Tag: what I’ve been reading

What I’ve Been Reading

Endzone: The Rise, Fall, and Return of Michigan Football by John U. Bacon. Bacon’s publishers were kind enough to contact me and ask whether I would like an advance copy of Endzone, an offer I gladly accepted. Unfortunately, the book was to come out in early September, and the advance copy did not come until mid-August, right at the height of my own football season. I was able to squeeze in enough reading time to finish the book a day after the book was publicly released, but as you can see by the lack of “What I’ve Been Reading” posts lately, I did not have a great deal of other chances to read or write about my reading. You have probably read other reviews of Endzone by now or read it yourself, so I’m sure nothing I have to say will be too awfully surprising. Former Michigan athletic director David Brandon did not come off in a good light. Bacon spent quite a lot of time pointing out how detached Brandon was from the fan base and how he gave off an air of hubris and stubbornness. At times it almost seemed like a smear piece, but Brandon did not take advantage of an opportunity presented to him by Bacon to respond to his questions and allegations. Either way, the book emphasized all the pieces that had to fall into place for Michigan to land Jim Harbaugh as the next coach at Michigan. Another great part of the book is that Bacon did an exhaustive amount of research and interviews, which resulted in many different perspectives on Brandon, Harbaugh, Coach Hoke, and other aspects of the program. Some books can come off as one man’s opinion, but this one did not. If you are a reader and a Michigan fan, then this is a must-have for understanding the current state and direction of Michigan athletics and the football program in particular.

Hit the jump for a few more books I’ve been reading.

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What I’ve Been Reading

America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t by Stephen Colbert. Written in the same style as I am America (And You Can Too!) as well as some Jon Stewart and Co.-written books in the past, Colbert’s most recent book is another quite humorous attempt at making us look like idiots. I find that I can only really stand to read about half of each one of these books at a time before the writing style becomes a little too much for me to bear. They’re well worth the read if you’re looking for some entertainment to go along with your politics, but the sarcasm and double-speak are better digested in chunks.

David and Goliath  by Malcolm Gladwell. I have now exhausted the list of Malcolm Gladwell books, and I am kind of sad because of it. This one was his weakest effort, in my opinion, because the whole premise is based on underdogs taking down the kings of the hill. (Luckily, there was no mention of Appalachian State.) I did find Gladwell’s story about David and Goliath interesting, because Biblical history has always piqued my curiosity. (Spoiler alert if you haven’t read it: Goliath may have had a hormonal condition that caused him to be very large, but also somewhat dumb with poor vision.) However, I also got somewhat bored with his discussion of the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, because basically, the whole damn thing is stupid. Basically, the message of the book is that sometimes advantages can be disadvantages, and disadvantages can be advantages. I did make some connections to football, because part of being a coach is motivating kids and convincing them they have a chance to succeed when the guys across from them might be bigger and/or faster.

Fire in the Hole  by Elmore Leonard. For no good reason at all, this was my first foray into the writing of Elmore Leonard. One would think that being from Michigan, I would have bothered to pick up one of his novels or short story collections earlier in my life. Heck, I never even bothered to watch any of the movies based on his books, but I have been watching Justified for several years. I finally decided to pick one up, and why not start with the group of short stories that involves Raylan Givens? The Givens story “Fire in the Hole” was predictably good, and there are some other solid efforts in there, too. I had not realized that Leonard would be so preoccupied with United States Marshals in general, but they’re mentioned consistently throughout his stories. One thing I like about Leonard is that he does not mess around too much with descriptors and flowery speech. I went ahead and picked up Pronto, which I’ll be starting soon.

Dexter’s Final Cut  by Jeff Lindsay. Speaking of being sad, I finally finished the Dexter series of books. If you have not read the books and/or watched the entire series, you may want to stop reading here. This final Dexter effort has him working as a technical advisor for a cop show filming in Miami. He overextends himself to not only being a blood spatter analyst and serial killer, but also the bodyguard of a beautiful Hollywood actress. I don’t want to give away the exact ending of the book for anyone who might glance too far down in this paragraph, but I will say that the book and the television series do not end on high notes. Dexter, Breaking Bad, and some other shows feature morally ambiguous protagonists, and I always hoped that Dexter and Walter White would somehow redeem themselves. People often ask me if the series end the way I want them to, but that’s not really the point. If stories end how we want them, then there would be no point in anticipating a surprise ending. I actually found this book to be the most compelling Dexter novel of the series, but mostly because my feelings toward him had shifted from ambiguity to rooting against him.

What about you? Any reading suggestions for us?

