Two Forms of Judgement Day

Hey All,

Two weekends ago, a friend called me out for not stating on this blog what I truly feel about the books I'm reading; I’ll try to heed that advice.  That friend is also the person who recommended Anna Karenina, and he graciously gave me a copy that same night.  Thank you, Curtis; I still need you to sign it.  And also, f*&k you, Curtis, for recommending that behemoth of a book.  Saam Hashemi, you too get my one finger salute for recommending Of Human Bondage, for, as I learned this week, it too, is monstrous.  I'm having a hard enough time with Helter Skelter, I can only imagine what I'll be like when up against Leo Tolstoy and W. Somerset Maugham.  The one redeeming virtue for those two books is that they were written by people who wrote for a living, and not lawyers (as is the case with Helter Skelter), so I imagine neither of them will be as difficult to get through.  I hope.

Other friends have encouraged me to put up more posts.  Thank you, and fair enough.  I'll try to keep up with the demand.  In my defense, I will note that because Helter Skelter is so tedious to read, like any good procrastinator, I avoid it, and therefore have little about which to write.  There are sometimes days wherein I don't read a single page of the book.  Fortunately, though, Mr. Charles Manson finally appeared, and the book did, as a few people told me it would, get a lot more interesting.  Yet again, though, I've lost interest.

Sorry, Jocelyn (McEachern, who recommended this book), but it's boring at times.  Most of the time, in fact.  It is just detail after detail, as if the author, who is the man who prosecuted Charles Manson, needs to show the world what a great job he did in getting Manson convicted of murders he never - by his own hand, anyway - committed (I have no doubt that Manson was behind the murders for which he is accused.  But he never actually killed anyone, he just got other people to do it for him).

I admit, reading this book makes me want to know more about Charles Manson (though I imagine that by the time I'm done, I'll know a fair bit).  I'm tempted to go online and read about him, and to try to find interviews with him so I can hear him speak (what is the voice behind - or in front of, I suppose - this sick, warped mind?).  Maybe watch some documentaries or movies with and about him.  Not that I want to be part of the Manson Family (as they’re called); it's that he's such an intriguing character that I cannot help but want to know more.  I am holding back on doing that, though, as I don’t want to ruin what will come forth in the book, such as the details of the trial and how the case was made by the attorneys (I'm in the midst of that right now).

Because I'm reading Helter Skelter at a pretty slow pace, I'm behind schedule for my reading.  I'll be alright, though, as I plan to follow it up with a really light read. I think I'll need to. Any suggestions on what book should be next?  I still haven't decided if there will be a set plan on how I read through the list, or if I'll just go with what I feel like as I finish one book and start another. 

Here is the list as it stands right now:

1. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (Debbie Murphy)
2. Linchpin by Seth Godin (Kim Gardner)
3. Orange Crush by Tim Dorsey (Dan Pelosi)
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
5. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik (Katelyn Foster)
6. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Keltie Neville)
7. Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry (Jocelyn McEachern)
8. Josephine B Trilogy by Sandra Gulland (Erica Zeman)
9. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Kristine Sorrento-Evans)
10. The Cave by Jose Saramago (Ines Ortiz)
11. Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (Nicole Callahan)
12. Confessions of a Shopaholicby Sophie Kinsella (Okame Musume)
13. Stroll by Shawn Micallef (Kris Williamson)
14. Songbook by Nick Hornby (Andrew Eaton)
15. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Amy Bea)
16. Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh (Teena May Smith)
17. Still Alice by Lisa Genova (Aaron Stewart)
18. The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Marukami (Mark Van De Ven)
19. The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe (Chaz Sullivan)
20. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (Scott Harmer)
21. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk (Graham Dalseg)
22. The Stranger by Albert Camus (Danny Gorman)
23. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Chris Roy)
24. The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant (Philip Wilson)
25. ‎Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Martina Smith)
26. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (Tim O'Connor)
27. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (Mariona Blanch)
28. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Curtis Maloley)
29. Night by Elie Wiesel (Shauntel Jaclyn-Ann Daley)
30. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot (Robyn Nepean)
31. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (Saam Hashemi)
32. City of Thieves by David Benioff (Ann Sheldon)

-Bryan

A Small Reflection

Hey All,


I've realized through this process that I really only like - perhaps liked is a better word - to read fictional novels.  Helter Skelter is the first work of non-fiction that I can remember reading (aside from my university readings) in, well, I can't remember another non-fiction book I've read. 


