13. Blazing Saddles by Matt Rendell

 

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781934030257

12. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima

11. Point Omega by Don DeLillo

10. War by Sebastian Junger

09. Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell

Everyone has their list of favorite characters in the books they've read. I have a new favorite near the top of my list in Sammy Barlach (not a nickname: "My ma named me Sammy. It's what's on my birth certificate"). As with most of Woodrell's books, this is a story of the other side of the tracks, and Sammy isn't bitter about his station in life, nor does he harbor any false notions of becoming anything better. As he is welcomed in by Jamalee and her brother, Sammy is their partner in petty crime. What I like about his character is that he is always ready to defend these people he hardly knows, even to the death of him or others, because they have accepted him for what he is: a lovable loser. No more, no less.

08. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

07. The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

Link

06. Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone

05. Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy

04. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

I was slow to the punch on this book, missing it's wild popularity when it was popular, but now I can honestly say that I didn't miss much. The correlations the book makes are interesting but they don't really leave you with anything beyond a sense of wanting to say "that's interesting." Most of the information in this book is really only helpful for having something to talk about at parties.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the more I read, the faster I wanted to be done and move on to something else.

03. White Noise by Don DeLillo

02. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

I've read some of Klosterman's essays but never one of his books until now. He is about my age and has some of my same interests, so I guess I'm somewhat predisposed to having a better chance of enjoying his work. His writing is an acquired taste: if you are at all averse to smartassery, I would skip him.

People wreck guitars to illustrate how important guitars are supposed to be, aggressively reminding us that these are the machines that kill fascists. Sadly, this axiom has proven to be mostly inaccurate; according to the most recent edition of the World Book Almanac, the number of fascists killed in guitar-related assassinations continues to hover near zero. (From "Oh, the Guilt")

He often has several points going at once, with seemingly little in common, but most of the time ties them all together in the end. There is a little bit for everyone in this collection: time travel, Ralph Sampson, interviews about interviews, Garth Brooks, football, Kurt Cobain and David Koresh, advertising, ABBA, the Unabomber, laugh tracks, and more. I would recommend this book because he covers several topics that I had (and still have) no interest in, but he kept my attention and made a good case as to why I should be interested in them, and why these topics are important to our culture.

Next book: White Noise by Don DeLillo

01. A Secret Gift by Ted Gup

I heard about this book on a radio show interview with the author. It sounded like an amazing story, and for the most part it is. There were many parallels to today's economic times, ties which I think were stretched somewhat by the author. I'm not even close to an expert on the Depression, but just from the letters within the book from those times, I think he tries to connect the two a little more than is justified.

Gup obviously did an incredible amount of research into the history of Canton Ohio and its people, where the true story is based. But I must admit that I grew tired of being reminded by Gup that he is an "investigative reporter." You could play a drinking game by spotting the times he reminds you.