Thurston Blogging

Jay's Book Club Returns

It's been some time since I've read a book.  It's not that I've become illiterate since I've become a father, I just haven't been that interested in reading for enjoyment.

Recently, Sharon and I went to see Juno, a movie written by Diablo Cody.  We had seen her once before on the Letterman show, and found her wit was outstanding.  We loved the movie, so I decided to see if the most awesome library system in the US (Kent County, represent) had her book, Candy Girl.  It did, I grabbed it.

Candy Girl is about a woman, Diablo Cody, who moves from Chicago to Minnesota to hook up with a fellow she met online.  She finds a boring job, and becomes bored.  So, she decides to become a dancer.  A pole dancer.  The book details a year in the life of a nerdy stripper.

If you liked Juno, you'll love this book.  There is even a mention of the Hamburger Phone.   The back cover compares Cody to Chuck Klosterman, who I dig.  If you do, you may enjoy this.  If you don't take it back to the library.

R.I.F.

Last year, when I was on the road, I read like I was trying to find an antidote.  Since there was nothing on television worth watching (in English) in Italy besides CNN and BBC, I decided to sit down with a good book.  Or thirty, as it turned out.  Many thanks to the Grand Rapids library system for making that possible.

Here is a list of a few books I own, and I'll publish another of the books I borrowed from the aforementioned library very soon.

Merry Christmas, My Ninjas

We (and by "We" I mean I) here at Thurston Blogging hope that everyone had a super-fantastic Christmas.  We (you know what I mean) sure did, and I wanted to share one of the gifts that we got.  A book.  Not just any book, but The Official Ninja Book by Robert Hamburger.  The aforementioned book will double as a gift and serve as the next "Jay's Book Club" book.

You may be asking yourself - "What is a ninja?".  Or you may be thinking "How did I end up in a Turkish prison?"  Cannot help you with the latter, Bobby.  However, to find out more about being a ninja, you have the right to learn all that there is to know here.

Here is a Christmas message from another fellow ninja:

The Next Book

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (What I will now refer to as simply IV for the rest of this post) is the next book that my loyal follower should read.  Klosterman is the author of three other great book that I've enjoyed this past year while traveling:
Fargo Rock City
Killing Yourself to Live
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

Thanks to the great Grand Rapids-area public library system, I've been able to get all of these books for free.  This is my second pass at IV.  The first time, I took it on a trip to Italy, and never got to it as I read Howard Stern's two books Private Parts and Miss America.

This author is my age, and while he possesses an odd affinity to crappy 80's rock, his insightful views on popular culture are witty and laugh-out-loud funny to me.  The fact that there are published authors my age, discussing things that are relevant to me makes me feel both happy and old.   He's no Tucker Max with the women, but not many people (with the possible exception of Saylor) are in his league.

IV is a collection of essays on a wide variety of subjects ranging from tribute bands to eating nothing but McNuggets for one week.  Like the great Bill Simmons, Chuck will also pen great sports-related articles for ESPN's Page 2.  To view Chuck's Page 2 archive, click here.  Give any of the four books a read and decide for yourself if this guy is a slacker hipster doofus, or modern-day Jack Kerouac or Charles Bukowski.  Or both.

Join Jay's Book Club

My Life Coach, Erik Jackson, mentioned a book to me a while back.  Thanks to the world's greatest library system, I got an e-mail that the book was transferred to the Cascade branch today.  So, after pounding a pint of Founders Breakfast Stout, I trucked it over to the library on a Friday afternoon.

Once there, I went to the "Hold" section to pickup my paperback copy of The New York Times Bestseller - I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max.  The NYT calls the book "Highly entertaining and thoroughly reprehensible".  What makes it so?  Here is a quick hit from Appendix 2: The Tucker Max Drunk Scale -

Buzzed: is after a few beers, when I can feel the alcohol affecting me, but I think I can still drive reasonably well.  My brain generally works like normal, though perhaps a little slow.

Tucker Max Drunk: is the ultimate drunk stage...I have trouble figuring out doorknobs...Any of several things can happen at Tucker Max Drunk.  I can:
* Claim to be a renowned expert on things I could not begin to explain when sober
* Break things
* Become very angry at inanimate objects, and loudly curse them

Some reader feedback:
"You are the coolest person I can ever imagine existing.  If you slept with my girlfriend, it'd make me lover her more."

Some comments from the author:
"My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole."

Share your thoughts with me here, and/or read more at Tucker Max.com.