Latest Reading List Update: July 8, 2001

The Sacklunch Reading List is a short group of books we've been reading or are about to read. Don't kid yourself, we read some pretty cool books. Honestly. You won't be bummed.

If you'd like to buy any of the books you see listed below just click on the image or the title.

Orgasms, Ass, and Travel
Yes, it's good. And it will make you want to drop what you're doing and hit the road. Jamie Brisick is living the life for all of us and thankfully he's been writing it down (and shooting photos). We Approach Our Martinis With Such High Expectations helps the reader escape to the world in which we all should be living. It is also a great answer to the question, "I wonder what Jamie's been up to lately?"

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
Never having been a real fan of the snarky, early-90s, San Francisco-based, "gen X" magazine Might, I didn't rush out and buy former editor Dave Eggers' memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius when it came out in hardback. Though most reviews were good, I figured it would be more inane glibness from a guy who never seemed quite old enough to write for Spy, nor good enough for the New Yorker. Recently, when a friend mentioned this was an amazing book I was forced to rethink. Turns out the title, rather than being cynical or sarcastic is in actuality a perfect description of Eggers memoir. The story revolves around Eggers losing both his parents to cancer in the same year. At 22 he has just graduated from college when he, his sister, and eight-year-old brother Toph move to Berkeley where his sister is enrolled in law school. Eggers tries to create a perfectly normal family for his little brother, but it doesn't work. What results is funny, engaging, and yes, even heartbreaking. Eggers writes with a scattered comic depth that can only come from someone who's gained accelerated life experience. Just click here and buy it.

In Search of Captain Zero
Memoirs are usually tough reads. It takes a damn interesting person to write about themselves for 325 pages without sounding a wee bit self absorbed. With In Search Of Captain Zero Allan Weisbecker does a great job of making navel gazing fun (mostly with old drug running stories from back in the day), and turns out an honest can't-put-it-down story. In 1996 Weisbecker, a Long Island based photographer, journalist, former drug runner, and author of the book Cosmic Banditos packed everything he had into a camper and set off for Central America with his dog. Allan claimed it was to search for a old friend, but the real reason seems to be that Weisbecker was running from relationships, responsibility, and in some way hoping to find himself. There is nothing worse than reading someone write about their own surfing; especially when they're quite impressed with their surfing abilities (as is the case with Mr. Weisbecker). And he does spend a lot of time talking about his "place" in the different line ups he visited. I had to laugh when the 50 something Weisbecker spent the first half of chapter 13 attempting to justify the fact that he spends most of his water time on a longboard these days. That aside, In Search of Captain Zero is a great addition to the relatively small library of truly great surf literature and should be read. Click the title and buy one for yourself.
-Click here for Allan Weisbecker's web page.

Ari's New Book: Transitions and Exits
Depending on what you believe, Ari Marcopoulos is either a photo genius or snowboarding's biggest sycophant. Either way he and his camera have had intimate access to snowboarding's biggest names. Homoerotic? Definitely. Good photos? Sure. Yes, you really should buy it.


House of Fog and Sand
I was willing to give Oprah one more chance after her last "book club" pick (White Oleander) turned out to be okay. But I have to tell you, she is a glutton (yes that, too) for punishment. In Andre Dubus III's little tale of Northern California real estate hell, a former Iranian army colonel (and family) and a recovering (but soon to be drinking) alcoholic housemaid along with a adulterous, "take the law into your own hands" alcoholic cop end up battling over a house that was auctioned off by the county in error. The novel begins strong, but quickly devolves into a vapid page turner where everyone ends up dead or in jail (not to give too much away). This is another story of earnest, hardworking Americans getting the rug pulled out from under them by force majeure. This is the last Oprah book I will be reading.


The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys has turned out another finely crafted novel. Kavalier and Clay are immigrant (Jewish) cousins who become precociously successful comic book writers in the "golden age" with their hero, "The Escapist." Sam Klayman finds out that he is gay, and his Czech cousin Joe Kavalier becomes so obsessed with Nazi's that he goes off to war "to kill some himself." Some reviewers have compared this to John Irving (which is why I bought it), and they are nearly right. Michael Chabon lacks the absurdist humor of Irving, but not the twisted realism. In The Adventures of K&C we get a biplane covered in sled dog skins, bungee jump from the Empire State Building, and the real explanation for why all comic book heroes have diminutive, effeminate sidekicks. While comic books weave the novel together, at the core it is a book about being on the outside and never quite escaping that sinking feeling that Irving has called "the under toad."

Purple America
Yes, reading miles of dialogue from a guy with a stutter can be a trying ordeal, however, with Rick Moody (author of the previous hit novel The Ice Storm) it's worth the trouble. No one quite captures the deep-seeded sadness of suburban life the way Moody does. His is a world of futile interior designs, hopeless drinking, and painfully awkward intimacy. But behind the sadness lurks the only strength left in his world: the family. In Purple America, Hex, is dealing with his mother's neurological disorder, his stepfather's nuclear reactor disaster, and his own alcoholism/inability to connect. Sounds pleasant, no? Moody's world is uncomfortable, and it feels a little too much like home, but it is well worth the read.


