The Pynchon Project: Mason & Dixon

Or: Is Pomp Culture Making a Comeback?

Or: The Cubs Are So Wretched, I'm Turning To Literature.

Or: No Seriously, I Hate That Jeff Samardzija Just Started a Game.

Confession Time: I am addicted to Thomas Pynchon books. Utterly, completely addicted. His insane writing style, a mixture of James Joycean wordplay and stream of consciousness, Raymond Chandlerian pulp excess, and Joseph Helleresque paranoia and modernist neuroses really appeals to me on a deep level.

Confession Time, Part II: I am not nearly as addicted to actually finishing those books. Oh, I start them with the best intentions, but my (until recently undiagnosed) severe Adult ADHD has made me set them aside for shinier distractions. The problem with Pynchon is, the longer you set him down, the harder it is to remember just what the hell was going on the last time you held the book in your hands. Couple this with a prose style that often requires the casual reader to stop, go back, and reread a passage to figure out what just happened, and (if you're me), you end up with a lot of dog-eared and bookmarked detritus on the shelves.

Compounding Incident: Pynchon has recently released a new novel, Inherent Vice. From everything I can gather, it's a noir-detective novel dipped in a druggy paranoiac haze of decaying 60s idealism. And I want to read it so very badly.

"But Wolter," says my Better Judgment. "You have a metric ton of unread Pynchon on your shelf. And can you really justify a new purchase when you haven't even gotten your money's worth out of the last few?"

"Shut the hell up," I respond. "If I wanted the opinion of an anthropomorphized abstraction in my psyche, I'd ask my Inner Child."

"MORE DOCTOR SEUSS!"

"See!"

And at this point my reverie devolves into nothing and my bookshelf gathers dust.

Economic Twist: Given the fact that I currently have less than $9 in my checking account right now, it seems much more viable to read what I have, instead of buying more things and not reading them.

The Insane Challenge: In the grand tradition of the TMS Bat Project and Chaim's Mustache Diaries, I am wading in feet first into a project that is no doubt doomed to failure: to read ALL of Pynchon's catalog that I own. All of it. Even the stuff I actually did finish (which includes, oddly enough, Gravity's Rainbow, which ranks up there with Finnegan's Wake on the "so-called classic no one ever actually reads" scale). If I can do that, and live to tell about it, then I will allow myself to invest in Inherent Vice. If I fail, I will be forced to tear the suede patches off my tweed jacket and admit I only have an undergraduate degree. The good news: thanks to the addition of ADHD-inhibiting drugs, I've already made it 117 pages into my first book...

The First Book: Mason & Dixon. The impetus behind this whole project. I picked this up and realized that, though I remembered loving what I had read of this, AND that I had a bookmark halfway through, I couldn't actually remember anything at all about the book.

The Story So Far: It's the late 18th Century, and the Rev'd Wicks Cherrycoke is in Philadelphia, telling his niece and nephew a tale of intrigue about his youth traveling the world (after his exile from England, under pain of losing his inherited income from his father). The tale centers around his travels with Mason & Dixon of the famed line (and one supposes Jars and Cups). Charles Mason is a young widower, a London resident given to melancholy whose favorite pastime is attending public hangings. Jeremiah Dixon is a boisterous, hard drinking apostate Quaker from up north. They travel together on a series of missions of Astronomical import, assailed (up to this point) by a French frigate, nubile underaged Dutch blondes, and an overabundance of mutton-based meals. Along the way, they encounter a Learned dog that gives sage advice, world traveling clocks that (like all acquaintances) spend most of their time discussing the weather, and the seductive charms of the exotic ketchup.

All in all, typical Pynchon. Now let's see if I can make it through this thing. I figure it's the least I can do after making the rest of you read this.

Note: Don't worry, bored reader. I will NOT be writing any other posts about this project, but I will be appending status updates to the end of my other, much more fascinating posts about Iron Maiden, Video Games, and The Brutal Murder I Have Planned for Jeff Samardzija.

