THE BOOK REPORT: The Naked Civil Servant

The Naked Civil Servant
Quentin Crisp
Penguin Classics






“Even hooligans marry, though they know that marriage is for a little while. It is alimony that is forever.” Witticisms such as this can be found on just about every page of Quentin Crisp’s classic autobiography The Naked Civil Servant. Beginning with his birth (“as soon as I stepped out of my mother’s womb…I realized that I had made a mistake”) to his cynical reflections on old(er) age (he was 60 at the time of writing and lived to be 90), Crisp’s writing is unflaggingly lively, at times outright hilarious.

Crisp came out as a gay man in 1931 in a virulently homophobic England. His autobiography chronicles his struggles to pursue his own way of life and remain fiscally solvent throughout the tumultuous years of the early twentieth century. Ultimately, between the lines of self-deprecating humor, The Naked Civil Servant is a testament to a brave life lived deeply for the causes of personal dignity and self-expression.

--Miranda Ganzer

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 7/10/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: Unhooked

Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both
Laura Sessions Stepp
Riverhead





Taking as her focus group young women between the ages of 14 and 22, Laura Sessions Stepp explores the relatively recent culture of “hooking up” in Unhooked. Using a case study model, augmented by her own theories and those of “experts” and “Science,” Stepp retells the sexual experiences of several mostly white, upper middle-class women at Northeast schools and extrapolates a whole lot of assumptions about how all American women learn about and pursue their own sexual desires.

While the landscape of gender, sex, and power is rapidly changing for women growing up in a post-feminist 21st century and certainly deserves scholarly attention, Stepp’s analysis is never nuanced or encompassing enough to offer a compelling argument. Ultimately, she suggests a reversion to traditionally defined gender roles as the only thing capable of restoring the balance of power between the sexes. More worthwhile would have been suggestions for the possibility of what gender, and the role sex plays in that construction, can be.

--Miranda Ganzer

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 6/26/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: The Storm

The Storm
Ivor Van Heerden and Mike Bryan
Penguin




Hurricane Katrina is undoubtedly the most haunting humanitarian crisis the United States has faced in recent years. The aftermath of the untimely FEMA response along with improperly built canals and ignored warnings is covered from a different perspective in the Penguin book, The Storm, by Ivor Van Heerden and Mike Bryan. Heerden is a climatologist who runs the Louisiana State Hurricane Center. Heerden discusses the warnings FEMA had prior to Hurricane Katrina from him and many other scientists. He impeccably addresses the incompetence of the bureaucrats, and politicians, which made the disaster even worse. For the first time, someone talks about who messed up Hurricane Katrina and what should have been done instead.

Overall, the book was an interesting read filled with a firsthand account of the devastation faced by the citizens of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

--Corey Crossfield

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 6/19/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival
Stanley N. Alpert
Putnam




Having survived a kidnapping, Stanley Alpert wrote a book as a catharsis for what was a difficult and damaging experience. Unfortunately, he may have also written it because he thought it would be an impressive piece of writing. The Birthday Party is readable, mostly interesting, and the author’s memory of events and survival are impressive. However, it reads like a piece done by an amateur writer who desperately wants to impress the reader. It is an incident pushed into a book for 306 pages, told in an earnest though unsuccessful attempt at presenting detail without much of an understanding of craft.

It is a somewhat shocking story, whose fangs are pulled by flat storytelling, and an ending given away in the very beginning of the book. One day, a Hollywood trained screenwriter may be able to mine this for suspenseful film that will do the experience justice.

--Gidalya

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 6/12/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: Song Yet Sung by James McBride

Song Yet Sung
James McBride
Riverhead




At turns lyrical and plodding, the new novel Song Yet Sung by memoirist James McBride skillfully evokes life during the height of slavery in Maryland, while wrestling with visions of a chilling future for modern African Americans.

Centered on the travels of a woman known as "The Dreamer," who has visions of the future that she uses to inspire slaves, the novel tracks her through the wilds of Eastern Maryland as she attempts to escape slave-catchers, determined to bring her back for bounty.

Ultimately, McBride tries too much, with parallel visions of slavery and the horrors of modern life in ghettos, an explanation of the secret codes of the Underground Railroad, the story of one woman's flight from slavery to freedom, and an attempt to depict Maryland during the tumultuous years preceding the Civil War.

Song Yet Sung is eminently readable, but McBride's best work may be a story yet told.

--Jonathan Shieber

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 6/05/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: Since Then by David Crosby

Since Then
David Crosby & Carl Gottlieb
G.P. Putnam's Sons


In his autobiography, Since Then, a follow-up to his 1988 tome Long Time Gone, rock 'n' roller David Crosby is more focused on his own survival then recalling past tales of drugs and debauchery. Told from the point of view of those close to Crosby (his wife Jan) and those who survived the 60s and lived to tell about it (Grace Slick), the book is a kaleidoscope of memories laid out side by side to form a collective picture of how one man battled his demons and came out on top. There are happy memories here including the story of reconnecting and making music with a lost son and finding new joy in performing with former bandmates Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. The style of the book is a little disjointed at times but it grows on you.

