Book Review: "Fools Rush In"

I am woefully behind on book reviews, by which I mean that I haven't done one all year.  My general hope to complete a book review for each book read is fading fast.  To stop the bleeding, I'll start with one of my all-time favorite books that I revisited a few months ago. 

"Fools Rush In" is the story of a city as its main character, much like Baltimore is the true star of HBO's "The Wire."  Sarevejo is the majority-muslim city of Bosnia that was under siege during the civil war that engulfed the old Yugoslavia in the '90's.  At the time the story takes place, the city has been surrounded by the Serbian army, the UN is in the area "monitoring the situation," and thousands of civilians have been slaughtered. 

Bill Carter is a damaged man.  Broken and damaged from the death of his fiance, he goes to Bosnia to feel again.  It is quickly obvious to him that the UN and other peace-keeping forces are doing little other than counting the growing number of casualties, and he stumbles upon a shoe-string charity group that delivers food beyond the frontlines of the war.  The group is made up of other men who came together looking for some kind of purpose.  They found it amidst the blood and ruin and genocide of Bosnia-Herzogovina. 

While the rest of the group moves in and out of Sarajevo, often leaving for months to gather food and deliver in other areas, Carter cannot leave.  He finds his purpose living amongst a war-ravaged people, sprinting across sniper alley, sharing the dwindling food of the city, living and learning with the patriots, the artists, the families, the hipsters and the poets who loved their city too much to leave when they had the chance.  At one point, he realizes why he couldn't leave:

"Yet there would be turning back.  Not now.  Not after meeting the people I had met and seeing what I had seen. It would be like hearing a woman scream rape and going for a drink just to get out of earshot.  No, it was too late for people like Graeme and me, suckers who believe that if we give a little more it will turn around for the better.  It wasn't that I thought I could save the world.  At this point I would have settled for erasing my memory.  Once memory gets hardwired into your brain it gets more difficult to erase your sense of responsibility.  Why else do we have that cancer called television?  Why are we inundated with sound bite news, and infantile politicians making promises they never intend to keep?  Low ball, baby.  Keep it simple and stupid.  Keep the masses doped up on false expectations of lower taxes, second mortgages and entry into the country club, and you've got yourself a happy society ready, willing and able to ignore those cries of rape.  No one can hear them - the TV is too loud."

In short, what has been seen cannot be unseen, and by the time Carter had stumbled into this new world, he could no longer pretend that men, women and children were not being slaughtered by their former neighbors as the world sat on their hands.

"Fools Rush In" is a powerful, powerful book, full of passion, terror, and tragedy, but above all, love.  I could not recommend it higher.

2010 Reading List

My goal for 2010 was to read 40 books.  I'm at 36 right now, so got to get cracking these last few weeks.  Here's the current list and I will update if I finish anything else.  Interests seem to have changed a bit since 2009.

EDITED





Philosophical
"Hamlet's Blackberry," by William Powers
"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," by Haurki Murukami
"The Cult of the Amateur," by Andrew Keen

"A Place of My Own," by Michael Pollan

"The Circle of Simplicity," by Cecile Andrews
"Vagabonding," by Rolf Potts
"Shop Class as Soul Craft," by Mathew Crawford

Political and Societal
"3 Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortensen
"Nickeled and Dimed (On Not Getting By in America)," by Barbara Ehrenreich

Adventure
"The Lost City of Z,"by David Grann
"Soul, Sweat and Survival on the Pacific Crest Trail," by Bob Holtel
"God's Middle Finger," by Richard Grant

Fiction
"Spartina," by John Casey
"Island of the Blue Dolphins," by Scott O'Dell

"Beat the Reaper," by Josh Bazell

"GoWith Me," by Castle Freeman

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," by Mark Haddon

"The Power of One," by Bryce Courtney

"Shardik," by Richard Adams

"Watership Down," by Richard Adams

"The Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger

"Factotum," by Charles Bukowski

"The Bonfire of the Vanities," by Tom Woolfe

"Rain on the River," by Jim Dodge

"Shantaram," by David Gregory Roberts

"Stone Junction," by Jim Dodge

"Fup," by Jim Dodge

Finance

"The Cheapskates Next Door," by William Yeats

Biography/Autobiography
"The Thoreau You Don't Know," Robert Sullivan
"The Life and Crimes of Dong King," by Jack Newfield
"I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell," Tucker Max
"Atlas - From the Streets to the Ring," by Teddy Atlas

