Books 33-40

Ok, in keeping with the Reduced Shakespeare model, we're filling up the book category in one message. There will be two categories for the book list, one for thumbs up and one for thumbs down.

Thumbs up:

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell. It has been getting some rough reviews but we really like it -- a good beach read, it's tone is a cross between early women's movement info and People magazine.

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picault -- great writer and a great story (but we should also add that the book lacks a great ending)

Heydey by Kurt Anderson -- rolicking good story of gold rush era

Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson -- a wet story of a modern saint set in the pacific northwest.

Little Book of Atheism -- first half offers dull proofs that god doesn't exist but the second half
is filled with interesting material about spirituality without god.

Thumbs Down:

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. Lots of hype and publicity, but no there there.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn -- tries way too hard

The Yiddish Policeman's Ball by Michael Chabon -- the first book of his I haven't liked.

Shout, Sister, Shout - Book 33

This book would be worth the price for the intro alone. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a lesser known gospel singer who crossed over into r&b was one of the first rockers, long before Elvis was ever a gleam in Sam Phillips' eye. She was an amazing guitarist, an incredible singer, and a hell of a woman making her way through segregated and sexist America with gusto. Apart from having three marriages, she also was rumored to have a relationship with sometime singing partner Marie Knight. You can check out some clips of her on YouTube if you want to get a taste of Sr. Rosetta's truly remarkable performance style.

East of the Mountains - Book 32, Fun Fact 37

Guterson is an extraordinary writer and storyteller. I read his first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars while spending one extremely snowy winter in Chicago with my dear Aunt Cassie as she fell ill with cancer and spent her last days in a hospice. The staff was nice enough to let me stay overnight anytime I wanted, so I often stayed up late watching the snow fall reading this book, keeping my Aunt company as she rested.

I'm in Chicago again this year, so I decided to mark the (eighth) anniversary of her death by reading another one of Guterson's books, East of the Mountains. As it happens, the main character in this book is coming to terms with having colon cancer, trying to decide whether to tell his family or to go off on his own and end it all. Ok, it's grim material, but it's also a really well written book with some great insights about aging and death. Fun fact: my Aunt warned me not to visit her grave or else she would haunt me. When we did go to visit her this year, a big white goose confronted us in the middle of the road, looking right at us and blocking the way for the car to move forward for a few minutes. I can't help but think that was my Aunt, urging me to go out and live, rather than wasting time in a cemetery. Now that's a haunting worth experiencing :)

Little Blue Book of Poker - Book 31 Fun Fact 36

I read this book in preparation for possible World Tour of Poker participation this summer in Vegas! I liked Phil Gordon's first book (Little Green Book of Poker) so well that I followed up with this one. This book continued where that one left off and contains lessons about various situations and problems that come up regularly in the course of tournament poker. My poker style is pretty consistent with his, so reading all three of his books has helped my game a lot. Of course, there's no substitute for the real thing -- see you all at the tables soon. Fun fact: Phil Gordon donates a portion of all proceeds from his poker winnings and writing royalties to the charity, Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation (CRPF), and encourages poker players in the World Series to "Put a Bad Beat on Cancer" by donating 1% of their winnings to the CRPF. So far they've raised over one million dollars!

Book 30: George Washington: The Founding Father

This book might seem like an odd choice, but I'm writing a paper on YouTube treatments of masculinity, paternity, and the Founding Fathers, so I had to get a good sense of the original biographical lore being parodied. (And after all it is President's Day tomorrow.) The basic thesis of the paper is that mash-ups and parodic treatments of these topics on the intenet can help us to move beyond stale scholarly debates about the Founding, providing an interesting, populist based take on the relationship between masculinity, violence, and the continuing role of the founders in contemporary politics.
Check out this hilarous short videos, which include a mash-up of The Shining that sends-up the way that paternity and violence are frequently camouflaged, in this case through the familiar mechanisms of the movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA
For another creative video that takes on the founders, masculinity, and violence more directly, check out: http://bobbyroope1.imeem.com/video/QVxeA6vA/washington/To view this one, you have to get past a 15 second ad before the video starts)
Back to the book: This book is a servicable, basic biography of Washington, condensed into 125 pages, written by a pretty famous public historian. It reflects basic lore about Washington, in remarkably exalting fashion, even for this genre. For example, we learn that “Washington had something uncommonly majestic and commanding in his walk, his address, his figure and his countenance," that "Washington impressed men and women almost equally,” and that his famously large hands allowed him to “hurl a stone a prodigious distance.” This material is parodied in the "Washington" video above.

