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Archive for February, 2010

Naked Airport by Alastair Gordon

Feb 25

Posted by The Valet in Non-Fiction | 1 Comment

Naked Airport by Alastair Gordon

I like airports. I like airplanes. Do you like airports? Do you like airplanes? (Don’t worry this is not a Dr. Seuss themed post, but come to think of it, you may see something like that in the future.)

I’ve had this book on my list to read ever since I visited William Stout Architecture Books a while back. It’s a bizarre choice, I know. I guess it was something in the title that encouraged me to pick it up, you know two things I like “naked” and “airport” (if you didn’t know I like the word or the implications of the word “naked” now you do).

Ok, this book is actually not about airports at all. Ha, got ya. Of course it is! Not only is it about airports it also dives into a bit of the history of flight, airlines, routes and pretty much everything related to aviation. Personally, I was kind of hoping the book really would just stick to airports, even though that wasn’t the case I did still find it incredibly interesting.

I really do like airports. I know some people dread them but honestly, I know of no other place for better people watching. You get all types of people in one place. The wayward traveler, the businessman, the family (with mother dragging small child), the geriatric, the cute brunette (my favorite), the lovers and of course the distressed. Take for example my most recent trip the airport this past Sunday. While waiting in the security line at Lindbergh Field (San Diego) I nearly saw a fight break out when a woman tried to cut in line. Whether or not she really did try to cut I don’t know but the verbal battle was pretty entertaining. It was really just a lot of huffing and puffing but I couldn’t help but chuckle a little as I observed this going on. Airports are truly one place where you can see it all.

Book stuff, this way…

You Can’t Win by Jack Black

Feb 23

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You Can't Win by Jack Black

“You Can’t Win,” possible theme for 2010, could very well be. That very first week of the year, I thought, no one can beat me. I almost thought about screaming “I’m on top of the world” while standing on the bow of a ship, but I didn’t. And damn, am I glad I didn’t. Right about now “you can’t win” pretty much sums things up. I’m not gonna wallow and look for pity and sympathy, it’s not my style instead I’ll just start kicking some ass, taking names and stay out of jail, kind of the same way Mr. Jack Black did. Oh, and before I delve too far into this review I should mention that this is not the big boned Jack Black from Nacho Libre, this is Jack Black the professional hobo, born in 1881. (visual comparison below)

If you didn’t know it you could almost mistake this book for fiction. Yet, it is not. It is a true account of this remarkable professional hobo/outlaw written by the man himself. Originally written in order to help dissuade criminals from continuing on their downward spiral this book has never faded (after all the book has been reprinted).

His lifestyle and the adventures therein as displayed in the book are very representative of the times. Here is a guy who grew up stealing, freight hopping, doing stints in jail, escaping from jail and for a time getting hooked on opium. Of course it’s only representative of the “yegg” community (criminal brotherhood) of the time but at the same time displays the futility of the justice system and the prisons in early America.

Can you win?

This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 2/22)

Feb 22

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

I’m going to stop frowning. Sure it was a rough week but I’ve still got things to look forward to. For one, I hope that in the coming months I will most likely be seeing my family a lot more often. It really bothers me knowing that my grandfather is all alone so I really want to do everything I can to get to see him as often as possible. And as my job winds down I’ve started to think about what’s next a bit more. Of course I’ve been coaxed into thinking about in part due to the fact that I was asked what I’m going to do next a kajillion times. I guess that’s what happens when my family and all of my parents friends get in one place at the same time. At the least, I know I have a new job somewhere in the future and maybe some exotic travel squeezed in there. Anyways, Im going to stop writing for the night, I think I’ve written enough.

Oh, but not before I give LA a little something to do this coming week.

Friday, February 26th
@ 7pm
- Matthew Flaming, author, will be at Vroman’s signing and talking about his book The Kingdom of Ohio. It has the word “Ohio” in the title, what’s not to like. There may be some time travel involved or it could just be pure genius, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Friday, February 26th
@ 730pm
- Melissa Rivers, apparent author and celebrity by association, will be signing copies of her book Red Carpet Ready: Secrets for Making the Most of Any Moment You’re in the Spotlight at Village Books in Pacific Palisades. I don’t really care what the book is about, I’m not going to lie, I just know people out there always like seeing some sort of celebrity, even if they are a D lister. So… here’s your chance.

