Books Blog

Ancient Gonzo Widsom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

2009-11-20T21:56:00Z

I've been a Hunter S. Thompson fan since I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas back in college in 1973. The completely drug-soaked, high speed narration of a trip to Las Vega in search of "the American Dream," was a breakthrough, a new style of writing that I found entertaining and entralling.

Thompson's fame grew as he began applying his unique style to his correspondant reportage, beoming in the process the "Father of Gonzo Journalism," a style of journalism which is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via a manic first-person narrative. His first book of such reportage was Feath and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 1972, his take on the Nixon/McGovern race for the White House.

He kept at it for years, as political and sports correspondent to Rolling Stone magazine, and published a raft of books compiling these articles periodically, usually to coincide with a particular presidential term in office. He must of sensed at a very early age that his writings would be sought-after, for he kept most of his correspondence, and began, with Pround Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-67, to put most of these early letters between hard covers.

In the same vein Ancient Gozo Wisdom, compiled and edited by his widow, Anita Thompson, is a compilation of interviews, arranged chronologically from 1967 through May of 2005. The interviews range widely from the obscure (a 1972 interview on WBZ 1030 AM Radio in Boston) to the very well-known (an All Things Considered interview on NPR in 1997), and a host of magazine, radio, and television interviews in between. Topics covered include the publication of most of his books, correspondence he had with everyone from presidents to pop stars, his failed bid for sheriff of Woody Creek, Colorado, and his ruthlessly iconoclastic tendancies.

Anyone familiar with Thompson's life and writing will enjoy the reviews compiled here. Onward!

Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow

2009-11-14T19:36:00Z

Homer and Langley Collyer were brothers that were infamous for being reclusive and being hoarders. They lived in New York City in the decades after WWI. E.L. Doctorow’s new novel picks up the story and gives it new life as a sort of memoir written by Homer Collyer. Homer and Langley: A Novel (2009) is well-written and hard to put down, both because of the story and the writing.

In the novel the Collyer brothers were born to privilege and the 'manse' in which they are raised and subsequently live their lives is on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park. Homer is the younger and an accomplished pianist; however as a young man he loses his eyesight and gradually becomes blind. Langley goes to war, WWI, and comes back home shortly after the parents are struck down by the influenza epidemic in 1912. Langley has respiratory damage from being gassed in the trenches, but is also more or less emotionally damaged. The two men resume their lives in society throughout the 1920’s but beginning with the Depression start to become reclusive.

Unlike most stories about the true-life brothers, Doctorow concentrates on the brother’s relationship with each other and their slow withdrawal from the world as opposed to the hoarding. The emotional troubles of Langley are told in the manner that a loving brother would see them; the physical limitations of Homer are minimized until the end but are told more in respect to how Langley cares for Homer and protects him.

Interesting events in history are told from the point of view of the brothers and how the events affect them and make them want to further withdraw from the world. This is a good read because the insight of what the brothers may have really been like, instead of what the media sensationalists portrayed them as, it is fascinating and touching. I wanted to reach out to Homer and just pull him out of that house! But, make no mistake, Homer is no whiner!

Google "Homer and Langley Collyer" and you will find information and great pictures of these brothers that were both reclusive and eccentric.

A Separate Country by Robert Hicks

2009-11-14T19:18:00Z

A Separate Country (2009) by Robert Hicks is another of his Civil War epics. Well written in a narrative form, through three main characters, the novel unfolds a complicated story. The novel revolves around John Bell Hood; it is a fictional account of the Confederate general’s life after the Civil War. Hood was famous to some for his aggressive battle style and infamous to others for his reckless decision in battle that cost thousands of men their lives.

A Separate Country is about his life in New Orleans after the war. On his death bed he asks Eli Griffin, a man who once tried to kill Hood for what he did to Griffin’s family during the war, to publish his secret memoir and to seek out and destroy a war memoir that another Confederate general is holding for publication. Hood wants his true memoir, in which he comes to terms with his life and finds love and God, published instead of what he now considers his false war memoir. Eli also finds Mrs. Hood’s diaries and memoirs in the house.

