Friday Links

Very cool:  Super Precious Art Gallery’ s latest show, 20th Century American Authors, features 13 works by 10 artists that are inspired by American authors of the 20th century.

Michael Chabon talks Telegraph Avenue with KCRW’s Bookworm. I haven’t listened to it yet, because I’m in the middle of the book. It’s bookmarked and ready for action though.

Morrissey – Strand shopper.  Life saver.

Lev Grossman, for one, is a big fan of the new JK Rowling novel for grown-ups

Study: e-reader-owning parents prefer to read paper books to kids.

Wal-Mart will no longer sell Kindles.  It’s tough to cheer on a winner in this battle of the titans.

Eugenides’s The Marriage Plot now has a playlist of songs that the protagonists might have been listening to in the 80′s.  They’re the same songs that you might have been listening to, too.

Weak argument: criticizing Barnes and Noble for going paperless by paying their employees by direct deposit.  But they’re a bookstore!

New trailer for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi adapation – with Thai(?) subtitles for some reason

Hobbit Trailer

I’m excited about this new trailer for the upcoming Hobbit movie.  I may need to go back and re-read the novel.  I read it when I was eleven.  It’s possible I’ve forgotten some of the finer plot points.

Gone Girl

We’re back!  Things have been a little crazy around here lately, but we may be ready to sit back down and get the bookish posts flowing again.  Speaking of crazy…  Let’s talk about Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.    The book was recommended to me by several friends, but their recommendations were very cryptic.  ”I can’t tell you anything about the story, but you should read it.”  So I started reading without having a clear idea at all of what kind of book I was actually going to be reading.  My wife saw me reading the book early on and asked, “Gone Girl?  Is that chick-lit or does she have a dragon tattoo?”  As it turns out – neither.

This is a tough book to review,  because it’s imperative that spoilers should be kept to a minimum.  I’ll try to keep it brief and oblique.  The story is told in alternating chapters by a man, Nick, and his wife, Amy.  We learn very early on that Amy has disappeared and foul play appears to be involved.   Nick’s narrative begins with the discovery that his wife is missing.  Amy’s narrative begins in the couple’s past and describes how they met:

He makes a series of awful puns. I catch three-fourths of his movie references. Two-thirds, maybe. (Note to self: Rent The Sure Thing.) He refills my drink without me having to ask, somehow ferreting out one last cup of the good stuff. He has claimed me, placed a flag in me: I was here first, she’s mine, mine. It feels nice, after my recent series of nervous, respectful post-feminist men, to be a territory. He has a great smile, a cat’s smile. He should cough out yellow Tweety Bird feathers, the way he smiles at me. He doesn’t ask what I do for a living, which is fine, which is a change. (I’m a writer, did I mention?) He talks to me in his river-wavy Missouri accent; he was born and raised outside of Hannibal, the boyhood home of Mark Twain, the inspiration for Tom Sawyer.

As the story progresses, revelations are tossed out like Molotov cocktails upsetting almost all that we think that we know about what is going on in the story.  It’s unsettling and deeply gripping.  At one point one of the characters acknowledges the shifting landscape:

Don’t fret, we’ll sort this out: the true and the not true and the might as well be true.

Gone Girl is a “holy crap” book.   Several times in the story you will say “holy crap”, out loud, when Flynn throws yet another unexpected bomb at the reader.   I read this book in a day and a half.  It only took that long because I had to sleep (at some point) and go to work.   The ending, maybe the most unexpected outcome of all, has left some readers shaking their heads.  I think it’s entirely in keeping with Nick and Amy, but maybe I’ve said too much.  Check it out if you like a solid mystery that keeps you on your toes.  And don’t tell anyone else what’s going on!

Moby-Dick Big Read

This is very cool – “The Moby-Dick Big Read: an online version of Melville’s magisterial tome: each of its 135 chapters read out aloud, by a mixture of the celebrated and the unknown, to be broadcast online in a sequence of 135 downloads, publicly and freely accessible.”

How to Archer

In honor of our friend Adam Reed’s recent appearance at the Decatur Book Festival, lets give him some love with a review of his book How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written, which Adam penned under the name of our hero, Sterling Archer.  For those of you who have been in a cave or exploring Mars for the last couple of years, Archer is Adam’s award-winning animated comedy series on FX and is hilarious — I repeat — hilarious.  Not hilarious like, say, maybe Dora the Explorer, but adult and inappropriately hilarious.