Governor X's Book Report: The Road

After subjecting myself to the horror that was Twilight, I decided my next book was going to be The Road by noted curmudgeon Cormac McCarthy. Being a fan of bleak post-apocalyptic tales of woe and dread, the idea of the book had intrigued me since I first heard of it, but I held off for a long time for a couple reasons.

First, no one I know who has read it liked it. I'm not going to dismiss something simply because my friends are opposed, but when everyone says it's terrible, I take note.

Second, I couldn't find a copy that didn't have Oprah's seal of approval on it. I'm not contributing to that woman in any way. I had to bite the bullet and vote Obama in spite of her support, but that's where it begins and ends. Fuck Oprah.

Finally, and most importantly, Cormac McCarthy has an unpleasant writing style. He can tell one hell of a story (No Country for Old Men, All the Pretty Horses), but for some reason none of his editors ever insisted he use proper punctuation and avoid sentence fragments. I had previously slogged through Blood Meridian and it was brutal.

Now it's available in the movie tie-in edition at Walmart for $6. I can handle that. Instead of Oprah's seal for her bleating army of sheep, it has Viggo Mortensen on the cover. He was Aragorn so its OK. History of Violence was a real disaster though... I would just have to deal with his awkward writing style.

The Road is, in fact, quite good. When you think of it, its truly amazing to tell the story of a father and son wandering through a dead world with no hope searching for food and hiding from the odd human they see and still have it be so completely gripping. I have read comments online from people who said they started to read it but simply couldn't finish it because they grew too depressed. Saying this book is bleak is the understatement of the year and some of the more shocking imagery will stick with you for awhile (no spoilers, but check out pages 110 and 198 if you want a gut punch), but I couldn't imagine stopping once I had started.

I can't imagine the upcoming movie is going to be worth a damn. No one in Hollywood is going to stick with the absolutely hopeless tone of the book and they've already tinkered with it including more flashbacks with The Man's wife. Weak.

So go pick up The Road and please don't hold this blog responsible for the prozac prescription your doctor will be writing when you're done.

Much of The Road was filmed in Pennsylvania without any CGI. Its just that horrible there.

The Fanpires Aren't Going to Like This

Not long ago, in a fit on immeasurable boredom I made a decision I would regret: I borrowed my friend's copy of Twilight and decided to read it and report back to you, the Pomp Culture reader. How clever right? You see, being an adult male, I'm not the target audience. This would lead to an awesomely hilarious post. Right?

No. Instead, it lead to a week of torture as I labored through 500 pages of repetitive drivel about pretty vampires who glow in the sun (shit - spoiler alert!) and a klutz who constantly puts herself in danger (more spoilers - lolz!).

Not long ago, our own Daft Funk warned us about Twilight, but that was just the movie. The book had to be better right? Isn't the book always better?

Again, no. Reading Twilight was essentially waterboarding myself, asexual vampire style. That movie can't be more than 90 minutes. This book goes on and on and on.

Daft already went through the basic plot: mysterious girl moves from Phoenix to Forks, WA, meets attractive weirdo, finds out he's a vampire, falls in love, yada yada yada. Does she fall into any danger? Of course. Even this coma inducing author, Stephanie Meyer, can't fill up 500 pages with descriptions of how beautiful the vampires are, but there are three more books so you know she gets out OK.

Actually, as I look back now, the only two things I really took away from it is that Bella is a klutz and Edward is a good looking douche. That much is quite clear after a chapter or two, but the book keeps going. If Meyer cut out some of the unnecessary repetition of this information, the book could probably be cut down to about 400 pages. Even with 100 pages shaved off, descriptions of Edward's "cold skin" and minute by minute updates on his eye color would probably grow tiresome. Here's a test. Are you tired of me complaining about it yet? Yes? OK. There we go.

I finished this book a few days ago and hadn't given it another thought until now. My head hurts all over again. Why is this popular? What is wrong with kids nowadays? Back when I was a teenager, Anne Rice's hedonistic gay vampires were all the rage. Now we have asexual vampires who don't even drink human blood. George Carlin once complained about the pussification of American culture. He probably wasn't talking about irritatingly predictable vampire literature (literature is probably not the right word), but who knows...

