Posts filed under 'Nonfiction'
Every so often, newspapers and television reports will break stories 
revealing shocking hazing at college fraternities or reports of sexual assults on campus, prompting outrage, questions and calls for reform. On a lesser level, parents worry about ‘hookup’ cultures among college-aged men, or shake their heads in disbelief when confronted with the amount of time their sons spend playing video games instead of attending classes. The final straw comes as college educated men return to their childhood homes, much to their parents’ disbelief. In all these cases, a common refrain emerges: What is wrong with these guys?
The answer, writes SUNY-Stony Brook sociologist Micheal Kimmel, lies in the little understood world of Guyland. Guyland, Kimmel writes, is a homosocial culture that men in their late teens and early twenties create in an effort to transition into the responsibilities of manhood. Advocates consider it a rite of passage, but Kimmel points out that Guyland’s culture of silence and conformity helps nurture cruel behavior, foster debasing images of women, promote violence, and leads to just plain stupidity.
Why the bizarre behavior from seemingly intelligent, well-adjusted young men? As Kimmel writes, much of Guy behavior is driven by insecurity: other men are perceived as having more sex, able to tolerate more alcohol or simply having more fun then most, pushing men to chase a non-existant pacesetter. And much has to do with a sense of entitlement: as women and minorities have made strides in both education and employment, Guyland offers a spot where guys (whom Kimmel’s reveal are almost always white) are insulated from political correctness, challenges from women and the repercussions of violence that seem to threaten their particular definition of maleness. It blithely divides the world into a dichotomy of those who play along with Guys rules versus those who don’t (and therefore don’t matter in Guyland). While most guys grow out of the stage without any lingering negatives, the fact that the darkest aspects of Guyland occur at all means that more men (and other college groups) need to put aside the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude and find the courage to speak out against abusive cultures.
Kimmel, a specialist in gender studies, conducted scores of interviews with young men, college administrators, coaches and young women in his research for Guyland, and he presents an engaging and readable argument. But there’s also plenty to argue with here as well. I believe Kimmel’s book tends to present Guyland’s lifestyle as the only option for college men, a fact made more noticeable by the lack of any perspective as to how many men actually succumb to the worst excesses of loutish behavior. And Kimmel never fully addresses how so many men can navigate the same school environment and avoid such problems. But like a lot of other books that try to decipher the peculiar behavior of the sexes, the appeal is as much in sparking conversation or following up footnotes as it is in reading. In that respect, Guyland is an accessible road map into the strange territory of the American Guy.
January 2nd, 2009
Katie H.
As a heavy user of the Overdrive audiobook collection, I am always checking the listings for good books to download, and the book The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music, by Steve Lopez, definitely fits the criteria. Part of why I picked this one was because I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out early next year. After reading the book, I am looking forward to seeing the movie to see how Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx handle their roles.
The Soloist is Steve Lopez’s story of his friendship with Nathan Ayers, an African American man, who he sees playing a battered violin on the street on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, is always searching for topics, and that was his original motivation for befriending Ayers. He quickly discovers that Nathan is a schizophrenic who was at one time a classical bass student at Juilliard. Nathan stays in L.A. because there is a statue of Beethoven there, and therefore, it is where Beethoven lives.
Lopez portrays his involvement with Nathan over a period of a few years. He works hard to improve Nathan’s life and get him off the streets. There are many setbacks, and although Nathan’s quality of life improves, he will remain mentally ill and will have many ups and downs.
There are many moving scenes in this book, many involving music. One of them is when Lopez takes Ayers to a Los Angeles Symphony rehearsal, which leads to one of the players offering him music lessons. On another occasion, they attend a performance featuring Yo Yo Ma, whose time at Juilliard briefly intersected with Nathan Ayers.
Lopez is a skilled and polished writer, who is very familiar with Los Angeles. His description of Skid Row, and the treatment of the mentally ill and the homeless is grim. And this is a story that seems tailor made for the movies. If done right, it should be a very inspirational and worthwhile film with a great soundtrack.
