The Idiot Board Readers Corner - General Discussion

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Sons and Lovers

I’m bored of this book. Characters seem to start and ungracefully end within 50 pages. Nothing is happening. I don’t care about any of the characters.

I’m not invested enough in either Paul or the mother to care about their interactions. I’ll try to read this again in a few years, but for now I don’t like it. Maybe another Lawrence book will capture my attention, but I definitely don’t feel like this was a good start to such an acclaimed author.

Disappointing after reading such a wonderful book by Murakami.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

For the most part I have to agree. I remember my main problem being that I really just hated the mother, did you feel the same? I did develop a real interest in Paul as the story went on, but it's hard to argue that the story is anything but a boring post-oedipal pastoral, which sounds pretty awful now that I say it.

Lady Chatterly's Lover, on the other hand, well, I remember my 14 year old mind being just enthralled with that shit. Could have had something to do with the explicit sex scenes though. Oh look at me now, I'm like a housewife from the 60's.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

I know it's easy to pick on the guy with <20 posts, but this seems kind of unnecessary considering the multitude of one line posts in this thread. I'm not even sure how one mumbles through the internet. At the time of the original post I was only halfway through both books, but i've finished them both now. By literary rules broken I meant that Vonnegut overuses adverbs in places where he could've used stronger action verbs and refers to himself as the narrator too much, alledging that the world in the book is created and ruining any suspension of disbelief. These are just basics in any writing class, but great authors are going to do what they want regardless. I just mean't that Vonnegut doesn't take the traditional "rules" of writing too seriously. The dude put crappy pictures on every other page.

Having finished the book I can say that it wasn't his best novel, but I enjoyed reading it. It features one of his recurring characters, Kilgore Trout, which offers a bit more insight into a character that appears in a few of his other novels. The majority of the book is build up to an ending that is foretold early in the book. Once this ending is reached I found it to be rewarding and worth the read. The pace of the book is very quick, and it offers an interesting worldview.

If you want a better review, try amazon.com.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Has anyone read W's memoir "Decision Points"?

I'm far from a Bush supporter, but to shutout those we disagree with is short-sighted and a sign of ignorance.

It's hard to get a non-partisan review of his book, and would appreciate some fair reviews before I shell out $30 and the time spent if it's shit.

 

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Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk David Sedaris

David Sedaris read a book on African mythology and thought, "yeah, I could do better." The result is a collection of 16 short stories (emphasis on short) about various animals behaving like humans. The book looks at typical everyday scenarios from the point of view of animals; WASPy warblers talking about their vacation plans and hairdresser baboons who love to gossip, racist (speciesist?) chipmunk mothers, and my favorite, an overzealous guard rabbit (supposedly based on an encounter Sedaris had with a TSA agent). The book was inspired by African fables and folk tales, but these aren't Aesop's stories. There is no moral at the end, and the animals don't necessarily learn anything from their situations. It's just funny. Sedaris uses the animals as an excuse to just get to the point. There's no character development, no climax, no 3 act structure. Just wit and brevity. It's a pretty quick read so you can grab it in a library or kill an afternoon at a bookstore if you don't want to buy it, but I highly recommend this book.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Just finished

The Books of Basketball by Bill Simmons

It's an interesting read if you're a fan of the sport, as it goes through a lot of historical eras, players, and has several worthwhile insights about the sport. At the same time, it's very similar to Simmons' column, being very hit-or-miss with all its comedy, pop culture references, and insights.

Also, Simmons will often make a fine point comparing two players only to follow it up with something boneheaded or nonsensical. And I don't say that because I disagree, but rather, because the book suffers from constant contradictions and hypocrisy. Listen, that's inevitable when you wrote a huge work, but at the same time, it's particularly egregious here.

For instance, Simmons rightly notes how primitive basketball was in the 50s (even after the advent of the shot clock in the middle of the decade), but seems to consistently overrate players in the 60s, who weren't THAT much better, especially if it's a beloved Celtic like Cousy, Sam Jones, etc. It's okay if it were just blatant homerism, but he keeps trumpeting how impartial his rankings are.

Simmons also talks a lot about "The Secret", or how teams can attain championship levels when they sublimate their egos, stop worrying about stats, and just do everything to help each other and win. Simple stuff, but he presents it as something overly profound. This would also be okay, if only he were to examine this more in-depth, on perhaps a champion by champion basis, and tease some non-trivial conclusions out of it. Only he doesn't.

