What I Am Reading - Will to Live: Dispatches From the Edge of Survival

Will To Live: Dispatches From the Edge of Survival

Les Stroud

Read it in Paperback at about 228 pages, large print, pictures, and lists.

So behind on these damn things, especially those non-fiction picks, but in any event, this was the December and final pick for OTC Book Club 2013 slaying season.  BoozyCoug once again got the pick and had selected Will to Live: Dispatches From the Edge of Survival by Les Stroude.

A short little book formulated with extreme stories of survival, each amazing and increasingly bleak, laced with Les's opinion of the situation that the survivors got themselves into, what he might have done, and a checklist for surviving the situation at hand.  In-between, we have recaps of Les surviving as captured in the show, retold with words.

While I was initially very excited about this selection since Les is such an interesting individual in the survival community, it was demonstrated that he should stick to the digital medium instead of the written one.  Personally, I had seen the show (most of it) so the recap was boring and didn't add much that wasn't already covered in each of the applicable episodes.  These gaps between the dispatches dragged, even as a fan of the show.  Most of the dispatches were not really covered all that well.  To me, Les covered it at the 10 thousand foot level without diving into a lot of history, backstory, or comparison for the dispatches.  While I was hoping for a Les prospective and more information on the individuals and their situation, I felt I got no more information than if I had watched a quick news broadcast and Les's input wasn't all that…helpful or insightful.  I guess at least I have the tips to surviving some very extreme events…?

While I know most fans will disagree with me, I am a fan, and this book seemed padded for sales instead of what it should have been.  By my opinion aside, how did OTC take this?

On a scale of 1 to 10 with a 1 being a candidate for stuffing a corpse and a 10 ordained to wrap it:

Th3ee: 3

Dust: 5

Hylen: 6

G$$: 4

SS: 5

BoozyCoug: 6

Shely-the-Don: 3

So we only had seven people finish and pulled an average reader score of 4.5.  Ouch Les.

I am going to skip a lot of our conversation details on this one since they are all pretty pointed towards the survival situations in the book.

What I Am Reading - Ham on Rye

Ham On Rye

Charles Bukowski

Read it in small paperback, 288 easily read pages.

Our August OLT selection by BoozyCoug, short and sweet, with an added bonus that I have never read a book by Mr. Bukowski, ever. Short and sweet, with silly short chapters and an easy read feel throughout.  Let's dive in.

This is the story of Henry Chinaski.  We get to see Henry grow up through the great depression with all of its troubles and tribulations.  The book starts with Henry in his younger years, visiting family, experiences with his father and mother, to his first years at school.  From there we follow Henry through his adolescence, his change from a small boy to middle school, his hard times dealing with an unusual puberty, the problems of other boys and girls at that age, and being in locations you don't feel you belong.  Onward still with his adventures in higher education before the book terminates at the onset of World War 2.

It's short and easy to read, but there is sensitive and graphic accounts here of women and other things people encounter in adolescence.

-Potential Spoilers Below-

For OLT book club, it faired alright.  We had eight esteemed fellows finish with an average score of 5.5 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being scrap for wiping defecation and a 10 as a world changing text.  Independent scores below:

BoozyCoug: 7

Hylen: 4

SS: 5

TechManDave: 6

Dust: 6

Th3ee: 6

G$$: 3

Shelly-The-Don: 7

Overall not bad of a score really.  If G$$ money had enjoyed it a little more it might be one of the higher rated books this year.  Looking at what everyone put down for their favorite moments, there isn't much consistency, which makes sense since a lot of really interesting things happen to Henry throughout the course of the book.  Some of my notes for favorite/lasting moment include:

"One armed kid fight scene."  Cometh the destroyer.

"Kid masturbating in class" which was another's favorite described as "When the kid is thump-thumping in class and everyone just tries to ignore it."

Obviously Henry encountered some interesting things.  For the least favorite moments, there wasn't a lot to report. 

Overall decent read and was happy enough with it that I would read more Bukowski in the future.

What I Am Reading - Go Like Hell

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans

By: A.J. Baime

Read it in cheap paper back at 320 pages.

Our November selection is brought to you by Dust.  Our little reading group has two practicing mechanics, a third college educated (no longer practicing) mechanic, and a few car enthusiasts.  One of these enthusiasts is Dust and thus picked A.J. Baime's Go Like Hell.