White Oleander
Don't let the little "Oprah Book Club" logo on the front of Janet Fitch's debut novel scare you away (as it usually does me). This is a savage, first person account of growing up in a long, painful series of Los Angeles Foster homes narrated by a young girl (Astrid Magnussen) who is thrown into the system after her almost-famous poet of a mother is convicted of poisoning a former lover. I don't usually read female authors, but Fitch lays it down rough and true. Astrid floats from family to family each time being forced to pick up a different survival dance. After reading this book you will never think of Foster kids the same again. White Oleander is also a must for anyone who enjoys Los Angeles fiction.


Tapping The Source
Kem Nunn, author of the more popular Dogs of Winter first published this little gem based on surf culture on the skids in Huntington Beach. Tapping the Source features, beach hottie pornography, drug dealing former surf pros, bikers, Satanic cults, rich movie maker's kids, snuff films, and an innocent kid from the high desert in search of his run away sister. In other words, it's a lot like hanging out at the HB pier. It a cool surf thriller that will not disappoint.


Surfing California
I've heard about this book from older surfers several times in the past years, however, it took a full-page story in Surf News to remind me that this was a book that I had to buy. In fact, this is a book that every California surfer should own.

Hawk : Occupation : Skateboarder
This book by Tony Hawk and longtime sidekick Sean Mortimer is really fun reading. Anyone who has followed the recent history of skateboarding and Tony Hawk's rise to world domination won't be able to put this book down. It's everything you wanted to know about Tony Hawk but were afraid to ask. Good moments include his first concussion, his descriptions of the two times he has knocked his front teeth out, and stories of skating the old Oasis Skatepark where passing freeway motorists would throw empty beer bottles into the bowls. What comes through more than anything in Occupation: Skateboarder is Tony's complete dedication to skateboarding and his relentless pursuit of being the best he can be. Finally skateboarding has a book it can be proud of. The book goes on sale August 8, but you can pre-order right now by clicking on the link up above.

The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman
Bruce Robinson's tale of the family life of your average precocious kid who builds bombs, communicates in Morse Code, and likes hiding his poop around the house. If this doesn't sound odd enough add in a private investigator, a grandfather who appears in dirty pictures, and Thomas's penchant for strapping crabs to model rockets and launching them into space and you have the makings of a damn fine read.

Board : Surf/Skate/Snow Graphics
Sometimes it's just fun to read what people think about graphics. This books is a bit old, but for sitting down and looking over a couple hundred graphics it's not bad.

Dysfunctional
It is described as a photo/graphic history of skateboarding and as a document of skateboard history it is unparalleled. If you ever worshiped at the shrine of Tony Alva, or scrawled a DogTown logo on your bedroom wall, then you've got to check this book out. It includes writing by GSD and Craig Stecyks and photos by Miki Vuckovich to name a few.

Lodown
The German designers behind Lodown Magazine convinced a publisher that their design was so amazing that kids would pay good money to check it out in coffee table book format. If you're familiar with the magazine you really don't need this book.

Turn of the Century
As a founding editor at Spy Magazine Kurt Anderson got to show off his incredible skills of observation. Here, in his first novel, he charts out a family saga of the new millennium; one that is operating the Max Headroom show used to say, "15 minutes into the future." Nearly every page has a clever play on words and that alone will keep you pressing on toward the end. But then who want's to miss out on the Barbie World Hotel Casino? For some of Kurt's more recent work check out Inside.com. He's one of the founders.

Miss Wyoming
First of all lets just say I will read absolutely anything Douglas Coupland writes, including an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. But this book, his first since Polaroids From the Dead, follows the life of a little Miss beauty queen from Montana who becomes a TV star and survives a plane crash when the world thinks she's dead. The story line is on the trite side, however, few write more lyrically about the present time.

All Tomorrow's Parties
Gibson's latest novel takes up where Virtual Light and Idoru left off. In fact, characters from both books end up on the Bay Bridge (a construct also seen in Johnny Mnemonic as the home of the genius dolphin) and calamity ensues. If you've read the other two books All Tomorrow's Parties is great, however, if you're new to Gibson's style of hyper-realistic cyberpunk fiction you'd be better off starting with Gibson's first classic, Neuromancer.

Natacha Merritt Digital Diaries
In Digital Diaries, model Natacha Merritt does exactly what all men wish beautiful women would do when left alone with a digital camera: she starts taking pictures of herself (and her friends) NAKED. This book really is nothing more than glorified personal pornography, however, the idea of lowering the bar on what is expected of "art photography" is interesting in and of itself.

Pornstar
With the action sports world's obsession with pornstars, Ian Gittler's latest work could come as quite a shock. The book begins with suicide victim (and former Slash girlfriend) Savannah on the cover and gets worse from there. Gittler shows that there is nothing glamorous about the world of pornography. It's just a group of lost souls being completely abused by the sex commerce industry. Even the men come off like wandering fools.

Naked Pictures Of My Ex-Girlfriends
In a recent issue The New Yorker Talk of the Town piece photographer Mark Helfrich admitted that not all the photos in his most recent photo book are actually his old girlfriends. Some are of models hired to "portray the mood" of some of his "old" photos, he says. In fact, several of his old girlfriends never remember him taking any pictures of them. Helfrich told The New Yorker that he first wanted to call this a work of "photo fiction" however his publisher said it would be too confusing. Knowing these facts pretty much kills the entire thrill of the book which for me hinged on looking through someone's scrapbook of lost loves. Still, the photos and snide comments that go along with them are worth a look.