December 30th, 2008
Mary K. - Central
Michael Pollan’s recent bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is one of those scary looking, thick nonfiction books. You
know the kind: you’re quite proud of yourself when you checkout or buy this big, hefty book because it’s going to make you smarter, but then it sits on your shelf, making you feel guilty and, let’s face it, kind of inferior because you just aren’t ambitious enough for your pleasure reading to become project reading. Worse yet, you put it on your coffee table to impress guests, but then must sheepishly admit that you haven’t started reading the darn thing when they ask you if it’s good. Well, I actually proved myself wrong this time and managed to read (and enjoy!) this big, fat nonfiction book, but if this practice sounds vaguely familiar to you perhaps you should try Pollan’s 
latest, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.
Published two years after The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food is a slim and succinct follow-up book. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is Pollan’s journey into the origins of our food. He takes the reader along for the ride as he uncovers exactly how four distinctly different meals came to be- from a McDonald’s meal, to a Whole Foods grocery run, to an old fashioned “hunting and gathering” meal, Pollan covers all bases as he describes exactly what it takes to make our food and exactly what is in our food. Turns out the answer is a lot of corn. Think of In Defense of Food as a nice companion piece to The Omnivore’s Dilemma. If you haven’t read Omnivore’s Dilemma, think of it as the abridged newer edition with answers!
If the first book presented the problem, then the second book offers a solution to the dilemma. The premise (or solution) of Pollan’s manifesto is simple: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Sounds quite simple, but Pollan’s extensive research and convincing argument both prove that what sounds easy in theory might not be so easy in practice. For starters, food marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry and the average American’s definition of “healthy” food is deeply flawed since the advent of processed food and the advent of restrictive dieting (Atkins, low fat, no carbs, etc.) In addition, the manner in which we eat and our relationship with food has changed dramatically in the past few decades. Pollan argues that Americans often eat processed and packaged “food” alone and on-the-go rather than cooking a meal to share, slowly, with friends and family.
In the hands of another writer, the argument and solution could have easily come off as boring, too geeky, or difficult to understand. Pollan, however, is a gifted writer who understands the notion of too much information, yet never dumbs it down. His advice is practical and relatively easy: e.g. avoid food products that contain ingredients that are unpronounceable, eat well grown food from healthy soils, shop at farmers’ markets, cook and, if you can, plant a garden. If you want a condensed version of the manifeso, check out Pollan’s open letter to the next president, which was published in the New York Times magazine shortly before the presidential election.
Maybe I can handle the big, smart books after all… I think I’ll give Pollan’s Botany of Desire a try.
December 23rd, 2008
Mary - Lakeview
It’s not often that I don’t finish a book. But I put this one down one day and never got back to it. I wanted to like it. I’ve read some of Edwidge Danticat’s fiction and loved her lyrical language and her sense of place. But her family history, Brother, I’m Dying, just didn’t keep my interest, and certainly did not show the same beautiful language of her other books. But maybe you should decide for yourself. It was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.
Danticat was born in Haiti, right around Duvalier’s time. The country is a mess politically, with people disappearing and being murdered, rank with poverty. Danticat’s dad emigrates to New York when she is 2, followed by her mother, when she is 4. She and her younger brother are left in the care of her Uncle Joseph, a pastor. It ends up being 8 years before she joins her parents. In the meantime, Joseph, a sweet and caring man, loses his voice to throat cancer, and cannot preach to his flock, something he lived for. Danticat becomes his interpreter, helping him on his trips to shops and doctors. But it also makes the separation from her parents much more difficult, since her father would call Joseph and would share much more information with him than with his very young daughter.
Eventually her parents bring her to New York, where she does not feel part of the family she belongs to. She has 2 more brothers, who immediately take to their older siblings. But the long separation has taken an emotional toll.
The story is told in 2 time periods, the past and the near present, when Danticat finds out she is pregnant at about the same time that she finds out her dad is dying from a lung ailment. Her dad is very accepting of his situation and works at preparing his family for the inevitability of his death.