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans is well, exactly that.  The car industry in the late 1950's and early 1960's was poised for reformation at the hands of many eager youth looking for freedom, responsibility, and a self-identifying image that they could find in a car.  Sales were directly affected by winning races and Ford looked to get in on that as the company was also looking for a new angle to sell cars and ensure dominance both at home and in Europe for car sales.  Naturally, in there way lay Enzo Ferrari and his quest to win in cars that were beautiful, fast, and most importantly winning.  This is the true tale of the companies, their owners, the teams, the mechanics, and of course the racers that would ultimately come to play their positions in the 1966 Le Mans. 

-Potential Spoilers Below-

Overall I expected high rankings from this book.  With so many people in the field and the many enthusiasts we have in this book club, it was unavoidable.  What many a reader was worried about was the level of detail that Baime would use in his descriptions of the cars, races, and overall technology of the industry in the 1960's.   Luckily Baime did well and for some of us, we actually wanted more details.

From a OTC Book Club scale of 1-10, with a one being a convenient wipe for your posterior and a ten a treasured capsule of prose:

Th3ee: 7

G$$: 8

Dust: 9

Hylen: 6

BoozyCoug: 7

Shely-the-Don: 7

SS: 6

Mech Dave: 8

We had 8 people finish with an average score of 7.25.  I think we all inflated this based on our interest in cars.  I can't say that I would recommend the book to someone that didn't have an interest in cars.  But that's not to discount how much we all enjoyed the book, I just think it would have been a point lower (perhaps a 6.25) if we were a little more critical.

We all had a hard time with are standard template questions that I use to foster conversation about the books.  There are a lot of people to like in this book from the tycoons present in Ford and Ferrari, to the racers for each team who possessed sheer talent laced with mystery and quirks, and of course mechanics with insatiable attention to power and detail.  Shelby probably one the prize for best character as he was in a way, all three of the things described above and had enough charisma to carry the title of our favorite character.  A callout to racer Miles who was also loved by many of us.

One of our least favorite moments was about the end of the 1966 Le Mans in which Ford finally gains their title.  We felt that the ending to the race was a huge disservice to the racers and the competitive spirit embodied in racing itself.  We all felt that the ending might have been different if the racers knew what the teams knew rounding those final laps.  Lets be honest, Miles got fucked, hard.

Overall an interesting pick and we were all pleased with it.

What I Am Reading - The Time Keeper

The Time Keeper

Mitch Albom

Read it in quaint paperback at 224 pages.

October's selection went to Shelly-the-don and saw us reading Mr. Albom's The Time Keeper.  While Mr. Albom is more widely known for Tuesdays With Morrie.  None the less, a tale of time indeed.

Among the first men, there was Dor.  Dor has a thing for keeping track of things, most notably, duration.  This infatuation leaves Dor in abandonment.  Through that abandonment he loses his wife but gains the understanding for time, in essence, Dor is the father of time which he inherited through his incessant measurement of it.  As penance for its creation, wise god locks him up, only to release him with a task in modern time.  Dor's task is to find one who wishes to have more time, and one who wishes to have less.  Through this task, Dor finds Sara and Victor.  This is the story of Dor, Sara, and Victor.

Overall it was a pretty simple tale read quickly.  Albom does a good job of writing short chapters that keep things moving and convey a point, without getting bogged down all that much by pesky details.  This short book was designed to express time and not explicitly for building drawn out sequences to prove his message or give you too much character building to question any of the characters motives throughout, they simply are and exist as part of a greater framework to prove Albom's point(s) about time.

-Potential Spoilers Below-

So how did it fare among us picky, and tried readers.  With a scoring model of 1-10, one being tissue to be disposed of after blowing your less desirable contents on and a 10 being the gospel of life:

Shely-the-Don: 7

Th3ee: 7

BoozyCoug: 4

G$$: 7

Hylen: 7

Tech Tom: 7

Dust: 4

SS: 3

Mech Dave: 7

Baby Deer: 10

We had ten readers complete with an average score of 6.6, which really wasn't all that shabby considering the three people who felt Albom's efforts where a miss.  Those three among us generally felt that Dor's discovery of time was impractical, and some just couldn't suspend belief on that front.  A tricking thing the quantification of time.

For the most part, Dor was an instant favorite, with a call-out for poor Sara (Shely felt compassionate for what transpires in her situation, namely the loss of a hopeful mate which is the Sara sequence of the book and primary character plot points.) A call out as a favorite for the god character and of course one for rich Victor.  Our favorite and least favorite moments vary and for many are interchangeable which for me is always a sign that we have a decent book among us.

As much as we all enjoyed it, I wonder how long Ablom's tale will stay amongst us and if perhaps in review if it would hold its 6.6 average.  I say this based on the lack of pesky details I mentioned above.  Without a level of detail, I find retention of a novel, especially one like this, tends to sway beyond its initial shiny object fixation.  Oh well, we leave that for the year in review.