So begins a saga told in the voices of Eli Griffin, John Hood, and Anna Marie Hood. The stories trace John and Anna Marie’s tumultuous relationship, their family of eleven children, their dwindling fortune, growing love, social consciousness, and deaths. Mixed in are the intricacies of New Orleans mixed Creole and American society, a black marketeer dwarf, a fop’s murder, a giant of a priest, and a man whose only talent is for killing.

Hick’s book is complicated but very good and the style of writing, using the voice of three different protagonists, makes the plot easier to follow and more interesting.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

2009-11-01T01:59:00Z

I have been trying to go back and read a literature classic once a month, for October I chose to read The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton. I have watched the Scorcese film with Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder several times, but I have never read the book. I also did not know that it won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. Wharton’s writing is of the time and so is a little old fashioned but it is a well-written novel and entertaining.

The story is set in upper class New York City in the 1870’s where all the actions of the characters are bound by the rules of society. The main character, Newland Archer, is newly engaged to the beautiful and young May Welland, when her cousin the Countess Ellen Olenska arrives. The Countess is estranged from her dastardly husband and has come home to start her life anew; her family wants her to return to her husband for appearance sake. Archer falls in love with Ellen, but both are restricted by society norms and their desire not to hurt anyone.

Wharton was a feminist and critical of rigid society norms so I am sure at the time it was written as a critique of the rigid society of the time, but for me it was refreshing to read about characters that resisted the temptation of their desires in order to do the right thing. I think I may read Ethan Frome (1911) by Wharton next.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy

2009-11-01T01:24:00Z

Recently while I was on a vacation trip I started reading Pat Conroy’s latest novel, South of Broad (2009). I was staying with friends and they had both just finished reading it. They were both disappointed because it was “just so unbelievable.” I love Conroy’s writing; I think that he could write the text on the back of a cereal box and it would be homage to the grains and sugars inside the box.

I had high hopes because the opening lines are so reminiscent of Prince of Tides (1986). However, my friends are right. South of Broad is just too unbelievable. Its characters are over the top, the story is too complicated with too many storylines and characters, and it is simply not believable at all. There are 18 year olds that talk with the wit and maturity of 30 year olds.

But…his writing is so poetic I still read the entire book and had a hard time putting it down.

The setting is Charleston in the 1960’s and the late 1980’s. The main character is mature beyond his years after living through hell. His brother has killed himself and he was arrested for having a huge amount of cocaine in his possession at age 15 or 16. He befriends a group of other teenagers – all high school seniors and all new to the high school where his ex-nun mother is the principal. There are the three orphans, one black and two are “mountain trash” from North Carolina. There is the son of the new black coach that none of the white students will play for. There is the rich, Charleston elite kid, his sister, and his girlfriend all of whom transfer to the public school after being booted from private school for possession of drugs. Lastly there are the twins – both beautiful – one a talented effeminate gay man and the other a Hollywood starlet in the making. The twins’ mother is a drunk running from their father – who happens to be a homicidal maniac. There is a ton of angst in this book!

The novel gently goes between the fabled senior year of legendary football games, infamous racial tension, and interaction with the high society of Charleston – south of Broad Street; and, the friends as adults searching for their missing gay friend in AIDS ravaged San Francisco in the late 1980’s so they can bring him home to care for him. Some of the best writing is about this search, it is heartbreaking. Oh, and then there is Hurricane Hugo as well.

If you are not a Pat Conroy fan, don’t read this book. Go back and read Prince of Tides or Beach Music or Lords of Discipline or The Water is Wide…any Conroy but this Conroy. Well I would skip My Losing Season as well, but that’s me.

It's time for a ghost story...

2009-10-26T22:18:00Z

Do you remember reading ghost stories as a kid? That shivery feeling you got up and down your spine, the hair standing up on the back of your next and the feeling of being watched? Douglas Clegg brings back the traditional ghost story in a small volume entitled Isis.

