Review: The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling

The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling by David Shoemaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



In the last year, I've been roped back into the world of professional wrestling. A rite of passage for any preteen boy as is, it's decidedly uncool as a thirtysomething, but being older now I've come to appreciate a lot of the unique storytelling aspects that go along with the goofy lowbrow craziness that comes with the sport format.

David Shoemaker is best known for his Deadspin "Dead Wrestler of the Week" pieces as well as writing a regular column for Grantland on the ins and outs of the WWE. It's probably my favorite feature on Grantland these days if only because he appears to be the only mainstream writer taking wrestling seriously, and giving him a full length book opportunity to discuss the topic was something I had to jump at.

The book follows two parallel paths. One of the paths is a detailed history of professional wrestling in America, running from the early stages of the genre through the territorial system and in through the Attitude Era of the WWE. The book is near perfect in this regard - it takes a very straightforward, sober look at the ups and downs of the industry, staying serious while being unafraid to come down on some of the more ridiculous or negative turns. While not fully exhaustive, it is surprisingly detailed and might very well be the best printed piece on the subject we have.

The other portion of the book is a series of reprints, contextually located in the era the book is covering, of the "Dead Wrestler" columns from Deadspin. Seeing as I hadn't read these again since my return to the wrestling fold, they were an interesting look back, but they were also pieces I had already read. As Shoemaker may be catching an audience that he didn't previously have, I'm not completely against the reprints here, but, in this case, it felt less like a value add and more like padding for a book that would have understandably been shorter without them.

Really, though, the strength of the book is the context. There's a wealth of information here for anyone who isn't versed in the history of wrestling promotions, and it's a book I can see lending to a number of people who are interested more in the bigger picture than just a bunch of oversized men fake fighting on television. It would benefit from some more information from the last few years, but, as a whole, an excellent read anyone who has had any interest in wrestling, past or present, to give some time.



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Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Closer to a 3.5, I'm as surprised as you are.

Michael Pollan is one of those food types who has spent a lot of time pushing a lot of anti-scientific ridiculouslessness, especially about genetic modifications of food. It makes it difficult to take a lot of what he has to say at face value, as well as his approaches on issues of food and the "right" way to do agriculture and food gathering.

On the other hand, there's nothing inherently wrong with his point of view regarding the moral, ethical, or even preferential issues with food collection and production. You don't need to be a slave to science while still being uncomfortable with some of the practices in agriculture and meat production. Pollan truly spends more of his time in this book on those issues than real science.

So The Omnivore's Dilemma, in a sense, is a great book when you look at it through the lens of someone who is interested in understanding their food. The production aspects (good, bad, or indifferent), the historical contexts of agriculture, and so on, they're all really interesting reads.

Where Pollan falls flat, beyond his lack of credibility on the scientific aspects, is his connections. He spends a significant amount of time with Joel Salatan of the Polyface Farm, someone who is one of those crunchy libertarian types, but you'd never really understand that most of his problem is regulatory rather than about the actual food supply. He spends some time with ethicist Peter Singer, who is extremely controversial with some questionable points of view on everything, although you'd never know it reading the text. Even nods to PETA and such along the way certainly pulled me out of the text a bit - you can have a serious nonfiction read about food, or you can go along with unserious sources and points of reference. You can't have both.

Overall, I'm surprised to say that this is worth reading. Whichever direction you fall in the basic debates, you'll probably find something of value. There is a "reader beware" concept to go along with it, but it's not enough to toss this into a pile, never to be seen again.



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Review: Grave Descend

Grave Descend by John Lange

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I was a freak of nature of sorts growing up. I learned how to read before I was three years old, and I was reading books for "adults" by the time I hit third or fourth grade. While the first true "adult" book I read was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the first mainstream adult fiction I read was actually Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Right around when the movie came out, I became a full-on Crichton addict, tearing through pretty much everything he had under his name (yes, that included fourth grade me reading Disclosure and learning much more about sexual harassment than I needed to). I'm not sure if I ended up liking The Andromeda Strain or Sphere more when it was all said and done, but there was a fair amount of time where I would have considered Crichton my favorite author.

Crichton passed away a few years ago, and Titan Books is re-releasing a number of his pulpy adventure novels he wrote under the pen name John Lange as part of their Hard Case Crime imprint. Grave Descend takes us on an expedition to the sea with a man who is an explorer of sunken ships. He has been hired on to explore the wreckage of the yacht Grave Descend, but there are a lot of conflicting stories surrounding the wreck. To make matters worse, the competing interests seem pretty angry, and there may be some cargo on the ship that is causing a lot of the grief.