Special note: Apparently at a book signing Lauren Conrad was proud of herself noting on twitter “Here’s a first… A pregnant woman in line at my book signing started having contractions… And stayed in line!!” Gotta tell you, I am seriously concerned for that child. There is now way that baby will come out to be healthy. What’s next a gunshot victim stays in line and she’s proud of herself again. Grrr, this girl is not an author.

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 2/22)

Feb 22

Posted by The Valet in Events | 1 Comment

It’s only Tuesday today but I am writing this post for you all now. The rest of this week is being reserved for family. Unfortunately my grandmother has passed away and there is not much more to say, I am very sad and subdued. I know my family and I will bounce back as we always do and in due time things will be as “normal” as they can. I know that my grandmother knows that I love her very much and that one day I will see her again.

Refresh.

It is Sunday and I am returning to San Francisco after a very sorrow filled week. My family and I laid our grandmother to rest on Friday and it was, to say the least, very difficult. It hit me much harder than I had expected and am still reeling from it. Fortunately for me it was my first funeral and hopefully my last for a long long time. Because I don’t really know how to express myself too well right now I’m going to let my brother do it for me. He wrote a very nice post on his blog that sums up how we, as a family, are feeling right now. I have to say though I’m still pretty shook up. I honestly feel like I didn’t really get to tell grandma that I love her that one last time. She fell ill a week ago this past Thursday and I really wish I had not listened to my parents and had just gone to Orange County to see her and my grandfather. At the end of the day, I know my grandmother is no longer hurting but also realize that my grandfather must be hurting more than ever. Yet somehow that was not all the grief that this weekend had in store for me. One of my dearest and closest friends lost her mother to cancer earlier in the month. On Saturday a memorial was held at her home and as I was driving by her house earlier in the day I spied her outside. I took the opportunity to stop and see her prior to the memorial. I saw the tears in her eyes before I reached her and my heart ached for her. We have a very close and strong friendship and to see her that way was simply unimaginable. There will tough times ahead and she knows that we, all of her friends, will always be there for her.

Refresh.

It is still Sunday and I am still in San Diego. I chose to forgo my ticket to SF earlier in the day to spend another day/night with my parents (and because United gave me a free roundtrip ticket to fly out Monday morning instead). I know it makes my mother happy that I’m still around and probably dad too, otherwise he would have had cereal for dinner. I thought I was ready to go back to SF but being here right now is good. Being here tonight is giving me one more night to recuperate and realize that this coming week is just another week and there will be many more to come.

Now that I’ve said all that, the show must go on…

Thursday, February 25th
@ 7pm
- Gordon Edgar, author, will be launching his book Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge at Books, Inc. in Berkeley. In case you were wondering TheFreeDicitionary.com defines “Cheesemonger” as “a person dealing in cheese, butter, etc.” More than guide book apparently Mr. Edgar goes in depth into the field of cheese. Mr. Edgar is the “cheesemonger” for San Francisco’s pretty awesome Rainbow Grocery and in his book tells tales of cheese and his interesting industry. If you’re a cheese fan this may be kind of interesting for you.

Thursday, February 25th
@ 7pm
- Amy Reed, author, will be reading from her book Beautiful at Modern Times Bookstore. So I don’t know too much about Ms. Reed but her book is about a good woman gone rebellious. I’d imagine it has something to do with finding her “beauty” and sending her down a perilous path. Get there if you’re into that kind of thing.

Thursday, February 25th
@ 7pm
- Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, author, will be at Books, Inc. in Palo Alto reading from and signing copies of their newly released book Beautiful Creatures. Oddly enough I’ve just started reading this book today. Unfortunately I’m not really far enough into it to tell you anything about it. I think my sister liked it, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be reading it. It is another young adult book and it is another fantasy book in that genre. A southern magic and mystery novel, this one is somewhat different in that it embraces the “gothic” ideas exhibited by so many young people today (you don’t see too many old people as “goths” these days do you?). Anyways, I’d be going to this event if it weren’t in Palo Alto, it’s a bit far for me. If you’re in the hood, get there.

Ok, all three events are on Thursday and two of the three start with the word “Beautiful.” What can I say, that’s just the way it is.

Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk

Feb 18

Posted by The Valet in Non-Fiction | No Comments

Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk

“Chuck, it’s over. We’re through… Yes, I am breaking up with you, I’m sorry.” Yep, I said that back in my review of Pygmy. You can’t blame me though, I thought it was a bad book and really didn’t think I’d enjoy any of his other works that I had yet to read. I suppose what I really need to do is break up with his fiction side cause after reading this book I don’t want to break it off with his non-fictional tendencies.

Two and a half years ago I was living in San Diego at home (that means with my parents). Two and a half years ago I wanted nothing more than to leave San Diego and move out of home (that means away from my parents). I love my parents, don’t get me wrong, but do you have any idea how hard it is for a guy in his mid twenties to bring a girl home to his parents house? Yeah, you get my drift.

When I was researching where my next move would be I had a shortlist of cities. They included Seattle, Portland, San Fran, Austin, Salt Lake and Denver. Eventually whittled down to the first three I had a decision to make. Of those three cities I had been to Seattle and San Fran and knew people in each, as for Portland I had neither visited nor knew anyone there. Portland would have been the adventurous, spontaneous and scariest of the choices, I’d already did that when I moved to New Zealand and therefore justified choosing San Fran. I still have yet to visit Portland despite it being the one city I would consider moving to now.

Sweet home… Portland…

El Monstruo by John Ross

Feb 16

Posted by The Valet in Non-Fiction | No Comments

El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City by John Ross

Ok, I’m not going to lie, nor am I embarrassed to say it, the cover of this book got me. How could anyone resist a bad ass skull? Just look at it! Once I actually read the leaf though I thought it would be a pretty interesting read. And as someone kindly pointed out to me would be somewhat relevant given the current crisis in Mexico (admittedly, I hadn’t really thought about that but was grateful it was mentioned).

Mexico and the history therein has always been pretty fascinating to me. My experiences in Mexico are probably much like many other gringos this side of the border, having been to most of the resort spots and very few of the rural and historical locales. I must say though, I learned more about Mexico growing up in San Diego on the border of Tijuana and from all my Hispanic friends than I did on any of those trips or in any classroom. Some of those all night, school night trips to the clubs in TJ taught me some things I can’t repeat here since my mom and dad read this, nor do I really want all of you knowing either. And that school trip to Ensenada where el gordo befriended Karl and I, I was forced to eat two disgusting sandwiches (thanks to Karl), our host mother used “milk” as a euphemism for the alcohol Karl and I reeked of and Laura’s abandonment of her cigarettes in a tampon box will most likely always remain the most important history of Mexico for me.

But this book is not an all encompassing history of Mexico. Instead is more specific, it examines the history of one of the largest cities in the world, Mexico, D.F. When you think of Mexico City what do you think of? The first things that pop into my head are enormously large in size and population, traffic, smog and danger. I hadn’t really ever considered the history of the city though and how it came to be so crowded. Well, John Ross has taken it upon himself to tell us in El Monstruo.

Honestly, this book did not grip me the way I was hoping it would. Somehow I actually found myself just reading the words on the pages at times without really paying any attention to what they were saying. At times I found it too broad and at others too dense. Of course I can understand that writing style to a degree given that Mexico City has a longer history than of those in the United States. And I do I completely and utterly respect the work that Mr. Ross put into writing this book yet I can’t exactly tell you that you should go read it.

“El Monstruo” por favor, por su salud…

This Weeks Book Events, LA (Week of 2/15)

Feb 15

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

Every now and then I get it in my head that moving to LA wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. You see right now on www.gravity.com I am engaged in a ferocious debate as to whether or not SF is better than LA. Of course I’m going to battle for SF since I live here but I’m sure if I were in LA I’d be arguing in their favor. They’ve got some pretty solid arguments, I’m not gonna lie. I could also be having these thoughts since my job search at the moment has gone a bit stagnant, good thing I’m still “employed.”

Last week you guys had one up on us in SF with your events. Unfortunately for you, the tides have turned. This week you get some really really bad celebrities and SF gets to have fun eating grilled cheese and listening to music. Just how it goes, suckas!

Monday, February 15th
@ 7pm
- Robert Stone, author, will be signing and talking about his book Fun With Problems at Book Soup. From what I understand the book is a series of short stories and essays that have everything I love, violence, black humor, sex and drugs. Nothing wrong with that.

Tuesday, February 16th
@ 9pm
- Lost, most amazing tv show ever, will be airing in your home. You should be watching it.

