I was bored so I created a list of my favorite 10 books..I also posted it at the website. Yep!
Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Pro Wrestling (Bret Hart) – Who would have thought that Bret Hart’s book would top my list? (/sarcasm) For starters, he’s my childhood hero, when I was but a wee lad, he’s the one guy I looked up to. Granted some of my childhood innocence was shattered when I learned he was a sex-crazed fiend who took a dose of speed before one of my favorite matches that I had ever seen. Besides that, this was the first time I really learned anything about the craziness of his family. Its true that the book obviously favors Bret’s point of view, things that I’ve read about his family afterwards seem to coincide with a lot of what Bret was speaking about so it does not seem all that biased. Also, I enjoy reading about pranks and backstage stories about trips and mishaps and this book is filled with them. I wish more autobiographies were as entertaining as this one, otherwise there certainly would be more on this list.
At Last There Is Nothing Left To Say (Matthew Good) – Matthew Good is a lot of things, one of which is a total asshole. Granted, the man does tremendous work with Amnesty International and is very politically active but at times, comes across with a very negative view of all things pop music. A constant outspoken critic of Chad Kroeger, Good is always thinking that his music deserves more. He’s true too. Good deserves praise for the kind of music he writes and he’s proven that he can write just about anything as well from emotionally charged ballads, to politically inspired protest songs to downright catchy rock anthems. One thing that you can say about the man is that his lyric writing transfers so well into short stories, blog entries and poems. All of which are contained in this book. I’m not even sure if it’s still available, if it is, do yourself a favor and get this one.
A Lion’s Tale: Around The World In Spandex (Chris Jericho) – The only other wrestling biography that will make its way onto this list. Without a doubt, the funniest biography I’ve ever read of any professional wrestler. Jericho speaks about his early days growing up in Manitoba to his days breaking into the business in Japan and Mexico all the way to his debut in WWE. It kind of excited me as that was almost ten years ago; he left a lot of room (approx. 9 years) for a second book (which is currently in development). It also happened shortly before the Benoit tragedy which meant that it wouldn’t be censored or harmed by the events that occurred last summer.
The Road (Cormac McCarthy) – The Road is a story that takes place in a post apocalyptic world that involves the survival of a father and his son. That’s pretty much the entire plot line. Don’t let it fool you; The Road is a classic novel. I can safely say that it was the first novel that I became emotionally involved in. I don’t think I’ve ever cared as much for any characters in any book, movie or television show as I did reading this tale. I was a bit upset at first due to the fact they never did explain how the world “ended”, but I think it’s better if you piece it together yourself, the way that McCarthy describes the barren landscape lends itself to a nuclear holocaust but you’re never really quite sure. There are many different theories on what caused the conditions displayed within the book; I prefer it that way in the end anyway.
House Of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski) – Dubbed “the experimental novel”, House of Leaves is at times a difficult read. The layout of the book is very different then most likely anything you’ve ever read. What Danielewski did was take a main character and have him find a book that was left behind by a man in his apartment after he had passed away. The main character starts to read this book and attempts to dissect it by adding footnotes here and there around the main pages of the story. The character also fills you in on his personal life which you watch slowly fall apart as the book continues as he becomes increasingly consumed by the events in the story. There are pages with only a few words on it, pages with crossed out text, upside down text and so on. If anything, it’s incredibly interesting and certainly worth a shot. I didn’t find it to be as scary as it was promoted but it certainly was a great story and told quite well.
Live From New York! An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (James A. Miller & Tom Shales) – I am a huge SNL junkie. Despite the fact that the last few years have been pretty bad, SNL somehow manages to always be entertaining. One of the reasons I bought this book was because I basically knew next to nothing about the show between the years of 1975-1990. Granted, the years in the 1980’s were largely considered to be a massive failure (other than the quick success of one, Eddie Murphy); I wanted to know more about the original cast. This is one of the most in-depth books I’ve ever read; and it should be, coming in at 656 pages. I also never really knew how much everyone seems to hate Chevy Chase; he really comes off as a pretentious asshole throughout most of this book.
Choke (Chuck Palahniuk) – This was the second book I had read released by acclaimed author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters), the first being Fight Club. Granted, the man had a lot to live up to, at least in my mind. Choke (now a major motion picture) is about Victor Mancini, a con artist. Victor pretends to choke on food in restaurants hoping that someone will come over and save him, feel responsible for saving his life and from time to time check up on him and sends him money to make sure he’s doing okay. In between his job at a colonial theme park and visiting his mother, an Alzheimer’s patient who he has a lot of unresolved issues with, Victor attends sexual addiction meetings to pick up women. The whole novel comes together with a thrilling conclusion that you could never see coming (at least I didn’t).
My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith (Kevin Smith) – I don’t know what it is about this man but I could literally listen to him talk about anything. This book basically covers his day to day experiences while filming the movie, "Catch and Release" as well as "Clerks II" and just day to day life. Also, it has the complete story of Jason Mewes crippling addiction to drugs and the story behind how he kicked it. I’ve already purchased and watched two “evening’s with” (a third one to be released next week), read his other book of essays, and watched his movies several times and I still look forward to more stuff. Ever since the release of his last book, he’s sparsely updated his blog so the hope for a second volume for that book is pretty much slim to nil.
Batman: The Long Halloween (Jeff Loeb & Tim Sales) – This was by far the best graphic novel I’ve ever read. Granted, I don’t have a lot of experience concerning graphic novels, mostly Batman ones alone. This book was also a heavy influence on “The Dark Knight” motion picture. I love the storyline that tells the origin of Two Face, one of the best villains in Batman’s rouge gallery of enemies. I did pick up the sequel, “Dark Victory”. While I didn’t find it as good, it certainly was not terrible by any means.
Current Music: Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews
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