Crossworlds -- Book 29; Fun Fact 35

How much of a nerd am I? Not only do I do the NY Times crossword everyday, now I've also read an entire book about crossword culture. This book provides some interesting details about the emergence of crosswords in the early part of the 20th century, the way that their structure and norms vary nationally, and the style of various editors of the NY Times puzzle over time (including Will Shortz's decisions to make the puzzle steadily more difficult through the week and to include pop culture and sports as legitimate clues). Perhaps most interesting were the sections on the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament held annually in Stamford CT. About 500 people attend, falling into 3 different flights, the C flight being pegged roughly to Monday and Tuesday puzzles, B to Thursdays and A to Saturdays. The best solvers can do an A level difficulty puzzle that is the size of a Sunday puzzle (21x21) in 5-10 minutes! While I enjoyed learning all of this, I have to say that I did not like the author's writing style. He jumped all over the place in terms of topic (perhaps that is how great puzzlers think?), and was too willing to congratulating himself on his own puzzling prowess, while at the same time providing a lot of excuses for his less than top flight performance. Still, I enjoyed the book, especially the second half which focussed on the tournament -- anyone want to go next year?

Fun fact: My friend Helena was a contestant on Will Shortz' Sunday puzzler on NPR a few years back.

The Secret Life of Bees: Book 28

This book is a coming of age story of Lily a young white girl who's been abandoned by her mother and is now living with her hateful father (T.Ray) and a black housekeeper named Rosaleen. It's set in the South in 1964, the year the Civil Rights Act was passed and it is definitely a story of busting out of the old ways and into uncertain new territory. It contains an integrationist-based fantasy which seems highly implausible at best, but realism is not the point of this book. Rather, the voice and spirit of this young girl and her coming to terms with a complicated world are what it's all about. I laughed out loud in certain parts, while other parts made me think hard about my own beliefs. This is a book well worth reading.

Oh Boy! Book 27

This is a book of articles on masculinity and rock written by a wide variety of authors, all of whom are professors of music (except Judith Halberstam who is in English and Feminist Studies). The subject matter ranges from Elvis, to the mosh pit, to emo, to Justin Timberlake, and to Indonesian pop (just to mention a few). My favorites were Freya Jarman-Ivens' "Don't Cry Daddy" on the degeneration of Elvis' virile masculinity in the course of his career and what that might mean for the (in)stability of masculinity more generally, and Judith Halberstam's "Queer Voices and Musical Genders" which uses Big Mama Thorton (the original singer of "Hound Dog")to queer the butch (masculine) personas of the early women blues singers. Neither of these articles is an easy read, mostly due to unnecessary academic jargon, but they are worth the effort, as taken together they offer a different "founding" or beginning for the history of rock and roll, one that features a less stable view of gender and sex identity, which could in turn provide a very different basis upon which the rest of the story of rock might be told. If that doesn't pull you in, how about that book cover? Can't beat it, especially for an academic book :)

Book 26: Rock of Ages

This is a sturdy history of rock and roll focussing on the period of rock's emergence in the 1950's through the beginning of the video era in the mid-1980's. There is quite a bit of detail here, with the book coming in at over 600 pages. It is split into three sections (50s and before, 60's, and 70's and beyond), each written by one of the three authors. I'm not a huge fan of the chronological approach to rock, as such accounts tend toward a "and then this happened, and then this happened" type of narrative. There are many books of this sort on the market and perhaps I've read too many of them. :^) This is surely one of the best of its kind and there is quite a lot of good information in it. While quite servicable in this regard, it is not as good a read as I had hoped.

I'll Take You There: Book 25

This book has a great central theme: the relationship between rock 'n' roll and transcendence. How is it that a secular form such as rock so often winds up expressing a yearning for something bigger? It also has a great title, taken from a great Staples Singers song of the 1970's. I was so ready to love this book. But it didn't come off as well as it might have. The devil, it seems, was in the details, as the author plodded in a rather unispired fashion through various great artists, many of my favs (such as Madonna, PJ Harvey, Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney and Le Tigre). In the end, I had a hard time making my way through the book. Despite that, there is a lot of good information here, so die-hard fans and rock readers may still be interested.

Book 24: Half of a Yellow Sun

This book provides a well-written and fairly compelling fictional account of five characters living in Biafra immediately before and during its brief struggle for independence from Nigeria in the late 1960s. Perhaps it is true that all wars share a good deal in common - innocent people get killed, women are raped, children go hungry, officers become disallusioned and/or corrupt. However, by the end of this book, it felt a little as if each of the required scenes for a war story had been checked off a list. Still, the book kept my interest, I learned a little bit about a part of the world I know nothing about, and found many of the characters to be a satisfying blend of seeming contradictions.

