Black Dog of Fat

Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir: An American Son Uncovers his Armenian Past by Peter Balakian. Tenth Anniversary paperback edition first published 2009 by Basic Books.

New York Times Notable Book, Winner of the Pen/Albrand Award

From 1914-23, the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey, carried out the systematic state-organized policy of physical annihilation of its indigenous Greek and Armenian civilian populations. I was aware of some of the history of the Armenian genocide from my familiarity of the Greek genocide as a descendant of Asia Minor (on my maternal grandmother’s side)—but this does not make a book like Black Dog of Fate easy to get through and I struggled to finish it. It is not only about the atrocities committed at the hands of the Turkish government-- but it is also a beautiful book about discovering one’s heritage. Not an easy read but an important one.

Freaky Dancin': Me and the Mondays

by Bez. Pan Books, 1998c., 335 pages. ISBN 978-0-330-48197-7

A story of a young man who spends his days in constant pursuit of drugs could turn out to be a sad and cautionary tale. This book by Bez, about his young adult years and his (in)famous time as the maraca-shaking/”freak dancin’” member of the Manchester band Happy Mondays, turns out to be a very funny and honest memoir. Though much of Bez’s antics are self-destructive, it is also obvious that he quite enjoyed himself. He is unapologetic but he seems to hide nothing. Freaky Dancin’ is a must for those readers interested in the Happy Mondays and notorious nightlife scene of Manchester in the late 80s and early 90s.

Balkan Ghosts, A Journey Through History

by Robert D. Kaplan, originally published: New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

Even though published 17 years ago, Kaplan’s portrayal of his travels throughout the Balkan Peninsula is still a revelation to most Western readers. In this more-than-a-travel memoir or travelogue, Kaplan describes the not often understood histories and peoples of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and the countries of former Yugoslavia. Kaplan shows why Communism failed in the Balkans; it did nothing to end the historical tensions. This is not an easy book to read as the atrocities committed by all parties are disturbing but Kaplan’s depictions are balanced and without generalities.

(This is just one of the many books I am reading before traveling to Croatia.)

the burn journals

Runyon, Brent. The Burn Journals. Reprint. Originally published: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. With new afterword. New York: Vintage Books, 2005. 327 p. ISBN 1400096421 (pbk.) $12.95

(The following review was submitted as an assignment for the MLIS course Health Consumer Resources and Services for the Spring 2010 semester.)

At fourteen, Runyon put on his bathrobe, doused it with gasoline, stepped into the tub and lit himself on fire. He suffered third-degree burns over 85 percent of his body. He endured months of excruciating skin grafts and physical therapy. The Burn Journals spans Runyon's first year of recovery from this horrifying suicide attempt as he struggles with the pain, the guilt and the questions from himself and others as to why he did it.

This book does not contain any solutions or answers to suicide, depression or self-hatred. Runyon can never answer why he tried to kill himself. He doesn't really know. Runyon wrote his book ten years after he set himself on fire, but he writes it in the first person as his fourteen-year-old self. This makes the book so valuable for teens, especially males, who may run the spectrum of sadness to thoughts or plans of suicide. Here, in Runyon's words, they may find hope that they are not completely alone under the desolate weight of depression.

This book should be included in the teen departments of school and public libraries and will be useful for anyone working with teens; however, this may not be a book for readers who have suffered accidental traumatic experiences and burn victims may struggle to identify with someone who purposely caused such pain.

to hellholes and back

(bribes, lies, and the art of extreme tourism) by Chuck Thompson, Henry Holt and Comapny, c. 2009, 321 pages.

I was not very impressed with this book but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys travel memoirs and especially for fans of (as Booklist describes), "unorthodox travel writing."

From my LibraryThing Early Reviewers:

Funny and witty at times, the book is somewhat enjoyable and good for a light read. Thompson's anecdotes may make you laugh or they may just grate on your nerves as his writing skills really are more suited for his former Maxim job.

My Booky Wook

A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up by Russell Brand. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. UK edition: Hodder & Stoughton, 2007. 353 pages.

My Booky Wook is a confessional full of embarrassing and oftentimes disturbing events and choices in Brand's life eventually leading him to rehab for drugs (and later sex addiction). While Brand constantly desires to become famous, he continually commits one self-destructive act after another. Everything is presented for you, the reader, in Brand's clever and (somewhat) literary voice. Brand is perceptive, irreverent and too funny.

City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s-'70s

by Edmund White. New York: Bloomsbury, USA, c. 2009, 297 pages.

(from my LibraryThing's Early Reviewers)

White's memoir begins when he he arrives in New York City from the Midwest where he followed his lover instead of going on to Harvard. He is is not a writer yet and these two decades are a formative time in his literary career.

As a gay man, White was still hoping to be "cured" as he regularly (like many other gay men at the time) saw a therapist. In 1969, as the gay movement began with Stonewall, White began to embrace his own identity--and he had little choice when, in 1977, he famously co-authored "The Joy of Gay Sex."

The reader is invited to hear White's tales of the famous artists and literary figures he surrounded himself with and his many lovers and experiences before and in the early days of AIDS. This book is gossip and at the same time revelation. This is a social history of New York at that time told by an insider.

The Road to Damascus - A Brief Review

from Early Reviewers for LibraryThing

Road to Damascus by Elaine Rippey Imady

This is a pleasant memoir about a Western woman’s life married to a Syrian man and living in the Middle East. I appreciated the mainly positive accounts and stories about life in Syria and the personal histories the author presents for the reader. Favorable depictions of Middle Easterners and Muslims are few in popular literature; however, I found little in Imady’s writing to hold or grip me to her story. There is a genuine love and caring in her story but I simply could not care very much. I feel that if she had written some of this book earlier in her life and closer to when some of the events had happened there would have more life and passion to her writing.

Tattoo Machine

The following is a review for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. You can see more of my reviews by clicking on "my library" to the right. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson is nonfiction and should be available July 2009.

I have a feeling that there will be numerous uninspired blurbs about the book Tattoo Machine hailing it as the tattoo industry’s Kitchen Confidential. I wouldn’t go so far. Jeff Johnson does invite his readers into some of the seedier and funnier stories about his life as a tattoo artist and offers up some second hand stories that may cause you to laugh and/or cringe. Johnson has a clever and visual way with words and the book is a quick, enjoyable read. I appreciated getting a glimpse of who he was as a child and young man and how this has lead to who he is now. He is successful nowadays and drives a BMW--which he chose to point out. But his writing is somewhat disjointed and near the end of this read, I was left wanting a little more depth to his stories and a little less of what came off as slick and “cool” business owner-speak.

I had some high hopes for this book. I have spent some time in a few tattoo shops as someone who dates a tattoo artist. So I am nowhere near an expert on this “industry” but I have seen and heard a bit. My opinions may be colored by my relationship and interactions with other tattoo artists and customers. One thing I can’t help but mention is the use of illustrations to introduce parts of the book. They are some on the poorest and amateur drawings and I was surprised that someone like Johnson, who does appear to be a good artist, would allow them into his own book. Overall, I would recommend "Tattoo Machine" to someone who likes a fun memoir but I don’t think I can wholeheartedly recommend it to the tattoo artists I know.