Ramblings....

Well, it has been crazy lately, what with the two jobs to survive gig. But it hasn't been all work and no play. For the most part it has been work, read, sleep, work, work, read, sleep, and on and on.

I recently finished Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. Having never read any of Ms. Fisher's work before, I have to say it was thoroughly enjoyable. She is one extremely funny lady. This book is an adaptation of her one-woman show of the same name. I highly recommend this very readable and insightful look into the crazy world she inhabits. (And I avoided mentioning Princess Leia even once....oh wait, doh!....) And, this has to be one of the funniest book covers in recent memory.

I also recently finished My Boring Ass Life by Kevin Smith, of Clerks fame. Kevin Smith is a new hero of mine and I'm ashamed I didn't worship him sooner. I will say that this book is subtitled "The uncomfortably candid diary of Kevin Smith", and it surely deserves that description.

Crazy For This Book

Well, I hate to sound overly dramatic, but I have just finished one of the best books I have read in a long time.

To be released in May from Ecco, an imprint of Harper, is Crazy For the Storm by Norman Ollestad.

On February 19, 1979, I was in a plane crash with my father;
his girlfriend, Sandra; and the pilot of our chartered Cessna.
Sandra was 30 years old. My dad was 43. I was 11.
Just after sunrise, we slammed into a rugged 8,600-foot mountain
engulfed in a blizzard. By the end of our nine-hour ordeal,
I was the only survivor.

In my estimation, it is a true test of a writer's abilities if they can tell you awful things in a beautiful way (see Rick Bragg's All Over But the Shoutin'). In alternate chapters, Ollestad tells the story first of the plane crash and in the next chapter, wonderful tales of a young boy's relationship to the world around him, but especially the one with his own father.

Larger than life, Ollestad's dad had been a child actor and an FBI agent -- albeit one who dared to criticize in print the famed director, J. Edgar Hoover. This tidbit is merely spice in the soup which was the life the father led. Throughout the book it is proven that Ollestad's dad, also named Norman, was one of those people we often envy -- they live life on the edge, fast and rebellious, and far too often flame out early.

All the characters in the book, even the minor ones, are painted with such a realistic brush that I felt real empathy for young Norman throughout all the adventures with his dad. Despite what some people may see as a reckless and "pushy" style of fathering, what comes shining through is the real love between the two.

In later chapters, the son finally comes to grips with the loss of his father. With a decades later trip to the crash site, son talks to father in the solitude. He apologizes to the ghost of his dad's girlfriend. And, in one of those epiphanies we all experience from time to time, he realizes that memory is sometimes faulty but that there is always some mystical influence on our lives.

I cannot say enough how much I loved this book.



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http://www.normanollestad.com/

http://www.harpercollins.com

Quick ! Call 911

Having not read any Neil Strauss before, I wasn't sure upon beginning Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life whether or not the title was to be taken seriously or not. For all I knew, this was going to be another of those books which set the reader up for a "haha, gotcha" at the end.

Up until now the totality of my survival training has been "Survivor Man" with Les Stroud on the Discovery channel. This isn't too far removed from Strauss' own knowledge when he began this process as he states early in the book:

"In short, if the system ever did break down, the only useful skill I really had was the ability to write about it."

And what a great skill it is. Strauss surprised me . Even while inserting his sharp and biting humor, the subject matter is treated anything but lightly. Spurred by Hurricane Katrina, Strauss decided that living in America had changed. He launched a plan: escape the system.

Take a look at some chapter titles:

Tips On Death Cult Etiquette

A Beginner's Guide to Evil In the Twentieth Century

The Problem with Gas Masks

How to Become Immortal in One Easy Step

I have to give Strauss credit. He kept my interest while not frustrating me as I tried to figure out whether or not he was playing with my head. Gradually, I figured out that he was either serious about his subject or that he was one of those writers who lost themselves in their "research".

On the official website, http://neilstrauss.com/emergency , you can watch several videos and learn abouta special book club Neil is hosting. But, you may want to read the book first, as one video could ruin a surprise in the book.

There is also a browse inside widget located here: http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060898779&WT.mc_id=WT.mc_id=BLOG_BI_FCS-EMER_022509

And, if you have facebook, there is this: http://apps.facebook.com/willyousurvive .