The next book on the pile is The Road, by recluse and punctuation hater Cormac McCarthy. Some tell me its boring. Others say its terrible. Oprah raves about it. Why do I keep torturing myself for you people?

TMS Bookworm: Sports Books

We're back again with another TMS Bookworm. Every so often, we feel the need to flex our intellectual muscles and let you know that we still kick it old school by (gasp!) reading books. Today we're taking a look at sport-specific books, where the subjects deal with, uh...sports. Biographies have been deemed ineligible. In case you missed any of the wildly successful previous editions, you can view them here. As always, we welcome your suggestions.

Loose Balls by Terry Pluto
I’ve read this baby about three times, and it never gets old. It chronicles the ups and downs of the ABA and many of its notable players and executives. The book is absolutely hilarious and many of its stories are damn near unbelievable. From the young broadcasting 'newb, Bob Costas tripping up and saying "blow job" on the air, to opposing players getting cold-cocked by way of a coach-issued bounty (just seconds after the opening tip!!), this one is again, damn near unbelievable. Classic "toilet book" as the chapters are short and sweet. Best basketball book ever.

Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
Talk about a dream job - a young newspaper writer gets to cover his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers for two seasons in ‘52 and ‘53. You then flash forward to the 70’s, where he catches up with the players he covered and gives you the "Where Are They Now?". It’s a great book about baseball and a look into the life of an athlete, both during their playing career and after. One of the first (and best) books written where the reporter followed and chronicled a single team's entire season.

The Miracle of St. Anthony by Adrian Wojnarowski
Kind of like John Feinstein's A Season on the Brink, except for this one deals with high school basketball. The author follows the season of a low income, inner-city high school team in Jersey City, NJ. You get a sense of what makes the players survive the tough discipline of legendary high school coach, Bob Hurley, Sr., and how he tries to prepare these boys to become men. Name sound familiar? Yes, he's the father of Danny and Bobby Hurley, the latter of which was an NCAA champion at Duke and later played in the NBA.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Professional climber and Outside Magazine journalist Jon Krakauer details his 1996 attempt to scale Mt. Everest. The first part of the book deals with the commercialization of Everest - specifically the concerns of many longtime professional climbers that are worried about the growing number of inexperienced climbers attempting to reach the top of Everest after mere weeks of training. In an almost prophetic manner, the second part of the book details Krakauer's journey up the mountain with a guided group, meticulously recounting the horrific tragedy that ultimately left twelve climbers dead.

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
Short and sweet. It’s a fairly simple story on the surface: a father and two sons like to fish. After reading this novella, you see it’s so much more. Maclean uses fishing as a metaphor and follows the normal brother, Norman, and the wild brother, Paul. Great prose and vivid descriptions of Montana, you’re hard pressed in finding a book that matches the language. Also was one of the few books made into a movie that did a good job in the translation from prose to film.

The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman
In honor of one of the new bartenders and Met fan, Jordi, I'm including this baby, detailing the 1986 World Series champion New York Mets. Pearlman gives the reader great insight into what made the team click, but perhaps more memorable, what a bunch of colorful and unsavory characters they were. Sex, drugs, gambling, and legendary drinking stories are served up quick and often, mixed in with numerous player interviews where they have no shame in stabbing one another in the back. Don Henley could have described this book perfectly when he sang, "Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry!"

Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Give this book a chance before you judge it. It’s gotten a lot of negative press from baseball “purists”, but it makes me think they haven’t even read it. Billy Beane’s philosophy isn’t about reinventing the game, it’s about an economic approach for small market GMs to find undervalued qualities in players. In short, you have to maximize your dollar on a limited budget. Well researched and well written. As a former Econ major, I'd lobby for this to be required reading for all college Econ classes.

