Tag: what I’ve been reading

What I’ve Been Reading

(image via Post-Gazette)

Fourth and Long  by John U. Bacon. I finally got around to reading Bacon’s latest book, which follows Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, and mostly Penn State during their recent seasons. The book is mainly centered on PSU’s tumultuous 2012 season in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky allegations, Joe Paterno’s death, the NCAA sanctions, and Bill O’Brien’s hiring. Bacon, a University of Michigan alum and former lecturer, also spends quite a bit of time looking at David Brandon’s – and the Big Ten’s – money grabs in recent years. Scattered throughout are some looks at Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, whom Bacon respects a great deal, and OSU head coach Urban Meyer. The PSU stuff is the most inspiring, because it details coaches and players who were willing to work together toward a common goal. That contrasts with the views of Michigan, where Bacon seems to imply that Brandon has himself and the bottom line in mind more than the traditions at Michigan. It was a pleasurable and quick read, but you can tell that Bacon is trying to avoid stepping on any toes. After all, the last time he did so, the University of Michigan basically cut all ties to him following Three and Out. The lack of quality editing in Fourth and Long  is somewhat distracting, what with players and coaches referred to as “Mark Venric” (Northwestern’s Venric Mark), “Gordon Melvin” (Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon), and “Ron Vanderlin” (Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden), so be prepared. Following the two aforementioned books, Bacon’s next piece will be titled Fifth and Short, the story of Tom Brady working his way up from the bottom of the depth chart and Tyrone Butterfield’s place in Michigan lore.

The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’ve read this one before, but I decided to pull it out again for old time’s sake. There’s nothing new to say about the book that hasn’t been said numerous times before, but I’ve always had trouble with how slowly the novel begins. It develops into a very intricate, delicate, and heartwarming love tragedy, but Fitzgerald wasn’t really interested in grabbing the reader’s attention off the bat.

Mystic River  by Dennis Lehane. I sort of stumbled into reading this one. I’ve never been much of one for crime thrillers, but I was in a spot with nothing to read, so I picked up this one and thought I could just leave off whenever I got the chance. But on the way to putting the book down, I discovered I couldn’t. I had seen the movie several years ago (starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins), but even though I knew the outcome, I wanted to see how the story developed. I thought the character of Dave Boyle (played by Tim Robbins in the movie) was extremely interesting. Dave, who had been kidnapped and molested at ten years old, still feels the effects of the crimes against him years into his adulthood – as a father, as a husband, as a friend. To me, the murder of Jimmy Marcus’s daughter became an afterthought. I rarely say this about fiction novels, but this one has heart. You can’t help feeling some pity for the characters involved.

Shutter Island  by Dennis Lehane. I cannot extol the virtues of this movie enough, but the book paled in comparison. The reverse was true for Mystic River (still a good movie, though). In case you’re unfamiliar, the story follows Detective Teddy Daniels as he investigates the escape of an inmate from Shutter Island, a facility housing violent and mentally unstable criminals. Expounding on the plot might reveal too much, but if you have to choose, rent the film. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the acting and casting choices (Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Van Sydow, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, etc.) are impeccable.

A Dance with Dragons  by George R.R. Martin. After reading this, the fifth volume in A Song of Ice and Fire, I felt like I was left with more questions than answers. Perhaps it’s because the sixth book hasn’t been released yet, but when I closed the book, I wanted more. With the other books, I knew all I had to do for more information was crack open the next novel, but I can’t do that here. I appreciated that this book concentrated on some of my favorite characters (Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen) and mostly left out some of my least favorites (Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, Arya Stark), but I’m prepared for the sixth to bring them back into the fold.

A Feast for Crows  by George R.R. Martin. This is the fourth book in Martin’s series. I’m leaving my mind open to the idea that the future novels might intertwine these story lines better, but the forays into Dorne and the Iron Islands seemed out of place to me. Obviously, Martin was able to connect them in some fashion, but they seem like filler at this point. I can safely say that A Feast for Crows  is my least favorite of the five novels so far, but it didn’t stop me (nor should it stop you) from marching onward with the fifth book.