Thursday, February 18th
@ 7pm
- RuPaul, Drag Queen & author, will be at Book Soup doing her thing. The new book is titled Workin’ It. Either you’re into it or your not. I’m going to leave it at that.

Thursday, February 18th
@ 7pm
- Lauren Conrad, tv crapstar (yes, that Lauren Conrad) & apparent author, will be at the Grove Barnes & Noble. At least she has the decency to not show up at the independent shops. Ok, I’m kind of being unfair, I’ve actually never seen her show. But isn’t this equally as bad as that Heidi Montage writing a book and being proud of it. I don’t know what to make of it. I’m guessing lots of teens at this event so if that’s your thing, by all means, don’t let my opinion tell you otherwise. Hell, maybe she’s even a good writer, this is her second book. Ghost written?

Friday & Saturday, February 19th & 20th
@ 7pm / 130pm
- Chris Cleeve, author, will be appearing and talking about h is book Little Bee at Book Soup on Friday and the Santa Monica Public Library on Saturday. Cleeve, a British journalist who writes about the plight of refugees, has come a long way since the release of his book so do him a favor and go see him, I am sure he’d appreciate it.

I was almost intoxicated enough when doing my final editing of this to write a song honoring Book Soup for having so many events this week. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for you, I was not quite there (I had it written and then decided it was beyond ridiculous). Thumbs up for being somewhat sober.

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 2/15)

Feb 15

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

I never quite know what to make of weeks like the one that has just passed. So much happened, but so little has changed. I like change, I’m pretty sure change is what I need right now (don’t take that out of context anyone). I’m pretty sure that sitting in my office at work for 5 hours a day and having very little to do isn’t exactly helping. I should be reading more than I have been but for some reason things have tapered off. Could it be the books, yeah, I’m just going to blame it on that.

I did get to go to an event this past week. I saw Dave Eggers along with Oscar Villalon and Jesse Nathan, all of whom are with Mcsweeney’s and helped in producing the Panorama. I mentioned the Panorama last week in my post but I was finally able to get one in my hands. I’ll start by saying its huge and rad. I’m really looking forward to delving into and reading some of the incredible stories there in. In Deidre English’s (UC Berkeley J-School faculty) words, rather than try and begrudge print media today the Panorama is a “homage to newspapers.” Much emphasis during their slide show presentation was on the idea that the Panorama was designed to encompass the ideas and forms of print media of old and inject life into the print media of today. The intent as Mr. Villalon pointed out was to “play to the strengths of newspaper.” From just glancing through it, it’s clear that that is exactly what they have done.

Tuesday & Wednesday, February 16th & 17th
@ 730pm / 7pm
- Chris Cleeve, author, will be appearing and talking about h is book Little Bee at The First Congregational Church of Berkeley in conjunction with Berkeley Arts & letters on Tuesday and at JCCSF in conjunction with Books, Inc. on Wednesday. Tickets are still available (I believe) on the JCCSF website. Cleeve, a British journalist who writes about the plight of refugees, has come a long way since the release of his book so do him a favor and go see him, I am sure he’d appreciate it.

Wednesday, February 17th
@ 7pm
- Annie La Ganage, her husband Bill Cotter & Dave Eggers, authors and cool people, will be at City Lights serving, are you ready for it, grilled cheese sandwiches. Yeah, you read that correctly, pretty rad right? If you’re a vegan, I guess you’re shit out of luck. Naturally, the biggest Eggers fan I know already knew about the event. I thought for once I might get the drop on her but I was wrong. Anyways, this event isn’t all about grilled cheese. Cotter has a new book out, Fever Chart, put out by Mcsweeney’s (hence the Eggers appearance). I don’t know much about the book but I’ve never seen Mcsweeney’s put out something less than impressive so it’s worth checking out. Oh yeah, there are grilled cheese sandwiches in the novel, hence my free meal. Annie will be reading from her “collage of monologues and poems” titled Stoners and Self-Appointed Saints. I don’t know if she references grilled cheese too but who cares. From I hear she’s a bad ass poet.

Thursday, February 18th
@ 730 pm
- Yvonne Prince, author and founder of one of the best music stores ever, Amoeba Records, will be speaking about her latest book The Vinyl Princess at the Booksmith in the Haight. For those of you that walk around, ride the bus, bart or wherever with your little white headphones in apparently this book is for you. My recommendation, you read without the headphones in, only because you won’t get distracted. Some people would certainly disagree, but that’s just my opinion. Oh, and apparently there will be some pretty rad giveaways. Matthew Edwards will also be playing a short acoustic set.