The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb
Up until the early 1950's, the thought of a human running a mile in under four minutes was thought to be impossible. The Perfect Mile follows three men who were the first serious challengers to the mythical barrier - Roger Bannister, the British medical student who allotted equal devotion to studies and running, John Landy, the Aussie who devoted all of his time and energy towards being the first to break the barrier, and Wes Santee, the country boy from Kansas who struggled with grips of Uncle Sam and the unforgiving AAU. Many will already know the outcome, but Bascomb's attention to details of the races and the psyches of the runners themselves make this a truly wonderful book.

French Revolutions by Tim Moore
A 36 year old journalist decides to try and ride the route of the 2000 Tour de France about one month before the actual race. Moore, an English travel writer by trade, claims that he’s by no means an avid cyclist and actually goes out of his way to describe his clumsy history with bikes. A devoted fan of professional cycling, he probably fibs a bit on his “lack of conditioning” and “training very little” for a 2,000 bike ride, you forgive him because his travel exploits are downright hilarious. From admittedly skipping brutal mountain climbs to popping hayfever medication loaded with ephedra to keep him going, his honesty and humor shine through. Cycling interest, while not necessary, would probably help.

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
No, not the awful movie adaptation that sets it in Boston. This is the original piece about the author growing up around his favorite football soccer team, Arsenal. Hornby talks about his passion for the Gunners as a boy and also as a grown man, equally sharing his repeated anguish and frustration with them (Cubs fans, anyone?). More of a comedy than a true autobiography, it will keep you turning pages even if you don’t like soccer. Also the author of High Fidelity.

Thunder Matt's Book Review: Nerd Edition

I'm not going to pretend. If you couldn't tell already, I am a nerd. A geek. A dork. I grew up watching the original 3 Star Wars movies over and over again. I read science fiction books on a regular basis. I've been in debates over who would win in a fight, Boba Fett or Harrison Ford from Blade Runner. You name the nerdy activity, and I'm probably guilty of it (although I never really had any interest in Star Trek...and I've never been to the San Diego Comic Con, although I was on math team in high school, so that may bring me back to even).

Knowing this, it's pretty much a given that I would be a comic book fan as well. It started while I was young with a few issues of G.I. Joe and grew from there. Over the years, I've read little bits of just about everything there is, from the really good (Preacher, Sandman) to the downright awful (Green Hornet? Lame.).

When The Dark Knight came out last month and had the trailer for Watchmen attached to it, the buzz started building immediately. What is this movie? Where can I learn more about it? For those of you who don't know, Watchmen is a graphic novel that's been out since the 80's that is considered to be one of the top comics of all time (more on that later).

Now what is a "graphic novel"? How is it different from a regular old comic book? Glad you asked. There are 2 things that a graphic novel can be:

1. One single story that's too big to fit into a 30 page comic, so it comes out in a book form.
2. A bunch of issues of a comic series that form one story and are collected in one place so you don't have to hunt all of them down to read the whole thing.

Watchmen falls into the second category. The original series was made up of 12 comics that came out once a month. Once the popularity spiked soon after, all 12 issues were re-released into one single book.

Graphic novels are the easiest way to read long (and usually way out of print and hard to find) comic stories without having to shell out much money. And honestly, despite the sometimes negative stereotypes that go along with both comic books and comic fans, they can be interesting to read and enjoyable for people of any age. And guess what? Did you see Iron Man this summer? How about The Dark Knight? Well then you are already one foot in the door, good sir. So strap yourself in as I give you a little taste of where you should go if you have the urge to jump into this wonderful world:

