Half Empty

I am 100% optimist. Though I focus my optimism on finding silver linings—rather than convincing myself that wonderful things are going to happen—and I try my best not to foist my optimism on others, I have a suspicion it drives some people crazy. I've never met him, but I imagine David Rakoff would be one of those people, as his book of essays, Half Empty, is presented as a call against optimism.

In his essays-- focused on the topics pessimism at the turn of the 21st century, Rakoff’s unsuccessful attempt at an acting career, the musical RENT’s romanticized view of the lifestyles it presents, and the recurrence of Rakoff’s cancer (among others)-- Rakoff warns of the dangers of positivity. However, he was not too heavy handed with the anti-optimism, rather, it served as a thread to connect all of the book’s essays.

Rakoff is an excellent writer. His prose is somewhat heavy, not allowing for decent skimming, but it is worth it to take the extra time and read Rakoff’s sentences slowly. Rakoff’s humor sneaks up on you—he isn’t broad, but I found myself reading a sentence and laughing aloud on more than one occasion. Though a few of the essays moved a little slowly (the first one was actually the hardest one for me to get through), all are worth reading.

The final essay in the book, “Another Shoe” is absolutely phenomenal, and if you don’t have time to read the entire book, it’s worth buying or borrowing just for the single essay. It takes the reader through Rakoff’s discovery of a tumor in his arm, his fears that the arm will need to be amputated, and his thoughts on the struggle with cancer. And, I don’t want to spoil anything, but the final sentence of the essay made me look at the entire book in a new light.

I’m giving Half Empty a 4/5. I definitely recommend it.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with David Rakoff

Buy the Book



In the next week or so, I’ll be sending an email to the Daily Show about this blog. Any suggestions of what I should include?

White House Diary

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Did you know that this day was named a holiday by the Carter administration? I didn’t—until I read White House Diary by Jimmy Carter (check out that segue!).

White House Diary is an absolutely enormous book that collects the daily diary entries that Carter made during his years as president. The book is massive, but only contains about a quarter of the entries Carter made—which was a relief; the book is long enough as is. Occasionally, between entries, present-day Carter makes clarifying comments, but generally the entries stand for themselves.

The events that took place during the Carter administration are in my “black hole of history” (they happened before I was born, but after the farthest I got in history class). In that sense, reading White House Diary was a good thing for me. However, especially in the “first year” of the book, it was difficult to become engaged. The problem with the diary entry format is that almost all entries consist of daily activities (like, spoke with Jody, swam with Amy), which gets pretty dry. Though it got more exciting in the later years when the presidency started facing bigger issues (and boy were there a lot of them in the last few years), I still would’ve rather read a biography on the period. In fact, many times while reading, I thought, “this would be a great resource for a biographer.”

The best part of the book is the afterword, where Carter discusses mistakes he made and things he would have done differently in his presidency. In it (and, throughout the whole book, really) Carter struck me as an intelligent, modest, good man.

I’ve been waffling between giving White House Diary a 2 and a 3. I’m going to settle and give it a 2/5; it’s not great for casual reading, but any Carter buff (do they exist?) would enjoy it.

And now, I will leave you with the beginning of my favorite diary entry, December 25, 1978:
“On Christmas Day the Egyptians prayed that my hemorrhoids would be cured because I was a good man, and the following day they were cured. I was tempted to make a public announcement thanking the Egyptians but decided that we’d had enough publicity with my ailment.”
Turns out Carter is a funny man, too.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Jimmy Carter

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I Know I Am, But What Are You

What with it being the week before finals, it certainly isn’t a good time to sit and read an entire book in a single day. But that didn’t stop me from pretending schoolwork didn’t exist and spending my Sunday reading Samantha Bee’s memoir I Know I Am, But What Are You. I couldn’t put it down.

