Results tagged “Stunt” from One Hour to Read

My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come out and Play

I'm not entirely sure why, but Danny Wallace's stunt books seem more authentic than other people's stunt books. More than others, he really seems to live the projects that he undertakes. In this case, he has the goal of meeting twelve friends from childhood, dragging him all the way from Los Angeles to Tokyo.

In other hands, much of this would seem staged. I mean, I know it's a book project. The impetus for this journey back to his childhood is his fear of turning thirty and becoming a grown up. Of course, another impetus is probably the fact that he had a book contract. Still, Wallace is so utterly open in all his books that it's easy to forget this. I get the feeling that he would still be going on these adventures even if he didn't have a book contract.

Danny Wallace is always entertaining, though I'm not sure how I would feel if a friend from grade school showed up at my door! I've forgotten grade school, so I probably wouldn't even know who they were. "Paste? We used to eat paste together? What are you talking about? Who are you?"

I think this is A.J. Jacobs' best book, and that's mainly because, instead of one big stunt, he does nine small ones. His stunts are somehow far more tolerable when they are chapters (or more likely magazine articles) rather than entire books.

There is a natural progression to his books. His first book was about reading the encyclopedia, which was funny but had some drawbacks because it was essentially a book about reading a book. His second book was about following the tenets of the bible for a year, which was better. It was still a book about reading a book, but at least he got out of the house a little with various experiments. Here, he seems to be a whole lot more active, and that makes it a much better book.

As whiny as I may sound here, I'm actually a big fan of Jacobs. He's always funny and interesting, though for his wife's sake I sure hope he writes a non-stunt book soon.

One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

I had some qualms about A.J. Jacobs' previous book "The Know-It-All," in which he read the entire encyclopedia and wrote about the experience. The whole thing seemed a little staged, as if he was only doing it for the book deal. I suppose I could have a similar complaint about this book, in which he follows the tenets of the bible for a year.

However, this book feels like more than just a stunt. It's possibly because the Bible is a far more important book than the encyclopedia. Even if you don't believe anything in the Bible -- and that seems to be where Jacobs is coming from at the beginning -- the Bible at least has had a major impact on the world. There's nothing wrong with the encyclopedia, of course, but it's still just list of random facts with no central theme.

The best parts of "The Know-It-All" were when Jacobs would go on an encyclopedia-related adventure that took him away from the book. Here, there are many more options for interesting adventures. It's the difference between writing about reading a book and writing about living a book. That alone makes this a much more exciting project.

Jacobs goes on several adventures. He visits a snake-handler in Tennessee. He attends Jerry Falwell's church in Virginia. He even travels to Israel to reconnect with his Judaism, as well as a crazy ex-Uncle who was once a cult leader. And, of course, he walks through Manhattan with a long beard and a white robe for much of the year. Along the way, his wife also gives birth to twin boys.

As Jacobs is Jewish and as the Old Testament is by far the longer Testament, the book mostly revolves around Judaism, although in the last third he does study Christianity in detail.

Religious readers may be disappointed that there is no great life change here. Jacobs began the project as an agnostic, and that's the way he ends up, though he does seem to feel he's a better person from the experience. He spends an entire year praying and doing good works for the people of New York and beyond. At times, he's worried that he's only doing all this for the sake of a book, but one of his spiritual advisers calmed him with this thought:

"C.S. Lewis said the distinction between pretending you are better than you are and beginning to be better in reality is finer than moral sleuthhounds conceive." In short, pretending to be better than you are is better than nothing.

Lewis and Jacobs might just be onto something there.

365 days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living

I owed Joe an apology after reading this book (past tense because I've already delivered it).  I had ridden him pretty hard about what I had classified as "stunt" books.  While I still maintain that the best ones are about challenges that people undertook without the book deal in place already, I do have to admit that a good stunt can still resonate pretty deeply.

I'm pretty sure that I saw Julie Powell doing a guest judge spot on Iron Chef America and she seemed like she'd be cool to eat with.  Probably cool to cook with too.

I found out that this book is being made into a movie to be released in 2009 starring Amy Adams.  I'm really ambivalent about this.  There's a growing number of movies that are based on "stunt" (sorry, Julie) books (mainly thinking of Yes Man) and, while I'm happy that movies are turning to print for story ideas again, I can't help but feel disappointed when a book that I enjoyed is adapted.  To be honest though, there are scenes in this book that I can see really well on screen.  I don't think that I'd see the movie but there weren't nearly enough explosions in the book to make it a movie that I would enjoy.

I personally love the process of cooking, I'm fascinated by arcane knowledge and tempted by complexity so I was right there with her when she contemplated a five page recipe.  Unfortunately for me, I was also right there with her when she got the news of Julia's death in 2004 (I remembered it). 

Ultimately, her imaginary version of Julia Child is pretty close to my imaginary version of Julia Child and I'm glad that she threw herself at this challenge.  Challenge is a better word than stunt, don't you think?

Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback

I finished this over a week ago, but for various reasons I hadn't gotten around to writing about it here until now. One of those reasons may well have been a lack of enthusiasm on my part, which is a shame, because the book is actually pretty good.

In retrospect, it was a mistake to read this right after Stefan Fatsis' book about NFL training camp. I liked the idea of reading these two similar books back-to-back, but in the end I got a bit sick of football. It's sort of like how movie theme nights often seem a little better in principle than in reality. I guess I can only read so much about football game plans in one month.

I did read some of this while watching a football game. It's not exactly the most masculine of things to read a book during a football game, but you can actually get through a lot of pages during all the down time in a game. People complain about baseball being slow, but I get through as many pages in a football game as I do during a baseball game. Sports don't exactly lend themselves to deep literature, but it's not bad watching football while reading about it.

