Review: Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama

Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob Odenkirk
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Odenkirk seems to have popped up when I was tired of sketch comedy, then moved to drama when I was otherwise occupied with HBO shows. So I never became a fan, and have, surprisingly to me, missed most of his performances. I decided to read this one because Odenkirk graduated from the high school that my daughters went to in Naperville, Illinois, and near where I currently live. I figured I might get some taste of his local comedic influences. He doesn’t really go into this much, instead focusing on his time in Chicago in and near to Second City. His stories of Second City were interesting, but I found that as he left Chicago for the coasts, he got less interesting, and the stories he told became more dry. Outside of his stories about Chris Farley, I don’t think I had many laughs while reading this book, and I expected it would be funny. Not the kind of book that creates a fan, I’d say this is more for Odenkirk’s current fans.

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Review: Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed listening to “Sea of Tranquility”. I found the structure reminded me of “Cloud Atlas”, but in a simpler way, and mostly in a “forward” direction, where “Cloud Atlas” went forward and then backward. Or was it more in, then out? Engaging writing throughout. The time travel aspects, not immediately obvious, make some sense by the end of the book. My favorite topic covered was the belief that the world is a simulation, edited from outside, and how that related to time travel. The book leaves many such things to think about. I look forward to reading “The Glass Hotel”, and wonder if I should have read it first.

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Review: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this in part to understand the background of the world of economics in practice in the eras between the wars. You get that, but written in a kind of People magazine way. I mostly remember the behind-the-scenes personality descriptions of the wealthy decision-makers/bankers in Europe and the US, as well as the behind-the-scenes strategery. Interesting if that’s what you were looking for.

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Review: Dead Heat

Dead Heat by Dick Francis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Francis formula has been to combine some aspect of horse racing with a deep dive into another career or hobby or realm of technology. Those ingredients were (almost) always mixed together and wrapped around a mystery. Here, we get very little of the horse racing details that he’s covered in other books. Instead, this dives into the life of a famous chef and restauranteur. I enjoyed the deep dive into the world of cooking professionally, but I also enjoyed the deep dive into the operation of a restaurant. Both of these aspects of a career were covered well, were interesting, and I actually feel I learned some things. I didn’t miss the “inside baseball” of horse racing as much as I would have thought.

Another part of the Francis formula is that his protagonist often survives torturous injury. Here it happens, with descriptions that may bother the squeamish, at least three times. This one really goes through the ringer. But in an unusual move for a Francis protagonist, there is a girlfriend. I found this story worked for me. It was enjoyable. Given this was one of the early ones with Felix’s name on the cover, along with his father, I wonder which one did more of the writing…


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Review: Rock Island Requiem: The Collapse of a Mighty Fine Line

Rock Island Requiem: The Collapse of a Mighty Fine Line by Gregory L. Schneider
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Those who are interested in the history of the Rock Island Lines likely would begin their studies with a company-friendly history from the early 1950s called “Iron Road to Empire”. In that book, the author describes the founding of the railroad and on through the growth of the company into the 1950s, where the future looked exceedingly bright. “Rock Island Requiem” could be volume 2 of a complete history of the company, starting at its apex in the postwar 40s and 50s and through its decline and eventual liquidation in the 1980s. Except for a few good years, the Rock was in decline during this time described in this book. Notable were the political and legal machinations of the Rock and a few of its regional competitors, with the biggest issue being the prospective merger of the regional Rock with the national powerhouse Union Pacific. This merger is caught in governmental bureaucracy and legal challenges for many years, eliminating over time the value of the Rock to the UP or any other line. The weakened railroad went bankrupt, but operated in bankruptcy for many years until losses sealed its fate. The post bankruptcy liquidation was quite successful, though, leaving a rail car leasing company that was subsequently purchased by Maytag.

Author Schneider describes the action quite thoroughly throughout the period covered. “Iron Road to Empire” portrayed the early history of the railroad using substantial references to financial terms of mergers and operations. “Rock Island Requiem” similarly relates the later history of the Rock through the use of documentation of governmental and regulatory meetings. This story revolves around lawyers. This could have been extremely dry reading, but the author was able to inject some of the personality of the lawyers involved so that the reader could at times predict what reactions would occur after meetings. There were times when the author repeated anecdotes, but thankfully this didn’t happen often. I feel the author did a reasonable job with dry source material, but I can also imagine a more personality driven take on the decline of the railroad could be quite interesting. Seems like the makings of a miniseries in this story.

There were a couple of takeaways that I had from the book. First, the question at the end of the book is whether the Rock’s unions killed the company, or if the strike that marked the company’s demise was too late to have made a difference. The author describes both sides of that argument well. Union management doesn’t shine in this description, but their actions may well have been too late to matter.

