Book Report

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

 My rating system:

10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite
5 - average for what I read
1 – terrible; why did I finish it?

  

Down to my last 11 books at home, mostly thanks to Little Free Libraries – from which I received all of the below. I hope my library will at least open for curbside pickup soon. No works of fiction below this time, though I did begin reading several. None held my interest. Also, given recent events, I should point out that the authors below are all white except for one Asian. Right now I’m limited in my book choices by what I can glean from the LFLs, but I have read a lot by African Americans in the past and will continue to do so in the future. If anyone wants, I can recommend a few great books on race and racism too!

 

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich – Not something I’d usually read, this is a nonfiction account of what is seen in the movie “21” – a group of smart MIT students find a way to beat casinos at Blackjack. It’s written in a very showy, dramatic style. Just from the author’s writing, I can tell that he’s a gross sexist pig and he needs to be slapped. The way every female character is described by her appearance and sex appeal, while male characters are not. Someone kick Mezrich in the nuts or something. (Also, this has nothing to do with the book, but I understand that the movie whitewashed the characters. Most of the people in this book are of Asian descent, but apparently the moviemakers decided that almost everyone should be white. Again, not this author’s fault but I wanted to mention it). Grade: 2 (without the sexism, probably would’ve been a 5)

 

 

Devil at My Heels by Louis Zamperini – In this memoir, the author describes growing up and getting into all sorts of trouble, becoming an Olympic runner, signing up for World War II and spending two years as a POW enduring absolutely brutal conditions. I was really riveted during the first 75% of the book. How Zamperini survived on a raft for more than a month and then survived prison conditions that were similar to Nazi concentration camps was remarkable to read about. The last fourth of the book is about how he became an Evangelist, a follower of Billy Graham (eww) and a missionary. I never had much love for Evangelists even before they brought literally the devil to the US presidency, so I mostly skimmed those sections. I am glad the Christianity brought Zamperini some peace. One interesting piece shows how much the process of becoming an Olympic athlete certainly has changed since the 1930s. Zamperini had no coach, no money, no sponsors. Won a few local races and qualified to go to NY for a big race and bam! - he made the Olympic team and was on a boat to Berlin for the 1932 Olympics. Times certainly have changed. Grade: 5

 

The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C Cutler – A book that contains a lot of wisdom and practical ideas for being more peaceful, loving, and happy. It has a lot of good examples and anecdotes to bring everything to life better. I plan to keep this one and take it our periodically to re-read sections. Grade: 8

 

Over My Head by Claudia L. Osborn – The author is a successful doctor when she’s riding a bike and gets hit by a reckless driver. She sustains a head injury, and this memoir is about her trying to cope with her new normal. It was fascinating. She has the resources and familial support to go to a special program in New York for nearly a year, and it helps her regain some of her former capacities, but nowhere near all of them. One thing that made me sad. Osborn keeps mentioning her “housemate” Marcia who definitely seems to function as her spouse – Marcia even writes a section on mourning the Osborn who used to be. Maybe they truly are just “housemates” but I’m guessing not, and it’s sad that they couldn’t be transparent about that here. The book was published in 1998. Grade: 8

 

Perfectly Clear by Michelle LeClair  - God Scientology is so scary. This is a book by an ex-Scientologist who was attacked by the church for coming out as gay. The lengths these maniacs go to in order to control their members and punish their ex-members is just insane and scary. Parts of this are a little hard to read given how they just go after LeClair but – spoiler alert – it has a happy ending. If nothing else, reading about this cult is engrossing. Grade: 7

Comments

[nytshd3]

Scientology is absolutely terrifying. I look at all the celebs who are into it and I wonder about what they get held over their heads to keep them in line. When you mentioned you were reading one, I was thinking about Leah Remini's book, which is on my to-read list. I've read a lot about them including that they (at least at one point in time) made a point of recruiting doctors and dentists (for the $$$), and would put them up in hotels with bugged rooms so they could use stuff people talked about in their rooms to make themselves seem more legitimate. And their pockets are so deep and their lawyers are so vicious that its been hard for people to tell the truth about what it's like.

It blows me away how even a seemingly minor head injury can totally change everything. I am insanely grateful that Rollin was still the same person he was prior to his injury. He could have died or become a very different person. I used to work with a guy who had a head injury from a car crash and he experienced major changes in being able to control himself when it came to, for example, getting pissed off at a neighbor. A couple years ago he got arrested for pulling a gun on someone during a road rage incident. I think it's still going through the criminal justice system, but I have no doubt that his head injury played a significant part in this. Anyway, I find it really fascinating to read about how people find a new normal and a new way to live after something like this, and it has to be so devastating mentally/emotionally, as well as financially (if they are US-based). I wonder if Osborn (or Marcia) are/were not out to their families? I wonder if they were partners but the head injury changed that and they didn't want to get into it? I was going to say it's not like it was 25 years ago buuuut it almost was.

I could probably use some time reading the art of happiness

I've rejected a few books that had an interesting premise but ended up with the person becoming a religious fundamentalist, so good for you for getting through that for the good parts of this story! The story of him going to the olympics reminded me of that story from a few years ago, wasn't there some skiier that wasn't bad but wasn't that great, and just kept showing up to events and doing OK enough to get the points to be qualified to go?

I've heard nothing good about that bringing down the house story. Can't say I'm super surprised the guy was sexist, I seem to remember that basically he was the mastermind and used some smart kids to rake in a bunch of money.

Thanks for sharing as always. One of these days I'll really get back to reading, I miss it. I'd be happy to hear any book suggestions you might have on race and racism!

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

Thanks for commenting!

First and most important, here are the books that have impacted me the most on Black/White relations lately:

- Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
- The New Jim Crow (I think you read this already)
- Just Mercy
- Between the World and Me

For Bringing Down the House, the guy who wrote the book didn't actually have anything to do with the gambling scheme; he just chronicled it for the book. But according to the book, all of the players knew full well what they were doing and were pretty gung-ho about it.

Thank goodness that Rollin's head injury wasn't bad! It could have been horrible. A volunteer at Poised once told me of someone she knew who fell down the stairs "and was never the same again". As for the author of the book and Marcia, there's just no way to say for sure since she never says. But I definitely felt that all the lesbian signs were there. :)

Yeah, god, Scientology sucks. I wish someday its leaders would get what they deserve.

I hope you get lots of reading time someday!