I've never had so much fun while getting more and more concerned about my future. I don't yet worry about aliens stealing my luggage, but I am contemplating tin foil over my windows.

I also can't think of anyone I'd rather have as my tour guide to invisibility than Neil Strauss.

Reading Emergency makes me want to read Strauss' other books. In between my survival classes that is.

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life hits stores in paperback tomorrow.

ISBN 9780060898779
418 pages
Harper Collins
http://www.harpercollins.com
http://neilstrauss.com

False Start

Well, when I started this blog I was unemployed. It turned out that was a short window, because I was lucky enough to get a job offer the night I was laid off. Of course, I had to take a 20% pay cut in the process, so it's been a little crazy around BookSpin Manor.

I have been so busy trying to get money flowing the right way that I haven't had much opportunity to tend to this...my true love. But I promise I will do better. I will post something nearly every day, even if it's just a link to books news or reviews.

I am currently reading Emergency This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss and will post a review next week. Strauss is the author of The Game and Rules of the Game and the co-author of four other bestsellers including How to Make Love to a Porn Star with Jenna Jameson.

Beginning, Scratching, Fearing and Honoring

On the surface the two books I chose for my first BOOKSPIN review couldn't be more different. However, upon further review, Adam Shepard's Scratch Beginnings and Ruben "Doc" Cavazos' Honor Few, Fear None share one important theme -- each book is an answer to a book that they each felt were untrue, or at best, misleading.

First up, Shepard gives us his response to Barbara Ehrenreich's famous titles Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. The copy on the back of the book intimates that Shepard was "incensed" by Ehrenreich's work. To be honest, I don't recall those two books being mentioned by Shepard in the pages, but that is moot. I was prepared to dislike Scratch because I very much enjoyed and agreed with Ms. Ehrenreich's books.

But, in fairness, Shepard provides an easy-to-read narrative of his journey. Beginning with $25 and a rough plan, he travels to Charleston, South Carolina to prove to himself that the American Dream is still alive. Shepard has a good voice for describing the characters he met in the shelter and at the jobs he took along the way.

Somehow Shepard presents himself as a sympathetic character. I did find him likable and was pulling for him to succeed. And, I suppose, the biggest compliment I can give him is that I think he and Ms. Ehrenreich are both right. The problem of homelessness and poverty is too large to be solved by the words of any writer, no matter how erudite.

I reccommend Scratch Beginnings to anyone who wants to be reminded that the heartbeat of the American Dream is still alive and cannot be stilled.

On the other hand, Honor Few, Fear None is a scathing attack on a previous book by law enforcement agent Billy Queen, Under and Alone. The subtitle of Honor is "The Life & Times of a Mongol". The Mongols are one of the most infamous motorcyle gangs in America. Cavazos had been asked before to write a book about his life, but not until Queen's lie-filled book (according to Cavazos) came out, did he decide to tell his story and the story of the gang he leads.

I previously read Under and Alone because I find myself mesmerized by inside accounts of modern-day "outlaws". I never expected that just a few years later I would be able to read the rebuttal. Cavazos justifies many of the activities of the Mongols with somewhat self-serving reasoning, but it makes sense. From his childhood in southern California street gangs, he was destined to be marginalized by the system.

Reading this book, I cannot help but see similarities to the (also self-serving) autobiographies which spill forth from the minds of business and political leaders. But, I have to admit, I personally come down on the side of Cavazos rather than Queen. His management style and leadership techniques have brought the Mongols to where they are today...whether you like it or not. Ruben "Doc" Cavazos is truly a self-made man. Of course, he would tell you that he couldn't have done it without his brothers, the Mongols.

In summary, I enjoyed both of these books. They both tell of triumph over adversity -- one on the east coast and the other out west -- yet worlds apart.

HONOR FEW, FEAR NONE The Life & Times of a Mongol by Ruben "Doc" Cavazos
Harper Collins
ISBN 9780061137891
Hardcover only -- paperback releases on May 19, 2009
Author website: http://www.Mongolsmc.com
Publisher website: http://www.harpercollins.com

SCRATCH BEGINNINGS Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard
Harper Collins
ISBN 9780061714368
Hardcover only
Author website: http://www.scratchbeginnings.com
Publisher website: http://www.harpercollins.com


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