Saturday, February 20th
@ 12pm
- T.C. Boyle, author, will be at Point Reyes Books speaking about his latest book Wild Child. He’s an award winner and I know people love his work but I have not had the pleasure of reading any of his stuff. Those of you that have will probably be delighted that he’s in town. Get to it if that’s your thang.

Sunday, February 21
@ 3pm
- Ozzy Osbourne, musician, reality tv weirdo and apparent author, will be signing and hopefully singing (ok, not really hoping for it) his book I Am Ozzy at Book Passage in San Francisco. I’m up in the air on this one, would it be worth going to, will they have a translator? If you’re fan, you should be there, who knows maybe his messed up children or his wife Sharrrrrrrron will be there. Oh, and don’t even thinking about bringing anything other than a copy of the book bought from Book Passage to the signing, cause they aren’t having it!

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

Feb 11

Posted by The Valet in Non-Fiction | 2 Comments

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

The way I see it, my last book review, Run, had none of the personal stuff so you can pretty much assume you’re going to get more than your fair share here.

It’s been about 7 years since I last went scuba diving. Pretty sure I was taking in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and I remember it being incredible. There are a couple other dives I have etched into my memory including shark diving with my brother in Nassau, night diving with my friend Mike, playing hang man on a slate with Mike sitting on the ocean floor 100 ft. below, and unsuccessfully lobster diving. Ok, those are quite a few dives that are etched. It’s amazing, yet not at all surprising, how much a book about diving can spark in me all these memories and give me the urge to want to dive again.

If you haven’t already figured out that this book has something to do with scuba diving I recommend you bow out now. I’ll only be a little offended. Shadow Divers is a true story of men on a mission to discover the undiscovered, underwater, at depths which were previously thought to be unsearchable.

When Bill Nagle, diver and boat captain, is given a set of coordinates of a location just off the coast of New Jersey where a fellow captain believes there to be a sunken something or other, he gathers a crack team of divers to do some exploring a la Indiana Jones. What they discover 200+ feet below the surface is a wreck divers wet dream. A WWII era U-Boat that no one had known was there. I know, I too was hoping that it would somehow have been the cast of The Jersey Shore but I think that’s a bit too contemporary.

Similar to other treasure hunting type stories there is the ever present sense of competition. Just as Tommy Thompson had to deal with Wally Kreisle in Ship of Gold, Nagel and his cohort John Chatterton had to deal with another boat captained by Steve Bielinda.

Dive right in…

Run by Ann Patchett

Feb 9

Posted by The Valet in Fiction | 2 Comments

Run by Ann Patchett

After having read Bel Canto I had numerous people recommend Run to me and proclaim that it was their favorite of Ann Patchett’s novels. My mom thinks otherwise, she liked The Magicians Assistant. But, what kind of son would I be if I actually went along with something my mother recommended? (Note: In actuality I go along with her recommendations frequently, I am a proverbial “good son.”)

I had definitely expected this story to be more of a plot driven story akin to Bel Canto but was pleasantly surprised when it was not. Instead it’s more of what I consider to be an emotional character study. Patchett’s determined style of setting up each character to be defined as she wills, is really quite powerful. Although I found the story to be somewhat uninteresting, the characters themselves easily made up for this.

What Patchett was able to pull off so seamlessly in Bel Canto she replicated in Run. By this I simply imply that she manages to place in a single room the most unsuspecting of characters to be juxtaposed. Bernard Doyle, widower and former mayor of Boston, has three sons, two of which who by all appearances would not seem to be his own. When the family is re-united under duress and a young girl named Kenya is thrust on their family it is apparent that this girl may be more a part of their family than they had imagined.

The characters all have very distinct interests which would, in most normal circumstances, set them up for conflict. Yet, their devotion to another and individual introspection during this period of their life helps to display their true adoration for one another. Teddy and Tip, Mr. Doyle’s unassuming son’s are respectively an aspiring priest and a Harvard scholar. Sullivan, the displaced son who is blamed for ruining his father’s political career has reentered his family’s life after resurfacing from an extended stay in Africa. And Kenya, the young girl, is an athlete and innocent mind. Of course there are others who also make an impact on the story but these characters really are the focus of the novel.

Walk, don’t “Run”

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