Sterling Archer works for ISIS, a  private espionage firm run by his mother Mallory and populated with a cast of loveable characters burdened with a variety of issues.  Archer himself is about the most arrogant character you will ever love.  And despite his arrogance and self-centered nature, and the way both constantly cloud his judgment, he somehow always manages to save the day, even if by accident.  Which further feeds his vanity.

If you like Archer, you will like this book.  If you don’t like Archer, stop reading because we can’t be friends anymore.  Everything in this book ties back perfectly to Archer’s character and his methodologies and his way of thinking, and even his trouble with proper grammar at times.  The book is broken up into sevel sections – ”How to Spy”, “How to Drink”, “How to Style”, ”How to Dine”, “How to Women”, and “How to Pay for It”, and each one is stereotypical Sterling Archer.  Not to say that it’s not an original and entertaining spin on him; rather, it’s pretty amazing how Adam managed to stay on topic but not get redundant.  Very few things that are covered by Archer in the book are surprising (if you know him), but none of them are simply re-hashing of what you think you know.  Example, from the “How to Spy” section’s chapter entitled “Weaponry”:

OTHER WEAPONS

I could basically just start typing a list of nouns.  Because if you have been trained properly, anything can be used as a weapon.  Take my finely crafted Walther PPK, for example:  at some point it will run out of bullets.  But when it does, guess what:  it weighs twenty-three ounces.  Now guess what else weighs about twenty-three ounces.  I’ll tell you:  a framing hammer.  Now guess what you wouldn’t want to get smashed in the teeth with.  I’ll tell you:  either of those.

That’s just a random example, but is absolutely representative of what you’ll find in this book. Go get yourself five copies — one for the nightstand, one for the upstairs bathroom, one for the downstairs bathroom, one for the coffee table, and one for the briefcase.  Oh, and buy another three copies to give as gifts.  Your friends will love you for it.  And if they don’t, then you shouldn’t be friends with them.

Book Time with Meg: 21

On this episode, my daughter Meg (8) and I discuss the graphic novel Giants Beware! by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre.

Book Time with Meg
Episode 21
Giants Beware!

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Friday Links

The book trailer for Penny Marshall’s new book features Fred Armisen as Penny Marshall:

Awesome: Wikipedia Brown

The Booker Prize shortlist has been announced.

There’s a trailer floating around for the upcoming Wuthering Heights movie featuring a black Heathcliff.

50 Shades of infographic

(not) Morgan Freeman narrates the 50 Shades of Gray audiobook

Great idea: literary cover bands

Philip Roth vs Wikipedia

Brad Pitt: Born again book nerd

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I haven’t read a Stephen King book since I started getting older and became a giant scary story pansy. Stephen King is responsible for my fear of clowns and creepy old houses and why I still often look under the bed in case a recently raised from the dead little kid with a scalpel might be lying in wait to slice my ankle. Stephen King does occasionally step out of the thriller genre to write other fantastic, non-scary books, and 11/22/63 is one of those books. Stephen King is such an amazing writer. He keeps the story interesting from beginning to end, which is no small feat because this book is a big mamma jamma. His storytelling is so good in this book that I predicted the ending about three quarters of the way through but was so wrapped up in the story that I didn’t realize I had already guessed the ending until I was thinking back through the story the next day.

In 11/22/63 (the book, not the date), Jake is summoned by his dying friend, Al, to Al’s diner where he then tells Jake of a time portal that he has found in the pantry. Al explains that every time he steps through the portal, he arrives at the exact same place at the exact same time in 1958, and, regardless of how much time Al spends in the past, when he returns to 2011, exactly two minutes have passed since he first stepped through the portal. Al then convinces Jake to step through the portal and complete the mission that Al started but never got to finish – stopping the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The problem is that the past doesn’t like to be changed, which Jake has to learn the hard way. There’s also a weird little drunk guy that hangs out by the 1958 portal whom Al has dubbed “the yellow card man” that seems to know that Jake isn’t supposed to be in this time period and whose change in character indicates that this mission might not be such a great idea.

This book is eerie but not scary, and, even though the plot is based on the science fiction element of time travel, it never gets hokey. You kind of have an idea where the story is going, but Stephen King maintains the suspense and keeps you flipping the pages. Another fun element of the book is that the reader gets to step back into a time gone by. I didn’t live in the 50s and I don’t read many 50s era books, so it was fun to be transported back into this “simpler” time period where Jake lives for five years waiting for November 1963.