"Sweet William - The Life of Billy Conn," by Andrew O'Toole

Non-Bio Combat Sports
"The Boxing Scene," by Thomas Hauser
"Four Kings - Hagler, Leonard, Hearns, Duran," by George Kimball
"Sorcery at Ceasars," by Steve Marantz
"The Fighters Mind - Inside the Mental Game," by Sam Sheridan

Business
"Making it all Work," by David Allen

Less is More, and other Hippy Shit

I recently read Leo Babauta's "The Power of Less."  Actually, I listened to the audio book, for those who may feel that the distinction is important.  This is not a full review, but there were a few important points that I wanted to touch on.  The main themes include minimalism, frugality, simplicity; all of which appeal to me these days. 

My caveat about recommending the book is that I sincerely feel that Babauta often gives advice on topics that he is far from an expert on.  His suggestions on how to handle email or projects would have gotten me fired at any employer I have worked for.  His tips on fitness, nutrition and excercise are dubious at best, and certainly aim at the lowest common denominator of health levels.  During these sections, I found myself wishing that he would stick to what he is an expert in. 

With that bet well-hedged, I will say that he has some excellent tips on goal-setting.  Like many people I know, I will get my head and heart all a'flutter with a million things to work on, improve, and adopt.  I want to accomplish literally hundreds of goals, and I want to work on them all NOW.  The inevitable failure is spectacular, my good intentions blown to smithereens, and the resulting disappointment leaving me gasping for breath and rocking on my heels in the living room.  Babauta's advice is simple, as one would expect from the book's title.  One goal at a time.  This actually works.  Determining and focusing on one major goal at a time allows you to give it complete attention.  I started the month with a gameplan for the goal, am sticking to it, and write/journal about it at the end of the day.  When temptation inevitably comes, I find it much easier to stay strong, as I remind myself that this is the ONLY thing I HAVE to be disciplined about for now. 

As it currently stands, I plan on focusing on one major goal per month.  After 30-31 days of completely prioritizing that one thing, my feeling/hope is that a habit has been developed, and I can relegate it to "maintenance status."  I can then pour my energy into the next area. 

Heres my current schedule...at least, as I see it today.

September - Private Goal
October - Becoming an early-riser
November - Minimizing time spent on social media

If you read Babauta's book, you will find at least a few tips that should make a positive difference in your life, assuming of couse that you actually put them into practice.  That being said, much of the content seems to be recycled, such as the productivity tips that seem to be borrowed straight from David Allen's "Getting Things Done."  I found it to be worth a read despite this, as the goal-setting sections alone were worth the time invested. 

"Fup" and Why It's Important

    I recently recommended my favorite book to Linda at Curious Notions.  She liked it, thought it was funny, but did no really understand why I felt it was so powerful.  This is a summary of what the book means to me and why I think everyone should read it.

    Written by Jim Dodge in 1983, "Fup" is a story that takes place in the backwoods of Northern California, and centers around an immortal and whiskey-drenched gambler, his grand-son, a massive and whiskey-drenched pet duck, and a brutal and rampaging wild boar.  Yes, I know that sounds weird.  And it is.  Grandaddy Jake is 99 years old, and believes that the perfectly distilled whiskey that he refines has made him an immortal. 

    The life the characters live has all but disapeared in our country.  It is a simple, no-frills life, where the task that you are involved in is the only thing that you are involved in at that moment.  Consider that as a comparison to our lives today, where we are constantly multi-tasking and jumping from one thing to another. 

    One of my favorite parts is when Grandaddy Jake is worried that his grandson's goal of killing the wild boar is becoming an obsession.  He retires to the porch to think it over with a jar of his whiskey.

