Read, Listen, Watch

Staff Picks and Suggestions

jump start

Have you ever been so enthralled by a book that when you finished it, everything else seemed to pale in comparison? I have.  For the past two or three months I have started a few books and not finished a single one.  Normally, I am not so fickle when it comes to reading but I simply cannot get excited about any of my selections.  In late January, I finished an incendiary piece by Christopher Hitchens in which he presents a case against organized religion.  If you have read any of Mr. Hitchens’ work, you know that he might not always be right, but he sure brings his A game in a fight. (Hey, that rhymes!)  I tried to read a book by noted humorist John Hodgman, a piece of popular history about the 6 most historically signicant drinks (beer, wine, tea, coffee, liquor and soda).  I also cracked open some old favorites in hopes of sticking with a book, no luck.  Don’t get me wrong, none of these books were bad, or poorly written, I just couldn’t get interested in any of them.  I can’t take this much more.

The Page 69 Test

The Page 69 Test is a fun and easy way to decide whether a novel is right for you. Simply open a book you think you might enjoy to page 69 and read that page. If you enjoy it, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy the rest of the book. So the next time you’re in a bookstore, or here in Snell, try out the Page 69 Test and see if it works for you.

Pandora’s box of music

Do you ever get bored at work? (Note: if your boss is reading this, you should probably answer “No” to this question).  If so (or…not [see above]), then I have a great site, called Pandora Radio to share.  It’s a “radio” where you can sort of make your own playlists!  You can just type in a favorite song or artist and the radio will play songs by that artist and other songs from similar sounding artists.  You do have to register for the site, but the best part is, they save your playlists (and you don’t get annoying spam emails from them, either).  It’s something fun to play around with, or just have in the background at your desk.  You don’t even have to let anyone know what kind of music you’re listening to, so go ahead- listen to your guilty pleasure songs and music genres!  In my case, this is country music (ok… I guess I lied when I said Gretchen Wilson was the only country on my iPod.  Heh).

Baseball!

Hey folks, it’s late March, and I wish I were in Fort Myers, Florida. Not just because it was snowing in Boston this morning, although that’s probably a good enough reason. But no, the real reason I’d like to be there is ’cause then I’d already be enjoying some Red Sox baseball! Opening Day is just around the corner, and I can’t wait. The Sox are due to be playing their much-hyped season-opening games against the Oakland A’s in Japan in just a few short days. Yes, you can catch those on TV — too bad the start time for both is 6:05 AM, Eastern Daylight Time! Maybe you want to read something about the team to get psyched up for the start of the season. One title I definitely enjoyed is One Day at Fenway — a great choice for anyone who (like me) hasn’t actually got tickets to a game. Author Steve Kettmann and his team of researchers attended the August 30, 2003 Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway and had access to multiple different viewpoints — celebrities in the crowd, everyday fans, team owners, even the scoreboard operator. The resulting book is an incredibly detailed and fascinating look at one regular-season baseball game with pennant-race implications (the Sox-Yanks rivalry helps!) and, more broadly, the relationship of fans of all stripes to the sport. Definitely a fun read, with all kinds of interesting tidbits and background information about the game that you probably didn’t know. Snell Library has lots of other books on baseball, and on the Sox: for example, try a Subject search on Boston Red Sox. And yes, if you must, you can also get Subject results for the New York Yankees, but I’m not going to automate that search for you. 🙂 Happy reading, in anticipation of that wonderful soon-to-be-heard cry, “Play ball!”

Long Form Journalism for Everyone

Newspapers are dying. Century-old papers are shuttering their doors faster than anyone in the industry would have thought even 10 years ago. There are a variety of factors driving this, and no one can say for sure what they are.

But while daily news gathering takes a hit (worry not, it will return in a new incarnation), long form journalism, the type of story that can take months or years to research, is only gaining more and more ground. With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of books that I feel exemplify this format of journalistic endeavor.

Danny’s Picks:

Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser. One of the first books I read in this genre, Schlosser’s classic looks at the food industry in America. Focusing on agriculture and the big businesses that thrive in this country, Fast Food Nation is a compelling read. From his ride-alongs with ranchers barely breaking even every year to his anecdote about the meat packer who fell into an industrial vat and died, Schlosser paints a horrifying picture about what we eat, and how it get to us.

****(4 Stars)

The Burning Season, Andrew Revkin. Chico Mendes was an Brazilian intellectual, environmentalist, union leader, and in 1988, martyr for the rubber trade. After Mendes’ death, Andrew Revkin immersed himself in Mendes’ hometown, and researched a thick, but interesting read. With all of the historical background on the rubber trade as well as the cultures of the area, Revkin’s book explains exactly what happened, why, and how it can be prevented in the future.

***(3 Stars)

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain. Classically trained in French Cooking, Bourdain worked his way up to the top of New York’s culinary scene. At the height of food television’s popularity, he published this voyueristic look at the food industry. From the fights to the romances to the vices of kitchen workers, Bourdain lays out exactly what happens behind the closed doors.

****(4 Stars)