Bee’s humor smoothly transitioned from the Daily Show stage to the pages of her book. As she told of her unconventional childhood and her strange personality quirks, I couldn’t help laughing out loud, even though the circumstances she described would come across as sad when told by anyone else. And Bee is the queen of one-liners. (I don’t mean to be making an insect-bee pun…really).

But I Know I Am, But What Are You is more than just jokes. The book wouldn’t have been so good if it weren’t for the intriguing subject matter. Bee has had a pretty crazy life. And lucky for us, she’s willing to share. Plus, the book ended shortly after Bee met Jason Jones (her husband and Daily Show co-correspondent), which leads me to believe more of these memoirs are in store. After all, she has to talk about her Daily Show time, right? I mean, I can only hope.

This is a short review, but it’s a bonus one, so hopefully there are no complaints. I give the book a 5/5. If you are going to read it, do know that the book can be rather brash (with language and some sexual stuff).

Countdown to Lockdown

There are many reasons that I am not the type of person that Mick Foley’s book Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal was written for. (Take, for example, the fact that my inner English major died a bit when I ended that sentence with a preposition rather than writing “for whom the book was written). However, the biggest bit of evidence that I am not Foley’s ideal audience is that I am not a fan of professional wrestling. I will admit, I have never seen a wrestling match (Is that even the correct terminology? I don’t even know that!), but I somehow doubt exposure to pro wrestling would make a fan out of me. In his interview with Jon Stewart, though, Mick Foley seemed like a pretty good guy—how smitten he was with Tori Amos was rather endearing. And, surely, reading a memoir of a professional wrestler would be easier than reading yet another book on the economy. I wasn’t dreading the book when I picked it up.

And it didn’t start off so badly, either. Foley was pretty funny, and he understood that his readers might have varying interests regarding wrestling—he began each chapter with a “wrestlemeter,” rating how much the chapter dealt with the sport (is sport the correct classification?) so that fans could skip chapters that didn’t fit their interest. Of course, as someone who was reviewing the book, I didn’t let myself skip any chapters.

As Countdown to Lockdown went on, though, I began to get annoyed with Foley. Even though he acknowledged early on that he’s been accused of being a name-dropper, that didn’t stop his name dropping tendency from irritating me after awhile. Foley seemed to alternate between self-importance and self-deprecation, neither of which I found particularly endearing. I never cared about (or fully understood) the wrestling stories, so the only thing that was going to make this book work for me was a liking for Foley (since the writing, though better than what you might expect from a professional wrestler, was nothing special).

But just as I was mentally lowering my rating for Countdown to Lockdown, Foley brought the book home with a few well-written, intellectually engaging chapters dealing with the premature deaths of wrestlers and substance abuse. I think the chapter on steroid use/abuse particularly deserves to stand alone and engage conversation on the morals and legality of performance enhancing substances.

So, in the end, I’m giving Countdown to Lockdown a 3/5. If you’re a professional wrestling fan, you’ll probably love it, and if, like me, you’re not, I recommend you pick and choose chapters for the best experience.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Mick Foley

Buy the Book

As a bonus, return to the Daily Shill later this week (probably tomorrow, but maybe on Thursday) for a review of the other book Mick Foley promotes in his interview: Samantha Bee’s I Know I Am, But What Are You?

Teaching the Pig to Dance

Between his careers in acting and politics, Fred Thompson could probably write a semi-interesting autobiography. Instead, however, he chose to focus his autobiography, Teaching the Pig to Dance: A Memoir of Growing Up and Second Chances, on his childhood. That was a mistake. See, the problem is, not many unusual and exciting things happened to Thompson as a child.

Thompson takes us through his childhood, sharing stories of his family, his dog, and the trouble he got into in school (which, of course, are not in chronological order because that would make me too happy). What Thompson didn’t share, though, was why we should care. The only parts of the book that kept me interested were the parts where he veered away from his childhood and talked about how he got into acting and how, as a young man, he balanced raising a young family with attending law school.