Damned  by Chuck Palahniuk. I typically like Palahniuk. One of these days, I will probably devote an entire post to my feelings on his various novels. But I have been disappointed with most of his recent efforts, including this one; I have tried and failed many times to suffer through Pygmy. In the style of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, Damned  tells the story of Maddy Spencer, a 13-year-old girl who dies of a marijuana overdose while her famous mom and dad are attending the Oscars. The premise is pretty funny (especially in the wake of Mitch McGary’s banishment for smoking weed, but I digress), but I just had a tough time getting into this one. There are some good parts, like there are with almost all Palahniuk efforts, but the overall theme gets a little tiresome. I probably would have liked it better as a short story. There is a sequel, though, called Doomed, which I have yet to start.

Feel free to leave responses or reading suggestions in the comments or on the Book Suggestions page!

What I’ve Been Reading

The Lost Symbol  by Dan Brown. Occasionally, I get the feeling that I should go for a cheap thrill and read something like a Dan Brown novel, and a cheap copy of The Lost Symbol  that I found at a used book store on vacation fit the bill. It was just about what I expected. One thing I appreciate about Brown’s work (I have also read The Da Vinci Code) is that it makes me think about the origin of certain cultural habits, buildings, writings, etc. In the novel, Robert Langdon is roped into saving his friend Peter Solomon’s life by trying to uncover some secrets that will give the villain, Mal’akh, some kind of extraordinary powers. Even if some of his work is fictionalized history, it spurred me into finding out more about the Washington Monument, the Capitol, etc. As for the book itself, I grew somewhat tired of the main character, Langdon, sounding like an encyclopedia all the time. The dialogue is very stiff and can be grating, but that’s clearly not Brown’s strength, so I knew what I was getting into. It was a pretty quick read, but I was looking forward to the end so I could extract myself from the pretentious Langdon.

The Garden of Last Days  by Andre Dubus. I was unfamiliar with Dubus, who also wrote The House of Sand and Fog, before picking up Garden of Last Days  on somewhat of a whim. It had been on my reading list since I saw it on a “year’s best novels” list in 2008, and I happened to find a copy through a co-worker. I usually don’t get much reading done during football season, and this happened to be the first one I grabbed off the shelf following the season. It’s a piece of fiction about a stripper in Florida named April who meets an unsavory character at work (who would expect that at a strip club?); when the babysitter was unavailable, she had to bring in her toddler daughter to spend the evening in the back room; and the daughter ends up getting kidnapped by an angry patron. All these events take place in Florida on the days leading up to September 11, 2001. Unlike Brown, Dubus does a great job of exploring the motivations behind his characters’ actions. But if you’re looking for big plot twists, this is not a book for you.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs  by Chuck Klosterman. This is a series of essays in which Klosterman uses cultural events from the 1980’s, 1990’s, and early 2000’s as metaphors: Saved by the Bell, Tom Cruise, Star Wars, Lakers vs. Celtics, The Real World, etc. These are all things I grew up with, but I have to say that I’ve never thought this much about Saved by the Bell. The cynical Klosterman is going to grow up to be an angry old man, but in the meantime, I appreciate his explorations of serial killers and internet porn.

The Last Battle  by C.S. Lewis. I have mentioned this before, but as a kid, I never read any of Lewis’s books. I was a heavy reader when I was younger, and I still read more than most of my friends, but I just never knew they existed, for whatever reason. Over the past couple years, I’ve read all seven Narnia books. Despite this being the climactic book, I found it somewhat disjointed and wished for some more involvement from the characters that had been developed in the earlier books. I was waiting for them to return, but either they never did, or they only did so briefly. I did enjoy the final battle scene, and I was curious to see Aslan’s return and what waited behind the door of the stable. I was also looking forward to finishing the series so I can have a more complete grasp of Lev Grossman’s series (The Magicians  and The Magician King, soon to be followed by The Magician’s Land).

Moneyball  by Michael Lewis. Yeah, I’m late to the party, but I had just never gotten around to reading Moneyball. As we all probably know by now, it follows the story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane and how he used advanced statistics to level the playing field with big-spending clubs who used more traditional scouting methods. I did find the baseball portion of it enthralling, but the two themes that interested me most were a) Beane’s willingness to flout tradition and b) his playing days as a phenom, which I thought related well to the college football recruiting industry that this here website tracks.