Watchmen
Watchmen is the Citizen Kane of graphic novels. It's a highly acclaimed piece of work both within the comic industry and outside of it. It's the only graphic novel to be named to Time Magazine's Top 100 Novels since 1923. The story is set in an alternate future in the 1980's, where President Nixon is campaigning for his 5th term in office. The Doomsday Clock, measuring the tension between the US and Russia, is permanently set at 5 minutes to midnight. Masked superheroes exist, but were outlawed in the 70's. Now, someone is going around and killing the ex-superheroes as part of a larger agenda. This story is less about big fights and superpowers (only one person in the whole story can actually do anything "super") and more about the constant nuclear threat and fear that people had to live under during the Cold War. This story starts out a bit slow, but the last three chapters will knock you on your ass.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Anyone who enjoyed The Dark Knight this summer will most likely love this story. Also set in the future, Frank Miller's reinvention of Batman is considered the moment when Batman lost a lot of the campy fun he was known for in the early days of his comics, and became darker and grittier (just like the change from Joel Schumacher's Batman to Christopher Nolan's). After the death of Robin, Batman retires and starts hitting the bottle pretty hard. Only after trouble brews up again in Gotham City (why the hell would anyone continue to live there?), a 50 year old Batman has to come out of retirement to deal with Two Face and The Joker (Sound familiar?). The art is fantastic and the writing is top notch. And there's a Superman cameo. I highly recommend this book.


Superman: Red Son
We all know the story of Superman, right? Alien crash lands on Earth in Kansas and is raised to become the embodiment of America and defend the country against all kinds of bad guys. What would have happened if Superman's ship had crashed 12 hours later and ended up in Russia instead of America? That's what Superman: Red Son takes a look at. How would the Cold War have turned out if Russia had a super powered dude on their side that was more powerful than any missile or atomic bomb? What if Lex Luthor was the President of the United States and was hell-bent on destroying Superman while his wife, Lois Lane (naturally), grew more and more distant as the years went by. This one is a short read and you don't need to know anything about Superman or any of his allies to enjoy it.


Astonishing X-Men
If you know who Joss Whedon is, you probably dont't need any convincing from me because you've most likely devoured this series already. Joss Whedon is the mind between the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series and the cult hits Firefly and Serenity. Even if you've never read the X-Men before, you'll have no problem jumping in on his run. He did issues 1-24 and one giant sized final issue. The thing I liked most about this run was the subtle humor in every issue that you don't find a lot of in other comic books.

Books, books, books

Yeah, so welcome to a nice, easy, phoned-in post based on a random email thread meme!

There's a little baseball in here, but not a whole lot. Just be forewarned.

So I got a new job recently, and I work around books all day. It's excellent, and I enjoy it greatly. I get to read a lot, have a lot of meetings, and generally spend my days talking about books. Control your excitement, I know this is bordering on enthusiasm. So, the other day I'm running between floors, and I get on the elevator to see Daryl "fucking" Strawberry and his agent.

I was initially overcome with two thoughts: one, holy fucking shit, it's Daryl Strawberry! The second was more brutally honest: what the fuck does Daryl Strawberry have to write a book about? I mean, I understand his story, it's been on ESPN and Wikipedia and the eBays before, so what mysteries are left to be unraveled? What could he not be telling us?

Anyway, so this minor, minor celebrity sighting was spilled into the email thread, and begat a whole host of other athletes who should do books.

Behold my cut-and-paste skills!

-----
Fred McGriff: The Crime Dog Dishes on Dopers, Batboys, Blue Jays and Those Instructional Videos that Won't Die
Waste of Tallness: The Shawn Bradley Story
Red Headed Stepchild: The Matt Murton Story
Lenny Dykstra Wants You to Fuck Off

How to throw chairs at women and alienate your bullpen staff - Frank Francisco
Everybody Poops (in a girl's hamper at college) - Najeh Davenport
One Timeout Too Many - Chris Webber
I Did It, Now Read My Shit: The Barry Bonds Story
JEEEEZZZZZ: The Ron Santo Story

Yes, I Do In Fact Believe This Crazy Shit - Darren Daulton
How NOT to Drive Drunk" - Eddie Sutton. Foreword by Tony LaRussa
Trust me, that's just water - Moises Alou
Rickey on Rickey: The Rickey Henderson Story, as told by Rickey Henderson. Foreword by John Olerud

Counting to Ten - Travis Henry
Loyalty is Not a Virtue - Larry Brown
Unfinished Steve Trachsel Project - Steve Trachsel
Slow and average wins the race: The Legend of Jon Lieber
Loyalty is REALLY Not a Virtue - by Roger Clemens

