rick at the hunter's head in Upperville, VA

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Rick's nightstand

Updated: August 12, 2007

Chronological order


Reviews


The Amazing Adventures oof Kavalier annd Clay ...

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon is an author I discovered somewhat by accident in 1998 when I picked up a copy of his first novel (his Master's thesis no less!), Mysteries of Pittsburgh at San Francisco's famous City Lights books store. I was looking for something to read on the flight home, and—being born in the steel city—the title caught my eye. That day I fell in love with Michael Chabon's writing style and began actively seeking out his work.

Chabon's third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is one of the most unusual, interesting and beautiful stories I have ever read. It is the story of two Jewish cousins—who come together as boys as one arrives in America from Czechoslovakia just ahead of the Nazis invading his homeland—and their adventures building a comic book empire in New York City in the 1940s. Chabon's story explores good, evil, longing, dispair, escape artistry, as well as comic books; but at its heart it is a study of love and friendship.

Nothing more I could write here would do this story justice. It is beautiful, and I loved every word of it.

Powell's has a very good interview with Michael Chabon on their Web site conducted when the author visited the store in October 2000.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001.


Buster Midnight's Cafe by Sandra Dallas

Buster Midnight's Cafe
by Sandra Dallas

My office has a bookshelf in one of the kitchenettes that acts as a book exchange. The idea is that one can take a book if they also add one. One day I found myself between reads, and so I picked up Buster Midnight's Cafe from the book exchange shelf. It was intended to be a light read for me until I decided what I wanted to tackle next, and it was.

In the vein of Fannie Flagg's very popular Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe, this novel takes place in both the small mining town of Butte, Montana, and the hills of Hollywood. It is written in a colloquial tongue and is populated with colourful characters with names like Effa Commander, Whippy Bird, and of course Buster Midnight. It is a story of life-long friendships, Hollywood studio star treatments, as well as tragedy. It isn't great, or groundbreaking, literature, but I enjoyed the diversion and the story.


Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen

Sick Puppy
by Carl Hiaasen

Sick Puppy was recommended to me by a friend who is originally from Florida. She loves leftist politics—especially environmental issues—and grew up adopting manatees, and saving the everglades, and such. She loved the book, and thought I would as well. At first I did, and I even found myself laughing out loud at some points. However, the book was about 100 pages longer than it needed to be, if you catch my drift.

This book meanders, ducks, swerves, darts, and sometimes drags as it makes its way through the story of Palmer Stoat and Twilly Spree. The former is one of Florida's "cockiest and most powerful political fixers" who is keen to help a "client" pave over a pristine coastal, ecologically fragile island. The latter is "[i]dealistic, independently wealthy and pathologically short-tempered." And he has "dedicated himself to saving Florida's wilderness from runaway destruction." From there it just gets weird.

As much as I enjoy comic fiction with a message, I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to love it. Carl Hiaasen is an excellent writer—and an award-winning journalist—but the style and tone of this book reminded me a bit too much of Gregory Mcdonald and his Fletch series. Which isn't a bad thing, as I love those books.

I enjoyed Sick Puppy because it is a funny story filled with incredibly odd and well-developed quirky characters. I liked the story of and eco-terrorist with a heart, and not much sense. I just didn't bond with any of these people. But that's my issue, and I wouldn't let it keep you from giving this a read should you come across it.

Among the Thugs by Bill Buford

Among the Thugs
by Bill Buford

Among the Thugs was given to me by a good mate—and good bloke—who lives in London. In 2001, he was generous enough not only to allow me to spend Christmas with his family (3 French hens, 2 sisters-in-law, and a grandfather with a sherry!), he also showed me Stonehenge, Plymouth, Wales and all points in betweeen. This man made a lot of time for me. When he recommends a book, I read it.

Prior to taking me to a football match betweeen Wolves and Watford, my friend told me what I could expect from the supporters who would be attending with us. He told me about chants questioning whether one team or another had shagged Elton John. He told me that things will get tight in the tunnel leading into the stadium, and to just keep moving.

The chants ended up being brilliantly amusing, and I even found out why Wolves supporters taunted the home team for taking liberties with Sir Elton! And after walking many blocks to find an away team-friendly pub, and many pints discussing football with the rest of the lads, my friend suggested I read Bill Buford's, Among the Thugs.

Among the Thugs is the story of one journalist's adventures living the life of a Manchester United supporter; attending matches, marches, and mayhem. The book spans a number of years, chronicaling the lives of people who might tattoo Man U's crest on their forehead, but definitely would brawl if another team's supporters so much as looked at them funny. When all is said, the book reveals what it means not only to be a supporter, but what it means to become part of a violent mob. A hooligan.

While this book might appeal more to those who fancy themselves armchair socioligists, rather than those who like football, Among the Thugs is a good book with a strong fact-backed story with many colorful characters.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

The Shipping News
by Annie Proulx

A few weeks before I started The Shipping News, I had spoken with an avid reader friend who had recently started the book. She said that while she rarely — if ever — stops reading a book once she starts, she had a hard time getting into this book. That it didn't grab her. Since this friend and I don't always have the same tastes in literature, I didn't think too much about the statement. Especially since I knew three other people who had read the book and all of them recommended it highly.