And this is where I stopped. Maybe my expectations were too high for this book. But the emotional distance she felt throughout her life, seemed very apparent in her writing. It seemed as if she was writing a news story in very simple language with very little subjectivity or emotional connection involved. I don’t get it, either, because all the reviews I read rave about it. Maybe if I had hung on, through the total implosion of Haiti and Joseph’s doomed final trip to the United States, it would have resonated more for me. But maybe I also stopped just in time. Reading once again about a country who treats people like chattel (and I’m not mentioning which country here) is just too painful.
December 22nd, 2008
Lisa - Central
Wisconsin’s history of hauntings and spooky stories is rich indeed. When I was a kid, Haunted Wisconsin by Beth Scott and Michael Norman was THE book to check out from the school library. It has since been rewritten and reprinted by Michael Norman and is still very popular at the public library. Haunted Wisconsin contains new and old ghost stories set in Wisconsin, divided by region, and the ghostly locations referenced are fairly easy to track down. This is very handy when at sleepovers, when traveling, or when trying to win a bet with a sibling, in order to make quick references to places visited, etc.
I consider this to be the quintessential guide to ghosts, apparitions and supernatural occurrences in the area. Michael Norman, a former college professor from River Falls, might be regarded as the North American ghost expert–he has written several other books on the area including Haunted Heritage, Haunted Homeland, and Historic Haunted America.
If you are looking for a new offering in this genre, you won’t want to miss Spooky Wisconsin: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore retold by S. E. Schlosser. Spooky Wisconsin covers more Wisconsin history and folklore than Haunted Wisconsin. The tale of the shrouded horseman, for example, shares quite a bit about the history of beer brewing in Milwaukee. Indian mounds, Mississippi river pirates and early miners and loggers make appearances alongside Paul Bunyan, elfin Tommy knockers, and kobold toymakers. The writing style makes for great storytelling, perfect for sharing in front of a cozy fire or before bedtime for those who like a scary story that is not too scary.
Both Haunted Wisconsin and Spooky Wisconsin are great gift ideas for ghost and folklore enthusiasts, those who collect local memorabilia, and former Wisconsin-ites looking for a frighteningly fun taste of home.
December 16th, 2008
Molly - Central
Did I ever tell you about my dream?
Not the life’s purpose sort. I mean the kind of dream you have when you’re asleep. This one I remember, I was hanging out at Paul Shaffer’s house, and I think we were waiting for his mother to show up. Dave may have been there, but he didn’t do anything. I went into the kitchen and looked into this big pot that was on the stove. Katherine Ross, the actress from The Graduate, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the original Stepford Wives movie was in the pot. It was filled with a sort of tomato-ey stew and just her face was visible, surrounded by the red liquid, like she was looking up at the ceiling. Well that didn’t seem right that she could be in that pot, her being normal sized and everything and the pot was only pot sized. So I opened the door to the oven below the stovetop and saw her torso inside. Which explained how she was able to get her head into the pot of stew that was sitting on top of the stove. I did reach in to tickle her ribs, just to make sure she was actually attached to her head floating in the pot of stew. She was startled to be tickled like that and thrashed around a little bit in the pot, getting the tomato-ey stuff on her face and some started to cover her mouth causing her to sputter a little bit. I realized I probably shouldn’t do that again or she might drown.
That’s when I woke up. And I wrote that dream down. I thought briefly about sending it in to Late Night with David Letterman, on the off-chance that he might read it on the air and I’d finally get my fifteen minutes of fame that Andy Warhol has promised everyone would get eventually. But I never sent it in.
It turns out there’s a place where you can send your dreams. There’s a web site called slowwave.com where people send descriptions of their dreams– that is, dreams they’ve dreamt while sleeping, not their longings and desires– and the guy that runs the site, Jesse Reklaw, will turn your dream into a four-panel comic strip that’s syndicated to various newpapers (mostly alternative weeklies) around the country. He’s collected a bunch of them and published them in a book called The night of your life.
