Butter

Butter

Body issues is a popular topic in literature. We can all relate in some way to not feeling insecure with some part of our DNA/God-given body.  We all, however, cannot relate to obesity.

Butter is obese. Butter isn’t even the protagonist’s real name, but the name given to him by high school bullies and the name that everyone calls him. Everyone except for the girl he talks to on the Web. She knows the real Butter, even though he changes some details of physical appearance to her. She knows how much he loves music. She knows about the fraught relationship he has with his parents. She also happens to be the most popular girl at school.

After his  obese friend drops some pounds (the only person to truly understand how Butter feels) and the pressures from his peers and parents gets to be too much for Butter, he concocts a plan — He is going to eat himself to death on a live webcast on New Year’s. Life takes an interesting turn for Butter when announcement goes live. Former bullies suddenly take an interest in hanging-out with Butter. They want to know if he is going to go through with it or if he is going to “wimp” out. (My slang, not Lange’s.) He actually gets to hang-out with the girl of his dreams in real life, but he’s torn. Does he have something to live for now, but is it because he is going to die?

Butter piqued my interest while Super Storm Sandy ravaged New Jersey. Once I started reading, I could not stop. While I had issues with the general structure of the story being weak, Lange’s attention to the details haunt me.

The emotions are real.

The stakes are real.

Lange pulls you along until the very end regarding Butter’s decision to go through with the plan. I think it was smart of Lange to give us Butter as it combines what peer pressure feels like in the 21st century with technology access.

Thumbs: 1 out of 2.

Mile Markers : The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run

Mile Markers

I am a runner.

Nowhere in that statement do I mean to imply that I am a fast runner or a strong runner. I simply mean by that statement that I run. I run to feel good and whole. Runners are runners if they say so  — and Kristin Armstrong emphasizes this sentiment in Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run.

I can understand why the title restricts the reading audience to women, but I truly feel that this a good book for any runner, male or female. If anything, it will make one think about how and why they run. That being said though, readers of the running-fare could enjoy Armstrong’s perspective on balancing life, work, and the raising three children, or having something to anchor us in our daily activities.

I also appreciated Armstrong pointing out that runners are hardly salad-eaters (or light eaters). We need fuel. We need burgers. I did not recognize with Armstrong’s desire to run with others though. I am a lone runner. Running allows me time to think and visit what’s really going on inside me. I run against myself. Although, that will change this New Year’s when I run the Resolution Run with another bookie, runner friend.

Armstrong presents a thoughtful, well-constructed book about life and running. Each of the 26 chapters (representing the 26 miles of a marathon) are associated with a particular “reason” for running, may it be family, friends or the line. Mile Markers is constructed of chapters though from Armstrong’s blog posts to Runner’s World of the same name. Overall, Mile Markers was enjoyable and thoroughly convinced me that it is time for me to get “serious” about running.

Thumbs: 2 out of 2.

My Heart is an Idiot

My Heart Is An Idiot

Too Beautiful To Live originally broadcasted on KIRO Radio in Washington, but got pulled and was re-purposed as a podcast. The programming is often a mix of the host’s interests (Luke guests on Wait…Wait…Don’t Tell Me!), what’s going on Seattle, some current events (although the current events can range from pop news to politics), and various intriguing guests. One show, Luke had a conversation with Davy Rothbart, founder of Found magazine and contributor to This American Life, and they discussed his newly released book My Heart is an Idiot.

Davy Rothbart has had a wild ride, and his heart really is an idiot. But he has a very big, idiotic heart. Rothbart binds this collection of essays together with the lovable sense of humor and disappointment. He has awoken naked in New York City and has found a dead body in a swimming pool after cheating on his girlfriend. He’s killed elk roadkill off of the road. He ridden in a burning hot, lifted car with a 100+-year-old man, his great-great granddaughter, her ex-son-in-law and his pregnant girlfriend, a Canadian car thief, and a Chinese family on Valentine’s Day. And amidst these adventures, Rothbart falls hopelessly and terribly in love.

He falls in love with the young woman he meets on the bus to New York City after 9/11. He falls in love with a “woman” over the phone in a hotel room. He falls in love with a Vietnam veteran. My Heart is an Idiot is necessary about romantic love, but the love relationships that we find ourselves in. Of course the book is peppered with the failed trappings of Rothbart’s love life, but the most beautiful stories are the ones where he is not in pursuit of a woman. The most beautiful are the ones where he falls in love with moments, places and humanity. Rothbart lives with a big, open heart.

The strongest stories for me were The Human Snowball, New York, New York, and How I Got These Boots. But really, it doesn’t matter whether you read one or all of Rothbart’s essays. He knows how to balance a story with humor, emotions, and purpose. Rothbart is a tremendous storyteller whose stories will linger in your brain for years to come.

Still not convinced? Here is the book trailer.

Thumbs: 2 out of 2.