You can find my other reading suggestions here. Feel free to leave reading suggestions in the comments!

What I’ve Been Reading

Await Your Reply  by Dan Chaon.  This had the feel of a book of short stories, because three separate characters follow three seemingly separate story arcs for the majority of the book.  It’s not until near the end when you start to figure out how the three characters are connected to each other.  One is a girl who ran away with her high school teacher; another is a guy who’s searching for his criminal twin brother; and the third is a Northwestern student who leaves school and gets involved in some shady business.

Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn.  I read this book on the recommendation posted in the comments section from my last “What I’ve Been Reading” post, and it was a great read.  The perspective is unique, because chapters alternate between a wife’s diary entries (prior to her murder) and the discovery by the husband and subsequent investigation, dealings with the police, media, etc.  I’m generally not a murder mystery type of reader, but this was a good one.  If I could only recommend one book out of this collection, this one would be it.

The Art of Fielding  by Chad Harbach.  This is by far the most literary sports-themed book I’ve ever read. The story revolves around a scrawny, slick-fielding shortstop who soars to college stardom, his gay teammate/roommate, his manly man of a catcher, and the university president.  It’s a pretty funny read, but you may find yourself frequently having to stop and consult with a dictionary.  Even if you don’t like to do that sort of thing, you should still read it, though.  It’s that good.

Into the Wild  by Jon Krakauer.  I had been hearing about this book for a long time but never got around to reading it until recently.  Krakauer’s books aren’t the most entertaining reads, but I thoroughly enjoy the subject matter.  This one (in case you don’t know already) tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a kid who grew up just outside of D.C., went to college in Atlanta, and then traveled the west coast as a vagabond until braving the Alaskan wilderness.  The Alaskan wilderness won.  I identified with McCandless because I, too, have occasionally had the desire to just disappear into the wilderness for a time.  I would grow tired of it soon and would likely die from getting eaten by a deer or something, but it would be very fulfilling to just get rid of the phone, the computers, the responsibilities, and just experience Earth in a completely foreign way.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter  by Jeff Lindsay.  I have been a fan of the television show Dexter  for years but just recently got into reading the books.  I generally don’t like to read books after I already know the outcome, but the story lines from the television show vary greatly from the books.  Some of the characters are the same, but beyond that, it’s like a whole new season.

Dearly Devoted Dexter  by Jeff Lindsay.  See above.

Inside Seal Team Six  by Don Mann.  With numerous family members, past and present, in the military, I saw this on the shelf and it piqued my interest.  It’s a little bit sensationalistic.  As a former Seal Team Six member, Mann apparently included lots of material that was too sensitive to be released to the public.  Rather than excising that information, the publishers decided to black out the info, so there are entire paragraphs and essentially full pages that are blotted out.  Overall, the military stories are interesting, but the writer is full of himself and spends too much time talking about his troubled youth, as if people read this book to learn about him.  He probably could have divulged the same amount of pertinent information in about two-thirds of the space.

Feel free to leave reading suggestions in the comments section.  Thanks!

What I’ve Been Reading

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction  by Alan Jacobs.  Jacobs is a complete and utter nerd, so naturally, I enjoyed his writing.  The book largely discusses why we’re interested in reading when there are so many other things to do – check e-mail, text our friends, get on Twitter or Facebook, etc.  He didn’t reveal anything particularly groundbreaking, but he suggested that there was a time when we all enjoyed being read to as a child, when we could escape to another reality.  He also suggested lots of different ways to think about reading, including the idea that there are three ways of reading: reading for entertainment, reading for information, and reading for knowledge.  Jacobs likes to savor a good book, write notes in the margins, underline particular passages, etc., and those are things I never did except in college.  But it would be interesting to revisit that method of reading.  Also, I learned a new word: catholic.  I never knew that it could be a lower case word for “a wide variety of things, especially a person’s tastes.”


Before I Fall  by Lauren Oliver.  Don’t ask why I read this, but Before I Fall  is a book geared toward teenage girls.  I’m not giving anything away, but the basic gist of the story is that the narrator – a popular girl in high school – dies in a car accident early in the story.  Much like Groundhog Day, she keeps reliving her final day on Earth, changing little (or big) things here or there in the hopes that she can be released from her purgatory.  It’s a quick read, and it’s actually pretty well written for being young adult fiction, but I don’t imagine many of you will pursue it.