Now for the cons. At one point, I got a little nervous that Stephen King was going to introduce an actual monster into the story, but, luckily, we veered away from that path. Also, occasionally I did find myself questioning the overall mission. Don’t get me wrong, the assassination of JFK was a very tragic event, but how much difference could preventing the event really make? I think the book does contain an underlying theme that everything, including horrible tragedy, has to happen to keep the world in balance, which would maybe be an interesting book club discussion but isn’t essential to grapple with in order to enjoy the book. Speaking of book clubs, the back of my paperback copy of the book included the usual book club discussion questions but also included music and 50s diner recipes to play and make for your book club meeting, which I think is super fun and made me wish I was in a book club.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I’ve heard rumors they might be making it into a movie, and that would be awesome as long as they don’t cast actors that veer dramatically away from how I pictured the characters in my head.

One Last Thing Before I Go

I’m always drawn to novels that have some sort of musical angle to them, which I suspect is why I was drawn to Jonathan Tropper’s One Last Thing Before I Go.  I had not read any of his prior work and didn’t know much about him, but when I learned that this book centers on Drew Silver, a forty-something drummer long past the pinnacle of his career, I said sign me up.

First things first:  this is NOT a book about partying like a rock star.  Far from it.  Silver (as he is known) is an unfocused, lazy fellow who has been divorced from his wife Denise for seven years, lives in an apartment building called Versailles where he and his similarly-situated divorced friends Jack and Oliver spend time at the pool ogling the coeds who come there from the nearby college to sunbathe, and scratches out a living playing in wedding bands.  He doesn’t seem to have any direction or objectives, and while he’s kind of funny, he’s not someone you would immediately place into the “hero” bucket.

Well, things take a drastic turn when his eighteen year-old daughter Casey — from whom he is somewhat estranged — shows up to inform him that she’s pregnant.  She doesn’t want to tell Denise and figures Silver is the best option for advice, given his history of screw-ups.  As Silver is trying to help her through this situation, things go from bad to worse when Silver blacks out and wakes up in a hospital to learn that he’s got a problem with his heart/aorta and is going to die soon unless he has surgery.  Surgery that would be performed by Denise’s fiance, Rich, whom Silver wants to hate but can’t because Rick is just a good guy.

Silver takes a look at things and makes the decision that he’s not going to have the surgery.  It’s not perfectly clear why he makes that decision, but there are clear indications that he’s just so disappointed in himself and what he’s done to his life that continuing on wouldn’t be good for anyone.  The majority of the book takes place after he makes this decision, and we watch as Silver basically takes on every situation with a “this might be my last day on earth” mentality; he doesn’t really do this consciously — it’s sort of an unintended consequence of his situation which is magnified by the inconsistent blood flow to his brain that causes him to think out loud (literally), saying whatever’s on his mind without realizing those around him can hear.

And as Silver’s uncertain life plunges forward, the reader cannot help but be drawn in by him.  Is it because you feel sorry for him because he’s dying?  I don’t think so.  I think it’s because he unintentionally begins to show wisdom, compassion, and humanity that you wouldn’t expect from him.  Silver is a very memorable character, and this book is funny and endearing and tackles a number of delicate situations with style an unexpected grace.

Friday Links

Jay-Z decides that Zadie Smith is the fish sandwich type.

Junot Diaz gets the NYT’s By The Book treatment

On the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring I learn that Michael Crichton is a (bigger) idiot.

List: 10 books that taught me that reading is bullshit

Colbert mocks a certain VP candidates love affair with Ayn Rand

JR Moehringer writes about the enduring appeal of football at ESPN

Hilarity:  Bad lip-reading the Twilight movie

The new Kindles announced yesterday have a new ”Time to Read” feature that uses your reading speed to let you know when you’ll finish your chapter.  Where has this feature been all my life?

A “disorientation” reading list

Dragonfly in Amber

SPOILER ALERT: This is a review of the second book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. If you intend to read the first book, you probably should not read this review.

This book made me sad. Sad with disappointment. I had such high expectations for this series after reading and loving Outlander, but, if this second installment had not included an ending that left me slightly curious about what happens next, I would probably quit reading the series altogether.