The story is extremely simple, which is kind of the point. It's a pulpy, fast-paced thriller of a book that wastes little time with exposition or unique dialogue, instead going straight for the point. This might not sound entirely enjoyable, but in terms of it being a novel from a certain era looking at a certain type of motif, it works really well. It actually reminded me a bit of the beach-type stuff in the Daniel Craig Casino Royale, if that makes any sense - just a rollicking, punchy good time.

Having read a number of the Hard Case Crime books from Titan at this point, this isn't better than the Stephen King Joyland publication from earlier this year, but is miles ahead of the Harlan Ellison piece. Crichton, even with his faults, was a talented writer, and it's a nice historical piece here to get an idea of what his writing was like outside of the scientific/biological thrillers he's known for. If you're picking these up for the writing, you're doing it for the wrong reason, as they're not really great stories. They are, however, fun, short diversions with the added benefit of the writer being a well-known legend in the community.



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Review: Grave Descend

Grave Descend by John Lange

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I was a freak of nature of sorts growing up. I learned how to read before I was three years old, and I was reading books for "adults" by the time I hit third or fourth grade. While the first true "adult" book I read was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the first mainstream adult fiction I read was actually Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Right around when the movie came out, I became a full-on Crichton addict, tearing through pretty much everything he had under his name (yes, that included fourth grade me reading Disclosure and learning much more about sexual harassment than I needed to). I'm not sure if I ended up liking The Andromeda Strain or Sphere more when it was all said and done, but there was a fair amount of time where I would have considered Crichton my favorite author.

Crichton passed away a few years ago, and Titan Books is re-releasing a number of his pulpy adventure novels he wrote under the pen name John Lange as part of their Hard Case Crime imprint. Grave Descend takes us on an expedition to the sea with a man who is an explorer of sunken ships. He has been hired on to explore the wreckage of the yacht Grave Descend, but there are a lot of conflicting stories surrounding the wreck. To make matters worse, the competing interests seem pretty angry, and there may be some cargo on the ship that is causing a lot of the grief.

The story is extremely simple, which is kind of the point. It's a pulpy, fast-paced thriller of a book that wastes little time with exposition or unique dialogue, instead going straight for the point. This might not sound entirely enjoyable, but in terms of it being a novel from a certain era looking at a certain type of motif, it works really well. It actually reminded me a bit of the beach-type stuff in the Daniel Craig Casino Royale, if that makes any sense - just a rollicking, punchy good time.

Having read a number of the Hard Case Crime books from Titan at this point, this isn't better than the Stephen King Joyland publication from earlier this year, but is miles ahead of the Harlan Ellison piece. Crichton, even with his faults, was a talented writer, and it's a nice historical piece here to get an idea of what his writing was like outside of the scientific/biological thrillers he's known for. If you're picking these up for the writing, you're doing it for the wrong reason, as they're not really great stories. They are, however, fun, short diversions with the added benefit of the writer being a well-known legend in the community.



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Review: The In-Between

The In-Between by Barbara Stewart

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



If I have a complaint about current young adult trends, it seems like it's that things go dark not because they have to, but because the author wants to. The In-Between is one of those books that I liked less the longer I thought about it, and introduces a lot of stuff that didn't really feel necessary to get to its point.

Our lead character is a girl, Elanor, who failed in a suicide attempt. She meets another girl who is an interesting influence on her, and Elanor's life becomes obsessed with this new girl at the center of it. Things go darker and darker, and questions start to rise about this new girl and her impact on Elanor's well-being.

There's a part of me that wants to blow the whole plot open to explain why this book was so strange and unsettling. A lot of the plot points felt like they were trying to be deliberately shocking as opposed to a good reason for character development. They went to a lot of places they didn't have to go in order to get there, and it just didn't work well for me.

I know a few readers who would probably really enjoy this. It has its audience, but I'm not convinced at all it's good for a discerning reader who will likely see through the contrived plot steps along the way. Not something I can actively recommend.



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Review: Grave Peril

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Closer to a 4.5, but the short answer for Grave Peril is that I ain't afraid of no ghost.

The plot of this volume gets a little more complicated than previous volumes. On one hand, we've got vampires. Lots and lots of vampires. A vampire court. Vampires. I wasn't initially excited about the prospect, because vampires, but Jim Butcher hasn't steered me wrong yet, and it wasn't long before we got to the other hand: crazed ghosts wreaking a lot of havoc and problems throughout Chicago.

The one negative I've found with The Dresden Files so far is the way Butcher establishes his world. There are rules and issues to follow, and occasionally we'll be pulled out of the narrative, often by Harry himself, to explain them. That sort of establishment is not very organic at times, and falls into the key issue I've had with urban fantasy to start - the almost automatic need to make sure the worldbuilding is secure because it's not standard majestic sword and sorcery.

