Nonfiction Book Reviews

Just Checking: Scenes from the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive by Emily Colas was just as the subtitle says: A compilation of random scenes from the life of a person afflicted with the obsessive compulsive disorder.  I was expecting more of a chronological story (I was born here, I started having problems with OCD at age 15, blah blah) and so the jumping from one time period to another, and from one story line to another, really threw me for a loop at first.

So here’s the scoop: There were parts of the book that were funny.  I even laughed out loud in several places.  But overall, it was a difficult book for me to read, and I hesitated to review it, because there’s a very good chance that other people will react very, very differently than I did to it (much like what happened with Tweak.  Either you loved it or you really…well, didn’t.)

For me, Just Checking was frustrating to read, because her whole outlook on life was illogical.  She had an obsession with blood tainting her food, people poisoning her by chopping needles into tiny pieces and putting them into her food, with germs of any kind, etc.  (Side note: Not recommended dinner-time material.  She mentions garbage and blood and needles one too many times to read this while eating.)

She comes up with the wildest plots you could ever imagine, and all of them ended with her getting some dread disease in a very bizarre way.  The strange part was, she knew it was illogical.  She freely admitted it.  But she couldn’t control it.  I understand that OCD is a disease, but my logical brain just spent the book saying, “Just calm down, lady!” and “Breathe, you’ll be fine!”

I guess the point to my story is that I definitely do not have a future as a therapist.  I could just see myself looking the person in the eye and saying, “You’re just nuts.  You know that, right?”  But in the nicest way possible, because I hate ever making anyone mad.

More than that, I think this book bothers me because it is so light on actual human emotions.  Her husband leaves her for another woman; they get back together and then split up again multiple times; she cheats on him with an ex-boyfriend - lots of human drama here.  Yet I don’t ever really feel any of it.  A definite lack of character development (or plot development, for that matter).

So I guess I will recommend this book to people who find themselves in all of the following categories: Interested in psychology and OCD in particular; like having their stories thrown together in a random way; want a very quick and light read; and want a dash of humor in that reading.  But seriously, if you have a low tolerance level for crazy people who do things that make absolutely no sense to 97% of the world’s population, you aren’t going to like this book.  Sorry.

In the end, when I look at strictly how much I enjoyed this book, I have to give it 3 stars.  For anyone who fits the above categories, I’d probably nudge that up to a decent 4.25.

Take it for what it’s worth.  Anyone else out there read it?  What did you think?  Just wondering how far off base I am from everyone else…

Havs

I picked up How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of the Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill on a whim. What an interesting idea - a story of riches to rags, the antithesis of your “normal” Hollywood plot.

In a nutshell, Michael Gates Gill (whose mother used to call him “Gatesy” as a boy - no wonder he was messed up!) was raised in a very rich family. Nannies, huge mansions, Yale education, lots of celebrities over the house…the whole shebang. He was hired right out of college at an advertising agency, and he spent 25 years there, giving them literally the best years of his life.

They fired him for being too old, at age 53 - they wanted a young group of hard-charging associates who would give the impression of being “cutting edge.” With sparse white hair, he was not the man for the job any longer.

He spent several years trying to run a consulting business but it never really took off. In the meanwhile, his wife divorced him because he was stupid enough to a) Have a mistress and b) Get her pregnant.  Here the book began: He was broke, without family support or friends, and had no job.

Enter Starbucks.

He got a job at Starbucks more or less on a whim. He’s lucky he even got it. During the interview, the interviewer asked if he had ever worked retail. He gave her a blank stare. She clarified, “You know, like Wal-Mart?” Turns out, he had never even been inside of a Wal-Mart, let alone worked at one.

From that less-than-auspicious beginning grew a dedication between Mike (as he called himself at Starbucks) and the Starbucks chain. He sings their praises throughout the book - the health benefits offered, the great work atmosphere, the money Starbucks offers their employees to get a college education. It almost made me want to work at a Starbucks myself, except I’ve already found my perfect job.