And I dare you not to laugh at some of this stuff. Like the guy who took a bath in melted butter, then forgot to dry off so he kept sliding off the vinyl seats on the bus, and he left streaks and globs of butter wherever he went, and people on the street kept pressing their toast and bagels against his arms. Or the woman who’s interviewing for a job at a library but finds herself talking in valley-girl speak “Like, ohmigod! Technology will be, like, so important!” so she doesn’t get the job. Or the couple who answer an ad in the newspaper offering to pay people to adopt baby gorillas and find out that Martha Stewart is the one who placed the ad.
I’ve gotta tell you, the art is pretty good for depicting the bizarre situations that people dream up, but you’d never recognize most of these celebrities from the way they’re drawn in this strip. I suppose there are some (copy)rights issues involved with that sort of thing. Still, I never would have recognized Charlton Heston from that drawing. Or Gary Coleman. Or Prince. Madonna, I could recognize, but that was mostly because of the costume.
The dreams themselves are pretty bizarre. You’ll see centaurs shopping for food, or people living with tribes of apes, or free-falling without parachutes and worrying about how much the plastic surgery will cost to repair the facial damages once they land. Or shopping with Yoda. Or stopping by Sophia Loren’s where she’s entertaining some diplomats until a hockey game breaks out in the living room. The diplomats play pretty good “but your team is kicking ass.”
There aren’t any psychological insights “drawn” from these dreams. Other books or even web sites might search for meaning behind what happens in your dreams. In Reklaw’s book, dreams are all played for laughs.
I am curious about how much the artist adds to the dream descriptions, like the conversational asides between the two superheroes who ride the subway to the scene of the crime: “Is this our stop?” “No. It’s the next one” or the woman who discovers in the last panel that her two missing dogs have been making money by trading stocks and is told by one of them “We didn’t want you to have to work.” “Oh, how thoughtful,” she replies. I imagine Reklaw’s probably embellished the original dreamers descriptions quite a lot. All I can say is, it really worked for me. Every fourth panel would deliver a punch line that was set up in the preceeding three. And it’s quite a gift for anyone to be able to tease out the humor from the ridiculous, surreal, or just plain weird stuff that people dream up. Give yourself a little holiday treat and lighten your stress with a few laughs at other people’s dreams.
December 4th, 2008
Dennis - Central
Anyone who has visited a library or bookstore in the last 10 years knows that memoirs have recently become a publishing phenomenon. Of course memoirs have always been around, but those of you who doubt the recent spike in popularity of this genre need only read Entertainment Weekly magazine’s nearly exhaustive list of memoirs published since 1995. I’ll readily admit that I’m addicted to memoirs: I’ve read everything from the super popular (Angela’s Ashes) to the quirky (Devil in the Details); from the can’t-put-it-down-because-it’s-that-good (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) to the just plain awful (Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood). After a self-imposed three month break from reading memoirs, I finally fell off the wagon and started reading Madness: a Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher.
I’ve already read Hornbacher’s previous memoir Wasted about her battle to overcome anorexia and bulimia. Finally, one novel (The Center of Winter) and 10 years later, Hornbacher returns with an emotional yet humorous depiction of her life long struggle with mental illness. All the depressing elements are here: Addiction? Yes, Hornbacher describes her descent into alcoholism and anonymous sex as she self-medicates her mood swings. Body obsession? Yup, not just the aforementioned eating disorders but also self-mutilation in the form of cutting. Manic episodes and depressive states? Check and check. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Hornbacher describes yet another hospitalization in the psychiatric ward.
So what compelled me to continue plowing through the seemingly never ending psychotic episodes and subsequent hospitalizations? For starters it was the glimpse into a disease that I truly don’t understand. Secondly, although Hornbacher comes across as a tad self absorbed (but really, how could you not be in her case?) her writing is witty and articulate. What could have been merely a seriously depressing memoir actually ends on a hopeful note as the author acknowledges that she will always struggle with her illness, but her family and friends (and her love story with her husband) help her through it all. This might not be the book that you’d read curled up by the fireplace over the holidays, but its still worth the time investment.