This Book Doesn't Care About White People Either - Isiah Thomas
War and Peace - Jaime Moyer
Can I Keep My Signing Bonus? Short stories from the slackass big men of the NBA
JESUS!" - The 2007 Colorado Rockies
Aww Shit...You Know - Dwight Smith

Pass the A-1: The Tommy Buzanis Story
RAW: How I like my steak, my women, my life - Thomas Buzanis
Whoops - Jim Leyritz. Foreword by Leonard Little
Yachting Made Easy - Bison Dele
What Happened While I Was Gone? - Shaun Alexander

Paving the Way with my Head and Neck - Mike Alstott
Building a Strong Core - Matt Leinart. Foreword by Phil Mickelson
SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! I DIDN'T DO ROIDS! I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF! - Joey Belle
The Joy of Raw Dogging Groupies - Shawn Kemp
Wow, we're gonna fucking blow this - The Chicago Cubs

TMS Bookworm: Ben Mezrich Edition

We're back again with another TMS Bookworm. Every so often here, we feel the next to flex our intellectual muscles and let you know that we still kick it old school by (gasp!) reading books. In case you missed the first edition, you can view it here. We welcome your suggestions as well.

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. Perhaps you've read this one, it was a New York Times bestseller and has now been adapted for the big screen. The fast-paced, non-fiction book follows MIT student, Kevin Lewis, and his education in an MIT card-counting group that is gearing up to make a run at Vegas. The author manages to get what appears to be carte blanch with Kevin and all the interworkings of the club, which was founded by a former MIT math instructor.

The book hit the shelves just as the poker boom was hitting the TV everywhere, and it doesn't disappoint. You find out all you'd want to know about the management styles of Vegas casinos, what a "gorilla" is on the blackjack table, how to travel on a plane with large sums of money, and most shockingly, how this group of kids legally took Vegas for almost $4 million and lived the life of a high roller right on The Strip.

It's amazing how easy the book makes it sound: it's simply keeping track of a running number, making note of how many big cards have been played. So simple, yet you must realize that these were all math whizzes from one of the most prestigious technical schools in the world. The author even addresses the fact that Vegas really doesn't care if people know about this book because of how difficult it is to beat them. You're more than likely to lose large sums of money than win it big when playing this tactic.

This makes for a great airplane book because it reads so fast. If you're interested in the movie, you can see the trailer here. True to form, it looks like the filmmakers have taken some liberties with the screenplay.

_________


Ugly American$ by Ben Mezrich. Yet another true story about Ivy League kids making it big. Ugly Americans tells the story of college grads that descended on the Asian financial markets in the mid 90's. These Hedge Fund Cowboys walked a fine line of business ethics to make millions of dollars on derivative trading. The main character is "John Malcolm", a former Princeton football player determined to make it in the world of finance. When run-of-the-mill interviews on Wall Street don't pan out, the kid from a humble background decided to call a guy who he'd originally thought was just a football fan.

Taking this "job" on the fly, Malcolm moves to Japan to work at a company comprised of expatriates, and trades over $20 million on his first day alone. All throughout the book we're told of how the financial market ties into the Japanese mafia and also a burgeoning sex market (which is described in detail quite often). These expatriates have found a loophole that allows them to exploit fledgling companies and turn them into big profits. Obviously, it's an immensely risky business, and the author alludes to the man who is associated the most with the Wild East financial market, Nick Leeson, he who singlehandedly caused the collapse of one of the oldest and well-respected banks in Europe.

While some could argue that the author makes things too simplistic, it works. I'm looking for an entertaining and fast-paced page turner, not a textbook on finance. Much like Bringing Down the House, much of the book is focused on living large. The main character constantly has his eye on two things: the one, big sale and the soon to follow exit point. Maybe not your grandfather's American Dream, but certainly an exciting rags-to-riches story to be sure.