Dragonfly in Amber starts in Scotland in the 1960s. Claire Randall-Fraser has returned to Scotland with two missions: 1) to tell her adult daughter that her father is really an eighteenth century Scotsman as opposed to the twentieth century history professor with whom her daughter grew up with; and 2) to discover the fate of her eighteenth century husband, Jamie Fraser, and his men in the historic Battle of Culloden, which ended the Scottish uprising in the mass slaughter of Highland warriors. The majority of the book takes places in the 1700s as Claire recounts the events leading up to the battle. It spends a significant amount of time detailing the boring exploits of Claire and Jamie in Paris as they try to thwart the heir to the Scottish throne’s plans to lead an uprising. They then go back to Scotland for a few more boring adventures. The book drags from one mildly interesting event to the next mildly interesting event with no real action. The end of the book does pick up a bit, but it still never hits the excitement and level of story-telling as the first book.

Despite my disappointment with Dragonfly in Amber, I think I will go ahead and read the third book of the series. Dragonfly in Amber left enough of a cliff hanger to pique my curiosity for what happens next. There is also a significant foreshadowing event from the beginning of the first book that still has not been explained and is driving me crazy. In the beginning of Outlander, Claire’s twentieth century husband, Frank, sees a Scotsman in traditional highland attire standing on the street in the rain and staring up at Claire through her open window. This is a very cool, eerie event in the first book, but it has never been mentioned again. It’s actually a little frustrating that Claire can remember details about battles she read in a history book years ago, but she doesn’t seem to remember this very odd event. It doesn’t even come up when, while in the 1700s, Jamie shows Claire a pin that is identical to Frank’s description of a pin that the eerie 1900 Scotsman was wearing. So clearly Jamie has been in the 1900s, and I’m going to need that event cleared up stat.

Year Zero

Since I’m an attorney who is not only a huge music freak but also does some music law in my job, Rob Reid’s Year Zero pretty much sounded like it would hit the bullseye of the bullseye for me.  By the way, I don’t think I need to give you a spoiler alert because you learn all of what I’m about to tell you in the first few pages of this book.

Reid’s story focuses on our protagonist Nick Carter, an associate who practices music law at a New York City law firm.  As it turns out, there are countless alien societies throughout the universe, many of which have banded together as a collection of Refined Societies who all practice certain “Refined Arts”, of which music is the most valuable.  But apparently all of these alien societies absolutely suck at music, and through an accident of sorts they happened to listen to Earth one day in 1977 and heard the theme from “Welcome Back, Kotter” and they lost their collective sh*t.  This moment is referred to as the Kotter Moment, and it basically re-set the course of history for the rest of the universe, as every Refined Society began listening to and downloading music from Earth and 1977 became known as “Year Zero”.

Well, because of a rule that requires all Refined Societies to observe the laws of a home territory, the aliens have realized that they are in debt for pirating Earth’s music, and a few groups of aliens with differing agendas visit Nick through wrinkles in the space/time continuum to get him to figure out how to rectify the situation.  The kicker is that the reasons HE was singled out by these different factions were that (a) everyone thinks he’s the “Carter” in the name of his firm, an accomplished music lawyer who has played a huge role in the development of music-related legislation (he’s not), and (b) they also think he’s the Nick Carter that was in the Backstreet Boys, which makes him an icon.

Pretty funny set up, and Reid does a pretty good job with setting the stage here.  He was the founder of Listen.com, which spawned Rhapsody, and so he knows the music world.  But I have to admit that while the book was an enjoyable read, the science fiction angle on it was a little too goofy for me.  There’s a lot of funny stuff that happens, and as you learn more about the various alien characters you’ll have yourself a good chuckle.  And the way Reid wraps things up is pretty good.  But between the names of the planets and some of the science fiction filler material, I think he could have done a better job of keeping the flow going through the book without having to get too silly.  He’s got a great idea, some good characters, and knows how to write.

That’s not meant to be a bash on the book; in fact, to the extent what I just wrote is negative, it’s probably the only negative press you’ll find on this book, and it probably stems solely from the fact that I’m not easy to please when it comes to sci-fi.  Not because I’m a sci-fi snob, but rather because I just don’t really “get” science fiction, and so it’s got to be dead-on for me to enjoy that aspect.  If you like music, comedy, and science fiction, chances are you’ll love this book.