Books I read in 2013

Image courtesy of Nifty Swank

The demand for me to repeat my post from last year of what I read in 2012 has been so unbelievably, outrageously insistent and ravenous that I just can't hold back any more. It was a relatively low-read year. However, when you calculate in the 1400 pages of The Count of Monte Cristo, unabridged, 'actually fairly on par. (Note: I haven't actually calculated it, although I wouldn't put it past me).

1. To Have and Have Not - Ernest Hemingway
• I love Hemingway. So much. His writing is just soothing and melancholy and gently optimistic, if it can be all those things at once. This one is structurally unique for Hemingway and for novels in general, as it makes a dramatic switch in perspective in a later section of the book. Essentially it might be a treatise on the fact that how much you do or do not have to struggle for your daily subsistence does not necessarily directly affect your happiness in life. I then watched the movie, with a script written by William Faulkner. Those who have read it might ask, "How can you make a great Hollywood film out of such a book?" Faulkner's answer was the same of Hollywood today: take the main setting and characters and completely rewrite the story, then add big Hollywood actors (Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall). It was great.
2. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
• This was such a fun read. My first James Bond thriller. Fleming has a great command of language that, although not as subtle and transcendent as someone like Hemingway, mirrors that great writer in how he interprets and portrays a strong-willed, passionate man with a quiet heart and a dry sense of humor. Don't get me wrong - Fleming is not making any really serious statements on the poignancy of the transient nature of life. He does show parallels bewteen gambling, love, and espionage that teach Bond a lesson or two. But it's a thriller through and through. It's fundamental, it's elegant, and it drives along by its style and not over-the-top melodrama. I loved reading it. See my full review here.
3. Trails to Testimony: Bringing Young Men to Christ Through Scouting - Bradley D. Harris
• This is pretty much a must for any LDS Young Men or Boy Scout leader. Other Scout leaders, especially religious-focused, may get some good things out of it as well. I was Assistant Scoutmaster and then Varsity Scout leader. It didn't last long as I had moved, but this book helps ease you mind a bit on the many, many tasks available in scouting, allowing a leader to focus on what they see as the most essential parts of the program.
4. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
• I just realized I never wrote my thoughts down on this. This was 6 months of reading. I was reading slowly but consistently - its not that the book was that hard to read - although it was large, as I read it unabridged. It was epic. It was entertaining and with lots of great lessons. I loved the interplay between the many different characters. Ultimately, though, I felt like it was kind of hypocritical. This guys goes through this entire life seemingly focused on revenge and enacting all these huge changes in others' lives, and then at the end we're supposed to believe he just changes and its all ok? I think I may have missed something here. I should review my notes. Thoughts?
5. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
• My first Kurt Vonnegut book was a great read. It was like Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" in its structure of blissful coincidence, but from a cynical point of view. I love his mini chapters, each of which is a witty little whimsical thought on its own and directs the timing and rhythm for both the story-telling and the humor. It was fun and thought-provoking.
6. The Fault In Our Stars - John Green
• I had really no expectations going into this book - I didn't know it was a teen book until I downloaded it (on Audible). I had noticed recommendations from a diverse range of people and the title was intriguing (I had no idea of the original reference). I'd been reading some heavier, dense, and less accessible books at the time so this was a refreshing change of pace. I was drawn in to the characters quickly and really enjoyed all the kids' distinct personalities. The love story between the two main characters is really well done in that it mostly develops slowly and deeply and is just a lot of fun to experience. And I love the quick-witted dialogue - although I don't know enough teenagers to know if there really are kids that are this brilliant and well balanced. Because, despite the situation they're in, they are pretty well balanced people - despite constant thinking of death, suffering, and pain. Of course, maybe that's the lesson. The interaction between Hazel and Gus is really the best part of the book. Check out the trailer for the movie coming out this summer. 
7. Ask Without Fear: A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors with What Matters to Them Most - Marc A. Pitman
• I'm a fundraiser by profession, although still early in my career. This was a nice little book read purely for professional development.
8. Moving in His Majesty and Power - Neal A. Maxwell
• Neal A. Maxwell was an LDS apostle, a member of one of the senior leadership councils of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love his style of writing and speaking. It's characterized by simple, but profound lessons garnered from casual stories from throughout his life and favorite readings.
9. I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
• Read this in a volume that is a collection of many works by Matheson, and don't look at page numbers. That way you'll be more surprised at when the book ends. While I don't think it's that noteworthy, I understand its historical and generic significance, and I love works that embody their title with a singular focus.
10. How Music Works - David Byrne
• A joyous exploration of just about every philosophic aspect of music. It has just about something for everybody. My full review here.

That's it. Have you read any of these? Let me know what you thought - I love to discuss it.

Film: The History of Future Folk

The History of Future Folk is truly a hidden gem. All you really should have to know before watching it is that it labels itself as "probably the only alien-folk-duo sci-fi-action-romance-comedy movie ever made," which just about makes it the best of its kind. That speaks volumes as to the fun these filmmakers have in store for you when you watch this movie. It's a raucously delightful indie comedy that keeps you smiling the whole time through.