November 26th, 2008
Mary - Lakeview
With the film version of the book Twilight opening this week, vampire fever seems to have descended on the nation. “Vampy” fiction is in high demand and library hold lists are building. While you wait, why not spend some time learning about real vampires? They are very strange, interesting and often connected to your everyday life.
Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures is an entertaining introduction into the natural history of sanguivores (creatures that consume blood). Author Bill Schutt, a biologist with joint positions at Long Island University and the American Museum of Natural History, seems to have had quite a bit of fun in the process of learning about his topic and he has a lot of knowledge to share. His enthusiasm is contagious!
Dr. Schutt starts out with a bang, beginning with a deliciously thrilling description of field research at it’s finest. Schutt, his wife Janet, and a Trinidadian scientist explore the massive, abandoned ice house at Wallerfield, the former US military base. Seeking vampire bats in the decaying building, Schutt’s evocation of the claustrophobic ruin (and an elevator shaft filled with water and bat guano) are vividly described.
Blood feeding is a hard way to survive and Schutt’s description of various evolutionary hypotheses on how assorted sanguivores may have developed is satisfyingly detailed. Besides the infamous (but misunderstood and endangered) vampire bats, other well-known obligate sanguivorous creatures such as leeches, ticks, fleas are covered. The addition of creatures new to me (such as the “vampire finch” of the Galapagos — primarily a seed-eater) and digressions into the history of medicine (did you know George Washington died after his well-meaning but misinformed team of physicians nearly exsanguinated him?) keep things rolling along.
The professor is a funny fellow, with a lot of amusing anecdotes, funny footnotes and some groaningly-bad puns. His book is far-reaching, though a bit uneven, rambling from the folklore of vampires to the chemical composition of blood, touching on colony collapse disorder and mentioning his many aunts named Rose. Gorgeous illustrations by Patricia J. Wynne accompany the book. Ms. Wynne also provided art for Schutt’s handsome Dark Banquet website, which contains a not-to-be missed collection of Blood Recipes.
November 18th, 2008
Barbara - Alicia Ashman
Are you an animal lover? Library lover? Lover of all that is good and sweet and wholesome? Maybe looking for a little heartwarming adorableness? Look no further than Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. This delightful book will renew your faith in humanity, and sometimes you need just that.
Dewey Readmore Books was found stuffed into the after hours book drop of a small public library in Iowa on the coldest night of the year, with temperatures dropping below minus 15 degrees. Only a few weeks old, the little grey kitten was frostbitten, and desperate to be saved. Library director Myron gave the ice cold kitten a bath to warm him back up (and wash his grey fur into orange and white tabby), and from that point on Dewey warmed the hearts of the library staff, the residents of the town, and legions of fans worldwide. He resided at the Spencer Public Library for 19 years, until his death in 2006.
There is no disputing the fact that Dewey was an extraordinary animal - handsome and winsome and bright. And while some might argue that having a cat in a library poses more problems than positives (allergies, kitty litter, and fur balls to name a few), Dewey served as an official library ambassador in the small farming town of Spencer and helped the community rally together during a very difficult time. Dewey came to live at the library during the height of the 1980s farm crisis. The residents of Spencer were hurting, the family farms were collapsing and the economy took an abrupt downturn. The public library was busier than ever with residents using the job bank, scouring the papers for job notices and making use of free books, magazines, videos and programs for enrichment and entertainment.
During that tough time, the library was a more vital community center than ever. It was also at this time that the Spencer Public Library was fighting for a much needed renovation. Director Myron urged her City Council to appropriate more funds with this speech:
“Newly paved roads are nice, but they don’t lift our community’s spirits. Not like a warm, friendly, welcoming library. Wouldn’t it be great for morale to have a library we’re proud of?”
And so it was that Dewey started to make the argument on behalf of the library. Because of this remarkable cat, visitor numbers were up, people were staying longer and leaving happier and spreading the word that the library was the place to be. Before long the renovation was approved and Dewey the Library Cat lived on for almost two more decades, keeping the residents of Spencer, Iowa, entertained and in touch with the community spirit while the library met their information needs.