Book 23: Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Fun Fact 30

Lately I have been going back and reading the early work of some of my favorite writers. I had read and loved Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay several years ago. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is his first novel, a great coming of age book about Art Bechstein's adventures in Pittsburgh the summer after his college graduation. At times deadly serious, at times wildly humorous, this book is an interesting meditation on the nature of friendships and sexual relationships (hetero and homo)at that stage of life. For an added twist, Bechstein's father is in the mob. His girlfriend's name is Phlox, his boyfriend's name is also Arthur, and his best friend is named Cleveland. What happens when they all come to know of each other's existence? Chabon's excellent storytelling and compelling writing style make the implausible seem like it could really have happened (perhaps in your own life).

Fun Fact: Amazingly, this book was his master's thesis at the University of California - Irvine! No wonder he went on to win the Pulitzer for Kavalier and Clay!

Holidays on Ice - Book 22; Fun Fact 29

What better way to spend Christmas than to listen to David Sedaris' sardonic take on the whole holiday enterprise? Even though we had heard much of it before, we laughed out loud listening to this book on our drive to Athens last week. Santaland is one of the best send-ups of Christmas ever! Fun fact from Sedaris: did you know that Satan is an anagram of Santa? Merry Christmas :^)

The Night Watch - Book 21

Sarah Waters is a young English writer who skillfully explores sex and gender in historical novels, but the device she uses in this book (beginning the story at the end, after WWII, and moving backward in time to the beginning of the war) came off a bit too gimmicky. Tipping the Velvet is her first and her best, a great book set in Victorian England. I've tried her others and found them to be good but not great. Sort of like Paul McCartney after The Beatles in Wings. Not bad, but no comparison to what came before. Check out Tipping the Velvet if you're interested in Waters at her very best.

Books #19 and #20 - Sacred Games and Shantaram

If you think you might be in the mood for a 900+ page book on the seedy underside of life in Bombay, I've got two for you to consider - Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. If forced to choose between the two (and, really, who needs to read nearly 2,000 pages on this particular topic?), I'd recommend Sacred Games. The shifts in time and perspective can be confusing, especially at first when the reader is also forced to cope with several non-English words in every paragraph (fewer than half of which are defined in the less-than-helpful glossary.) However, as one catches on that most of these terms are variations on "buttfuck" or "(insert relative) fucker", a fascinating story emerges about the professional and spiritual trials of an underworld kingpin and the mid-level policeman tracking him down (sort of). The characters are complex and the plot is compelling enough to maintain interest throughout most of this impressive novel.

Shantaram starts strong, retelling the semi-autobiographical tale of its amazing author which begins with his escape from prison in Australia and flight to India to avoid serving time for a drug-induced murder (this book was actually written while the author was in jail completing this sentence, which may go some way to explaining its extraordinary length.) The main character is refreshingly humble and non-macho and the writing is terrific. Unfortunately, about 2/3 of the way through, he ends up involved in armed conflict in Afghanistan and, I don't know, the book just lost me after that. I finished it, but the emotional richness it began with seemed to generate into a bad Rambo knock-off by the end. Still, the first part is so good that it might still be worth a go.

Book 18: The Essential Triathlete

Of the several triathlon books I have read, this one is probably best suited for the first timer in terms of the perspective it provides. The author tries to persuade beginners of the wisdom of simply finishing the race, rather than setting time goals and so forth. Just breaking the tape takes enough physical and mental preparation in his view. He certainly persuaded me.

The heart of the book consists of several training charts that prepare the reader to reach this goal. The problem is he conflates the sprint and standard triathlon training chart into one chart, undermining the whole idea of keeping training and race goals as modest as possible. I think one could easily adapt the chart back down to sprint level, but it was frustrating not to find one dedicated to that level of racing in a book that is designed for the first timer.

Pre-publicity for Who's Your Daddy - Book 17

Here's some ad copy from my forthcoming book, which will be out in
March. (I snatched it off the Ashgate website). I guess this counts as
as a book that I've read ;^)

The Founding Fathers, Pop Culture, and Constitutional Law:
Who's Your Daddy

Susan Burgess

Series: Law, Justice and Power

Applying innovative interpretive strategies drawn from cultural studies, this book considers the perennial question of law and politics: what role do the founding fathers play in legitimizing contemporary judicial review? Rather than promulgating further theories that attempt to legitimize either judicial activism or restraint, this work uses narrative analysis, popular culture, parody, and queer theory to better understand and to reconstitute the traditional relationship between fatherhood and judicial review. Unlike traditional, top-down public law analyses that focus on elite decision making by courts, legislatures, or executives, this volume explores the representation of law and legitimacy in various sites of popular culture. To this end, soap operas, romance novels, tabloid newspapers, reality television, and coming out narratives provide alternative ways to understand the relationship between paternal power and law from the bottom upIn this manner, constitutional discourse can begin to be transformed from a dreary parsing of scholarly and juristic argot into a vibrant discussion with points of access and understanding for all.

