Rockrant

#6 Every Second Counts By Lance Armstrong

This book starts up where "It's Not About the Bike" left off. Lance has battled cancer that no one thought that he would beat, needless to say he did beat it and then went on to win the Tour de France a record 6 times. I read "It's Not About the Bike" after my accident and when my mom was going through cancer treatment and it was very inspirational for me. I wanted to get up and ride even though I couldn't even get out of bed. He made me want to keep going and believe in myself and my doctors.

Of course since then I haven't gone on to win anything but that book still stays with me. "Every Second Counts" has a different tone. I don't know if he is just cashing in on his fame at the moment but it didn't have the same passion as his previous book. But the subject matter was also a lot more interesting, his life and death struggle with cancer and then getting on his bike and winning the most punishing race imaginable. It is nice to hear about what he has done in the time since the first book. Like starting the Lance Armstrong Foundation and meeting with all of the different cancer patients around the world. He also talks about his different teammates on the USPS team and the training that they have to go through in order to help him win the tour.

Maybe it was just the situation that I was in when reading "It's not about the bike" but I was really disappointed in this one. Maybe a few years should pass and he could have written it with a bit more objectivity. It is hard to be insightful when you are in the middle of the situation. If he writes another book I hope it is 5 years down the line after he has retired and can give the whole scope of the cancer and racing. But I may be asking too much, because he is after all only a bike racer not a writer.

#5 Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk

Stranger Than Fiction is a collection of some of the fiction that Palahniuk has written for various magazines and they are all over the board. There are articles about people that build castles, wrestlers, submariners and people in combine demolition derbys, which are all pretty interesting, but I could picture them all in magazines along with pictures. What I found most interesting about the book was the last section when he talks about himself, his family, and about writing his books. I guess that this section could be snapshots of a memoir. I have liked Palahniuk’s other books and I though this was very good also, a change up to . I hope he writes a real memoir.

I guess Chuck has a new book coming out this year. I had heard that on his last book tour, instead of reading from his new book he read a short story Guts . Every time he read it people passed out. I guess that this story will be part of his new book about horror stories called “Hauntings.”

Next book "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong

#4 The Mother Tounge: English and How it Got that Way

My brother gave me this book and it had been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years. He said it was a good book, but I read the back cover and thought why would I want to read an English textbook. I made a vow to read the books that I own so I picked this one up. At some points it does read like a textbook. But there are also some parts that would never be found in a school textbook, for instance the chapter on swearing and where many swear words came from. It is a very interesting read. From reading books like The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, and Shakespeare, you can tell how much English has changed over the centuries this book gives some of the reasons why this is the case. The chapter on names, familial and places was very interesting.

One fact, Smith is the most popular name in the United States and England, but did you realize that it is also one of the most popular in almost every other European language too? Schmidt, Ferraro, Herrero, Kovacs, and Kusnetzov are all Smiths.

I would recommend this book for someone is interested in learning about the English language, or just wants an interesting read.

#2 I am Charlotte Simmons, #3 Holidays On Ice

I am Charlotte Simmons, by Tom Wolfe

I'm keeping up with my reading. Tom Wolfe's recent books are massive in size but because of the great writing it seems to just fly by. I am Charlotte Simmons is the same way. The book follows a college freshman in her first year at Dupont University. I wondered how can a male born in the 30's can write about a female college freshman in 2004, but I guess drinking, partying and studying never changes. There are some points were he is describing video games and other electronic devices where he sounds like my grandpa but for the most part it is right on. The underlying message of the business of sports at major universities is an important issue, his fictionalization is probably more accurate then what is written about in sports illustrated or the newspapers. I had thoughts many times to the scandal at the U of M with the basketball program, and my thought is still the same now as it was then. The U just got caught. My one problem with the book is the way everything wraps up so nice and tidy by the end. But Wolfe has gotten his message across by then so it is time to wrap it up. Not amazing, but a good piece of fiction.

Holidays On Ice, by David Sedaris

For the most part I think he was just cashing in on Christmas with this one. SantaLand Diaries the first story, and approximately half the book his really funny, but that doesn't make up for the rest. I think he is much better when he is taking digs at himself and his family then when he is trying to be overly cynical. The best line in the book comes from Dinah, The Christmas Whore.

"Which do you like better," my sister Amy asked, "spending the night with strange guys or working in the cafeteria? What were the prison guards really like? Do you ever carry a weapon? How much do you charge if somebody just wants a spanking?"
"One at a time, one at a time," my mother said. "Give her a second to answer."

I finished The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson and will write about that one soon.

Next up Chuck Palahniuk Stranger than Fiction

1 down, 51 to go

I finished my first book today, Mr. Apology and Other Essays . It was 329 pages, Jodi had read the book and liked it well enough. I think that she picked it out because she liked the cover and had not read anything by him in the past. I had also never heard of Alex Wilkinson, but I guess that he writes for the New Yorker. The first 2/3 were really pretty good, they were short chapters about various interesting people, John Force the champion drag racer, the person who does the research for Elmore Lenord, Mike Richter of the NY Rangers. It is a very diverse combination and they all get into the person's life outside of their profession. The piece that the book is titled for Mr. Apology, is about a person who had a posted his number for people to call up and apolgise for what they have done. He taped the calls and played some of them back for other callers to comment on. Interesting premise, but the story gets too bogged down if Mr. Apology believes that a caller killed his mother. Only 20 pages long, but it seemed to go on forever. There is also a profile with John Wayne Gasey from death row, which is very forgettable at best.

On the basis of this book I wouldn't go out and look for other books by the same author. Not a great start for the beginning of the year, but oh well. The next book, I have actually started, and the first hundred pages are pretty good. I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. After that I am going to read Holidays On Ice, by David Sedaris. It is pretty thin and will balance out the bohemouth that I am reading now.

52 Books 52 Weeks

Following Large Hearted Boy and his 52 books 52 weeks, I am going to do the same. I read a lot anyway, and this way I will also have something to write about. I will start with all of the books that we have around the house and will move on from there. My first book is Mr. Apology by Alex Wilkinson and after that I have Tom Wolfe's new book "I am Charlotte Simmons", which I got for Christmas.