There were a few things that bothered me (you knew it was coming!) Mr. Gill spends quite a bit of time reminiscing on his past life, and tells stories about famous people he met.

It got to the point where I felt like all he was doing was name-dropping (look at me, I’m special, I’ve met Jackie Kennedy and Frank Sinatra and Ernest Hemingway and Muhammad Ali and Robert Frost and…the list goes on.) I’m not a big fan of people who name drop, so to me this got to be annoying.

He also talks about how he made the change from being an autocratic snob to now believing in affirmative action, the implication being that if you don’t agree with affirmative action, you are an autocratic snob. I didn’t think that the inclusion of a political subject like that was of much help to the story line, nor did I appreciate the implication that I was an autocratic snob, since I don’t think reverse discrimination is any better than the original discrimination. How is discriminating against a second group of people better than discriminating against the first group of people?

He also had a rather stilted manner of writing that made it obvious this was the first book he wrote, and that no ghost writer helped him out along the way.  He wasn’t horrible, he just wasn’t that great either.

But all of that aside, it was an okay autobiography, and it did make me think about the question of how much of our happiness is our circumstances, and how much of it is our attitude. For Mr. Gill, he was happier working at Starbucks and living in a cruddy apartment than he had ever been living in a huge mansion but slaving away at his job. It’s a great book to help you rethink your priorities.

In the end, How Starbucks Saved My Life garners 3.75 out of 5 stars. If you’re a Starbucks lover, then I’d rate this as a must read.

Hava

A while ago, I read some posts put up by a blogger, Michael Yon, on his website, Michael Yon Online.  I thoroughly enjoyed his posts and so when a gentleman came into the library with fliers advertising Michael Yon’s new book, Moment of Truth in Iraq, I was excited to request that the book be ordered for our library.

I just finished reading it - I read it over the course of two days because I simply couldn’t put it down.  I’m kind of at a loss for words on how to describe the book, so I’ll start with the easy part: A little background about Michael Yon.

He’s a former Green Beret turned journalist/photographer.  He has spent more time embedded with US combat troops in Iraq than any other journalist in the world.  He is completely independent - he does not work for any news organization and is not paid by anyone.  He is equally critical of both the Republicans and Democrats, and he doesn’t pull any punches.  His picture of a soldier carrying a wounded little girl has become iconic (it’s the front cover of his book).

Now for my critiques of the book: It is composed of different “dispatches” (his name for blog posts) that he had written while in Iraq.  They are not connected and do not flow well.  They are not prominently dated, and he jumps around from year to year with no apparent rhyme or reason.

Basically, the book tries to be chronological, but fails miserably.  Also, if you were a dedicated reader of his website, you really don’t need to buy his book (other than if you want the info in a printed and bound form for some reason).  A good editor should have come along and straightened the flow and timeline out, but didn’t.

Speaking of good editing, you can tell that Michael Yon is photographer first, writer second. He’ll change the subject halfway through a paragraph, and never go back to the original subject, leaving the reader confused.  He also had some typos in here that bugged me (again, good editing.  Who worked on this project??)

All of that aside though, the book itself was excellent.  Case in point: When I read a book, I’ll fold down the corners of the book to mark a page that I think I might want to quote in my review of the book.  I try to find a couple of different sections that might be good to quote, so I have a nice variety to choose from in the end when I finally write up the review.

With Moment of Truth in Iraq, I realized that I was folding down every 10th page or so.  I basically just wanted to take the entire book and post it, because it was that good.  I cried a little, I laughed a little, I thought a whoooooole bunch.  Some of these stories that he reports are just amazing, and it’s hard for me to not tell you guys all of the best ones!

