Collected Miscellany

I know what you are thinking.  Is Kevin now a paid publicist for DK?  I mean how many of these books is he going to post about?

But it really isn’t my fault.  DK emailed me about China: People Place Culture History and I was intrigued because not only did I major in history in both undergrad and graduate school but my parents recently spent a couple of years in China teaching English.  Their stories and pictures piqued my interest in this remarkable country.  After reviewing the book, I was blown away by the photographs and information it contained.  My entire family has spent hours reading it.

So then they said, if you like history you should check out History: An Illustrated Guide to the Ideas, Events and People that Shaped the Human Story and I was again impressed with both the illustrations and text.

So when they recommended The Sports Book I had to check it out.  After all, I spend large chunks of my weekend watching or playing sports so it seemed like another great fit.  Plus, how can you not be fascinated by a book that has artificial turf on its cover?

For my take on this unique book see below.

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I realize that promises are like New Year’s Resolutions around here, lots of em made only to disappear in a matter of days, but allow me to make another announcement.  I hereby officially declare next week Favorite Authors Week.

And by that I only mean that I plan to review book written by some of my favorite contemporary authors.  These include Kevin Wignall, Brock Clarke, and William F. Buckley (One of these is not like the others . . .) who have all released new novels in the not to distant past.

So if that is the sort of thing that might interest you, pleas come back next week for the reviews.

Alas, as I live in flyover country I don’t get to go to a lot of the big events the cool kids get to go to in places like NYC, LA, DC, etc.  But I was sorely tempted by an invitation to The Atlantic’s 150th Anniversary Celebration.  But I decided not to leave my wife at home alone with a six week old and a two year old.  But if you are closer I would consider checking it out.  Here are the details:

Celebrate The Atlantic’s 150th Anniversary

Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
New York University

566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South NYC

Thursday, November 8th; 7:30 ­ 8:30 pm

Tickets are complimentary
To reserve your seat email 150@theatlantic.com with your name

Join P.J. O’Rourke, Christopher Buckley, Sen. Gary Hart, Arianna Huffington,
Moby, Joyce Carol Oates, George Stephanopoulos, Andrew Sullivan, Mark
Bowden, Tom Wolfe, and others as they celebrate The Atlantic magazine’s 150
years as an American literary icon.  Brief discourse followed by a musical
performance from a surprise guest. Afterwards, there will be an opportunity
to meet the participants and have books signed. Attendees will receive free
copies of the magazine’s 150th anniversary issue and other gifts.

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I have to admit I was moved to read Noogie’s Time to Shine by the admittedly shallow reason that I found the cover art and the name Noogie interesting.  Who would want to read a story about someone named “Noogie Krapczack?”  So I pulled it off the TBR pile and dove in.

As you might expect from someone with that name, nickname actually, things aren’t going to well for Noogie.  Starting with the fact that everyone insists on calling him by his childhood nickname.  He is living at home with his cranky mother and working a dull job stocking ATM for a company called PiggyBank.

Despite a degree from NYU in film making, Noogie doesn’t even watch movies – his mother forbids it – let alone make them.  But his life begins to change when he basically stumbles upon the idea of slowly siphoning off cash from the machines he is supposed to fill.

Surprisingly, it takes a while for the folks at PiggyBank to catch on, but eventually an accountant figures out that something is wrong. When the president of the company calls Noogie to try and get to the bottom of it, he panics and hits the road with the money – nearly $5 million – a suitcase, and his Siamese cat Dillinger.  What follows is a rather odd ball road trip as Noogie drives from New Jersey to Florida trying to figure out exactly what he should do next and thinking back on the turns his life has taken.

Noogies Time to Shine is an oddly charming and humourous story of a bumbling loser who pulls off an amazing caper only to find himself asking “what now?”  But despite this charm it runs out of steam and ends with a confusing change of perspective.

For more click below.

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The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has an excellent archive of various lectures and symposium online.  One of which is Russell Kirk talking about ghost stories and then reading one of his own: A Long, Long Trail A-Winding.  You can listen to it here.  Seems appropriate on Halloween.

For more on Kirk and ghost stores see my review of his Ancestral Shadows and his Gothic novel The Old House of Fear.