Lit, Flicks, and Pop Culture Hits: September 2007 Archives
I recently finished a book series Mary turned me on to. I've found topical humor books quite hit and miss, and usually more miss. I do have my favorites - P. J. O'Rourke for instance, who I've followed since his National Lampoon days. I've always had a soft spot for Calvin Trillin, especially his Tummy Trilogy series.
I'm not quite ready to enshrine Laurie Notaro among these literary giants, but she does have her moments.
All three of her books appear to be based upon columns she wrote for a newspaper inThe second book, Autobiography of a Fat Bride, is the prize of the trio. It's filled with many laugh-out-loud accounts of life after the author meets her husband to be, finds out to her dismay that he's almost perfect, at least in contrast to all the other dregs of humanity that she's dated prior to him. This triggers an understandable panic reaction as she realizes that "He Is The One," and she has to shape up long enough to ensnare him. Which she does and hence the title. Married life opens up a whole new series of crises and stupid human behavioral traits that were much more enjoyable to read about than they were to experience, I'm sure.
The third book, I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies), falls solidly in between the second and first book. It again has some wonderfully laughable moments but overall the tone is pretty uneven. Still, the scene where she berates a woman wearing an oxygen tank for walking too slow has to be one of the classics.
Mary, I believe, liked these books a bit better than I did. That may be because the humor appeals more to women than to men. Or perhaps because I'm somewhat dense. Or extending it to its logical conclusion, it's because I'm dense because I am a man. All are valid theories. I'd definitely recommend the second book without hesitation. If you like it, get the other two. They do have enough good stories to tide you over.
I just finished reading two different and new Sherlock Holmes stories. It's nice that even though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died over 60 years ago his most famous literary creation is still going strong.
The first book, The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr is the meatier of the two stories being fleshed out to full, albeit short, novel length. This tome is classic Holmes from the late 1800's with all of the principals present including Watson, brother Mycroft, and the redoubtable Mrs. Hudson, the landlady. The majority of the story is set in
Overall the book is an enjoyable read. Written from the viewpoint of Watson but on a more intimate basis then the classic Conan Doyle stories one gets a slightly different feel for the aforementioned character then I remember from the originals. Watson does seem to be somewhat more on the ball then he normally is portrayed, a change I liked. The mystery itself isn't that engrossing and incorporates elements of the supernatural that I really didn't find that compelling. The conclusion of the mystery was, to my mind, a bit unsatisfactory, But for something to while a way a couple of afternoons, preferably during a dreary, drizzly day (to set the proper mood) one could do worse.
The second book, The Final Solution, is stylistically a bit more interesting. Set in the waning years of a very long life, a famous detective confronts his final mystery. Written by Michael Chabon, one of my favorite contemporary authors, the book is written in traditional third person as the usual diarist has presumably passed away years earlier. The story itself is actually more of a novella fleshed out with some interesting sketches which I quite liked. So not quite a graphic novel but more in line with the Holmes story versions I read as a child, with similar but more conventional illustrations.
The setting is World War II and I find it a little disconcerting that the main character finds himself in this era, as does he himself at one point. I've always been uncomfortable with the Basil Rathbone movies where he saves the
In any case the story was somewhat interesting but not engrossing. The book's brevity in this case is an advantage as one can sail through it quickly and when done won't feel that their time has been wasted. It still didn't strike me as rich as the original stories but then it might be more that I'm frustrated that the protagonist is really just a shadow of his former self, though capable of the inductive leaps of old.
So once again a qualified recommendation, perhaps a good book to curl up with on a cold wintry night with a good cup of cocoa and a fire.
I just finished the The Four Hour Work Week, a book that's currently topping the best seller lists. Mary originally bought it and I picked it up after she was done. From the numbers it seems there's a lot of people out there who want to break loose from the
As Mary pointed out when she read it, the book seems to offer a lot of insights that have been culled from other sources, and not in a terribly well organized manner either. Some of the concepts the author lists are fairly common knowledge in engineering and manufacturing fields.
Yet, as Mary commented later, the book wasn't without merit. Based on some advice in the book, she did take a long look at many of her vendors and customers and started culling those who required more effort then the returns justified.
The section that interested me was the one on adopting a global lifestyle while maintaining a business. Unfortunately there wasn't much of real use here except for a list of websites that I am planning on checking out. We've been discussing whether or not we can get away and live somewhere else for one or more months a year and still keep MouseSavers.com up and running. This is exactly what the author is doing himself, but he encourages one to think they can do it without having to actually work or anything so gauche. While I admire his ability to run a business without having to do much of anything, most businesses do not lend themselves to this type of hands-off philosophy in the long term. Still, with an effective Internet connection, we probably can run the business from almost anywhere effectively, and the book does bear this out to some degree.
Overall, my main complaint is that it isn't clear right from the get go that the recommendations and advice noted in the book aren't for everyone - or even for more than a rather narrow cross section of the population. Work in a factory? This book isn't for you. Work on a farm? Nada. Run a retail store? No help here. As a matter of fact the majority of people right now who live 9 to 5 jobs will not find much of use in this book.
The author seems to suffer from a lack of understanding of modern day corporate dynamics. The whole section on how to shift your job from the office to the home is hardly relevant to any of the workplaces I've been involved in. For instance, one recommendation was to use software to access your work computer from home and demonstrate that you can accomplish more from home. Many workplaces nowadays don't allow remote access to work place computers and especially networks because of the security risks. And the whole proposal for shifting one's self out of the office and working from home really runs against the empire building tendencies of almost every mid-level supervisor I ever encountered. Oh, and from personal experience - if you're not in the office you automatically become the easiest person to let go during the latest downsizing, regardless of your work output. So I would probably take the recommendations as to how to divorce yourself from the office with a really large gain of salt.
So if you're an entrepreneur or ready to become one, there are some interesting and potentially useful tidbits in the book. If you're an office drone, maybe not so much. And, if like most people, you work a job that requires you to service customers in a store or factory or other venue of the traditional
