I was unfamiliar with the intricacies of the triathlon before picking up the Complete Triathlon Guide. This book goes into detail not only about the events that take place, but the workouts that will create the largest benefit to those looking to compete in a triathlon. The book, written by USA Triathlon is divided in an intuitive fashion. Rather than having individuals immediately exercise for the events, the book…
Considering the size of his ego, I’m shocked that Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider was able to cram his life story into just a little over 400 pages. Let’s just tick through the list of things Snider wants credit for: founding the hair metal genre (not sure why he would take pride in that one, but check); coming up with the idea for MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball; creating the first proper…
For every Tina Fey and Will Ferrell there’s a Dan Vitale and a yes, sadly, a Rachel Dratch… Saturday Night Live has been a great springboard to countless of comedic actors, but has also been the last stop of relevancy for many more. It’s a little too early to tell if Rachel Dratch fits into that latter category, but if the last six years are any indication she…
Short story collections have always had a polarizing effect on readers. There are some who swear by the genre, impressed by an author’s ability to tell a compelling story in a matter of just a few pages, while others avoid the form at all costs. It’s a shame for the latter, as they are missing out on pretty much everything written by Etgar Keret, one of the wittiest, most psychologically…
1616: The World in Motion (Book) / Thomas Christensen / 2012 Counterpoint Press / 384 Pages / http://www.counterpointpress.com/ / http://www.facebook.com/counterpointpress I believe the average American has little idea what was happening on the world stage 150 years before the United States became a country. Thomas Christensen looks to rectify this lack of knowledge with eir new book, 1616: The World in Motion. This title goes into exhaustive detail about the…
With Tough Sh*t, his latest self-confessional memoir, director Kevin Smith proves that absolutely nothing is off limits when it comes to opening up about his personal life and experiences in Hollywood. From sex with his wife (including a hilariously uncomfortable essay about her backside) to working with Bruce Willis on Cop Out (another essay about an ass), Smith is refreshingly honest and quite possibly the author of the funniest memoir…
There is something satisfyingly appropriate about a bio that focuses on Pulitzer Prize winning novelist John Kennedy Toole that is actually unable to answer many of the questions about the mysteries in his life. That’s not to say Cory MacLauchlin’s take on the author’s life is not well-researched; it is and as a result is a compelling read. It’s just that Toole wasn’t successful until years after his suicide and…
It is not surprising that the Bible is a little obtuse at times. However, the messages that are contained among this prose are still solid ones with which to build a life on. Swoboda’s work in demystifying some of the more challenging bits of this holy book does for me what pastors have been unable to do. Messy: God Likes It That Way is a book that calls Christians…
Tired of screaming your kid’s name at the playground and realizing that every other parent in the neighborhood also had the brilliant idea to name their offspring “Connor” or “Emma”? Then have I got the book for you. Rock and Roll Baby Names by freelance writer, former DJ and music obsessive Margaret Eby is the must-have for that expectant couple with just a slightly better taste in music than your…
I do not usually have much time to read, but Lost at Sea seemed like an interesting title to pick up. A few nights later, and I can proudly say that I have completed the book. This is because Klein’s style is so catchy. While each of the book’s events are amazing in their own rights, I find that the writing style is what kept things interesting. Klein centers the…
If there were ever a college course designed around the study of Grunge (and you know there likely is) Mark Yarm’s exhaustive study of the Seattle music scene Everybody Loves Our Town is the only text book you will ever need to buy. Just released in paperback, the book is the alpha and omega on the genre that killed hair metal. Told entirely in direct quotes, oral history style, the…
This is the perfect sort of bathroom book, as it contains the same sort of acerbic humor that makes The Onion and American Dad shine so much in their respective fields. The sheer anger and bile that is brought to I Hate Everyone by author Matthew DiBenedetti may seem over the top at points, but the points that ey bring up are ones that are common beliefs held. I…
We’ve come to expect that books, even memoirs, by comedians will be… well, funny. That’s not the case with up-and-coming stand up Moshe Kasher’s autobiography of his childhood. Well, that’s not entirely true. There are some funny asides and anecdotes, but that’s a result of the author just being naturally humorous and self-deprecating. But on the whole, Kasher in the Rye is a dark look at a tragic childhood a…
Meet contemporary fiction’s latest anti-hero, an out of shape 20-something suburban druggie, mooching off his divorced parents who has never worked a day in his life and really has no plans to as long as he can live in his mom’s basement and count on dad’s money to buy more pot. Flatscreen’s Eli Schwartz is the a latest character to take that well-trodden path in coming-of-age fiction, but thanks to…
I believe that the title of this Player’s Option paints a decidedly different picture than what is ultimately present. Heroes of Elemental Chaos just seems like a nebulous concept, but Baker and Schwalb are able to make a capsule universe that works perfectly using 4e rules. I believe that the different classes (Sha’ir, Elementalist) can work in a wide variety of campaign settings, while exhibiting a certain difference that makes…
As producer and a writer for HBO’s cops and drug dealers drama The Wire, George Pelecanos managed to take what could have been yet another paint-by-numbers police show (pretty much everything since Law & Order) and helped turn it into one of the most talked about series to come on TV since The Sopranos (fans still look on with a mix of superiority and disgust when they come across someone…
U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens has been pretty busy lately. After showing up in two books by Elmore Leonard, the character was given his own TV show on FX, the critical darling Justified. So what better time than to trot him back out onto the printed page. In Raylan, Leonard’s 200th or so book (I’m guessing here), the ex-Kentucky coal miner/current marshal is back in another of the author’s finest. Like…
Comedian Chris Gethard has led a pretty screwed life with an especially bizarre childhood. Thank God he had the presence of mind, and enough lack of pride, to remember it all and to put it on paper. A Bad Idea I’m About to Do is a collection of Gethard’s essays, mostly detailing his seemingly, (but clearly not) mundane upbringing in suburban New Jersey and his time at Rutgers University. As…
Human Kinetics provides the most cutting-edge body and workout titles, no matter what activity, age, sport, or other unique quality one may possess. Tim Bishop has created Stronger Legs and Lower Body, a title that looks to rectify a key problem in one’s workout. It is tremendously common to slack on legs days, or to do exercises that do not provide much benefit. The nearly 200 pages of Stronger Legs…
There mythos of Dune has been carefully fostered over the 45-plus years since the creation of the original title. The latest effort, Sisterhood of Dune, is able to continue adding to this mythos, all while providing an interesting and compelling plot. What I found the strongest about Sisterhood of Dune is how it is able to navigate the various twists and turns of the Dune universe and establish something that…