"He didn't tell Tiny.  After thinking on it for three afternoons, mulling it with that slow, voluptous thoroughness that is a reward of the still life, Jake reaffirmed his neutrality."

    To have the time and inclination to consider every possible angle of a decision is just very attractive to me.  The whiskey sounds good too. Our generation seems to need to make a lot of snap judgements and decisions.  Books like "Blink," by Malcom Gladwell become national bestsellers, which applaud quick, snappy decision-making.  The idea of deep, considered thinking does not come up often in our professional and personal lives these days, and thats a sad thing.

    Reading this book and feeling such an affiny for the "still life" is why I engage in activities like the Morning Pages, long, solo hikes, and the drinking of whiskey. 

    Aside from the more serious side of the book, it's just flat-out hysterical.  Some of the scenes make me cackle out loud no many how times I have read them. 

    At just under 70 pages, this is a story you can finish in an afternoon, and you probably will.  It's out of print now, but you can usually find it on amazon for less than a dollar.  I love this review about it, because it sums up my thoughts exactly:

  This is the book you want to read to that kid in high school who doesn't understand why books are anything.

  This is the book you want to read to the person you think might fall in love with you. This is the book you want to read to your friends so you will laugh together like you never have.

  This is the book to read when the world is too serious. This is the book to read when you are too serious about yourself. This is the book to read when you feel dull and uninterested.

  This is the book to read if you've gotten too big for your britches. This is the book to read if you feel more Christian than someone who cusses. This is the book to read if you want things you can't name.

  This is good medicine: a short shot, powerful. FUP is the American book.

Book Review - "Shantaram," by Gregory David Roberts

    My taste in books is usually pretty different from what most people like.  I tend to enjoy the ridiculous, and the dark humor, and the simple.  But I also love the occasional epic adventure where the author actually has the skill to pull it off.  I have found this to be pretty rare.  Huge novels that span generations and continents are just massive in breadth, and I feel like that usually, even good authors get lost in their stories at times.  Two notable exceptions are "Pillars of the Earth," by Ken Follett, and "The Power of One," by Bryce Courtney, although Courtney seemed to lose his way in the sequels. 

    In any case, despite pressure to read "Shantaram" by a person who's taste in books I trust, I put it off for a long while.  I finally picked up the giant 900 page tome around New Years, and just finished it last night in a marathon session culminating in a 2am sprint. 

    It. Is. Amazing.  And it's based on the author's true story.  Gregory David Roberts was a convicted felon, who escaped from a maximum security prison and flew to the urban jungle of Bombay, India (now Mumbai).  With a little luck and a little faith, he finds himself a citizen of one of the huge Marathi slums of the city.  With his previous medical training, he is able to open up a free clinic for the poorest of the city's inhabitants.  He also becomes involved with the Bombay Mafia, and his adventures stretch from India to Pakistan to the battlefields of Afghanistan.  Despite his activities as a criminal, Roberts is a very real person that you can sympathize with, and even like.  This is one of the best stories that I have ever read about redemption, love, adventure, passion and forgiveness.  It's one of the best books that I have ever read, period.

Book List for 2009

The year is over (almost).  My reading habits moved back towards fiction after a long phase of non-fiction and educational material.  Reading a wider variety of material has helped my writing, thinking and just overall being.

Travel

"Marco Polo Didnt Go There," Rolf Potts

"In a Sun-Burned Country," Bill Bryson

"You Shall Know Our Velocity," Dave Eggers

"The Lost Continent," Bill Bryson

"The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid," Bill Bryson

"A Fighters Heart," Sam Sheridan

"Off the Rails in Phnom Penh: Into the Dark Heart of Guns, Girls, and Ganja" Amit Gilboa

"Children of Jihad," Jared Cohen

Boxing

"Strong Boys and Buttercups," William Plummer

"This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own," Jonathon Rendell

"Charley Burley & the Black Murderers Row," Harry Otto

"The View From Ringside," Thomas Hauser

"The Black Lights," Thomas Hauser

"I Cant Believe It, but It's True," Thomas Hauser

"The Greatest Sport of All," Thomas Hauser

"Cut Time: An Education at the Fights," Carlo Rotella

General Know-How (Finance, Staying Alive, Inspirational, On Writing)

