fiancé is fascinated with zombies, and there’s been a bit of a trickledown effect.  We have had multiple conversations on the topic of how to survive a zombie apocalypse, and it has been determined that we should stock up on guns and cigarettes as part of our survival stash.  The guns for self-defense against zombies and panicked humans and the cigarettes as a valuable trade commodity.  So when I saw World War Z by Max Brooks on the shelf at my local Barnes & Noble, I had to see if our survival plan would hold up through an actual zombie apocalypse.

World War Z is a fictional work (obviously), but it is written as a collection of first person accounts from individuals throughout the world that survived the zombie apocalypse.  The zombie pandemic was widespread and wiped out much of the world’s population.  The stories are collected and assembled by a United Nations agent as a means to document the human feelings and experiences during the initial outbreak and spread of the disease, public panic, initial government response, and eventual organized war against the zombies.  This is actually a pretty fun book.

Even though this is so clearly a work of fiction, it’s not a far stretch to believe that some of the events described in the book could actually happen if there ever was a zombie outbreak.  For example, the first reported case appears in China.  The Chinese government attempts to contain the disease and creates a cover-up story, so that no one will know what they are up to.  Meanwhile, the disease continues to spread.  Another plus is that the zombies in this book aren’t overly scary as far as zombies go.  These zombies are of the slower moving, no advanced thought variety (a la Dawn of the Dead) as opposed to the fast moving, very scary zombies (see 28 Days Later, or don’t, it’s super scary).

My only complaint about the book is that I wish we got to spend just a little more time in each individual’s story.  It’s not meant to be a character study, but after reading a lot of the stories I found myself thinking “and then what did you do?”  I also think the book wrapped up a little too neatly for my tastes, but overall, I found World War Z very entertaining.  I am also happy to report that, based on the knowledge that I obtained from this book, our zombie apocalypse survival plan seems pretty sound.  Although we might want to forego the cigarettes in exchange for a lot more non-perishable food items, and, based on some of the news coming out of Miami, we might want to start gathering our stash sooner rather than later.  You know, just in case.

Book Time with Meg: 10

We took a week off to celebrate the end of the school year, and now we’re back with the biggest episode of Book Time with Meg yet.   This is our 10th episode, which we’re very excited about.  We have brand new intro theme music via Meg and Garage Band.  There is a military jet flyover in the middle of our podcast.  (Listen for it.  It’s not easy to miss.)  And…AND we are proud to announce that we have set up a separate web site  to house all of the podcasts.  It’s called Book Time with Meg and you can find it here.  It’s a work in progress.   We’ll still post here, too, but now Meg’s friends can listen in on her own site without having to read about Fifty Shades of Grey, etc.

Oh, and the book…this week it’s Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling

Book Time with Meg: 10

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Friday Links

10 Reasons Why Cormac McCarthy is a Badass

Using Undictionaried Words – with a bonus Princess Bride quote

I was talking about Amazon Crossing, Amazon’s imprint for translated novels, in a  review a few days ago.  Coincidentally, MobyLives posted on the promise and the reality of Amazon Crossing.

Xeni at BoingBoing says, “One of the funnier and more beautifully produced book trailers I’ve seen in a while!”

It’s come to this: Dr Ruth endorses 50 Shades of Grey

Carl Hiaasen gets the NYT By the Book treatment

Study: Enhanced e-books bad for kids

Book face-off: The Illuminatus vs Atlas Shrugged in one easy chart.  Find out which novel “Has been known to turn previously sane readers into sociopaths.”

Related: Get personal advice from “Ayn Randers”:

Dear Ayn,

I don’t mean to be offensive, but your writing is overwhelmingly juvenile and one-note. How did you become such an influential figure, a cornerstone of the landscape of American conservative politics? You write like a petulant child.

—Hollis Hurlbut, Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University

Dear Hollis,

Your mom’s juvenile.

Hope this helps,
Ayn

Local Laureate

This is very cool.  The Library of Congress has announced that Decatur, GA resident and Emory University professor Natasha Trethewey has been named the Poet Laureate of the United States.  Wowza!  There is a celebration this evening at the gazebo in Decatur Square to toast the new Laureate and celebrate her accomplishments.  5:00-6:30 PM.

The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning

I have a huge  stack of books waiting to be read.   Typically, a comedic tale of a fish-out-of-water hitman is not likely to jump up to the top of my list.  This begs the question, how did the The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrimur Helgason vault its way to the top.  It had a couple of things going for it.  First, the author is Icelandic.  I haven’t read any books from Iceland.  Have you?  Second, the book is the first to come my way from Amazon Crossing, Amazon’s newish imprint of works in translation.  I’ve been meaning to read more works in translation, and this would be a good opportunity to see what the bookselling behemoth is bringing to the table.  Two checks in the plus column and I was on my way.

The story is about a Croatian hitman, Tomislav Bokšic or “Toxic”, who has been working in New York City for some years.  Things go afoul and he must go on the run.   His plans quickly unravel and he finds himself on a plane bound for Reykjavik under the guise of an American televangelist.  Toxic is our narrator.  Neither Toxic nor the author (who translated the book into English himself) are native English speakers, so occasionally the reader is left to decode sentences like this one:

Her mother was from Bombay, and she’s got that Indian olive skin, a softwear that can keep you going all the way to the North Pole in a golf cart with President Bush at the steering wheel.