When I finally got around to picking this book up to read, I was on the Metro. And I as I stumbled through the unusual prose style of Annie Proulx for the first time, I thought about my friend's words, and considered putting the book down for something else.

Having now finished the book, I am very glad I kept with it. It is an amazing story of love and perseverance.

The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1994.

The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills

The Restraint of Beasts
by Magnus Mills

I'm not sure what was being discussed the night Nick pulled The Restraint of Beasts from his shelf and handed to me; but after reading the book I am more curious than ever.

Magnus Mills' book is very well written, with a simple tone, and simple characters that lend themselves well to the comedy noir of this story of two fence builders from Scotland and their English foreman.

I don't think it gives too much away to say that I think this book — as well-written as it is — makes a better screenplay than novel. I think this will make an excellent film, but as a novel I found that the book ended when I expected it to start. At first I was disappointed in this, but when I started to visualise the story as a film — with the characters being played by actors of my choosing — I found the ending much more palatable.

I hope someone does make a film of this unusual and fresh story.

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby

How to Be Good
by Nick Hornby

Considering, right now, I would read a bar napkin if Nick Hornby had written on it, I figured it was best to continue on that vein and read Nick's most recent book, How to Be Good. In Hornby's fourth novel the author, who has made a living on self-analysis and what it means to be male, writes about — and from the point of view of — a woman. Hornby's female persona is a doctor named Katie Carr whose difficult husband, David, writes a newspaper column titled "Angriest Man in Holloway." The book starts just as Katie has had enough, and has told David she wants a divorce. But then David befriends a hippie-raver-mystic-do-gooder and suddenly becomes the caring, earnest person Katie should adore. But Katie feels more frustrated than before as realizes that David's metamorphosis is making her question her own life.

I am nearly finished with this book, and I adore it. However, again, I am sad that I won't have anymore to read by an author I find so appealing.

How to Be Good was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize.

The American Book of the Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia by Oliver Trager

The American Book of the Dead
by Oliver Trager

I have sometimes turned to this excellent reference — when I crave more information about a song, special guest artist, etc — while listening to a particularly hot show. Recently, after discovering that I was out of...umm...casual reading material, I decided to read The American Book of the Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia cover-to-cover. It is very informative and, I think, a book that should be on any DeadHead's shelf.

Not only does this book have tons of information about the band and their music. It is also a wonderful reference for little-known (and/or under-appreciated) artists who directly and indirectly influenced the band, and therefore American music.

Another thing of interest are the photographs — many of which apparently have never been printed before.

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

Fever Pitch
by Nick Hornby

When I was planning my trip to England and Wales, I had asked my friend Nick to see if he could get tickets to an English football match. I told him I didn't care what level, but that most of my life I have wanted to experience a live football match outside of the States.

Not knowing how much, and how long, I have loved the game, Nick probably assumed I was daft when it came to football. Perhaps it was for this reason that he recommended I read Fever Pitch before attending a match.

I had already decided to read Fever Pitch long before this recommendation because — as you may have noticed — I am a huge fan of Nick Hornby's work, but I decided that it was a good idea to read the book before experiencing a live match.

The book is a humorous look at Nick Hornby's real-life — and lifelong — obsession with Arsenal football. He draws analogies between Arsenal's successes and failures and those of his life, and one gets the feeling that like his characters in About a Boy and High Fidelity that the book is a healing journey for the author.

This book is not just about football. It is also about obsessions and what it means to be a fan.

About a Boy by Nick Hornby

About a Boy
by Nick Hornby

About a Boy is Nick Hornby's third book, and like High Fidelity, looks into the lives of contemporary males and their relationships. I just started the book, so right now I don't have much more to offer. But here is a description from Powell's:

"In About a Boy, Will Lightman is living the bachelor dream in his London flat with the incredible stereo system and cream-colored rug. But once he starts pretending eccentric twelve-year-old Marcus is his son in order to attract the attentions of London's pool of attractive single mothers, things begin to go a bit haywire. Marcus may be as nerdy as Will is cool, but somehow they need one another. And Will certainly seems to think he needs the beautiful Angie, who, of course, will eventually have to learn that Marcus is not really Will's son. Or will she?"

Living with the Dead by Rock Scully

Living with the Dead
by Rock Scully

Living with the Dead is a snapshot of Grateful Dead history — from 1965 to the mid-1980s — as told by Rock Scully, the band's former manager. It had been sitting on my shelf for a few years, and I started reading it because I had finished Good Omens and hadn't picked a new book. It has since been relegated to the bed side. Not because it is dull, but it isn't Metro reading. Rock is more of a narrator than a story teller, but the stories are funny, and I had never heard these accounts in previous books about The Dead.

As I come near the end of this book, I feel I must tell people that if you worship the ground Jerry Garcia walked on, you may wish to avoid this book. Rock weaves some wonderful stories from the band's history in the 60s and 70s, but once they get to the 80s, the darkside — that the heavy drugs brought on — is exposed, and it isn't pretty. According to Rock, he had almost finished the book before Jerry died, and Jerry had told him to "just tell the truth." We'll have to take his word that he did, at least until others can say otherwise, I guess.