"US Army Survival Manual"

"Your Money or Your Life," Joe Domingo

"Blink," Malcom Gladwell

"The Four Hour Work Week," Tim Ferris

"This is the Year You Write Your Novel," Walter Mosley

"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," Haruki Murukami

Biography

"Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story," Carlos Baker

"The Last American Man," Elizabeth Gilbert

"1st They Killed my Father," Loung Ung

Literary Fiction

"The Old Man and the Sea," Ernest Hemingway

"Cities of the Plain," Cormac McCarthy

"Child of God," Cormac McCarthy

"Blood Meridian," Cormac McCarthy

"Crime and Punishment," Fyodor Dostoevsky

Other Fiction

"Joker," Brian Azzarello

"The Gunslinger," Stephen King

"The Road to the Dark Tower," Bev Vincent

"Not Fade Away," Jim Dodge

"Fup," Jim Dodge

"Stone Junction," Jim Dodge

"Vernon God Little," D. B. C. Pierre
"World War Z," Max Brooks

"Blood Meridian," by Cormac McCarthy

McCarthy writes some dark and twisted stories.  "Blood Meridian" has to be the darkest and most twisted of them all.

Follows the adventures of "the kid" and "the judge" over the course of their marauding and terrorizing reign through the western frontier of the 19th century.  They have been contracted to protect the different Mexican settlements from Apache war parties, and they do so with an iron fist.  Since they are paid by the scalp, they make no differentiation between indian tribes that are peaceful or those that are warlike, and there are several massacres of entire villages.  Some of the descriptions are the bloodiest and most brutal that I have ever read.

Underlying all of that murder and violence is the theme that McCarthy presents of redemption and justice.  "The Judge" is basically evil incarnate, and there are few protagonists in the history of literature as chilling as this character.  "The Kid" is something slightly more human, and he makes some effort near the end to make amends for all of the "meanness" that he has been involved in. 

Like all of McCarthy's work, the prose is set in a very flowing and non-punctuated style.  Sentences can run on for half a page or longer.  This can be distracting at times, but the writing is so beautiful that it makes up for it.  I did find myself having to re-read certain sections.  This is not an easy book, but it is a rewarding one. 

"Ernest Hemingway - A Life Story" Book Review

This is not only the best biography I have read, it's the best that I can imagine being written.  The amount of detail is stunning.  It's really a testament to the strength of the author and the force of character of the subject that such a long and detailed life story can be so interesting.  Topping out over 700 pages of tiny print, Carlos Baker analayzes Mr. Hemingway's life from start to dramatic finish.  Mr. Baker dedicated over 7 years to the task, and it shows.  Personal quotes, letters, and interviews with a virtual who's who of the generation, from Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Joyce and others are littered throughout.  I don't know as much about my own life as Baker knows about Hemingway's.

The overall picture of the man is one who was able to craft himself into exactly what he wanted to be.  No easy task.  He also comes across as highly sensitive, a womanizer who cheated on every woman he ever cared about, and something of a bully.  He could also be kind and generous, but it was virtually a crapshoot of which of his personalities would show up.

His favorite subjects by far were of personal courage, stoicisim and physical endurance.  He was at his best on the hunt, in war, fishing, hiking, and any situation where his physical well-being was at risk. 

Courage, he believed, was a matter of dignity and pride.  "A coward said that this pride was of no importance.  Perhaps it wasn't, but it was of great importance to whoever had it."

 

"Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy

Reading his interview in the WSJ put me in a mood for some of McCarthy's dark, murderous and usually disturbing prose.

"Child of God" fits the bill. One of his shorter stories at about 200 pages, I went through it in a day. It reads a bit easier than some of his longer novels, with a bit less of a focus on describing every detail of each and every scene.

Lester Ballard is a man alone. He has been banished and cut off from society, and that frees him to explore all the darkest passions of his mind. Ballard is far from a sympathetic character, but there is an underlying message that judges society for ignoring those that live on the very fringes of a community.