Second, I grew up in Rock Island County not far from the Rock’s Silvis yards. My uncle worked for the Rock most of his career, and lost his job during the bankruptcy. I expected much of the story would take place in Rock Island. I was very wrong. There is barely a mention of the area I’m from – just some talk about the Silvis yards and the Rock Island Rocket passenger train route between Rock Island and Chicago. A majority of the events here happen in courthouses and meeting rooms in Chicago and Washington DC. I did get some small-town enjoyment out of reading where some of the rail segments that were split off of the Rock’s trackage and sold or abandoned began or ended in various nearby small towns in Northwestern Illinois and Eastern Iowa. There are probably not very many books that mention Bureau Junction, Illinois. This is one of them.


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Review: The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward

The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel H. Pink
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another entertainingly written book by Pink on regrets. Pink describes the regrets experienced by people around the world, based on research. He categorizes the regrets captured in his survey into four types, describes them, analyzes the situations that bring on these regrets, and provides advice on how to handle regrets. I found the categorization something that I will remember in my own reflection on regrets. I believe being able to categorize my regretful states of mind will help me in dealing with them, overcoming the negative impacts, and using my regrets to impel forward movement. As I read through Pink’s descriptions, I found myself thinking about a recent conversation about careers with my daughter, who has confusion and, yes, regrets on roads not taken. Pink’s advice has been passed on, and we’ll see if it has a positive impact in this instance. Again, enjoyable read and useful categorization and advice. This may be one worth rereading with a highlighter.

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Review: The Nineties: A Book

The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Klosterman leads a trip down memory lane for those that lived in the nineties and were aware of the news stories, popular media and entertainment, and the American mass market of the times. He has definite opinions, and tends to explain them, such as his take on MJ in baseball. His analysis of how the times were different, such as pointing out the 90s were the last time people didn’t have ready access to the internet to look up information, are obvious in some cases, but interesting in his take. I got the impression of that old PBS special Connections, where James Burke reasoned his way from one invention to another event or standard or odd connection, and so on. Klosterman tends to less complex connections, but the analysis tended to be interesting. And it brought on the nostalgia.

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Review: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So read the other reviews and the book blurb to find out what the book is about. Given the topic, emotions on this book can run high. For me, the question is, does it work? For the first couple of pages, it didn’t work for me. It seemed too much like Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” to start. But as you start to understand that the author was writing this story to fill in the missing years of Jesus’ life, as told by a buddy, you can see that it could succeed. In the end, I enjoyed this much more than I would have thought after that rocky start. I found the last quarter of the book, as disciples started being added to the group, got quite confusing storywise, and the ending was very sudden and somewhat unfulfilling after a big investment in the story. But I also find that I am remembering more of this book than many others I’ve read recently, so I give the author credit for writing “sticky”. Interesting premise.

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Review: We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth

We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth by Jennifer Risher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In “We Need to Talk” we follow a couple from their pre-savings college years, through marriage and family, and through the building of successful careers for both in the tech industry, leaving them very well off. I had been on a similar progression, though not at the fast rate that the author and husband were on. It was fun to follow their early steps in career and in investing, generally based on tech stock grants and options for the high-growth times at Microsoft, then Amazon. In the early chapters I felt some kinship in their own amazement at how quickly some stock grants became worth what seemed like a lot of money. That’s how I felt too. But while my spectacular returns ended in a decade with a move to a lower growth company, the author and husband continued to amplify their net worth, again through grants and investing, and by not becoming spendy. At some point, their ways became quite foreign to what I envisioned for myself, and I quickly lost interest. (I think it was when they started flying charter.) I will say that many of the topics they discussed, like how to talk to others about your wealth, loaning to family, and spoiling kids, were topics I’ve thought about, but depending on where in their net worth they were when they approach the problem, their solutions might or might not seem useful. I did appreciate understanding their thoughts behind these problems though, as the thought process was interesting. Overall, I found this on OK book, but one that I found hard to like all the way through. Read with the FI Book Club on Facebook.

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Review: A Fine and Pleasant Misery

A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I discovered Patrick McManus through the audiocassettes of his essays and stories, articles from outdoors magazines. The audios, especially the ones narrated by George S. Irving, were truly hilarious. Irving told the stories with the bombast they deserved, particularly the stories involving McManus as a kid with a cast of characters that felt real small town, yet comic. For instance, one Rancid Crabtree keeps showing up to show how foolish outdoorsy bachelors get along.