I finally decided on the following quote, because although it doesn’t encapsulate the exciting, nail-biting parts of the book, it does show his unique stance on the political point of view of this war:

All news organizations, from the newbie blogger to the New York Times, from right-wing talk radio to NPR, from CNN to Fox, all ultimately depend upon the financial support of their audiences.  So readers and listeners and viewers should not be surprised when media organizations tell them what they want to hear. 

Happy news for the Left was that US soldiers were demoralized and the war was being lost.  Happy news for the Right was that there was no insurgency, then no civil war; we always had enough troops, and we were winning hands-down, except for the left-wing lunatics who were trying to unravel it all. 

They say heroin addicts are happy too, when they are out of touch with reality. ~Moment of Truth in Iraq, page 214

Like I said, he really doesn’t pull any punches. He doesn’t try to make America look all good, or all bad.  He talks about the mistakes we made, and how we’re learning from them.  He talks about how Iraq is doing better now than ever before, and that the war is ours to win or lose.  It is an extremely thought-provoking book for people on both sides of the aisle.

This is one of those cases where the meat of the book is excellent enough that the drawbacks can be overlooked.  I highly recommend this book to everyone, Left or Right, whether you’re Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian.  I wish that every man and woman in America took the time to read this book, but especially the reporters for the mainstream media.  Perhaps they can take notes on how to really report on a war.

In the end, I have to give it 4.25 out of 5 stars.  With some editing help, it could have easily garnered 5 stars - it was that good.  Maybe next time Michael will contact me to help him out.

Hava

PS FYI, he’s put the first chapter up on his site - you have to download it as a PDF file.  That’s a great way to see if it’s something you would enjoy reading.

When I first read Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich, I wasn’t overly impressed by it, but rather pegged it as a mindless read, good for a summer afternoon at the beach.  It was more of an escapism book than you’d normally find in the nonfiction section, that’s for sure.

I had picked it up because I saw advertisements for the movie 21 (it’s based on the book) and figured it’d be fun to read.  What was surprising to me (although it shouldn’t have been, looking back on it) was the fact that the book is mostly fiction.

First, the plot: Basically, Ben Mezrich meets a guy at a party (Kevin Lewis) who says he has an amazing story to tell, and he wants Ben to tell it in a book.  Ben gets this kind of thing all the time as a writer so he really didn’t expect much, but to humor him, he agreed to listen.

Kevin told him a story that would be unbelievable to the average person: He was recruited as an MIT student, to learn how to count cards and play blackjack.  He was then sent to Las Vegas and other gambling cities to win the backers (the ones supplying the bankroll) the big bucks.  He got a cut of what he made, and became very rich because of this lifestyle.

All of that is actually true.  What’s not true is the embellishments that Ben Mezrich added to make the book more “readable,” as he put it.  In an interview with the Boston Globe, Mezrich said, “Every word on the page isn’t supposed to be fact-checkable.”  He also said, “The idea that the story is true is more important than being able to prove that it’s true.”

That really, no really bugged me.  I read a nonfiction book, expecting it to be *ahem* nonfiction.  I know, a real shocker there.  There was a laundry list of items that were completely made up (click on the link to the interview above if you’re interested) and then a whole other list of items that were exaggerated, changed, and warped in order for the book to be more “readable.”

Ben Mezrich did manage to achieve his goal of being more readable - his book became a New York Times bestseller.  I don’t like the methods used to achieve that goal though. I’ve never been a fan of the saying, “The ends justify the means,” and this was no exception.

I give Bringing Down the House 1.5 out of 5 stars, and I’m putting Ben Mezrich on my blacklist of authors.  I will never pick up one of his books again.  If you’re wanting some real information on Las Vegas, make sure to head on over to my friend’s blog, Living in Las Vegas.  It’s guaranteed 100% nonfiction.

Hava

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World by Jacques Bosser and Guillaume de Laubier is a gorgeous, picture-packed display of beautiful libraries that had me drooling from page one.  I work at the local public library, and I love the way it looks - windows that stretch floor to ceiling, high archways, polished wood - but after I started reading this book, I realized how plain my library looks in comparison to these libraries.

