Quick Hits: Books I've Just Read
A quick run-down/review of the last few books I've read:
After some relatively heavy books, I decided to see what all the fuss was about The Hunger Games trilogy. While I can't say I loved the books, it's worth noting that I read all three books - The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay - in about four or five days. That's worth something - and the story is telling if a mild ripoff of Battle Royale: It is the future, in what used to be the United States. The new country (called Panem) is comprised of the Capitol and 12 surrounding colonies, who essentially produce materials, product and resources for the Capitol. As punishment for an earlier rebellion, every year a boy and a girl from each colony is selected at random to play in The Hunger Games - a contest the rest of the country is forced to watch - in which the winner is the last surviving member. That is, 23 children will die, while one lives.
Meet the new Katniss.The protagonist, Katnis Everdeen, is thrown into the Hunger Games and the rest of the books follow a logical if especially entertaining path. She's a very good character - strong-willed, creative and someone you root for - and the supporting characters are also compelling. I'm not sure about the fact that Jennifer Lawrence has been cast as Katnis - she's a great actress (from Winter's Bone) - but she doesn't actually look anything like the character. I don't think folks will complain. There's humor thrown in here and there, but at it's root, perhaps obviously, the books are pretty dark.
If I have a complaint about the books, it is that they are dark without being deep. These aren't new themes, the dystopian future and all that - but author Suzanne Collins clearly decided to not dive too deeply. There are much more interesting themes to explore, but these books are made for young adults, and it shows. Since that's the audience, I can't lay fault anywhere, but I would have enjoyed them a great deal more if they'd been a little meatier.
Ratings: Hunger Games: 7.5/10.0; Catching Fire: 7.0/10.0; Mockingjay: 7.5/10.0
So, looking for something with more substance, I decided to read Hellhound On His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt For His Assassin by Hampton Sides. Mission accomplished! This is actually a fantastic account (by the author of Ghost Solidiers) of MLK's assassination, James Earl Ray and the manhunt that ensued, which I basically knew nothing about. A few years ago I read Manhunt, which is the same basic structure around Lincoln's assassination, and I ate it up. The same is true here - I knew very little about Ray (and in fact, he went by the name Eric Galt before the killing and is referenced here as that initially), nor where he hid after the murder.
If I have any complaint, it is in what simply isn't known about Ray - and that's mainly exactly why he did it. He was a virulent racist, and a criminal - but there's no damning evidence, and there is hints that a larger conspiracy existed (bounties from Southern businessmen, etc.) that obviously are not possible to explore further. That's not Sides' fault, just a flaw in the narrative. It's highly engaging, but it's never quite riveting in the way that Ghost Soldiers and Manhunt were. I did enjoy it a lot and recommend if if you want to learn more about a horrible event in our countries past.
Rating: 8.0/10.0
I have a rule - if you are a comedian and you write a book, I'm probably going to read it - Adam Carolla, Sarah Silverman and Patton Oswalt all wrote books I've read in the last year. Guess what? I didn't much like any of them (though Carolla's was the best). So, since David Cross wrote a book called I Drink for a Reason, I'm in - and guess what? I sort of hated it.
It's not really funny, and while it somewhat seems like Cross' voice (when he really goes off the rails, at the least), I sort of expect a book by a comedian to feel like an extended version of his or her act. I really can't recommend this book - in fact, I never finished it. I am sure that Cross worked on it diligently - he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do anything else - and there are moments I enjoyed .. but not enough to keep going. While I'm sure he did work on it, it feels like he mailed it in. And that's just not a very good thing.
Rating: Did Not Finish
The next book I read was Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky, a pretty much straight transcription of a road trip interview the author did with David Foster Wallace on his Infinite Jest book tour.
I'll have more to say about it as the book deserves its own full review, including a few quotes from the book itself, but frankly at this point I'm willing to take almost anything about Wallace, whose suicide two years ago still feels painful when you think of the genius lost.
Of course, that's why this book exists at all, and there are moments that probably felt trivial in 1996 that are positively haunting now. It's not quite a real book - it quite literally is a transcription with no real side commentary (and of that, I will have much more to say), but it's DFW, and it's good, and that's worth quite a bit.
Rating: 8.0/10.0
Note: This matters not except as a testament to my sloppiness, but I actually wrote this but apparently never published it, like three to four weeks ago. Thought you might possibly care.