Iris and her brother Henry are as close as two siblings can be. They entertain and protect each other, and call each other Isis and Osiris while their Father is off fighting a foreign war and their Mother deals, rather unsuccessfully, with his absence. There is also a twin to Henry named Spencer, who is as cruel as Henry is kind. While living in their Grandfather's bleak house Iris discovers a secret hidden among her Grandfather's books. This secret leads Iris and Henry down the path of the Occult with some unexpected and terrifying results.

You'll read it in one sitting and probably want to leave the lights on.

Great Scot! (aka, Grateful American)

2009-10-23T17:11:00Z

Many celebrity biographies possess certain similarities: ambition, failed relationships, struggle, and frequently, addictions and/or abuse. So much of the success of the book depends not only on how the author has dealt with these situations in real life, but also on how they are able to share the details with their readers.

For me, American on Purpose: the Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson is a success.

Born into a middle-class family in Glasgow, Scotland, Ferguson was pudgy boy who was beaten up pretty frequently. A lifelong passion for the United States was kindled by a letter exchange with NASA and a visit to the U.S. as a teen. Along the way, he discovered music (with a brief career as a punk rock drummer), alcohol and drugs, and eventually stand-up comedy and acting. Following a failed suicide attempt (he was diverted by a friend's offer of a drink) he eventually entered rehabilitation, and has been sober since 1992.

Throughout it all, Ferguson remains refreshingly gracious and unpretentious. He recounts the events and people in his life without malice, but instead with candor, equanimity, and a large dose of humor.

A bit of a warning here: the language may be offensive to some readers. Listening to the audiobook, which Ferguson narrates with that lovely brogue of his, probably made things a bit easier on the ears.

Okay; I'll admit it. I don't think I've ever stayed up to watch The Late Late Show. School nights, household duties--the usual reasons. But after reading American on Purpose, I just might.

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2009-10-16T11:48:00Z

Originally published in Sweden as Män Som Hatar Kvinnor, which means “men who hate women” in Swedish, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) by Stieg Larsson is a very dark mystery. Stieg Larsoon died in 2004 leaving three related novels called the “Millennium Trilogy” unpublished. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first of the three. The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2007) complete the trilogy.

Mikael Blomkvist, the lead character, is a financial journalist and publisher recently found guilty of libel and has a prison sentence looming over him. With his reputation damaged and his financial news magazine Millennium in trouble, Blomkvist decides to take on a yearlong assignment that will remove his from the limelight.

Henrik Vanger is the patriarch of a well known and rich family with internationally known conglomeration of companies. Vanger hires Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of his great niece; she disappeared without a trace forty years ago and is believed to have been murdered by a family member. Lisbeth Salander, a strangely captivating character, is an anti-social punk with a dragon tattoo that has unique talents that she uses to do investigative work. Her separate story line is as interesting and intriguing as the main plot.

Blomkvist and Salander unit to solve this mystery and their relationship grows. I hope the duo continues to develop their relationship in the next two books. Together they solve the decades old mystery in a twist that I did not anticipate, well at least not completely.

I have not read the other two books, and did not find the third one in the EVPL collection, but my understanding is that the books grow increasingly dark and violent. Although the Swedish title and undoubtedly the novel itself contains violence against women, that is not really what the plot is about. It is understandable that the name of the book was changed for publication in the US – the original title is a misnomer, at least in the first book. I enjoyed Dragon and will read the others eventually.

Recent Chick Lit Reads

2009-10-14T21:33:00Z

In the past few weeks since my last blog post, I have been on a chick-lit rampage. I have been speed-reading through recent releases like I don't have a hundred other things to do. Laundry piled up, kitchen didn't get cleaned, and packing for my move didn't happen. These three books are part of the reason that I have been slacking.

Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn takes place in Brooklyn's prosperous Park Slope neighborhood. The lives of four women intersect as they deal with husbands, children, and playground politics. Not earth-shattering reading, but worth a chance if you have the time.

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich has a cover strikingly similar to Prospect Park West. Froelich's novel takes place across the bridge in Manhattan where three women who are down on their luck join forces to get their lives back in order. The ending is pretty predictable, but it is an enjoyable read.

