Review: Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City

Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City by John Griswold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't heard of Herrin, except as a "big" town the county over from where my Dad grew up. But you don't often find books covering recent history in Southern Illinois, so I downloaded this from the library. I found it quite excellent. Herrin didn't have 15 minutes of fame, but it has had 15 minutes of infamy a few times, covered by this book. You get some very early history of the area to start the book, laying out the early growth of the city and county. The author includes an anecdote concerning John James Audubon dealing with Herrinites wanting to steal his watch, which contains one of the pithiest comments I've ever read as a punchline, something like "and he was a watercolorist". Funny, and well written. The book then covers the rise and fall of the coal industry in the county, as well as the battles between the pro-Prohibition KKK and the anti-Prohibition bootleggers that involved government officials on both sides, and regular callouts of state troops. Interesting was the use of the town hospital as a hangout for the bootleggers, which was at one point the subject of a shootout. The author also covers the rise and decline of the unions. Note that the author's family was involved in the union, and the writing tends to highlight the union cause. The end of the book covers much of the lawlessness of battling bootleggers, including a mention of an early aerial bombing of a gang bar/hangout in the county. Through most of the anecdotes, people, usually county residents, are killed. There are as many people killed in the stories in this book as in a typical war movie. Amazing. Interesting, colorful, and nicely written.

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Review: Pagan Kennedy's Living: A Handbook for Maturing Hipsters

Pagan Kennedy's Living: A Handbook for Maturing Hipsters by Pagan Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Collection of zine articles and comics.If you can imagine what a maturing hipster is, you can probably guess at least some of the topics of these collected articles. There's dating and sex, but there's also a story about a guy who lives in a large robot in his college office. Reminds me of articles from older zines, or Whole Earth Digest. Eclectic, liberal, and fun.

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Review: Whisper Network

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At times, I felt it was written like a TC Boyle book, providing me a sense of how others think and feel in a literary way. And at times it read like a basic mystery or chick lit book, aimed at a mass market paperback audience. I came into this with low expectations, as I read none of the blurbs and received this from the publisher on release before I saw any reviews. I noticed the author had written what looked to be books aimed at teens. I was pleasantly surprised that this was written better than I expected, and provided me with a new perspective. But this wasn't great literature, the characters were a bit confusing, and the mystery plot seemed tacked on. All in all, an OK read in the chick lit genre.

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Review: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook of this, and was surprised that I did't get much out of it. I found the author very self-centered, his deep thoughts yielding some trite advice. The author spends the first two thirds of the book giving examples of where he made mistakes and got depressed, and he analyzes events. On occasion, the author generalizes, but providing his personal perspective. It felt like you were listening to a self-centered friend, going through various topics with a loop of: this happened to me, and this is how I think about it. Often, Parker summarizes his thinking with what could be platitudes. One example, in my words, is that sometimes the past can guide your future. Not that the stories aren't interesting, quite a few were. But the outcome of his life experience is the advice to reflect on where you are and where you've been to help you decide where to go in your vocation. Nothing groundbreaking. I was worried that I missed something given all the excellent reviews of this book, so I re-listened to it a few days after first finishing it. My opinion hasn't changed.

Probably the most difficult aspect of this audiobook is that it is capably narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Rudnicki has a very distinctive voice. He narrated much of Orson Scott Card's Ender series of science fiction books, and those books also discussed some deep subjects. Because of that voice, as well as the content, this felt like a digression of an Ender story, and I kept waiting for the action to begin. This was one of the first audiobooks where I thought a good job of narrating was wasted because of typecasting. I suspect I'm one of a very few that will have that reaction, though. Overall, a very short reminder that you can make life decisions based on what you know and have experienced. There's no need to wait for a sign.

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Review: The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took on this book as a test of my ability to keep up with something for an entire year. I began the book on January 1, planning to read the short blurb for each day, but with the realization that I would certainly miss days. I created a rule for myself that if I got behind, I would only read two days per day in order to catch up. I wanted to limit my catch up reading because I believed that this book was written to prompt personal thought, and I wanted to spend time on reflection. And this is how I read the book.

“The Daily Stoic” provided a short, one or two page reading for each day of the year. The months were divided loosely into themes. Each day’s reading contained a passage from a famous Stoic writer and a discussion by the author. These prompts for thinking were quite general and workmanlike. They were not religious in any way. And in my case, they did allow me to think about the topics discussed and to learn how the Stoics think. There is an appendix that includes definitions used by Stoics as well as a short bibliography. I would recommend reading this with a little time for reflection around each post.

I enjoyed this daily ritual so much that I intend to start again for this year on or near January 1 with a different book. I found the afterward of “The Daily Stoic” a bit of a killjoy, though, in that it recommends that you now have studied enough, you don’t need excuses to read more, and the Stoic way is in the doing. Hmm.


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Review: Business for Bohemians: Live Well, Make Money

Business for Bohemians: Live Well, Make Money by Tom Hodgkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was not the target market for this book. While I occasionally think of myself as a Bohemian, I'm far from it, with a business and IT background. I've read plenty of books that are about starting businesses. This is of that kind, but with a twist in that the target is for non-traditional businesspeople. Remember the famous textbook/class "Physics for Poets"? This is the same kind of vibe. Hodgkinson provides some pointers as to how to do things for business, things like using spreadsheets. The book doesn't claim that you need to do all the steps in running a business, but you do need to understand what those steps are so you can understand the experts that you use. I didn't find these parts of the book all that insightful, but again I wasn't the target market. I can imagine your run of the mill Bohemian without prior business training would pick up good pointers here. I really enjoyed the stories of Hodgkinson building his Idler business, though. I found his "war" stories interesting, and often humorous. And I found his website, one I hadn't heard of before, quite interesting in its own right. Glad I read this and would read more by the author.

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Review: Pegasus Descending

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm going a few years back in the Robicheaux backlist to read the few books that I missed while reading through. While I feel a bit jaded about recent Robicheaux stories, this one felt like a breath of familiar bayou air. Again, the humidity drips off the page. The characters act the way you expect (and don't overreact like it seems in Robicheaux stories of more recent vintage). And the bad guys are the ones you've come to expect - mobbed up guys with Miami ties, small business men gone big due to links to casinos, people linked to movies (again with the movie industry baddies, albeit just a passing mention here). And the atmosphere is vintage Burke. My favorite bit in the book is the description of one of the victims, nicknamed Crustacean Man, and his backstory. You can picture the police using that name when referencing the case, giving it some respectability despite its outlandishness. Some interesting personality here from the police department which is more than I usually notice of the officers Robicheaux works with. In most of Burke's books, the other police officers in his and other departments have much the same rolls as redshirts in Star Trek - nondescript characters known for doing the rote work and often becoming victims. I enjoyed this one, more as a throwback to older Robicheaux mysteries. And as normal, the audiobook narrated by Will Patton, is pitch perfect. To me, Patton delivers the mood of this series defined by Burke.

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