The "Whiskey Tastes Better..." Book Club

Being an unemployed schmuck, I have a lot of free time on my hands. I decided to keep my mind sharp by reading books instead of just random nonsense on the internet. I even got myself a library card. Here's the tabs on what I've been reading in the past couple of months.

Gangsters and Goodfellas by Henry Hill - This is basically an autobiography by the guy who was the main character in the movie Goodfellas, which is odd because the movie was based on a book called Wiseguy, written by Nicholas Peliggi who got most of his information from Henry Hill. So you got a movie and two different books that all tell the same story(I assume, since I have yet to read Wiseguy).

Anyhow, the entire first half of the book was a recount of everything I saw in the movie. It was still pretty interesting and gave a lot more information. It was well written, too. Everytime I started reading it, I felt like I was listening to Ray Liota narrate the entire thing.

The second half tells the story from where the movie left off. It details his life on the run in the witness protection program and talks about his struggles with his wife, family, girlfriends, and drug dependency. He also talks a lot about food and it makes me want to cook more. This guy loved to cook and later published his own cookbook.


American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis - Another book I picked up due to seeing the movie first. After reading this, I have a lot more respect for the people who made this movie. I mean, I respected them already and loved the movie, but it blew my mind after reading the book and seeing how well they adapted it to the screen. Most people get upset when they see a favorite book made into a movie because they fear it's going to suck like most movies do. But this was done so well.

The book can get a bit boring at times because just like in the movie, the lead character obsessively describes every material good in full detail. Sometimes it was nothing but full pages of descriptions of everybody's suits, ties, shirts, pants, shoes, jewelry, fragrences, and hair products. I know it's supposed to show Patrick Bateman's inhuman nature by caring more about what clothes people are wearing rather than caring about the actual person themselves, but it gets a little dry and repetitive after a while.

The pages of gory detail of how he tortures and mutilates some of his victims are a lot more interesting. It is very graphic, though. I found myself unable to put the book down once I started reading those chapters, but then felt a little sick to my stomach afterwards.


Heart of a Soldier by James B. Stewart - This book was lent to me by my roommate. Over a few beers one night, he started raving about it and billed it as a true story about a guy who "predicted 9/11." Immediately I thought this was asinine and I told him so, but he kept insisting that I just have to read it. So I eventually did. My motivation was to read it, thoroughly criticize the book, and call my roommate a dumbass for believing that nonsense.

Well, it turns out to be not that bad of a book. His "9/11 prediction" wasn't exactly how he hyped it. I was expecting the book to be about some whacko who is making this claim just so he can sell some books. It was actually about two soldiers, one American and one British, who meet and become instant friends. Their pursuit of adventure leads them both to military officer training and serving in Vietnam. Their lives get more interesting after the army, as one of them converts to Islam and voluntarily goes to Afghanistan just have the opportunity to fight against the Soviet Union.

Now about the "9/11 prediction", one of the guys in the book is given an assignment in his military officer training class to start World War III. He comes up with the idea to crash a cargo plane packed with explosives into the capitol building during the president's State of the Union address, effectively wiping out all of our nation's elected leaders. They also draw up similar scenarios to prepare for when one of them heads up a security team working in the World Trade Center. Not exactly a prediction, but more of speculation.


Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - This book keeps with the current trend you may see of me reading books that are now made into movies. I have yet to see this film, though. It is rare that I actually read a book before going to see the film adaptation of the story.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed this book. Even though I feel I'm too smart(or too lazy) to be such a strong idealist, I still found the story somewhat inspiring. I'll probably never go to such extremes as to give up all of my possessions and vanish from mainstream society, but this book lets me know that I can. Much like Fight Club (another book/movie), this story has an anti-materialism theme. It makes me feel a sense of relief that if things don't work out the way I want it, I can just drive my car out west until I have to abandon it, light all of my cash on fire, and hitchhike to Alaska. Actually, I would try hitchhiking down south to Central America where it's a bit warmer. There also might be monkeys down there, which would be much more pleasant to encounter instead of giant grizzly bears up north.

*****

Currently reading: Intercollegiate Athletics and the American University by James J. Duderstadt