Birthday Pie: A Novel by Arthur Wooten

Birthday Pie: A Novel is about family. This book reflects pretty well how most families are: dysfunctional. Yes, there is no such thing as a normal family but in the end blood is usually thicker than water. They might drive you crazy, you might want to run away screaming and break away as far as you can, but in the end they are yours and you belong to that odd group.

Families are crazy. We all have strange members who do crazy things and we sometimes hate their guts but deep down cannot help but love them. We think we know our family members, but there are different levels of knowledge and somehow we just scrape the surface and the core, leaving a whole lot of middle to be kept secret and personal. Sometimes that surfaces when everything starts to go terribly wrong in this life. This is what this book is about, finding out that middle by scraping the surface and it is always unexpected and quite surprising.

Lex is a children's books writer who comes back to visit his family for his birthday and see his dieing father. We get introduced to all of his messed up relatives and the past surfaces from time to time. Each of them has their own personal story that made them who they are today. Everybody had a personal drama and that reflected on their own personality and life; be it the death of a parent, love lost or just crazy a christian wife who doesn't like sex. 

This book just shows how complicated families really are. Each individual bringing his or her own thing in the mix and finally ending with a connection that is either strong or weak depending on affinities and how each member has influenced the other's life. I consider this a must read because it made me ponder on my relationship with my own blood. Maybe it's the holidays, maybe the book hit a nerve by itself, but I really enjoyed it. This book really has heart.

It's not about the bike: My journey back to life by Lance Armstrong

It's not about the bike: My journey back to life is one of those books that you have to read while forgetting certain aspects of real life. I had to either be on Lance Armstrong side or consider him a phony and simply dismiss the book. Since I am crazy about bikes, I still think Lance is really awesome (with or without the EPO).

As the title says: it's not about the bike, well... it kind of is, but the author tries to explain his fight with testicular cancer and his wife's process of having a baby in vitro. If you manage to differentiate the entire controversy of doping, you'll find this book as a serious lecture from a man who managed to survive one of the most horrifying diseases of our modern lives.

Before arguing that he had the money to pay for his medical interventions, you should know that he begged his sponsors to cover part of his insurance and he had sold his car and other valuables in order to pay for his treatment. Yes, he had the money and the luck, but he also mentions that when he was down nobody wanted to support him ( as in certain sponsors).

It's a book about family; be it the actual blood family, the family from work or the family you try to make. I had seen another face of the biker. He might be a champion, or a cheater, but in the end he's just another man who is trying to survive in this world. This book just shows that life can be cut short and we still have to fight through all the crap in order to survive.

Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid by Denis Leary

My oh my! Where do I find these books...? Looking back at what I had posted on this blog, I realize that I am going from underground, to mainstream and then back to the underground. The internet is a place of wonder where you can find all sorts of crazy shit. Since I am not an American I can definitely say that I do not consider myself connected to this book in most ways, but the American culture is starting to rub off on Europeans.

This book is hilarious. It was meant to be funny, but also thought-provoking and the author nailed it. Why we suck is in a way a comparison between generations. The author tries to compare his childhood to the kids today. He's trying to explain that the old ways, when kids were spanked for doing mischief or getting some early lessons on winning and losing (even on the playground), are a better upbringing than an overprotective society where "all kids are winners". This book is all about family and how the author had to deal with his brothers, bullies, girls, his own kids, a wife, work, God, you name it.

I do have to say that his arguments are valid and spot on, but his views can be quite misogynistic or homophobic at times. Let's just say that he doesn't give a rat's ass about political correctness and the book would have lost its humor without some stereotypes thrown in or without some over the top radical views. If you like stand-up comedy, this book is for you: it's funny, heartwarming at times and rude most of the time. 

I hate it when it takes so long to post something here, but work and everything else (read LIFE) have kept me from reading as much as I did before. I shall not forget this blog and I shall keep posting whenever I get to finish a book, or not (happened before, unfortunately). Keeping this blog going is a promise to myself and I intend to stick to it. 

Before I go to sleep by S J Watson

What would you do if every day you wake up remembering nothing? This is a book about despair, confusion, trust and self reliance. When half of  your life is gone and you don't remember anything from your past, even from yesterday, what are you left with?

This is an interesting book to which I can relate up to a point, because I have a very poor memory and I have to rely on others for remembering things. This brought me to a place where I had to ask myself who do I trust, and are my instincts true or gone haywire? This is the story of Christine Lucas who wakes up every day not remembering the last 2 decades of her life, after a terrible incident that sent her to the hospital. She doesn't remember the man she wakes up with, she doesn't remember her son, her friends, her things, anything.Every night, after she goes to sleep she forgets everything and every morning starts with her trying to figure out who is the woman staring at her in the mirror and what has happened to her life.

"Before I go to sleep" is mostly structured like a journal, Christine's journal. You get some insight in the life of an amnesiac and how family reacts to this situation, while trying to take care of her. After reading the book you might get the brief sensation that your memories might not be real. You will try to remember what you had for lunch a week ago, just to see if you are still in your right mind. It kind of messes with your head a bit, making you wonder "what if?".

I would say that it is a good read. I wouldn't call it a thriller, even though in the last 50 pages or so your entire perception of the events gets turned upside down and gives you chills up your spine. Try to read the last chapter during the weekend,  because I guarantee you won't let it go until it's finished.