What I’ve Been Reading

Sharp Objects  by Gillian Flynn. I swear I didn’t jump on the Gone Girl  bandwagon once it was optioned as a Ben Affleck movie, but it did get me hooked on Gillian Flynn . . . sort of. Sharp Objects  was the author’s first book, and it seems like a little bit of an amateur effort. I appreciate Flynn’s wit, but I thought this was a little Chuck Palahniuk Lite. The protagonist, Camille Preaker, is a newspaper writer outside of Chicago when she hears of a serial killer in her Missouri hometown. She’s dispatched to Wind Gap, MO (which is not a real place) to follow the story. While there she deals with her hateful, cruel, rich mother (a woman of the type that probably does not exist), her promiscuous 13-year-old half-sister, and the gossip-fueled women of Wind Gap. In what’s seemingly supposed to be a believable murder mystery, the story is thrown off by the ridiculous mother, the ridiculous sister, and the ridiculous protagonist herself. I had a hard time getting entranced by the story involving self-mutilators, 13-year-olds getting gangbanged, and a 30-year-old professional reporter dropping acid with her 13-year-old sister.

Blink  by Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve been on a Malcom Gladwell kick for the last several months, and the only book of his I have yet to read is David and Goliath. Blink  talks about humans’ abilities to “thin slice,” which is taking small amounts of information and making quick decisions. Some of the chapters talk about Pepsi vs. Coke taste tests, police interactions with suspects (which I find relevant to the Michael Brown/Darren Wilson situation in Ferguson, MO), judging the authenticity of works of art, etc. One portion I found relevant was where Gladwell talks to a tennis coach who has an uncanny ability to judge whether a tennis player is about to double-fault. Even the coach himself couldn’t explain what body movements during a serve would help him judge the player’s serve accuracy, but he’s almost always correct. I found that somewhat applicable to my job as a coach and, to a lesser extent, my “job” here as a fan, blogger, and recruiting fanatic. Of course, I wouldn’t claim to be right the vast majority of the time, but sometimes there just appear to be body movements that are or are not conducive to being successful in sports.

The Magician’s Land  by Lev Grossman. I have previously touted the books The Magicians  and The Magician King  by Grossman on this here blog, and The Magician’s Land  is the third installment, which was released late this summer. I am such a fan that I pre-ordered the book. I have never done that for a book before. The trilogy started off with a kid named Quentin Coldwater, who was recruited to a Hogwart’s-like school. Quentin isn’t The Chosen One like Harry Potter, but he’s a pretty good magician who finds himself in some hairy situations, including traveling to a Narnia-like universe. I can’t really put my finger on what I like about this series so much, but each of the books has been a page-turner to me. This third part of the trilogy concentrates on Quentin trying to bring the love his life back from the dead, as well as the possible extinction of Fillory (a.k.a. Narnia). If you like fantasy stuff at all, I highly recommend this series.

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Complete Collection Volume 1  by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Unlike with Gillian Flynn and Gone Girl, I totally was not interested in these comics until I saw the movie this summer. The movie was so fun and interesting to me that I wanted to get some of the background. While the comics aren’t quite as interesting to me – let’s just say Chris Pratt is more entertaining on screen than Star-Lord is on the page – I still found them enjoyable. Also, I can deal with Rocket Raccoon as a main character, but Cosmo the telepathic Russian space dog is too over the top for me. Maybe that’s why they didn’t include him in the movie. It’s just too much to handle at once. You mean there’s a dog that talks? And not only does it talk, but it has supernatural powers? And not only does it talk and have supernatural powers, but it inserts a “k” sound whenever there should be a “g” sound? Okay, that’s too much. I’m going to need some time to process this. Let’s just start off with the raccoon who seems to be a candidate for NRA president.

You can check out my past “What I’ve Been Reading” posts here (LINK).

What I’ve Been Reading

Die Trying  by Lee Child. I read Killing Floor  over the summer and enjoyed it enough to come back for some more Jack Reacher. In another edition of unbelievable coincidences, Reacher finds himself caught up in a kidnapping attempt that has nationwide implications. The multi-talented Reacher gets to use his sniper skills on several occasions, including a far-fetched competition with a criminal mastermind. If you can get past the premise of the whole story, it’s an intriguing confluence of events. These are the cheap page-turners that are a reprieve from reading the daily newspaper, websites, or books like . . .

Columbine  by Dave Cullen. Like much of the country, I didn’t learn a ton about the Columbine shootings after the national media moved on to other topics. What I took away from the story at the time was that a couple of bullied students took it upon themselves to avenge their unjust treatment, so they hunted down the jocks and preps that held them down in school. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but that was the general story line passed down at the time. From reading Cullen’s account, that story is not only oversimplified, but totally inaccurate. The book talks about the erratic behavior of both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold; the climate of the school before and after the event; the attack itself; and the community’s response. Throughout the reading, I had an irrational hope that somebody would catch on to Harris and Klebold’s plan and turn them in ahead of time. It’s impossible to make sense of violence like this.

Outliers  by Malcolm Gladwell. This is the book that popularized the “10,000 Hour Rule,” which suggests that people become great at something if they spend roughly 10,000 hours honing their skill. The most interesting chapter, to me, was “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes,” which reveals that the language used in airline cockpits can severely hamper the abilities of a flight crew. Korean co-pilots deferred to their superiors so much that when they noticed things going poorly, they would merely hint at something going wrong, rather than directly saying, “We need to take action now!” People were dying because Korean co-pilots were too polite. This was a great read.