It was also good to have the game on in the background, if only because it puts into focus how different today's game is. In Plimpton's book, it seemed that regular people could actually play the game. Flipping through the pictures, the players look like people you'd see in everyday life. Sure, they are big guys, but not the 300-pound behemoths of today.

And then there's the money aspect. The players of the 1960s had a grueling life, and they were still paid about the same as those in the stands. Even after reading Fatsis' book, I wondered why some of today's players bother with the game. Even with all the money today's players make, the life of an NFL player doesn't always seem worth it. That was, of course, doubly true in the 1960s.

The Plimpton book is probably better in that it gets deeper into the game. Plimpton is obsessed with learning everything about being an NFL player. He had his few weeks in the NFL, and he was determined to take full advantage. The Fatsis book is probably more enjoyable, simply because he leaves some stuff out. Unlike Plimpton, I may not want to know everything about life in the NFL, just the good stuff.

 

A 5-Foot-8, 170-pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL

Not that I need it, but here's more proof that I could never make it in the NFL. I already knew about my lack of talent and athleticism. Also, I always figured that not liking to get hit by big men might be a problem too. But Stefan Fatsis' book about being a field goal kicker in NFL training camp makes me realize one other problem: I might be too stupid to play in the NFL.

I'm being facetious -- well, sort of. However, every time Fatsis started summarizing some play that the team was running, my mind would just gloss over. "And the funny thing is, people think we're pretty dumb," fullback Kyle Johnson says at one point while explaining what seems to me to be the world's most complex play. 

I read this just in time for the NFL season, because, after all, I'm psyched for the upcoming season. Or maybe not. In actuality, I read the last 40 pages while the Redskins and Giants were starting the season, though I didn't even have the game on. It's a strange fan perhaps who chooses to read a book about the NFL instead of watching the opening game of the season.

In truth, while I enjoy football, I'm still a very casual fan. With this book, I was more psyched that Stefan Fatsis had written another book than I was at the start of another football season. "Word Freak," his book about joining the world of championship Scrabble, is one of my favorite books. It even inspired me to take up the game of Scrabble when I had never played it before. "A Few Seconds of Panic" isn't quite as good, if only because it hasn't inspired me to go out and kick field goals, but it's close.

I love participatory journalism like this, and Fatsis is really good at it. It was exciting to read about his attempts to kick field goals for the Denver Broncos, and all the stress that entailed. One of the most harrowing parts of the book is when Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan has Fatsis kick in front of all the players and tells the team that practice will end a half-hour early if Fatsis makes the field goal. And so, all the players line up to watch this writer kick a decisive field goal. Screw the Super Bowl. That's real pressure.

I've written in the past about stunt books, but I don't think I would consider Stefan Fatsis' books to be stunt books. "Word Freak" was more than a stunt book, since he actually became an expert-level Scrabble player. In this book, while Fatsis doesn't actually become an expert-level field goal kicker, he does manage to go behind the scenes and show us the life of players and coaches in a way we seldom get to see.

That may be Fatsis' strength. He shows us the real life of an NFL player which is far from glamorous. Most are just worried about making the team. They may be overpaid, but they also have a tough life. It's not just the injuries, but also the assembly line feel of the NFL where there's always another better player coming up. The players understand this and in fact usually seem more grounded than the fans. Surprisingly, NFL players seemed a whole lot more normal than the Scrabble players Fatsis profiled last time. 

Strangely, I bought this at the same time as I bought George Plimpton's "Paper Lion," in which Plimpton wrote about playing with the Detroit Lions in the 1960s. It just happened to be on sale, and I never even considered the connection between the books when I brought them to the counter. And somehow, despite being more of a baseball guy, I also have two other football books in my pile of books to read. I'm not sure how that happened. Are you ready for some football reading? I guess I'll have to be.

 

One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

This is getting a little strange. As part of my plan to read for an hour a day, I'm reading a book by a guy who is reading the entire encyclopedia for four hours a day. I think I'm becoming derivative. I wonder if anyone out there is reading my blog as part of a project to read blogs about books for fifteen minutes a day.

In some ways, this is sort of like reading a Cliff Notes version of the encyclopedia. As Jon Stewart jokes in the cover blurb, "I've always said, why doesn't someone put out a less complete version of the encyclopedia. Well done, A.J." In some ways, this is an easy read because of all the short sections. In other ways, it's a struggle, thanks to the constant parade of information.

Still, there is a story here. Along with all the facts (Did you know they have a braille version of Scrabble?) we do get to see Jacobs grow, as his knowledge, facts, and possibly even wisdom expand. Jacobs' various attempts to use his newfound knowledge -- at a Mensa conference, taking on the Columbia Debate Team, even interviewing Alex Trebek -- are entertaining. The book is also part memoir, as he delves into his relationship with his father and his wife's struggle to get pregnant. A lot can happen in a year when you're reading the encyclopedia. You can even make it on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

I have a nagging problem with the book. It just seems like too much of a stunt. Part of me wonders whether Jacobs got the book deal before or after deciding to read the encyclopedia. He has a similar book about living biblically for a year. When did he get a book deal for that? There is this whole type of stunt non-fiction, this "I'm going to do this wacky thing and write about it for a year" genre. These stories are always presented as personal journeys. I enjoy them, but they often seem a bit artificial, as if the goal of the book was just to write a book.

But really does it even matter? Perhaps I'm being unfair. Jaocbs is an entertaining and funny writer. The book is chock full of quirky facts, which I enjoyed. And by the end, he does seem to have broadened his mind, which was his goal. Still, at times, it does feel a little too staged. I probably worry about this more than others, because I would like to write one of these stunt books myself someday -- only ideally mine wouldn't be just a stunt. For the most part, I think this book is more than a stunt, though sometimes I'm not entirely sure.