Of course, my library isn’t built using the overblown Baroque style like many of the libraries featured in this book.  And by the end of the book, I was more appreciative of the simpler style of building anyway - many of these libraries are over-the-top dripping with cornices, embellishments, statues, swags, paintings, busts, intricate wood reliefs, and marble carvings.  Just looking at the pictures in the books left me overwhelmed - it was so busy, your eye never really had a chance to rest on any particular spot.

I can’t imagine how overwhelming these libraries must be in real life.

I definitely enjoyed flipping through the book, though.  There were quite a few pages where the page folded out, giving you an almost panoramic view of the library, and some of the pictures were breathtaking.  The photographer, Guillaume de Laubier, is to be congratulated for his excellent photography skills.  The author, on the other hand (Jacques Bosser) could have used some help along the way.  Some of the text was interesting, but for the most part, it was dry and boring.  I started skipping the text entirely and just looking at the pictures.

My other quibble with the book was the title implied that they had pulled libraries from every part of the world, but in fact, the only libraries featured were from Europe and America.  I have a hard time with the idea that the only beautiful libraries in the entire world reside in Europe and America.

What about Mexico? Or Canada? Or Brazil? (Click to make larger)

I think they need to rename it The Most Beautiful Libraries in Europe, leave out the American libraries, and call it good. There were only three libraries from America featured anyway. Then write another book and focus just on American libraries - after all, all of these gorgeous libraries had been left out:

Boston Copley Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts

Suzzallo Library, Seattle, Washington

George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland

For the true bibliophiles out there, this book is worth checking out from the library, if only so you can drool over the pictures and wish that you could wander these halls and lose yourself in the stacks.  But even for the bibliophiles, I don’t know if this one is worth buying.  I can only give it 3.25 out of 5 stars - I wanted to love it, but it fell short of my expectations.

Hava

Monica’s Story by Andrew Morton was an absolute mess of a book.  I started reading the book with the following in mind:

1) I liked President Clinton for his economic policies (I’m going to review Alan Greenspan’s book, Age of Turbulence in a little while and I’ll make sure to tell you then what Alan said about Clinton’s track record on economics, but suffice it to say that he did a good job in that respect.)  I didn’t like the fact that he seemed to chase after every woman in a skirt.

2) I didn’t like Monica Lewinsky.  After all, when the whole thing was happening, there really wasn’t much that would have inspired me to go, “Wow, what a neat lady!” but instead, rather the opposite.  Even ardent Clinton supporters weren’t cheering Monica on, but rather saying that if he had an affair, it wasn’t the nation’s business.

3) I expected this book to be unbiased, or at least not blatantly leaning one way or the other.  This is not Monica having someone ghostwrite her story for her - it’s written by Andrew Morton, and as he made sure to point out in the beginning, Monica had only the power to do fact checking, and nothing else.  She couldn’t change something he said, as long as it was true, no matter how unflattering of a light it cast on her.  I took this to mean he would be unbiased.  Crazy me, I know.

4) I expected to learn to like Monica, because after all, this book was about her and what happened in her life.  Once you “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” (or at least watch them walk that mile, lol!) you start to appreciate better what they went through, and you gain greater sympathy for them.  I expected to learn things about Monica that I didn’t know before, and end up having a higher opinion of her than I did to start with.

5) I expected the book to cover the whole situation thoroughly and give me the background to understand what was going on.  I was in high school when the scandal broke, and I didn’t have the time or the inclination to pay much attention.  All I knew was that there was an intern messing around with the president, some Starr guy was in there somehow, and there was a blue dress with semen on it.  Oh, and Clinton said his infamous line, “That depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”   That was all I knew before starting this book.  I expected to have the gaps filled in, and then some.

Pretty much every one of my preconceived notions got blown to smithereens.