November 12th, 2008
Molly - Central
Lewis Black is probably something of an acquired taste for most of us. He’s achieved most of his fame as a stand-up comedian and social commentator of the angry rant style of delivery. Whatever his topic, it doesn’t seem to take long before he’s twitching, sweating, and shouting (complete with F-bombs) his way to what might eventually become a major-medical claim against his health insurance provider. The man is intense. And it ain’t pretty. So when I saw that he wrote a book called Me of Little Faith, ostensibly about religion, I had to check into it to see what, if anything, he could add to the reasoned discourse about religion after recent works by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris seemed to make questioning established religious beliefs acceptable. Or, if not acceptable, they at least made somewhat scholarly investigations of certain aspects of widely established systems of belief. Could Lewis Black, not just the acerbic comedian but also Master’s graduate of Yale University, add anything valuable to the debate?
Not really.
There’s very little scholarship here. No citations or footnotes. Some of the critiques he levels against established religions like Judaism, Christianity, or Mormonism, have already been done. Lewis Black’s critiques are more anecdotal in nature. His disappointment at being given a dreidel at Hanukkah while his Christian friends receive cooler toys makes for somewhat amusing reading, but it doesn’t prove anything except Christmas toys are probably more fun than Hanukkah toys. His tours of the Mormon Tabernacle, Heritage USA (the property of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker), or observations of televised performances by Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, or Jerry Falwell, give him starting points from which to develop a premise that he hopes will either bemuse or outrage readers. But they probably won’t convince anyone whose faith has any real depth. Black seems to believe that if he states his opinions as facts, he doesn’t need to offer proof. Indeed, he seems to be asking for faith-based dis-belief.
And by the way, he explicitly refuses to do any sort of examination of Islam. Nothing to say about it except that he has nothing to say. The implied joke being that some followers of Islam won’t tolerate humor and will express their displeasure in a violent way, and he’s much too savvy to say anything that might give offense and isn’t he clever to avoid falling into that trap? No “fearless sifting and winnowing” for this brave soul. Assuming he has a soul, of course.
Yet, when it comes to faith, “the belief in things not seen,” Black seems to want to have it both ways, as when he talks about the death of his beloved brother, and the coincidental (or not?) boost to his own career that seemed to take place once his brother was dead. He also seems to have a different sort of faith when he talks about a psychic (you read that right, a psychic) who has an uncanny ability to make vague observations about the course of Black’s career prospects before knowing him personally or without having any advance knowledge of what’s happening in Black’s life. Black seems to think this is all the more believable because he has never given the man any money. Take it on faith, I guess.
So it’s a little hard to treat this as any sort of serious religious critique. Believe me when I tell you, there’s nothing faith-shattering here. It’s entertainment for the type of people who won’t be offended by this sort of treatment of established religions. And, of course, for fans of Lewis Black. Everyone else can probably find better uses for their time.
The book is also available as a recorded book and might be a better choice for those familiar with and appreciative of Lewis Black’s brand of humor. I’ve read and listened to both versions and think the recorded book is superior, although he doesn’t manage to get himself wound up into an apoplectic state for most of the reading. He is just reading a book after all. There is a short play called “The Laundry Hour” included at the end that was commissioned and produced by Joseph Papp of Public Theater fame that Black co-wrote and performed with Mark Linn-Baker. Mark Linn-Baker joins with Lewis Black to reprise the stage performance in the audiobook.
November 7th, 2008
Dennis - Central
Previous Posts
revealing shocking hazing at college fraternities or reports of sexual assults on campus, prompting outrage, questions and calls for reform. On a lesser level, parents worry about ‘hookup’ cultures among college-aged men, or shake their heads in disbelief when confronted with the amount of time their sons spend playing video games instead of attending classes. The final straw comes as college educated men return to their childhood homes, much to their parents’ disbelief. In all these cases, a common refrain emerges: What is wrong with these guys? 