Going across the pond to England, Sophie Kinsella's latest book, Twenties Girl, introduces us to Sadie, a wild flapper from the 1920s and her great-niece, Lara, living in present-day London. Sadie has passed away alone in a retirement home, but her spirit remains on Earth pushing Lara to find who stole Sadie's prized possession. True to Kinsella form, this book is laugh out loud funny and highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

Nancy Drew fans--don't miss this one

2009-10-08T16:51:00Z

After my gory blog about the Trilogy of Terror by Chelsea Cain I began to investigate what other books she had written. Funny I should use the term "investigate".

This title Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: a Parody by Chelsea Cain caught my eye and I couldn't believe it was actually about Nancy Drew. When I was a young I was one of those girls who devoured each new Nancy Drew title as soon as it hit the shelves. I was neither impressed or pleased with the varying modernized incarnations of Nancy and her chums. Chelsea Cain has done an outstanding job portraying Nancy in a lighthearted satirical way with descriptions right out of the mysteries themselves.

"I had just checked my reflection in the mirror -slim and attractive, as always." As Nancy and her secret heartthrob Frank (The Hardy Boys - Hardy) sped along in her blue custom Ford Roadster she heard a piercing scream. She wondered if she'd hit someone ----again. The judge had let her off the first time but if she hit someone again it would certainly be manslaughter.

There are references to her "pals" Bess and George. And Carolyn Keene is the roommate turned traitor who misrepresented her life in those awful mysteries she penned. The book takes Nancy from 1926 to 1992. She has married her "special friend" Ned Nickerson but for some mysterious reason their son, Ned Jr. looks exactly like Frank. Hannah Gruen, the motherly housekeeper for Nancy and her father, world famous lawyer, Carson Drew, insists on being called Mrs. Gruen although to the best of her knowledge Nancy doesn't think she's ever been married. Her mother really didn't die like Carolyn Keene said and best chum Bess really isn't pleasingly plump.

Join Nancy on a joyride that takes her all over the country solving mysteries, and uncovering secrets. I really laughed out loud while reading this one.

The Library: An Illustrated History by Stuart A. P. Murray

2009-10-05T23:01:00Z

This very readable and lavishly illustrated book is a survey of libraries, from the earliest gatherings of clay tablets in the library at Nineveh to the present grandeur of the Library of Congress. It is full of the characters of library history as well: from King Assurbanipal in 700 BCE, Mansa Musa, the sultan of Mali in Timbuktu in the 1300s, and the Mughal emperors Akbar in the late 1500s, to Thomas Bodley, Melvil Dewey, and Andrew Carnegie. All of themhave anecdotes attached to them which help to illustrate and flesh out the development and evolution of those institutions we call libraries today.

The Library: An Illustrated History tends to focus on Europe and the United States, but spends a chapter discussing Asia and Islam and their influence on the history of the book and libraries, and another, called "People of the Book," discussing the interplay between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the history of library development.

One of the themes running through this book is how the libraries of the victors are enlarged and enriched throughout history by the pillaging of the libraries of the vanquished. The Bibliotheque nationale de France, the Vatican Library, and the British Library have all broadened their substantial collections in this fashion. Another theme mentioned frequently was how war influenced which ideas were given currency in a given culture and time: "It was usually the sword that decided whose teachings would be supreme in any given land."

In this regard, this book compliments the message in Matthew Battles's book Library: An Unquiet History, but that book is only marginally illustrated, and does not bring the reader the wonderful survey of world libraries with which Murray's book ends. Anyone wanting a good overview of library history would find their time well spent reading this book.

Halloween Thrillers are treats for your eyes and ears.