Yet, in cruising through my book list, a few of the recommendations struck me by virtue of the fact that they are not fiction.  My initial reaction upon noticing each of the non-fiction books was, admittedly, anger.  Silly, I know, but my thinking went something along the lines of "Why would they recommend this to me?  Don't they know what I was looking for?"  Then, of course, it dawned on me that no, no one really knew what I was looking for, because I didn't explicitly state what I was looking for.  I put a pretty loose request out there for book recommendations.


I'm glad I did.  I'm looking forward to getting into these non-fiction books, and trying out some new things.  Some of them seem really interesting, and really quite relevant.  I won't mention titles right now, but you know which ones they are...


-Bryan

Into the Mind of a Killer

Hey All,

I’m slow-going with Helter Skelter.  It’s about the Manson Murders that took place back in Hollywood in 1969.

I have to admit, I am drawn into the story, but the writers are really dragging me down with details.  The book reads at times like a police report, and other times like a well-told story.  There are often too many details, and I’m tempted to skim.  But I can’t.  It’s part of the reason why I’m a slow reader, and I can’t help it.  

I’m less than 100 pages into the over 600-page book, and we’re still going over the crime scene and the backgrounds of the people involved in the murders.  Charles Manson’s name has not yet been mentioned once.  I guess I’ll change what I wrote above, and say that Helter Skelter reads like a court case, and the authors are trying to present a case, though that case is more like history, than one particular viewpoint.  Bugliosi and Gentry are not arguing for one side or another, but are, instead, giving me a pretty interesting, though sometimes tiresome, picture of the case.  The whole case.  Every single detail they could find.

Unlike City of Thieves, there is nothing funny about Helter Skelter.  It’s pretty gruesome, actually.  I don’t yet know, and I am dying to find out the reasons, why (I know, I could just go online and find the answer to pretty much any question I might have about this case in less than two minutes) someone would stab another person over forty times.  FORTY!  One person was stabbed over fifty!  What the f...!!!  Just try to imagine yourself stabbing someone even twice.  I can’t.  What the hell goes through a person’s mind when they’re doing that?  How can you possibly be that angry, have that much hatred, especially in such a washed out, vanilla (at least on the surface) place as Hollywood?  If this were taking place in a war zone, I might be able to better understand it.  But from what little I do know about this case, the victims did not in any way harm the murderers or their families.  Pure lunacy.  

And I love it.

-Bryan

One More Shot at City of Thieves

Hey All,

I just finished City of Thieves, and I have to admit, I'm sad.  Don't worry, though, this happens often when I finish a book I really like.  I once heard an author (or perhaps a reviewer, I can't remember who) tell of how he never once finished a book, because if he did, it would make him sad to have it over.  I'm not quite that dramatic, and, well, I like to know how things end.  Oftentimes, though, I end up, even with books I really enjoy, disappointed in the ending of a book.

I used to be in a band, and I know how hard it can be to write the end of a song.  Just think about it: do you make the music simply fade out?  Do you sing it out?  End on one final note?  The possibilities can be daunting.  Now, I'm not saying the same thing happens with a novel, as I am sure most writers already know their endings before they're even halfway done writing the book.  But my point here is in the details.  That's what I either love or am disappointed in with book endings.  And City of Thieves, though not the best, has a good ending.

What constitutes a good ending for me is a sense of completeness.  When I am finished the book, I shouldn't feel that there is anything left dangling.  Certain questions can be left unsaid, if that is the nature of the book, but I don't want any loose ends.  When I read the last sentence, I want to feel as though I know all that the author wants me to know.  For that reason, I try my best to anticipate when I will finish a book, because I like to take a few minutes once I finish, and reflect on what I just read.  If the book and it's ending were good, chances are that I'll have a great big smile on my face while doing this, and will just bliss out for a while.  That, to me, is the sign of a good experience.

I'm tempted to tell everyone to read City of Thieves, but I know that not every good book will affect everyone in the same way.  Just as not everyone gets goosebumps on their skin every time they see the replay of Joe Carter hitting the World Series-winning homerun in 1993 for the Blue Jays.  Still, even a casual observer of sports, with a little understanding of baseball, can appreciate what that homerun might mean to a fan.  So it is that a person can appreciate a good book when they read one.

Wow, this really sounds like a review, eh?  It's not what I meant, but I just kind of went where my mind took me on this post.

I'm starting my next book tonight: Helter Skelter, by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, and recommended to me by Jocelyn McEachern.  It's about the Manson murders, and was not the kind of book I expected from little Jocey.  I'm excited to get into it, in part because serial killers and murderers intrigue me, but also because I rarely read non-fiction, and I think it will be somewhat challenging for me.

-Bryan