--Amy Wagner

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 5/29/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: America at Night by Larry Kolb

America at Night: The True Story of Two Rogue CIA Operatives, Homeland Security Failures, Dirty Money, and a Plot to Steal the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election- by the Former Intelligence Agent Who Foiled Their Plan
Larry Kolb
Riverhead Books


If you've ever dreamed of being a spy, this book could be as close as you'll ever get. Larry Kolb is a retired CIA operative who worked extensively in the Middle East, Central America, and South Pacific as well as serving as an advisor to Muhammad Ali. His first book, Overworld, effectively ended his CIA career as it, according to him, intentionally blew his cover.

America at Night is the personal account of Kolb's pursuit of two former CIA officials attempting to smear Jon Kerry with a connection to al-Qaeda during the 2004 presidential election, giving readers an inside look into the inner circles of Washington’s National Security.

Kolb holds no punches as he takes readers through his life on a day-to-day basis, working in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security to catch two rogue spies before they pull off their sinister plot.

--Marc Amigone

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 5/22/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: Meat: A Love Story By Susan Bourette

Meat: A Love Story
Susan Bourette
Penguin Group


We’ve all heard stories about cows and pigs pumped full of hormones, chickens cooped up in cages so small they can’t spread their wings, and let’s not even start on America’s favorite mystery meat – hot dogs. Ignorance is bliss, or so they say.

Susan Bourette’s Meat: A Love Story is an exploration of North American psychology and sociology behind the “culture” of meat. A failed vegetarian, Bourette had always struggled with the social aspects of meat. Animal-cruelty issues, environmental factors, and health buzz has always surrounded the consumption of meat. She narrates her journey from Alaska to a Texas cattle ranch in an objective and humorous voice.

The reader emerges without feeling bullied, and with a new understanding of meat and those who eat it. Her purpose in writing this book is not to dissuade the reader from meat-eating but rather, to help them become a more “compassionate carnivore.”

–-Patricia Scull

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 5/15/2008 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: The End of the Jews

The End of the Jews: A Novel
Adam Mansbach
Spiegel & Grau


The End of the Jews is not a book about Jews, any more than it is a book about Jazz, Graffiti, or Czechoslovakia, though the culture of all of them are essential to the characters and plot. It’s also not some sort of Nazi how-to manual, despite the fairly awful title.

It is however, a good book. Insightful enough to create meaningful characters, layered enough to be a critique of itself and the process an author goes through to create, and readable enough to make you wish your subway ride was a little longer. Like the Jazz this book often pivots around, themes are repeatedly riffed on, and subtly changed each time; marriage, genius, identity. And like Jazz the riffs are sometimes the purpose, and sometimes the vehicle. I couldn’t really tell you what this book is about, but I can tell you to read it.

--Gidalya

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 5/01/2008 09:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: Kurt Vonnegut’s Armageddon in Retrospect

Armageddon in Retrospect
Kurt Vonnegut
Penguin Group




At a time of war, when the public's trust in a president worsens daily, when boys and girls come home weary and sick, or not at all, a little perspective—some 'retrospective'—can ease the soul's burden.

Published a year after the author's death, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut's previously unpublished works. An American soldier during the World War II years, Vonnegut grappled with notions about his country and its wars early in his life—and late, too. Some of that struggle shows through in this collection, which offers the reader a generous look at the short fictions which Vonnegut rearranged, stylized, and satirized within the landscapes of his imagination.

As you follow along, through Medieval Europe, Dresden, and beyond, there are really great cross-sections of martial language and culture that parallel our current situation, suggesting that maybe we can learn from the past, after all.

--Greg Hyman

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 4/03/2008 09:30:00 AM 0 comments

THE BOOK REPORT: Somebody Scream! By Marcus Reeves

Somebody Scream!
Rap Music's Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power
Marcus Reeves
Faber and Faber, Inc.



Music journalist Marcus Reeves has written a stunning account of the history of rap music and the genre's rise to the top of the charts in the "aftershock" of the Black Power Movement. The tome titled Somebody Scream! is not just a dry recitation of dates and doings. His musings are personal, even affectionate at times. Reeves sets the scene by looking back on when he realized his place in society was as a child of the post-Black Power movement - a member of a generation that would find their voice, not in political parties, but in the rhymes and flow of rap. The book captures all the seminal moments - the beginnings of the hip-hop movement on Bronx street corners to the meteoric rise and deadly fall (Tupac Shakur) of some of its most cherished sons - while always retaining a steadfast critical eye. Reeves openly discusses the genre's failings and is unafraid to end on a note questioning whether or not rap has seen its glory days, sacrificing a relevant message in favor of the almighty dollar.

--Amy Wagner

Posted by Short and Sweet NYC at 3/18/2008 09:30:00 AM 1 comments