On the bookshelf
Ramblings on recent readings

As a frequent flier, I've found a good book is the best defense against the bozo sitting next to you who feels compelled to explain the ins and outs of selling porcelain bathroom fixtures across the East Coast. Here are a few of the more recent weapons in this Stategic Defense Initiative:

What I'm reading now ...

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain: Despite the fact that the author is pretty damn snarky, this is worth the read, especially if you eat out a lot. It tells you what really goes on behind those swinging doors to the kitchen. It's entertaining and informative.

Recent readings ...

Lummox, Mike Magnuson: Pretty damn funny at times, and I could relate to a lot of it since Magnuson and I are about the same age. It's basically his coming of age tale, but it's also a manifesto for the lowly Lummox, that brutish, oversized American male who everyone assumes is a big dumb lout even though he is only behaving like a big dumb lout and deep inside, he's really a pretty bright guy. Parts of it are pretty annoying, but overall, it was worth the read.

Young Adam, Alexander Trocchi : A Scottish beat. Overall, this one was something of a disappointment. Very derivative of Camus and Sartre, though it does have its moments. I've developed a keen interest in things Scottish, so it had some interesting points along those lines. And at times, Trocchi could turn a phrase. But the book drags at times and really doesn't hook you.

Heart Songs and Other Stories, by Annie Proulx: OK. It's official. Proulx is my favorite writer. I think I've now read all of her works, and she never disappoints. This collection of stories is incredible. Every page has one of those "I wish I'd written that" lines. Her attention to detail is incredible.

Glue, by Irvine Welsh: This is the latest novel by one of my favorite writers. It traces the friendship of four boys as they grow up in Scotland through the '70s, '80s and '90s. This one really stuck with me. Welsh does an incredible job of capturing realistic dialogue and situations. Each character follows you around long after you've put the book down. This also struck a chord because it reminded me vaguely of my youth and a circle of friends who called ourselves the Alpinians.

Postcards , by Annie Proulx: She's an incredible writer. I first read Shipping News, which blew me away, and have been devouring her books ever since. Postcards has the same dark themes and strange, almost absurd plot twists as her other books. She has a nice sense of pacing and really brings her characters to life -- even if it is only to meet a grisly death in many instances. Love the way she's playing with images of bones and mortality while she spins a tale of people who are trying desparately to find a future in lives that won't surrender the past.

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How they Got There, by David Brooks: This book is a great read, and a little frightening since I see myself reflected in here at times. I'm not certain I'm a full-fledged Bobo, but I show some of the symtoms. Basic premise is that the '60s ideology really wasn't lost as boomers acquired wealth and moved into the business world. They merely molded it to fit their needs. I'm not doing it justice with that brief description. It's definitely worth reading. For the most part, his analysis is right on the mark, and he has a great wit. Even though he ridicules the Bobos often, it's clear he sees their emergence as a good thing overall.

Three Soldiers, by John Dos Passos: This is another installment in my First World War kick. I became fascinated with WWI after coming to it through literary Modernism, particularly the images of the shellshocked Septimus Warren Smith in Virginia Wolfe's Mrs. Dalloway. I read All's Quite on the Western Front and several other books. I've also been interested in Dos Passos since reading Manhattan Transfer. The butchery in that war amazes me. Three Soldiers, however, focuses more on the way men are turned into machines. There's a sort of naturalism that flows through the book, and the battle scenes remind me vaguely of those in the Red Badge of Courage.

Marabou Stork Nightmares, Irvine Welsh: Welsh has quickly become one of my favorite writers. He writes in Scottish dialect, which can take some getting used to. For me, it was like the first time I read A Clockwork Orange. I had a hard time plowing through all the unfamiliar words, but after several pages you actually start to pick up on it and it flows. Welsh's writing is stark, darkly humorous and brutal. Marabou isn't his best book (my favorite so far has been Filth; he also wrote Trainspotting), but it's certainly worth picking up.

The Plutonium Files, Eileen Welsome. Welsome won the national reporting Pulitzer in 1994 while she was at The Albuquerque Tribune for her stories about U.S. researchers who injected people with plutonium. These test subjects were, more often than not, poor or minorities and they weren't told what was being done to them. (Full disclosure: I was the copy editor on the original series.) Welsome's book is a more expansive look at these experiments. It's well-written and does a great job of exploring the extent to which this sort of experimentation occurred. It's truly horrifying, especially considering that we were trying Germans for war crimes while some of these experiments were being conducted in the U.S. The book does run long and sometimes gets bogged down in detail, but I think it's necessary from an academic standpoint. Casual readers can easily skip through those sections.One recurring image from the book is that of one scientist whose arrogance was so overpowering that he refused to flush the toilet in his hotel rooms, leaving that lowly task to the maids. Gee. I wonder how he could have been involved in these experiments ...

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