The film follows General Trius, a legendary military leader from the distant planet Hondo, marooned on Earth for years after being assigned a mission to save his people from an impending comet, and with killer chops on the banjo. He goes by Bill. His mission was to find a planet to take for the people of Hondo, but he discovered something commonplace here on Earth that he had never before experienced: music. He grows to love the human race, which now includes a wife and daughter (the first half-human/half-Hondonian in the universe, I suspect).

Kevin, another Hondonian, is sent to finish General Trius' mission but ends up joining with him and forming a loveably goofy and truly rocking folk-duo. Beautiful insanity ensues as they attempt to escape the law, fight off assassins, and win the heart of the women of their dreams, all while attempting to stop the comet on its way to kill Hondo and save the planet earth from a terrible fate.

This flick's short 85-minute running time is padded with glorious, full-on musical numbers as the duo of Future Folk just can't keep from expressing how much they love music. They sing their hearts out in fantastic form about the perils of living far from Hondo and once they start you'll be begging for more (I especially loved the song "Space Worms"). This was just pure delight from beginning to end. Please go find and watch this movie. And in case you're wondering, this would qualify for an easy PG-rating (nothing more than a few shots of lasers).

Available in Video On Demand everywhere including Amazon & iTunes. Currently streaming for Netflix subscribers.

Book: Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Reading this Kurt Vonnegut book is sort of like when I listened to the entire Beatles White Album for the first time. I thought, "Wow - The Beatles are amazing! This would be wildly innovative and ground breaking music TODAY but it came out 40 YEARS AGO!" It made all other music since seem not so innovative. It was the same way watching Fellinni's oddly autobiographical film about writer's-block, 8 1/2, made me think about the Charlie Kaufman written, Spike Jonze directed film Adaptation. It didn't seems quite so unique afterwards. Except for with Vonnegut I can't quite figure out what the comparison is, besides all modern writing since.

The closest thing I can get at is, in fact, a Kaufman written movie, like Being John Malkevich, the aforementioned Adaptation, or Synechdoche, NY. He uses a meandering plotline - jumping from one point in time to another along the timeline of the character (although this is explained by constant time travel) - to discuss heavy-hitting themes with a whimsical, informal style. He's basically saying, "It's so disgusting and wrong and inexplicable that its funny." The main character Billy Pilgrim's attitude is representative of the philosophy of the whole book, which is a passive acceptance of fate, expressed often after a death is described with the phrase, "so it goes."

The book describes the life of Billy Pilgrim through nonlinear time travel from one point of his life to another. This can happen at any time (and actually includes being abducted by aliens and taken to their home planet, Tralfamadore). The thing about Billy is that nothing really surprises him because he's already travelled all over his life and knows what is coming - and he just seems to accept it. The focus event of the book and of Billy Pilgrim's life is one that Vonnegut actually experienced himself: the fire bombing at Dresden, Germany, during World War II. Tens of thousands of German civilians were killed when the town was obliterated by Allied forces right near the end of the war. Vonnegut compares it to Hiroshima, and hints it might have even been worse than that in some ways. He writes himself into the book as the narrator, although his role and that of his friend O'hare, are mostly fictionalized.

But it really is so fun to read. While Dresden is central to the book, it covers the extent of Billy's whole life as he goes to optometry school, marries the school owner's daughterValencia, is abducted by the Tralfamadorians, wanders and is transported as a POW in Germany, among other things. One quick episode describes a morphine-induced dream Billy has after being injured in the war. He imagines himself in a garden with giraffes: "Billy was a giraffe, too. he ate a pear. It was a hard one. It fought back against his grinding teeth. It snapped in juicy protest." Or the one that goes, "Billy heard Eliot Rosewater come in and lie down. Rosewater's bedsprings talked a lot about that." Or the way he describes warfare as "the incredible artificial weather that Earthlings sometimes create for other Earthlings when they don't want those other Earthlings to inhabit Earth anymore." I find these little passages delightful.

And there is so much more than what I've touched on. Billy Pilgrim is such a pleasant character. As the narrator says, "Everything was pretty much all right with Billy." He sort of lets life flow over him. He finds his own existence an inconvenience, although he's not depressed. He doesn't like being around his mother for knowing what she had to go through to bring him to this life.  The book is often on banned book lists for some profanity and others interpreted it as anti-Christian or immoral or fatalist. I'm not sure about any of that. I might not agree with Vonnegut on everything, but Billy says something near the end of the book that I like. He says, "Everything is all right, and everybody has to do exactly what he does." Does that mean Vonnegut is saying the terrible tragedy of Dresden is ok? (although he does give the US Army its due explanation as to why it was strategically sound). I think he's talking about how relieving it can be to accept the world around you, or rather, accept things as they happen. You should go and enjoy this book before you die. Even though many people probably don't read it before they die. So it goes.