BOOKS THREAD

"Under the Dome" by Stephen King. It was 1,070 pages of brain candy, with a few dead bodies and noxious vapors thrown in.

I've been re-reading many of his older books, which I first read as a teenager, and a friend at work loaned me the "Dome" tome. When King took me through a woodchuck's thought process early in the book, I knew I would enjoy it ... Also, I noticed some references to his older books in there, along with a boatload of subtle and not-so-subtle humor.

Long live "Barbie" and 40-something New England journalists!

 

Under the Dome was great. I also went through my library of King books not long ago, greatly enjoying almost all of them for the fifth, sixth or maybe 10th time. Only King book I've never read is Cujo, because I think it would bother me. I've read It only once, because it freaked me out so badly the first time.

 

slogging through "My Struggle," book one of six in the widely revered autobiographical fiction collection by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Started out with great promise, but has really flattened out halfway through (at page about 280 of 420). Has anyone read this and the subsequent installments? The chronicling of daily minutiae and describing needlessly is getting really tiresome. I get that it's supposed to be Proustian, but it's just largely boring and self-indulgent -- like he just wrote stuff down in a diary, said fuck all to context (which would of course have helped the reader) and then never went back and expounded on the things that lacked explanation while keeping in extraneous details/names/places/occurrences that should have been edited out.

 

Continuing my quest for exposure and education with regard to Islam, I read "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity," by Nabeel Qureshi, over the past week.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who might be interested in the self-explanatory title topic, both as a biography of a former Muslim who wound up converting to Christianity after a years-long quest of his own for clarity, understanding and truth, and as a factually based, historically traced analysis of both religions.

It's careful, non-judgmental and intellectual, with clear research and many evident footnotes provided. And, at the same time, it's an easy, relatable read -- powerful, personal, and even, pretty poignant, from the first words, right to the last.

To wit: The introductory dedication of the book, to Qureshi's parents, gives a clear idea the personal costs of the author's search for answers:

"Ammi and Abba, your undying love for me even when you feel I have sinned against you is second only to God's love for His children. I pray you will one day realize His love is truly unconditional, that He has offered forgiveness to us all. On that day, I pray that you would accept His redemption, so we might be a family once again. I love you with all my heart."

And the last paragraph of the biographical portion of the book (there is some added, bonus material in the digital version I read) goes like this: "All suffering is worth it to follow Jesus. He is that amazing."

It really is an interesting and informative book, and a good, engaging read on a highly relevant topic for the times.

 

Chick-lit author Jennifer Weiner's autobiography is the best thing I've read in a long time. It could almost be one of her novels, which makes sense since she compiled characters together from real life.

 

Been reading Gregg Allman's autobiography. Funny the shots he takes at musicians and others, including Jerry Garcia, who once accused Allman of being a narc. Saddest story from it: the last time he spoke to Duane before the motorcycle accident, Duane called him to accuse Gregg of stealing his cocaine. Greg said he didn't and his brother apologized for accusing him. But he actually had stolen it.

He's a fucked up dude. Doesn't really come off as a stand-up guy, but the honestly (well, the perceived honesty, anyway) is welcome.

 

The Allmans oral bio, One Way Out, is one of the best music bios I have ever read.

 

Tried something different than my usual rock star bios and/or Stephen King thrillers ...

"American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus" by Lisa Wade.

It's the latest report of sexual depravity and the demise of dating among college students. An interesting read for this 40-something fossil, but I could have used more stats and fewer "tales from the front" (although I realize that Wade, a 20-something sociology professor, was having students keep journals and tells their stories here -- anonymously, of course).

Her overall point — that hookup culture (more than the sexual "hookups" themselves) exploits young people and is dangerous and degrading, especially for young women — is something to think about, but most of her subjects grow out of it after college, or even after freshman year. And the demise of dating isn't just among college students: as a society, we've become more isolated and less invested in connecting with other people as the Internet allows us to avoid direct communication.

As we've stressed a lot here on SJ.com: thank goodness social media wasn't around when we were younger!

 

[QUOTE="And the demise of dating isn't just among college students: as a society, we've become more isolated and less invested in connecting with other people as the Internet allows us to avoid direct communication.[/QUOTE]
I met my last three girlfriends on Match.com, including the woman I've been seeing now for almost three years. I met my ex-wife at a bar one night when I had beer goggles. The old ways of dating weren't exactly halcyon days. Not for me, anyway. I much prefer Match. Hell, by the time you actually meet the person, you know what they look like, what their hobbies are, what kind of sense of humor they have, etc. It's like you're on the fourth or fifth date by the time you meet. I wish Match had been around a lot earlier.

 

Glad that Match is working out for you ... maybe I was thinking of that "swipe right/swipe left" thing.

Let's face it: I've been married 22-plus years. I might be a little out of touch on the dating scene.

 

I read "33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners," by Jonathan Franklin this week.

Franklin was among a small group of journalists allowed close-up access to the miners and the rescue plans and execution throughout the globally fueled and just as widely followed operation, and it showed in this 2011 book.

It's full of insider-type details, and was an easy read. It brought back fully the compelling news story that captured the world's attention for nearly all of the 69 days that the miners spent trapped 2,300 feet underground after the mine they were working in collapsed in August of 2010, and made it better.

One of the most compelling stories I'd ever seen covered over such a long stretch without losing anyone's interest retains readers' interests as much as it did that of TV viewers back then.

 

Recently read "Fast Girl," Suzy Favor Hamilton's memoir. Required a cold decontamination shower afterward, especially that scene on the golf course on her final day in the trade before the jig was up for her.
Reminded me of a college roommate I had who returned to school in September a born-again Christian, but his new close personal relationship with God didn't stop him from bragging about his sexual adventures the previous year.