2009-10-02T22:54:00Z

Since it's Oct. and Halloween is just around the corner it is only fitting to dip into the library's collection of thrillers. There's a new chapter in the Chelsea Cain trilogy of terror. The newest one is called Evil at Heart. in which Gretchen Lowell, female serial killer is once again on the trail of the long suffering (in more ways than one) detective Archie Sheridan. In the first book, Heartsick , Archie is married with 2 kids when he first crosses paths with Gretchen. He's in charge of The Beauty Killer Task Force and has been unsuccessfully trying to catch the killer for 10 years. Enter Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful seductive blonde who is more than willing to lend a helping hand. But wait---maybe there's a reason she knows so much about the Beauty Killer. Too late Archie discovers Gretchen's true colors and is held captive for 10 days as she tortures him in all manner of horrible ways including removing is spleen. If you love blood, gore, torture, and scattered body parts, and psycho-sexual obsession then this one is for you. Then there's Sweetheart where she's turned herself in to the authorities but has managed to escape. And she's after Archie again. He's trying to kick the vicodin and she's still feeding them to him and has found new ways to tempt and torture him. In fact she's so "over the top" with her ‘bag of tricks" that it's almost comical. Now in Evil at Heart she's at large and on another killing spree with a seeming affinity for eyeballs. Or is she? She's become the object of a cult following and is perhaps tutoring a new, really confused group of young people on the internet in the ways of torture. Gretchen has become super villain and Archie is super victim. How he's managed to stay alive is the biggest mystery of all.

Halloween is Almost Here

2009-10-01T14:16:00Z

Halloween is almost here and new books for Halloween have been arriving at the library over the past month. Here are the two that have me most excited:

Ghoulish Goodies by Sharon Bowers is a whole 150-page cookbook just for Halloween! Extreme Halloween by Tom Nardone covers a broader range of Halloween excitement while doing exactly what the subtitle says: making Halloween scary again!

You might also look at Tom Nardone's older books, Extreme Pumpkins and Extreme Pumkins II, as well as his Extreme Pumpkins website.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

2009-09-30T14:04:00Z

When I went home a little while back, I saw a copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in my little sister's room. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I went home and started reading the battered copy on my bookshelf. I don't know how many times I have read this book (almost as many as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird), but I always come away feeling like I have just read it for the first time.

Betty Smith published A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1943 and it was an immediate success. The story focuses around Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in the early twentieth century with a fun-loving, but alcoholic father, realistic mother, and younger brother. Struggling against poverty and isolation from her peers, Francie finds solace in the library where she plans to read every book in the collection. The story continues over the next five years of Francie's life. Her struggle to gain her mother's love, her desire to better her own life, and finding love are all issues that Francie encounters growing up in Brooklyn.

I don't want to give away too much of the story for those of you that haven't read it because A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a book that I believe everyone should read at least once. Francie and her family have struggles that many people can relate to, and you can't help but wish to be the friend Francie so desperately needed. If you are wandering around the library one day searching for something to read, remember to grab a copy of this book.

Jane Brody - speaking at Central Library - Tuesday, October 6th, 7pm

2009-09-29T22:59:00Z

Most folks recognize Jane Brody as an advocate of healthful living. Her early books were all about good diets, healthy foods, and maintaining a good relationship with your doctor. But even healthy lives come to an end. Brody explains in the preface of her new book, Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond, that when we are fully prepared for the end of life, we are in a much better position to fully enjoy the time we have left.

Brody, the Personal Health columnist for the New York Times, provides clear practical help on recognizing the things we can do NOW to help make things easier when the end comes, whether it is sooner or later. She looks specifically at issues like:

What is a "good death"? Figure out what you want.
Planning ahead for a funeral or memorial service.
Uncertain Future: when you are living with a bad prognosis
Coma
Caregiving: tending someone at the end of life
Hospice and Palliative Care
Spiritual Care
When a Child is Dying - surviving the nightmare
What to Say: conversations at the end of life
Grief: it's not a disease
Organ and Body donations
Lasting Legacies: leaving memories and life lessons

Brody is resprectful of the people she writes about, but she also knows how and when to inject some humor into the discussion. While these issues are not fun to read about and sometimes hard to consider, Brody's book makes it easier. Highly recommended.

Don't miss your chance to hear Jane Brody in person, discussing these issues and her book. She will be this year's Lottes Lecturer at Central Library on Tuesday, October 6^th, at 7pm in the Browning Room. The program is free, and open to the public. More information available here.