Related to this, there is the whole confusion about whether stats matter, and how much. In certain parts of the book, he says that yes, they absolutely do, and you can get a great idea of a game just by knowing the numbers. In others (not surprisingly, most often when defending a beloved Celtic like Russell or Sam Jones), he mentions that one needs to look at the game, and that stats are of secondary meaning at best.

In one part of the book, he derides Stockton for being a simple, straightforward player. In another, he bemoans how unfair it is that Duncan gets criticized and overlooked for the same thing.

He trumpets "team guys" over "headcases"...then puts guys like Iverson, McGrady, and Carter way higher in his all-time player rankings than any rational human being would, not to mention much higher than many of the former.

He constantly talks about racism that players faced, to the point of nausea. In some cases, he is absolutely correct. In other cases, he seems to be jumping at shadows. Then, in other parts of the book, he bitches about "political correctness" and goes on to rip (sometimes in an equally funny, cruel manner) a number of black basketball players for being druggies, horrible teammates, and/or mentally deficient, as well as everyone from their wives to their speech habits.

Keep in mind that I don't have a problem with the latter, but it's fucking galling considering how he goes on and on about the evils of racism and discrimination players faced in other parts of the book. For instance, he argues that Russell should have won MVP in 1959 over Pettit, and one reason he didn't was race. (Nevermind that Russell won more MVPs than anyone in history at 6 despite being his team's fourth option on offense)

As the major crux of his argument, he uses stats for that season. Only problem is, Pettit's numbers were actually BETTER; 6 more ppg, 2 fewer rpg (both men averaged 22+), and roughly similar apg and FG percentage. So why the fuck does Bill think anything was unfair, let alone the result of racism?

Well, because of blatant Boston homerism; elsewhere in the book, Magic Johnson is constantly ridiculed, and Simmons plays up Bird as being superior. Yes, in his meaningless rankings, Magic is higher placed, but after hearing about Bird's perfection for hundreds of pages and all of Magic's weaknesses, it hardly matters.

In the column, this homerism is often endearing. In a huge book, it gets irritating very quickly.

In conclusion, it's worthwhile enough to read through late at night, but something I'm happy I didn't spend any my money on, but borrowed from a friend.

 

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I've read two sports books in the last two weeks:

Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders

Though I'm not a Raiders fan, this is a great book. The Raiders won just one Super Bowl in the 1970s, but they were the team nobody wanted to face. If the calls had gone their way a few times, they could have won another Super Bowl for Madden.

This book goes into great detail about the heated rivalry between the Raiders and Steelers, Ken Stabler's clutchness despite partying until about 4 a.m. frequently, Madden's laid-back approach to coaching the team, the nutjobs on the team, and Al Davis's brilliance as a talent evaluator. (Yes, Davis was great before he went senile).

If I could play for any team in any era, I think Madden's Raiders would be at the top of my list. Many teams have acted wildly, partied hard, and played like wild men while winning the biggest prize, but Madden's Raiders seemed to have more fun than anyone else.


Da Bears!: How the 1985 Monsters of the Midway became the greatest team in NFL history

As good as Badasses is, I enjoyed reading Da Bears! even more.

This book included some surprisingly candid commentary from Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary, and many other players from that legendary team. There was so much drama, kind of like a soap opera, the most dramatic being the animosity between Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, who thought he should have been the head coach. I also found it real interesting that McMahon couldn't stand Ditka, who didn't appreciate the way McMahon changed plays in the huddle, and that some of the players couldn't believe that Ditka was taking away touchdowns from the great Walter Payton in favor of William "Refrigerator" Perry--most notably in the Super Bowl. And none of the former players or coaches had a nice thing to say about owner Michael McCaskey, who took over the team after George Halas, his grandfather, passed away. From what the former players say, McCaskey was a real cheap bastard.

The best, however, was when the former players and Ditka talked about why they suffered their lone loss that season, to the Dolphins, and why they weren't able to repeat or build a dynasty.

Though they had one of the greatest seasons in NFL history, it was amazing how much there so much hatred among the team. Perhaps that's why they were so awesome. Who knows?

One of the top three sports books I've ever read.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

I got through about 75 pages and returned it too. I also loved IHTSBIH, but it's tough to match that type of success in a sequel. I can honestly say I didn't laugh much at all in the 75 pages I read. It was kind of like meeting someone at a party and laughing profusely at the jokes he tells, then seeing him again and not laughing at all because he's trying too hard to be funny.