Contents
Preface; Introduction; A fine romance: judicial restraint as a romance novel; Who's your Daddy? Judicial activism as a soap opera; Space aliens save country from ruin? Critical race theory as tabloid science fiction; Did the Supreme Court come out in Bush v. Gore? The instability of judicial identity; The drama of contemporary constitutional discourse: Lawrence v. Texas as a makeover of Bowers v. Hardwick; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Reviews
'Top, bottom, homosexuality, illegitimacy and more. Here all the stimulating issues surrounding queer theory enliven the traditional debates over authority for constitutional interpretation. This book is Susan Burgess at her path-breaking best. Like her earlier work and her professional contributions Who’s Your Daddy? is both fun and very important.'
John Brigham, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

'For nearly a decade, Susan Burgess has been producing some of the most provocative scholarship at the intersection of cultural studies, law, and politics. This book draws together and significantly extends her previous work. Interesting, insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny, Who's Your Daddy?: The Founding Fathers, Pop Culture, and Constitutional Law will change the way people think about old questions of legal power and judicial legitimacy.'
Keith J. Bybee, Syracuse University, USA

Defining Moments in Music - Book 16

Defining Moments in Music is a (small and paperbound) coffee table book, but before you write it off let me say that it is packed with interesting information about key songs, events, inventions, performances, albums etc that pertain to the development of pop music in the 20th century. I started casually flipping through it for ideas for my women, gender and rock course and soon found that I couldn't put it down, despite the fact that it's more encyclopedic than narrative in form. It would make a great gift for any music lover that you may have on your holiday list.

Traveling Mercies - Book 15

Anne Lamott is a person who has lived a lot of life and managed to come through the other side. Thanks to her good sense (and good sense of humor) this book is not so much a victim-y detailing of her descent and recovery, as much as it is a compelling story of how she began to catch glimpses of grace in everyday living. To this end, she offers a series of short vignettes on various topics including hair, beauty, illness, kids, family relationships, politics, music, drugs, eating, sex, etc. All are informed by her trademark self-depricating humor. This is a good book to read when you feel like you'd like to see the world differently from the way it usually presents. I bought a copy of it about 7 years ago shortly after a dear Aunt of mine died, but never quite got around to reading it until last week.

I had been thinking my Aunt quite a bit in the last week or so, missing her more intensely than I normally do in the normal course of life. One day I was waiting for the red line train at Belmont, heading south towards downtown. As is pretty common these days, it was slow and running on the wrong side of the track due to construction on the line. When it finally came, I boarded hastily looking for an empty seat and as I sat down I looked up to find a woman who looked remarkably like my Aunt. Same age, hair-do, style of scarf, lipstick type. Then she started to talk to me, just as my Aunt would have talked to a total stranger, about what she was doing that day, where she was going, her kids, her earlier life, crocheting caps for cancer patients and so forth. It could have been my Aunt. Really. Even though I knew better, it felt like it WAS my Aunt, so much so that I felt a real pang of loss, again, and had to choke down a few tears as I climbed up the subway stairs and hurried down the street to my appointment.

I thought about it all week. At the end of the week I learned that in the christian church All Saints Day (November 1) is supposed to signify a time when the boundary between this world and the next, the material and the spiritual is said to be very thin. I don't think I ever heard that in all the years I spent in Catholic Church as a kid. It's a good spin. I wonder if it holds in the subway too. Anyway, I lit a candle on Sunday in memory of my Aunt, feeling more at peace about her than I had for quite some time.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - Book 14; Fun Fact 22

Don't want to give anything away to the one or two people on the planet who still haven't read this book, so I'll just say it's a worthy ending to J.K. Rowling's fantastic Potter epic . . . minus the epilogue which was rather uninteresting and flat. Kate finished this book when it first came out and I finally finished it during the move. Our Athens friend Miriam sent us a review of Harry VII from the National Catholic Reporter that does a great job of capturing the excitement surrounding the emergence of each new book in the series . . . and how that can never be fully regenerated for future readers of the series who can just burn through all 7 volumes at once. Fun Fact: Dumbledore is gay . . . but perhaps you already knew that ;^)