This isn't always a bad thing. Part of what makes Dresden work is Harry's need to follow the arcane rules of the magical world around him, and it introduces a lot of danger not only for him, but now for others around him. Could they be introduced in a better way in the narrative? Sure, why not? With that said, the only urban fantasy I've read so far that hasn't gotten hung up in that sort of descriptive speedbump is Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead, which is arguably not a traditional urban fantasy anyway. It might just be part of the genre, and that's okay.

With all that said, my criticisms feel a little empty because this book was even better than the first two, and watching the trajectory of these stories continue to rise even as things get a lot more complicated? It's great, especially in comparison to my last readthrough of The Wheel of Time, which could charitably be called painful at some times. At 340 pages, it never felt overdone, the last 100 pages may as well have been pure action, and it's fun to see smart, heroic characters making choices that you expect smart, heroic characters to make, even when they don't necessarily work. Kudos to Butcher as well for continuing to put his characters in real danger and giving real consequences to the actions made. A great gut punch occurs in this book that wasn't anticipated for me at all, and it was both stunning and refreshing.

I am so glad I'm reading these, and moreso that I'm enjoying them as much as I am. I actually can't wait for the next volume at this point.



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Review: Burning Paradise

Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A lot of times, we read science fiction for the escapism aspect or the cool futurist ideas, or even just as a reflection on current society. It's a much more simple exchange for me, where I enjoy science fiction more for the ideas and worldbuilding than I do for a specific message. When a book that has something to say comes along while also filling in a lot of those gaps for me, all the better. Robert Charles Wilson is probably best known for his modern sci-fi classic Spin, but I became a big fan following his alternate history/science fiction end-of-oil society mashup Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America from a few years ago. Seeing that Burning Paradise was coming soon, I looked forward to reading it. The book spends a lot of time on communications, but it actually feels more analogous to what we know so far about the upcoming Almost Human television show.

In the world of Burning Paradise, pretty much all the negative stuff that happened in the twentieth century of the United States didn't happen. No World Wars, society is in great shape, and so on. The problem is that the situation is entirely manufactured, as there is some sort of life form in the atmosphere that has been impacting our relationships on earth with subtle changes to our memories, our actions, and our future. When this was discovered, most of those who discovered it were killed, and the rest scattered into hiding. Unfortunately for them, this life form is now on earth in humanoid sim form, and they're out to make sure the secret stays intact.

I couldn't stop thinking about Almost Human while reading it, only because the themes of distrust of simulated android-type beings was kind of jolted into me from the constant commercials for the show. It's not the fairest comparison, though, because the story Wilson tells is one more of worldwide conspiracy and trust than a science fiction police procedural. The book is imperfect, but it works in that regard - it's an interesting, albeit unoriginal, concept told in a very engaging way. It puts all its cool ideas up front and mixes them in well with a plot that's surprisingly action-oriented.

I think my issues with the book, overall, come more from the expectation Wilson brings to his work than anything else. This wouldn't feel so pedestrian coming from an unknown, and while the book is very good, I've come to expect bigger and broader ideas at this point. If anything, this might be a good alternative entry point for Wilson's works than Spin, especially for readers who may be adverse to harder science fiction. Without a super-high concept or significantly unrealistic settings, it's a nice tweak to an existing formula.

Overall, definitely recommended. Will rightfully be heralded as one of the better science fiction books of 2013, and a fine addition to Wilson's body of work so far.



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Review: Athlete vs. Mathlete: Double Dribble

Athlete vs. Mathlete: Double Dribble by W. C. Mack

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



While I enjoyed the first book in this series, I'll admit to not having incredibly high expectations for the second book. The initial read was a fairly inoffensive middle grade sports book that fits right into the wheelhouse of that boy reader looking for sports books that are a little more modern. While one could take issue with the somewhat unrealistic and disproportionate responses of some of the characters to the happenings in the story, a lot can be easily forgiven. The second book still runs into that issue somewhat, but it's still a much more cohesive story with a more realistic start and finish than the first book, to its benefit.

The twins from the first book now have the streak happening with the basketball team, and things are going swimmingly until another pair of twins moves into the district and get placed on the team. They're completely in sync and somewhat aloof, and the existing twins aren't too pleased about being displaced on the team, even if they recognize that the new members are better than they are on a whole. The story continues along with the kids learning to cope (or, in some cases, not cope) with the unexpected changes in the story.

The kids do come up with some really mean ways to deal at some points, but the overall finishing message is not terrible at all, and this story overall flows much better and works on more levels than the debut volume. The idea of "Athlete versus Mathlete" has been pretty much abandoned at this point, however, as it comes out more as "jock problems" than using the combined strengths of the two kids to solve their problems. Overall, probably close to a 4.5, and definitely worth a look for this age group.



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