 

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The Bad Girl: A Novel

First impression: I've only read a few Spanish authors (Junot Díaz and Gabriel Garcia Marquez), but the passion and desire for women seems to a consistent trend. Maybe it's just coincidence, but it's interesting to me.

Overall impression: I thought the characters were very shallow and did not grow. It's hard to read because you know the characters don't change, yet they go through the same tiresome motions. Surprisingly the side characters were more interesting to me. Vargas does a good job keeping me reading, but I didn't feel any reward in reading this. I absolutely hated the end of the book, it was incredibly cheap and emotionally manipulating.

 

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Mark’s List

It is written by someone named Marshall Watters.

It’s about a guy that didn’t get laid while growing up, but now that he’s better-looking, he makes a list of all the girls he wanted in high school and does his best to hook up with them.

This book is great because it goes into detail about how things you missed out on having in the past aren’t as great as they seemed to be. As the main character, Mark, gets with these women, he sees how repulsive or annoying, or both, they’ve become. I also love the balance between past and present tense, as the flashbacks provide great explanations for why he’s doing what he’s doing, and they are extremely funny. It’s an interesting method of writing because I find most present tense novels to be too thin. His thoughts to himself while going through these experiences made me laugh a lot too.

The supporting characters are hilarious, particularly Mark’s best friend, Ricardo, who says and does some of the most outrageous things. And the women he bangs drew some strong reactions from me, since they reminded me of many of the girls I’ve known.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

A few quickies.

Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
A modern, surrealist spin on Oedipus Rex set in Murakami's trademark lyrical dream world.

Boomsday Christopher Buckley
The man who wrote Thank You For Smoking has solved the social security crisis. How? Give baby boomers incentives to kill themselves once they hit 70 of course!

Babbitt Sinclair Lewis
One of the great American satirists proves that not everyone's version of the American Dream involves white picket fences and neighborhood watch meetings.

 

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The Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

There are some brilliant lines in here and brilliant little parts, but honestly I didn't feel this was as complete of novel as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (which is my second favorite novel). It is still a better novel than most.

Moon Palace by Paul Auster

The best part about this book was when the settings were in the desert. Auster's descriptions were magnificent and I believe the characters reacted realistically. It might be worth reading this book for that alone.

At times I felt that Paul Auster was too clever. He'd go inside the characters head and ramble on, diluting the situations with the too "deep" thoughts. At times it'd be interesting. At times it'd be boring.

The female characters were awfully written. The angelic woman. The motherly figure. Boring, unimaginative and shallow. All they served as were placeholders in the story with no true value. Auster either is sexist or simply knows nothing about women.


So...yeah. Eh.

 

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Finally finished reading Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim.

Wow, just wow. A dizzying, unbelievable masterpiece, in some ways even surpassing "Heart of Darkness". The story is split up into four parts, with the first one being an introduction to the title character Jim, a 24 year old naval merchant to who is seeking to escape a disgraced past as the second in command of a ship.

We then go through recollections of his trial, his attempt to "master Fate", and lastly, his ultimate conclusion.

Like his other novels, there are times where Conrad probes the depths of human nature so well, so perfectly and beautifully, that it made my hair stand up at end. There are numerous side characters and side stories, all filled with Conrad's grim, harsh realism mixed with an astounding, adventurous world-view.

It's a truly incredible examination of Jim's character, a dark, deeply tragic story.

As with "Heart of Darkness", the conclusion is so riveting that my jaw practically dropped as I read it. I'll need time to reflect further, but this is definitely one of the greatest masterpieces I have ever read. Wow.

Slightly off-focus- At one point, after my library copy had to be returned, I tried to download Lord Jim from the Internet.

While I finally did so, the first version I got was a 45 page abridged retelling of the story. (The real novel is about 300 pages)

This wasn't Cliff Notes or anything; this was someone who read Conrad's novel, and decided to write his own 45 page version of it. I'm not kidding. I had no idea these things existed, either.

My question is, how does a butcher like this sleep at night? How does he justify his profession and lifestyle? What causes a "man" (and I use that term loosely) to do something like this?

I feel like I understand serial killers better than the people responsible for that abridged retelling.