The Tipping Point  by Malcolm Gladwell. This was another fascinating read from which all kinds of people with leadership positions might benefit. It talks about how small changes can cause sweeping improvements, supported by the story of how a cleanup operation of New York City’s subway system helped deter crime citywide. I also enjoyed “The Stickiness Factor: Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues, and the Educational Virus,” which talks about how children can learn from educational television programs. Personally, I have never watched an episode of Blue’s Clues, but it’s interesting how much research goes into such a show.

What the Dog Saw  by Malcolm Gladwell. I really liked the other two Gladwell books, but I probably connected best with What the Dog Saw, a collection of articles. The book title stems from an article written about Cesar Millan, the “dog whisperer,” and talks about how small movements and postures can be interpreted by dogs. I think this applies to humans, too, and a good first impression goes a long way. That first impression idea is also addressed in “Most Likely to Succeed.” I am in the process of reading Blink  and I have yet to read David and Goliath, but Gladwell has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I held off on reading his stuff for a long time, but now I’m hooked.

You can check out some other reading suggestions in past installments of What I’ve Been Reading (LINK).

What I’ve Been Reading

Donnybrook by Frank Bill. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I first read about this book. It was about some unsavory characters headed for a bare-knuckle Toughman competition in southern Indiana. I like MMA, and I like some dark undertones in my literature. I was unprepared. Not that I was offended by anything in Bill’s first novel, but it’s chockful of drug use, sex, people with disabilities, gory violence, incest, and other warped things that one usually associates with the state of Ohio. The characters are quite numerous – not as much as Game of Thrones, though – and some names are so odd (Jarhead, Chainsaw Angus, etc.) that I had a hard time keeping them straight at the beginning. The prose was designed to be rough, so it’s not for anyone looking for the beauty of the English language. But when I was finished, I wanted to take a shower, so I guess the author did something right.

American Sniper  by Chris Kyle. Kyle was America’s most accomplished sniper in history, making anywhere from 109 to 170 kills (kill totals are somewhat questionable in war). I say “was” because he was murdered by a fellow soldier he was trying to help after the book was released. Kyle was a Navy SEAL, and the first half of the book generally talks about his childhood, adolescence, and training. The second half goes through many of his operations during the Iraq war from 1999-2009. Scattered throughout are some insightful passages from his wife, who shares some of her perceptions of life with her husband overseas.

Gone, Baby, Gone  by Dennis Lehane. In Mystic River  Dave’s wife said no one in real life would be clever enough to say “Your money or your life, bitch.” But the dialogue in Gone, Baby, Gone  reminded me of some cheesy banter from The DaVinci Code. Realism does not seem to be Lehane’s strong suit, but he does weave a pretty good story that can tug at the heart strings a little bit. If you haven’t read this one (or seen the movie starring Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman), it leaves you with an interesting choice about which outcome you would prefer. While I did enjoy the movie, it doesn’t even begin to explore as much territory as the book.

Moonlight Mile  by Dennis Lehane. A sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone, I would not recommend it unless you’re a Lehane fanatic. The story was uninspired and seemed to be trying too hard to make connections to its predecessor. The characters were disappointingly undeveloped and cliche, which made me hope for it to finish rather quickly. Luckily, it was a short read.

Boomerang  by Michael Lewis. I had not actually come across this book until I saw Lewis being interviewed on Conan  for his newer book, Flash Boys, which caused me to look up some of his lesser known works (everyone has heard of The Blind Side  and Moneyball). Boomerang  explains the financial busts in Greece, Iceland, and Ireland, and also talks about a seemingly inevitable bust for America. Of course, there have always been economic fluctuations, so the book doesn’t recommend panic. The overall message, really, goes along with Malkiel’s book (below) that suggests that short-term investments often result in long-term penalties.

The Elements of Investing  by Burton Malkiel. I originally purchased this book just to get a better grasp on investments in general. As an amateur investor, I am planning to retire in 30 or 40 or . . . 50 . . . maybe 60 years. You know, if Social Security lasts that long. We’ll see. I’ve been investing in a Roth IRA for several years, but I wanted to see how they stack up against Traditional IRAs, 401ks, and the like. It was a worthwhile, short-but-sweet read for someone who’s exploring the stock market and long-term investing, but there aren’t a whole lot of particulars.

Savages  by Don Winslow. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a cheap thrill, and this time it came in the form of this book, which preceded the 2013 movie (LINK) starring Taylor Kitsch, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, and Blake Lively. It tells the story of a couple southern California guys who run an effective but small-ish illegal marijuana outfit. Naturally, they run afoul of a Mexican cartel, which leaves them overmatched as they fight for their business and their lives. The writing is humorous at times, but it has the flow of someone who has enjoyed a few blunts once in a while. There are lots of plays on words, several of which are stillborn. But there’s enough here to make me think about going back to Winslow for a guilty pleasure sometime down the road.