Thompson did have the right touch for how much politics to put into his book. Even though Teaching the Pig to Dance was an autobiography, I expected it to tell me why I should be a conservative. However, though Thompson gave his reasons for aligning himself with the conservative side (despite hailing from a democratic-voting family), he did not use his book as a platform to recruit for the party. It was the perfect amount of politics.

Thompson’s writing was unremarkable; it was neither engaging nor hard to follow. Once I picked it up, it didn’t take long to get through the pages, but I was not inspired to pick it up in the first place. Keeping that in mind, Teaching the Pig to Dance gets a 2/5.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Fred Thompson

Buy the book

My grad school work is really picking up, so it may be a bit longer before my next review. But, rest assured, I’m not giving up!

The White House Doctor

Connie Mariano’s book The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents is an easy, interesting read. Mariano writes candidly about her time working in the white house under both the Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations, sharing anecdotal incidents and the path she took to get to her position.

Generally, I was pleased with Mariano’s writing; her stories were engaging, and she wrote them with a storyteller’s – rather than an academic’s – tone. She delicately wrote about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, neither ignoring nor sensationalizing it. Though I would’ve like the book to have a more chronological organization (Mariano sorted chapters by subject matter rather than time), I didn’t find it difficult to follow. Also, the pictures in The White House Doctor were printed throughout the book, rather than in a middle insert like they are in most books. Though this is a small touch, I found it to be infinitely better; while looking at the pictures, I knew their context.

In her book, Mariano lightly touches on the stresses her job put on her family life. Though this was interesting, it fit awkwardly into the book. I don’t think it should’ve been removed, but perhaps it could’ve been better distributed over the book (it was all in the last two chapters).

I don’t have much else to say about The White House Doctor. If it sounds like the kind of book you might like, it’s worth reading; if it doesn’t, I wouldn’t recommend it to you. With that in mind, it gets a 3/5.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Connie Mariano

Buy the book.

Additionally, I'd like to thank Kate who keeps up a list of the books and movies from The Daily Show at www.squidoo.com. (Here is a link to her list, which is a lot prettier than the one I update). I've used Kate's list a lot this year, particularly when I've had to miss a week of shows due to vacation (or when I forget to update my own list). Plus, Kate was kind enough to post a link to this blog on her page! So thanks, Kate!

No One Would Listen (Day of Reviews, Post 2)

Harry Markopolos, the man who warned the SEC that Bernard Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme almost a decade before Madoff turned himself in, has written a book about the process entitled No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller.

In No One Would Listen, Markopolos shares a truly unbelievable situation. This guy figured out that Madoff was stealing billions from investors, but despite his many efforts, he could not get the SEC to investigate the case. Even after reading the book, I still don’t understand how the SEC managed to ignore the case. Markopolos did all the work, and they still didn’t do anything.

Markopolos’s personality is not at all removed from his book. He is blunt, angry, and bitter. Boy is he bitter. Though his points are justified, I got tired of the “SEC sucks” talk, even though I completely agree that they do suck. Markopolos ends up coming off as a bit of a jackass. In the epilogue, though, he shares his 16-point plan for fixing the SEC, and seems a much more reasonable guy. Most of his points make sense, and I do hope the government implements them.

It was a struggle for me to get through No One Would Listen, and though I can’t quite pinpoint why, I think it may have been a combination of it being yet another book about economics and it being the first Daily Shill book I read after my vacation. But despite my challenges, I wouldn’t warn you away from reading it. I wouldn’t recommend it either, though. It gets a 3/5.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Harry Markopolos

Buy the book

Between Two Worlds

The story of what happened to Roxana Saberi boggled my mind. Saberi, a citizen in both the United States and Iran, was living in Iran and was arrested and imprisoned for being a spy (which she was not). Her book, Between Two Worlds shares what happened to her in the months between her arrest and her freedom.