TMS Bookworm Edition, Volume I

In an effort to disprove our rough-and-tumble, alcohol-driven image, the bartenders would like to wander into the realm of the literary world. Kind of a "Best of 2007: Books" list. The only problem is, we haven't read that many books released in 2007, so we're highlighting some of the best books we READ in 2007. So put down your Atari 2600 joystick, you can get back to Pitfall later. Remember when you used to read? Well, it's back with a vengeance in 2008, so much so that it's been dubbed as: Reading: The new 'black'.

The Hundley

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. I saw this book so many times at the local book store and I couldn't understand it. Without ever picking it up, it looked like it showed the nation's capital, and with that title, I assumed it was talking about Dubya. When I finally did pick it up, I saw that it was a true story about the World's Fair in Chicago during 1893. I felt like a dumbass for not knowing that this happened. The book follows two people and how their paths interweave. One is the man in charge of making The Fair happen, a monumental task, considering that an entire city was built within a few years. The other story is of a local entrepreneur looking to capitalize on the fair's commerce, and also whetting his serial killer appetite. Just an unbelievable book. Also won numerous awards.

Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione. I don't pretend to be an entrepreneur because I am not, but who nows, maybe someday. This book is a hell of a read if you even have the slightest urge of making your own company. While this book could (and probably should) pass as a college text book, it certainly doesn't read that way. It involves the personal story of Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware, the country's fastest growing brewery. The author carefully interweaves business practices with true and funny experiences of his own, all along showing what it takes to turn your idea into a reality. You'll also learn a few tips on brewing beer, so that never hurts.

Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas. You've seen the movie Munich, right? Well this is the book that the movie was based on. It involves the true story of five men in an Israeli Special Forces Unit that was secretly assembled in response to the 'Black September' murders of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. True of many book-to-movie endeavors, the book contains far more details and a more complete backstory, including the moral dilemmas that the Special Forces unit underwent.

Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond by Paul Shirley. Imagine if one of your good drinking buddies from school played basketball in college and the pros, and then he wrote you frequent emails, humorously recounting his experiences. That is the main gist of this book. Never a star in college (taking a backseat behind Fizer and Tinsley at Iowa State) or in the pros (reread the title), Shirley kept himself grounded and thankfully, managed to keep his sense of humor. He gives the reader a taste of how dumb and decadent NBA stars can be, as well as how thankless and, at times, hopeless life can be as a pro baller in the CBA or overseas. It's a fast read and one that will have you laughing out loud. This is high praise, coming from a guy who is a lifelong Hawkeye (me), reading a book about a Cyclone (Shirley). Dude also has a legendary column at ESPN.com

Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado. Here we go again, another book that has been made into a movie. Not exactly, the movie Alive was based on the book by the same title. Miracle in the Andes was written by an actual survivor of the Uruguayan plane of rugby players, friends, and family that crashed in the Chilean Andes Mountains in 1972. For 72 days, Nando and some his fellow survivors managed to stay alive, high in the mountains, with no food and no way of contacting the outside world. When a radio was found, they heard that the search had been called off, and they were forced to make some tough decisions that would ultimately keep them alive and save them. The first was that with no food, they would have to eat the bodies of the deceased. The second was that they would have to hike and climb to find someone to rescue them, or they would surely die on the mountain. This is an epic tale of survival and one young man's sheer will, determination, and yearning to see his father again. It's amazing that he was even able to climb considering all of the mental and physical obstacles that Parrado dealt with. After reading this, you'll likely call your dad just to talk to him.

Chaim Witz

IV by Chuck Klosterman. Admittedly, I have a huge man crush on Chuck Klosterman. Anybody that can wax poetic about the virtues of the KISS solo albums in one breath and then discuss baseball ad nauseum in the next has my undivided attention. His second effort, 'Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs' remains one of my favorite reads ever. Seriously, how many sports journalists do you think can talk shop about music (besides Springsteen and U2)? And how many horn-rimmed music nerds can would be able to tell you how to fix the NBA? Klosterman combines the best of both worlds, all while coming off as funny, sincere and surprisingly unpretentious.