On an unrelated note, in 1995 I wrote an email to John Perry Barlow asking for his help to defeat some legislation that was aimed at silencing the voices of the nonprofit community. Anyway, John replied to me, but not about the legislation. He thought I was Rock Scully.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Good Omens
by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

An old friend recommended Good Omens to me a couple of months ago. Apparently it is a light-hearted comic look at the Apocalypse. The New York Times review comment on the front cover reads: "A direct descendent of The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy." So it seemed like this was the logical next book for me.

From the back jacket...

"We hear the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. And the representatives from Heaven and Hell have decided they actually like the human race..."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy, Part II
by Douglas Adams

After reading the first installment as a stand-alone book, I borrowed a copy of the "trilogy in four parts" — The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish — from my friend John and decided it would make some good light reading.

I started it before I went to Colorado and it was ideal reading material for the long flights. I don't know why they even bother to sell the book in any form but the "trilogy." The story needs to be told in its entirety. Anyways, it is silly, funny, insane and surprisingly thought provoking. And it makes people look at me oddly when they see (and hear) me laughing out loud.

After reading the first four parts of this trilogy I was severely disappointed. What I thought was the last installment — So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish — was horrible! I was so upset by the way Adams had left the series, that I was scrounging the Web looking for what others thought of the book. I was relieved to learn that So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish was not, in fact, the last installment, and that there was a final book called Mostly Harmless. The same day I found a co-worker who had a copy of Mostly Harmless, and borrowed it. And I must say that I was again disappointed.

That being said, I don't think anyone will miss anything by only reading the first three books.

The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver

I wasn't quite sure what to pick up next on the nightstand, so I decided to read The Poisonwood Bible. I must admit I don't know much about the book. I had only overheard people mention the title, and in all cases it were women who were discussing it.

I will write more once I have finished a few more chapters, but my immediate response is positive. It is well-written, and the narration is unusual. The story is about the Price family who at the beginning of the book are on their way to the Congo as missionaries. The unusual thing about the narrative is that each chapter is told by a different character, and from what I can tell, only the mother/wife and daughters tell the story, and always in the first person as if they are telling the reader the story. One of the daughters — one of a set of twins — was born with essentially only half a brain, and she does not speak. But according to her narrative she can read and does think. As I said, it is an interesting book.

Update (8.30.01) Wow! This is an amazing book that I can not do justice in this space. Just Read It!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I have never read Douglas Adams' classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. So I borrowed a friend's copy in order to right that wrong. I looked at the other things on the nightstand, and decided Hitchhiker's has more appeal to me right now.

The book was really quite amusing, but it gave one the feeling that none of the events were tied to one another. The characters were rather one dimensional too, and even the main characters were as under-developed as the plot. But this book is part of a series of four, and it may be that they should be treated as a single book due to their brevity. I didn't read this book to learn the meaning of the universe (42), but simply to get a few chuckles and to find out what everyone else I know has known for what seems like forever; that this book is as funny as it is bizarre.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

High Fidelity
by Nick Hornby

I recently read Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, and I must say it was quit good. A different style of writing than I have been reading lately. Lots of dialogue, and real working-class human beings. Some would say it is a guy's book, but I think there it would speak to women as well. And if it doesn't, Hornby paints a dead-on picture of what guys go through when love breaks down. It is about break-ups, self-pity and self-discovery. But it is also laugh-out-loud funny. And I am happy to see that the movie was very true to the novel even though Nick Hornby didn't write the screenplay. While this book is refreshingly shorter than the last too books I read, it also makes me sad when I like books and I finish them too quickly. I have a couple of other things on my nightstand though, waiting for my attention.

A Widow for One Year by John Irving

A Widow for One Year
by John Irving

A Widow for One Year may just be my favorite John Irving Book now, and I have read them all with the exception of Son of the Circus. The characters were so well defined and alive that the usual Irving coincidences are forgivable, even if I really do like that about his stories.

The story starts in the summer of 1958 and follows the characters — one of whom is four at the beginning of the novel — up through 1995. It is a tale of dysfunction, desire, and even eternal love. Instead of his usual Vienna, Irving chose Amsterdam as his European city in this novel. The rest of the novel is set mostly in The Hamptons with occasional excursions into New York city. Anything more may ruin some surprises, so I will simply say that I recommend this book highly.

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
by Tom Robbins

Like John Irving, I have read everything by Tom Robbins. And like the Irving novel I reviewed above, I enjoyed this Robbins book more than any of the others I have read before, and I loved them.

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates is the story of a 34-year-old self-proclaimed CIA "errand boy" who is in love with his teenage step sister; his adventures everywhere from South America to Thailand, and from the African Desert to the Vatican. He has a grandmother who owns the stolen original of Matisse's Blue Nude, and is also a Internet hacker. And it is hilarious! People looked at me funny on the Metro train when I would fight to stifle a belly laugh.

previous reads...

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
• Timeline by Michael Crichton
• Vineland by Thomas Pynchon