 

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The Mission, The Men and Me by Peter Blaber.
Read this awhile back, but it is a great book on leadership and problem solving. The techniques on developing a situation are applicable in everyday life, business and military leadership.

 

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The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno

I've only read half of it, but this is quickly becoming one of my favorite books.

It is introduced like a simply Hardy boys or Encyclopedia Brown novel with simple characters, but quickly takes a turn for the dark, quirky and somehow humorous novel. We follow around a 30 year old, used to be boy detective in a world where all the evil doers have grown up. It's a cruel world and the boy detective is alone.

Not only am I in love with the story, but the actual book itself is fantastic. The cut of the pages are irregular and it's oddly satisfying to flip the pages. And look at this book cover!



A perfect image of what the book is: a mix of innocence and gruesomeness.

Buy it. It will be an excellent addition to your bookshelf.

 

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I Am Ozzy

Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography tells a very detailed story of his life, from birth in Aston, Birmingham in 1948, until the book was finished. He talks a lot about his upbringing, his early school life, all the shit jobs he had before he basically got lucky to get into the music business, his entire rock-and-roll career, and then his life after The Osbournes, including his medical issues. The early pages about his life before he gets into music are a little tough to get through, but as soon as the music starts, the book is almost impossible to put down.

He talks about what he was thinking when he bit the head off the dove and the bat, and details the very, very large number of drugs and amount of alcohol he regularly took. His relationship with Sharon couldn't have been more dysfunctional, which is probably the reason they worked together so well. I don't want to go into too much detail about other things that happened, because a ton of things in the book I never heard of, and half the excitement was reading things I never knew happened. The sheer ridiculousness of half the stories had me laughing my ass off for most of the book. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking for a real story of a true rock star.

 

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"Halfway through dinner Keith Moon suggested they should play a game. 'I was supposed to run round the fields,' recalled Oliver Reed, 'while he chased after me with a car to see if he could hit me.'"

Hellraisers The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed by Robert Sellers. I like how alcohol isn't measured by units in this book, but by BOTTLES. 300 pages of bad ideas, bender after bender, fist fights, sword fights, broken relationships, and sheer madness. These fellas were talented as hell, and drinkers, but I had no idea just how bad it was. They were soused for a solid 30 years. The book is a collection of anecdotes in a biography style following their relationships and careers as seen through beer goggles. The stories are taken from interviews, first hand accounts, and the like. One story details how Harris went out for a pack of smokes and came back to his family a month later. Another detailed how Burton went on the wagon, only drinking a single bottle of vodka a day and as much wine as he wished because wine didn't count. Personally, I enjoyed this more than "I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell." Not a single trace of pomposity or self aggrandizement. So much more manic and over the top as well. Written much like a Modern Drunkard article, I finished this in less than a day; couldn't put it down. These guys drank like it was their business. Each of them basically saying it was just for the fuck of it, out of boredom. Honestly, this might be the definitive collection of drunkard stories. Just amazing. Almost inspiring. Which might be my only beef. The author doesn't necessarily glamorize them, but it comes off like it. These aren't good dudes, they leave a trail of human wreckage (families, friends) in their wake without so much as a half assed apology. But man, what a party.

 

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Was it ghostwritten? And if so, was it by Sharon?

Also, does Ozzy ever go into why he sold his share in Black Sabbath to Iommi (as did Butler and Ward) when he went to form his solo band and Sabbath was at an all-time low, and then, 20 plus years later, decided to sue Iommi for 50% the ownership, with a public letter that ended with the unreal "Tony, do the right thing". (And fuck Butler and Ward's shares!)

Does he ever go into why his family were such cunts to everyone from Bruce Dickinson and Iron Maiden to Ronnie James Dio (?). Or that the current Black Sabbath line-up considers both Dio AND Tony Martin not only better and more professional members, but overall better singers?

Does he go into why, like any desperate famewhore, he made a fucking mockery of himself as a drooling, stuttering zombie on shitty reality shows, and whether he ever regrets doing so many drugs he is permanently brain retarded? Does he ever go into why his wife is such a opportunistic, greedy cunt who everyone in the music world loathes?

Does he admit that many of his "stories" are total bullshit that neither his bandmates or roadies ever recall happening? Does he ever admit he wrote the book to make a quick buck, just like the WoW commercials he did, or that aborted "Osbournes Variety Hour" show that crashed and burned?

Inquiring minds want to know!