Tell-All  by Chuck Palahniuk.  This is the story of Hazie Coogan, the personal assistant to a famous actress named Katherine Kenton.  Katherine likes to think she’s the boss, but it’s really Hazie who’s pulling all the strings.  Palahniuk’s writing style is a little bit annoying; he keeps name dropping famous actors and actresses, which is cute at first but then grows tiresome.  There are elements of Palahniuk’s Survivor  and Invisible Monsters  in here, but this book isn’t nearly as strong as those two.

Of Mice and Men  by John Steinbeck.  Believe it or not, I never read this when I was in high school or college.  It’s one of those books that you feel like you should have read by now, and if not, you’re an idiot. Now I have read it; I am still an idiot.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it over the course of about two days.  I had heard hints about how it ends, so it wasn’t a surprise; but I can imagine that it would be even more powerful if I hadn’t been expecting it.  The biggest surprise of the book was that it didn’t bore me to death like The Grapes of Wrath  did.

Consider the Lobster  by David Foster Wallace.  I haven’t read a ton of Wallace’s stuff, but he’s sort of hit-or-miss with me.  Some things I enjoy, and some bore me.  This is a collection of essays about various things like John McCain’s election campaign, the lobster industry, conservative talk radio, the porn industry’s AVN Awards, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  My personal favorite was the long discussion of the morality behind the preparation of lobsters.  The thing I like most about Wallace’s is his ability to dig deep into the motivations of authors and people, parsing sentences and words and human actions.  However, don’t pick up this book if you’re looking for a quick read, because all the footnotes and interjections will slow you down.

Feel free to leave reading suggestions in the comments below.  I’m always looking for things to add my already endless reading list.

What I’ve Been Reading

Pat Tillman, the subject of Where Men Win Glory

The Essential Smart Football  by Chris B. Brown.  If you’re a frequent reader of the site (mine or his), then you know the basic gist of what you’ll find in this book.  It’s a collection of blog posts and essays by Brown on the various offenses and defenses being run by the NFL and college teams around the country.  For Michigan fans, there is plenty of discussion of Tom Brady and even a section on offensive coordinator Al Borges.  As a high school coach who’s constantly trying to grasp new schemes and tweak old ones, I breezed through it in no time and want more.  Of course, it helps that the entire book is only 139 pages long.  And luckily, even though I want more, I just have to skip over to Smart Football  and see what’s new.

Where Men Win Glory  by Jon Krakauer.  Ever since I read Under the Banner of Heaven  about a year ago, I’ve been on a Krakauer kick.  I read Into Thin Air  over the summer, and I just ordered Into the Wild. I know I’m behind the times a bit with reading some of these books, but oh well.  I was always fascinated by the story of Pat Tillman because I watched him in college and I liked watching him play for the Arizona Cardinals, who used to be my second favorite team (behind the Lions).  At the time that he left football for the Army, I couldn’t imagine someone giving up a pro football career for a life of fighting in the desert.  It was admirable, of course, but it was a sacrifice of a lifelong dream.  Lots of athletes participated in earlier wars (World War II, Korea, etc.), but there was a time when being a pro athlete wasn’t quite as glamorous.

A Clash of Kings  by George R.R. Martin.  I finished reading A Game of Thrones  a few months ago and immediately moved on to this one.  It seemed to get a bit of a slow start, but eventually picked up and turned into a good read by the end.  I hate to spoil the book for anyone reading or planning to read it, because there are all kinds of twists and turns for the various characters.  The longer this goes on, though, the more I like Tyrion Lannister.

A Storm of Swords  by George R.R. Martin.  Unlike its immediate predecessor, A Clash of Kings, this book started off fast-paced and ended the same way.  It seems like Martin really found his rhythm in this book, although by this point, I’ve started to catch on to his foreshadowing techniques and been able to make some pretty accurate predictions about what’s coming down the pike.  Also unlike the previous books, this one ends on somewhat of a high note.  Things seem to be going in the right direction for the protagonists, and some of the villains are getting what they’ve had coming to them.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks  by Max Brooks.  I am a nerd.