IV is his most recent work and also his most erratic. It's basically a collection of essays that he wrote for various magazines, Spin and Esquire to be specific. This is a hit or miss affair, with most of the misses stemming from the celebrity profiles that he gets assigned to do. Proof positive that celebrities really aren't that interesting. It's when he outlines the criteria that makes certain music acts 'advanced' or differentiates between an 'arch rival' and a 'nemesis' that the author truly gets to shine. An easy, enjoyable read for anyone with the slightest interest in music, sports and women.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - This was written by that guy who looks like Phillip Seymour Hoffman. For those that don't know, it's the true life account of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, two ex-cons who in 1959 made headlines by murdering a family of four in a quiet Kansas town. Capote tells this story through interviews with the victims family and friends and also from information that he gathered while getting to know Hickock and particularly Smith, as they waited on death row. People smarter than I have used the words 'brilliant' and 'masterpiece' to describe this, Capote's signature work. These people were right.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Ok, so I didn't read this one in 2007 (2006 is a better approximation). But this is probably my favorite piece of fiction ever and how often do we pimp books on TMS? Read this book. The author, John Kennedy Toole committed suicide before the book was even published, so it's the least you could do for the man. In 1981 the book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. For those of you who can't read, that's the equivalent of winning the MVP. This book was to literature in 1981 what Tom Brady was to football in 2007. Good looking and on point.

It tells the story of Ignatius J. Reilly, an eccentric, idealistic and morbidly obese man who lives with his mother in pre-Katrina New Orleans. He hates everything, particularly those things that are popular with the masses, and he proudly sports a thick and unruly mustache. He loves to eat, write erotic letters and make fun of others. He doesn't like to leave New Orleans because of a bad experience he had once on a Greyhound Bus en route to Baton Rouge. This book chronicles his life and it's various pratfalls, from unrequited love to his stint as a napping hot dog vendor and his attempt to start a coup at a pants factory.

This is the greatest book ever written.

No Country for Old Men and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I'll keep this short and sweet. If you'd like more info on the former, go see the movie. If you'd like more info on the latter, stare at a wall for five hours. 'No Country'. Very good. 'The Road'. Very bad.

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden - Ok, so I just got this a week ago for my birthday, so maybe I'm cheating. But really, this a book that any red blooded American should own. I saw it listed atop the best seller list for months and never knew what it was. What can I say? I'm a sucker for danger.

It's a basically a collection of random stuff that every straight guy should know. Do you yearn for the day when kids played outside and made tree forts and read books? Back in the day, before playing 'Halo 3' online was an acceptable way to kill 12 hours? Then this book is for you (and your kid). Here are just a few of the gems it contains: Building a Treehouse, A List of Baseball's MVPS, Famous Battles in History, Skipping Stones, How to Play Poker, Hunting and Cooking a Rabbit, The Seven Wonders of the World, and of course, Dinosaurs. Reading this book has given my mustache a thick and powerful shine.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - Another Pulitzer Winner. (This isn't always a good thing. See: The Road) This book is challenging to say the least. It's one of those where, for the first 100 pages (this is a 600+ page behemoth) your mind wanders and you have to re-read sections. You want to give up. You wonder aloud on a train, 'Is this worth it?' The homeless man leaning against the door nods in a way that says, 'Yes. Yes it is.' So you forge on.

I don't even know if I can do this book justice with a synopsis. It follows two Jewish cousins, Joe the Czech and his cousin Sam, who he comes to live with in Brooklyn before WWII. They are both artistically inclined and thus begin to draw comics. This was in the 'golden age' of comics, when they were legit and everybody read em. Slowly (very slowly sometimes) they become famous and start to grow apart. Joe draws a lot of comics where the hero is beating up Hitler. Sam is secretly gay. Lots of other shit happens that I can't really remember unless I were to consult Wikipedia. This was a very good book that made me feel smarter for having read it. That said, it took me a solid 4 months on and off to finish it. Recommended, but not for those who don't enjoy a good challenge.