I will say that my view on Clinton’s economic policies didn’t change (since that wasn’t even mentioned in this book), and I saw nothing to change my mind on the fact that he chased every woman in a skirt.  My opinion of him (already low) sank lower as I read what happened.  Is it possible to have negative respect for someone?

But the idea that the author would pretend to be unbiased is utterly laughable.  He didn’t even try.  Although he stopped short of calling Linda Tripp the devil incarnate, he came pretty darn close.  Here’s a quotation that really made my eyebrows raise:

[Tripp], who emerges as the wicked witch in this tragic fairy story, constantly dangled the rosy-skinned apple of romance in front of a trusting and gullible Monica Lewinsky. Page 96, Monica’s Story

Wow.  So Monica was an innocent Snow White, Linda Tripp was the wicked witch, and what, Bill Clinton was the prince?

Gag me with a spoon.

Even with Mr. Morton’s strenuous efforts to make Monica out into the good guy in this story (a story that quite frankly I don’t think has a good guy) Monica still ended up completely unlikable.  She never once says that she’s sorry she had an affair with President Clinton.  Not once.  She does say a couple of times that she was sorry she got caught, but to me that’s almost worse.

The more I learned about her in the book, the more I was unsurprised at that lack of regret.  She actually had an affair with a married man before she ever met Pres. Clinton - a five year affair that was an on-again, off-again tumultuous mess that I felt dirty even reading about.  She met Andy Bleiler when he was engaged to someone else, but Monica and Andy still dated for two years.  In the meanwhile, he gets married, and his wife gets pregnant.  When the wife is 3 - 4 months pregnant, Monica finally sleeps with Andy for the first time, at age 19.  She eventually becomes good friends with the wife (kid you not!) and even babysits the children so the husband and wife can go out on dates together!  She buys the children Christmas presents and is considered “one of the family” even as she’s secretly boinking the husband.  Monica at one point breaks up with Andy because she was angry - he dared to cheat on her with another girlfriend, something he did more than once.  Could it get more ironic than that?

Monica spends most of her time in this book crying.  I should go back through and highlight every time Monica spends the weekend crying, sobbing, or self-medicating by eating herself into oblivion.  I think the tally would shock you.  She is not emotionally stable and I wanted to just shake her by her shoulders and say, “What on this green earth are you doing?!  How can you be so smart yet be so incredibly stupid at the same time?”  After all, she was a very smart cookie, when it came to book smarts.  But she was as dumb as rocks when it came to men.  As of the writing of this book in 1999, she’d had two serious relationships in her life - both with married men.  I’m hoping that track record has improved since then, but I don’t care enough to find out.

Then you’ve got the one thing you would think would be a no-brainer: Cover the situation well so that the reader knows what’s happening.  Even this didn’t happen.  Mr. Morton would say things like, “Which led to the famous cigar incidence” or “Which brought about the famous news conference,” and then not explain what famous news conference, or what famous cigar incident (although I eventually pieced that one together. ;-))  I was completely lost.  Even if I had paid attention at the time, I wouldn’t remember it 10+ years after the fact.  It was as if the writer sat down with the idea in his mind that all of his readers had read and memorized the Starr Report, plus read all of the large newspapers’ coverage of the shenanigan, and would be able to remember the smallest details about what happened.  His goal was to provide Monica’s point of view, and nothing else, and that’s exactly what he did.

I didn’t even finish the book.  I felt like I had read 136 pages of tabloid magazine crap, and that was more than enough.  There was no way I was going to be able to make it through another 143 pages of this junk.  It made me feel dirty, as if I had just indulged myself in a two day marathon of horrid, catty, nasty gossiping.  I felt like I needed a shower when I put it down.

I give this one 0.75 out of 5 stars.  I wouldn’t wish this book on anyone.  If you’ve made it your life goal to learn everything you can about Monica Lewinsky, I guess you could read it, but I’d suggest finding a new life goal instead - something actually worth obtaining.

Havs