As I stated earlier, Saberi’s story is astonishing. The strength she showed in dealing with being imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit, in a country with an incredibly fuzzy justice system, is admirable. Reading the book, I had to continue to remind myself that this was a true story, that it really happened only a year and a half ago.

Initially, I was not particularly impressed with Saberi’s writing style. Between Two Worlds tells what happened to Saberi during her imprisonment, but it does not offer as much commentary as I had hoped it would; the writing is simple and straightforward. However, as I think about it, I’m not sure what more I would want Saberi to do. What happened to her is engaging enough; she does not need to embellish it with beautiful sentences.

In the end, I’m going to give Between Two Worlds a 4/5. It is an exciting, and appalling, read.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Roxana Saberi. (Really, do watch this one, especially if you aren’t going to read the book. Her story is unbelievable).

Buy the book.

A Captain's Duty

A Captain’s Duty is a riveting, exhilarating read that I wholeheartedly recommend. Richard Phillips, the captain whose ship was taken by Somali pirates and who became their captive in exchange for the safety of his crew, tells his story.

I knew a story about pirates would be exciting, but I had no idea just how much I was going to be drawn into the book. Phillips is an unbelievable protagonist; his calm head in the harrowing situations and his ingenuity in misleading the pirates to protect his crew are awe-inspiring. A Captain’s Duty is a thriller, made all the more exciting because it’s true. I cannot wait for the movie that will inevitably be made about this: Hollywood won’t need to change a thing.

Phillips’s voice carries through the entire book; it is clear that he did the writing, rather than relying on a ghostwriter. Phillips is a storyteller, but his voice and his jokes also convey that he’s a normal guy—one you’d want to be your next-door neighbor.

Throughout reading this book, I was debating what to rate it. Though I loved it almost immediately, it was one told simply and will probably not live down as a classic. But when I teared up reading of Phillips’s rescue (despite knowing that it would happen), it sealed it: I’m giving A Captain’s Duty a 5/5. You should read it.

Watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Richard Phillips (If I haven’t convinced you to read the book, you should at least watch this.)

Buy the Book

Staying True

Remember Mark Sanford? He was that governor from South Carolina who gave the phrase “Hiking the Appalachians” a new meaning, when he used it as an excuse to cover up his affair with an Argentinean woman. Well, of course, he had a wife, Jenny Sanford, who decided to write a book about the ordeal.

The book, Staying True, actually covers much more than the affair and its attempted cover-up. Jenny goes through her and Mark’s relationship and political career beginning with their courtship and lasting until the present. Here’s the thing… most of it is boring. As terrible as the affair was, it is the only part of the book that had elements of a good story, and it is a remarkably small fraction of the entire work. The rest of Staying True is filled with way too many details, like what kind of sheets her sons had on their beds and the names that campaign workers gave various areas of the Sanford home. I can’t tell you how many times (probably once every five minutes or so) that I thought, “Why do we care about this?”

After reading Staying True, I’m pretty I’ve figured out Jenny’s goal: to extol Mark’s political career while simultaneously showing the world what an asshole husband he was. Though I didn’t find myself won over by Mark’s political viewpoints, I did finish the book knowing that he was a bastard.

My Staying True experience had an added element, as my library had only the audio version of the story. Jenny Sanford narrated it herself, which I initially thought would be a good thing, but soon proved to be otherwise. Jenny read with overly precise diction, but no expression or emotion whatsoever. I understand that it may be a difficult thing for her to continue to talk about the disarray of her marriage, but if that’s the case, she should have had someone else do the recording. If you do decide to check out Staying True, I’d definitely steer you away from the audio-book.

But, really, I’d steer you away from the book altogether. I’m giving Staying True a 1/5. Any book that leaves me wondering, “Why should I care?” is not a good one.

Watch Jon Stewart's interview with Jenny Sanford

Buy the book

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. This should start off a week full of reviews, though. I should finish Scott Patterson's The Quants and Jeff Garlin's My Footprint before the week is up.