Come again?  Oddly, such strange phrases somehow work by adding to Toxic’s unique voice.

The set up allows for plenty of comedic pokes at Iceland and its people.  Toxic is amazed to find that there are no handguns in Iceland, but one can buy plenty of magazines geared towards handgun enthusiasts.  While talking to a group of men in a bar, Toxic broaches the subject of crime to see what he may be up against.  It turns out that homicide in Iceland is exceptionally rare.  However, homicide is not completely unknown in Iceland:

“We also have a lot of murders in books.  In the last years we have many good crime novel writers here in Iceland, like Arnaldur Indridason for example.  Also, Ævar Orn Josephsson, Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and Arni Thoraarinsson.”
Icelandic names are like Scud missiles.  Their trails linger in the air long after they’ve reached their target. Still, these guys have my respect.  Being a crime writer in the land of no murders can’t be easy. It seems you need the creative powers of  a genius just to be able to provide your murderer with a gun.

Our gunman eventually begins to settle in as an Icelander.  The strange country where everyone has a brand new car and no one walks begins to grow on him.  In a fit of domesticity,  Toxic begins cleaning up disheveled apartment (not his) and imagines himself on the cover of a new magazine called The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning.   He does manage to locate a handgun on the island of no violence.  Naturally the violence of his old life follows shortly thereafter.

The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning is a fun, breezy read.  It would make an excellent summer beach read.  Hitman’s Guide did not dissappoint on the Iceland front; I know much more about Iceland than I did before picking up this fun novel.  I’m not sure how far to generalize what the book says about Amazon Crossing, but it suggests that the imprint is not interested in translating only the most Serious and Literary novels from foreign languages.  I imagine that to be a good thing.  I’d also check out other books by Hallgrimur Helgason and possibly some of the other Icelandic crime writers that he name checks above.

HHhH

I read quite a bit of early buzz about Laurent Binet’s HHhH but was initially reluctant to pick it up.  For one thing, it’s a WWII novel, and I’m not generally crazy about those.  Nazis?  I hate Nazis.   However, the more I read about the book (post-modern hi-jinks, experimental story-telling), the more it seemed to be exactly my kind of thing after all.  Bonus points: The novel won the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, France’s top prize for a first novel.

All those h’s stand for Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich — Himmler’s Brain is called Heydrich.  The story is ostensibly about the life and assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the man behind Heinrich Himmler, the so-called butcher of Prague, and a primary architect of the Holocaust.  The guy certainly had it coming.  The two assassins (one Czeck and one Slovak) are paratroopers who escaped to England when the Nazis invaded their country only to return by parachute to tackle a heroic suicide mission to strike a blow for the resistance.

The amazing story is true, so Binet takes great pains to honor the paratroopers accomplishments without embellishing too much in his historical novel.  The pulls of fiction and history on his story are not lost on the author.  For example, after quoted dialogue between young Heydrich and his father about Germany’s entry into WWI, Binet stops to inform the reader:

There is nothing more artificial in a historical narrative than this kind of dialogue–reconstructed from more or less firsthand accounts with the idea of breathing life into the dead pages of history.  In stylistic terms, this process has certain similarities with hypotyposis, which means making a scene so lifelike that it gives the reader the impression he can see it with his own eyes.  When a writer tries to bring a conversation back to life in this way, the result is often contrived and the effect is the opposite of that desired: you see too clearly the strings controlling the puppets, you hear too distinctly the author’s voice in the mouths of these historical figures.

I said that the novel is ostensibly about the assassination, but it’s Binet’s examination of history versus fiction that set this novel apart.  Despite his frequent assurances that he is hewing to the material and removing those elements that draw attention to the author, Binet inserts himself into the story constantly.  Whether it is to discuss his feelings on the appropriateness of adding period details or trying not to showcase all of his research for its own sake, the author makes frequent appearances in the narrative.   He also inserts his impressions of modern-day Prague based on a recent visit with a girlfriend – and then discusses how his relationship with that girlfriend turned out.  He is everywhere.

Amazingly, all of the digressions from the main story actually work.  Binet’s prose is tightly focused.  Even his many asides are strictly to the point.  The book is written in hundreds of small chapters, each of which presents a main idea or small piece of the overall story and then gives way to the next chapter.  The effect is to keep the story moving forward.  Despite knowing from the very beginning that Heydrich will be killed and the outcome of the assassins, Binet somehow manages to turn the assassination and its aftermath into a suspenseful thriller.

HHhH is a historical novel that very deftly explores all that is wrong with historical novels (and with historical narratives generally).  It’s a novel that should not work – too self-aware, too gimicky, etc.   Yet, HHhH not only works, it is one of the best books that I’ve read this year.  It’s a fantastic novel of ideas and an incredible story.   I highly recommend it.

Friday Links

Summer Reading:

• NPR’s Summer Books Guide
• NYT’s books for the beach
• WSJ’s Summer Reading List
• Manliest Must-Reads of Summer
• Summer reading guide for books about to be made into films
• USA Today Summer Books Preview

Don’t hurt yourself clicking on the links to check out the Huffington Post report on the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society and the Society’s Blog.

How Texas inflicts bad textbooks on all of us

The New Yorker and Jennifer Egan team up for Twitter fiction

A new trailer is out for the latest big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables

Guys burn books.  High jinks ensue.