For this book, “A Fine and Pleasant Misery”, I couldn’t find an audio version, so I went with paper. Crabtree shows up in a few stories in this collection, cantankerous as always. There are 27 essays or stories here, all humorous, and all dealing with the outdoors. There are a few about fishing issues of the day, but a majority of this collection are essays about kids in the outdoors or stories about McManus as a young outdoorsman and his cast of characters – other boys, his dog Strange, wily store owners, wise Granny, and Rancid Crabtree. I think these are where McManus truly shines.

Strangely, three of the stories involve surplus stores, describing the pitiful state that the goods tend to be in, and the effect those goods have on the boys that just have to have that genuine jungle sleeping bag or used Nazi mess kit. I recall from my childhood visiting a surplus store in deep rural Southern Illinois, with the overwhelming smell of long damp canvas, and just full of treasures that my dad wouldn’t let me buy (except for a can of peanut butter from WWII, which I think exploded in the car on the way back from vacation). McManus captured the smell, and the mania, perfectly. Another enjoyable set.


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Review: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This had an interesting beginning that seemed straight out of a TLC reality show. Take an XL family of 12 kids, all but the youngest two are boys. Describe the difficulties of raising a large family, while also sharing some unusual family hobbies, here falconry. Start telling the story chronologically. After a long introduction, then start filling in the realization that the children are slowly revealing similar, often drastic, often violent mental issues. Focus on the youngest kids, the girls, who gradually realize they may be the next to be afflicted, while their parents split them up, sending one away to school while keeping the other with the now often dangerous brothers and no protection. It starts like “Cheaper by the Dozen” and ends like a Hitchcock movie.

I found the story of passing interest, although by the ¾ mark I was hoping for a quick ending. This seemed like such a unique family that I didn’t learn much that I felt was relatable or usable, but I can see where science would see the family as a goldmine for further study. This is one of those stories that generally got worse for the family members as time went on, and while the author played up the benefit to scientific study, this was a very draining book to read. I appreciated the way the author wrote this story, though, as I can’t picture a better way to portray the mental illness and family dynamics it caused for this large family.

Read along with a college alumni online reading club. This is one of those books where it is valuable to get other peoples opinion on the events and to share some angst.


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Review: American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ross Ulbricht is described here as the kind of guy you might have run across in college. He lived in the stereotypical style of a hippy, albeit a few decades beyond the 60s. He spouted Libertarian dogma, and tended to live his life that way, at least in some aspects. Specifically he said he believed in free markets, for everything, including things that the government made illegal, like drugs and guns. It was very interesting following along as Ulbricht got deeper and deeper into his internet marketplace, and at times had to decide whether his principles would survive real-world situations. Also interesting were the stories of his opposition, people from various branches of government set to take him and his marketplace down. I found it a fascinating read. The part that seems strangest relates to (view spoiler)[ Ulbricht’s attempts to have people killed. As written, these attempts seem counter to the personality of Ulbricht otherwise described, both before and after. I wish the author had described what happened there, but I suppose he didn’t want to speculate. It just seems this very damning evidence just shows up at some point, and changed Ulbricht ultimate portrayal from a principled but tragic figure to one with a mental break. (hide spoiler)]

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Review: The Sacred Bridge

The Sacred Bridge by Anne Hillerman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another in the Hillerman family enterprise of Navajo nation mysteries. Daughter Anne Hillerman has taken the lead characters from her father’s time and transformed them to side characters to her detective Manuelito. I haven’t found the stories gripping, but have found them mostly entertaining. Compared to the previous book in the series, I found this one to have much more Navajo-related description, with Chee deeply involved in a personal spiritual crossroad that ends up entwined with a murder investigation with aspects of ancient history and modern tourism. Manuelito gets involved with another aspect of modern Navajo nation issues, dealing with corporate hemp growers and their interactions with traditional Navajo ways. I liked the main story lines here. However, the author added a number of side stories that detracted and distracted from the interesting bits - overlarge red herrings. I also found the beginning of the book had a number of long descriptive monologues by characters that sounded like they were quoting from Wikipedia. I realize the author needs to set the stage for the rest of the story, but the beginning was too forced and formulaic.

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Review: Stargazer

Stargazer by Anne Hillerman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another in the Hillerman family enterprise of Navajo nation mysteries. Daughter Anne Hillerman has taken the lead characters from her father’s time and transformed them to side characters to her detective Manuelito. I haven’t found the stories gripping, but have found them mostly entertaining. This one had some of the Navajo character and feel that was prevalent in most of her father’s books, but to a lesser extent. This could almost have been an episode in many other modern mysteries taking place in very different areas. Also noticeable in this story is that Manuelito seems to act in an out-of-character manner, more whiney and oblivious than other books. Good for a quick entertainment.

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