Recent Bookworm-isms

I am certainly no Traci The Librarian, but I've been quite the little reader lately. I offer my recent reading list as a help to those who are looking for something to read, but who know absolutely no one who reads books, and therefore, have no choice but to trust my horrible taste in literature.

Longshot by Lance Allred
The subtitle (The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA) pretty much says it all. If you are curious about polygamy, college basketball and/or the horrible, horrible way Rick Majerus treated his players, you should find this pretty interesting. I'd highly recommend this one.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
I've read much of Nick Hornby's stuff and this pretty much falls in the middle. The story keeps you interested throughout, but doesn't really have much of a payoff. I don't regret reading this, but wouldn't have been sad had I missed it. (I highly recommend his young adult novel "Slam!" Think "Juno" from George Michael's perspective.)

Punk Rock Dad by Jim Lindberg
Lindberg is the (up until a few months ago) lead singer of Pennywise. So of course I needed to check it out. Not extremely well written, not always interesting, but as opposed to Juliet, Naked, really comes through in the end. You can help but feel for a guy when he gets recognized by a checker at the grocery store, only to have a basket full of tampons, men's hair die, and enemas in his hand. Fatherhood (and adulthood in general) can be hopelessly uncool.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol is exactly the same as the DaVinci Code, which was the same as Angels & Demons, etc., etc. But why mess with a winning formula? The only surprise was that I spent a chunk of the book wondering if Dan Brown is actually gay, given his extremely detailed description of the antagonist's physical appearance and showering routines.

Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
I spent the first chapter thinking this was going to be the first Klosterman book I didn't like. Fortunately, he quickly turned things around. A great collection of random essays on Kurt Cobain vs. David Koresh, The Unabomber, and why Weezer fans hate all new Weezer albums, it was like this book was written just for me. So if you're me, you'll love this one.