This is the first time I’ve put together a review of a book without reading it all the way through. And, as a general rule, I’ll slog it out with just about any book if I get far enough into it. In the case of Breaking The Sound Barrier, I managed to get about a third of the way through. And then I had to stop. I just kept thinking to myself, “Why was this book even made? What exactly is its purpose?” Penned by “Democracy Now!” host/reporter/producer Amy Goodman, Breaking The Sound Barrier is (apparently) a collection of news stories that were covered by “Democracy Now!” between 2006 and 2009. At least, that’s what I think it is. The book never seems to make it clear. Broken down into sections with bleak headers such as “WAR,” “TORTURE” and “GLOBAL ECONOMIC MELTDOWN,” the reader is subjected to one depressing article after another. I understand that a great deal of what happens in the world is tragic. And that most of that tragedy goes unreported by the world’s corporate news machines. And for that reason, it’s good to know that operations like “Democracy Now!” are out there, fighting the good fight. But again, I have to wonder, “Why was this book made?” Turning to a random page finds an article about a father who’s gone on a nationwide anti-war protest after his son (a U.S. soldier) was killed in the Middle East (page 17). Another random turn finds an article about psychologists working in government-sponsored torture programs. And it goes on, and on. All of the stories contained in Breaking The Sound Barrier are around three pages long. And I’m sure they’re archived on the Internet. So why was it necessary to compile them in book form? Who felt that anyone would want to read all ot these miserable stories, back to back? I’ll admit, part of my disappointment in this book comes from my own misunderstanding of its contents. I thought it was going to be historical or autobiographical in nature. I’d find a story about Goodman’s history, and the evolution of “Democracy Now!’ to be an interesting read. Or perhaps some essays/editorials on the state of modern media, from the viewpoint of someone who’s doing things at a grassroots level. Instead, I got WAR and TORTURE. I realize it’s my own fault for not cracking the book open and giving it a more thorough preview at the bookstore. But nowhere on the book’s front or back covers does it ever state what it is exactly that’s inside. I have subscribed to the “Democracy Now” podcast in the past, and may do so again in the future. And I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an alternative to mainstream news reporting. Just stick to the podcast/radio show/web versions and skip this book.

Took me a while to get through this one. And there were times when I wondered if I ever would. Softwar is a long book. Around 450 pages, if memory serves me. The book is a biography of sorts. It covers not only the life and tmes of software mogul Larry Ellison, but also the ups and downs of the multi-billion dollar company he founded, Oracle. I enjoyed some parts of this book. The stuff about the origins of Oracle (the company made groundbreaking strides in database programming), Ellison’s personal life (he went from being a foster child to one of the world’s richest men) and even some of the stuff about yacht racing (a longtime passion of Ellison’s) made for compelling reading. But the rest of the book is filled with coverage of Oracle’s inner workings. And it’s very, very dry. Readers who have an interest in workplace intrigue, stocks, deadlines and the various challenges faced by a big business, may appreciate these portions of the book. I had a tough time getting through them. In fact, I found myself skimming over most of the last few chapters. Still, I don’t want to paint this book in too much of a negative light. I guess i was just hoping for more of a straight-ahead biography of Ellison. And granted, you can’t tell the story of Ellison without covering some of Oracle’s life, too. Either way, I’m glad to have finished Softwar. Now, I’m gonna have to read some fluffy piece of fiction to clear my mental palate of this weighty tome.

I love Pixar movies (though the movie Cars not so much) and I found this book about the history of Pixar fascinating. The first half of the book covers the backgrounds of the people who founded Pixar and the beginnings of the company while the second half covers the movies themselves including how story lines evolved and what kinds of things went into the making of the movie. It also covers some of the corporate background at Disney including the pressure Steve Jobs and Roy Disney were putting on the company to get rid of CEO Michael Eisner.

The three men who basically founded Pixar, Ed Catmull, John Lassiter, and Steve Jobs, were at a low point in their careers when Pixar was founded. All three had been fired, removed, or left their jobs. Catmull was being let go from LucasFilm, Lassiter was dissatisfied with Disney and took the job at Pixar, and Jobs had been removed from Apple by Mike Scully. Ed Catmull always idolized animation and wanted to be an animator, but the only problem was that he couldn’t draw. So he decided to make it his life’s work in the early 70′s to animate with computers. He was hired by the New York Institute of Technology to run their computer graphics division and his first attempt at animation was to make a plaster cast of his hand, draw tiny geometric shapes on the cast and get the computer to connect the dots and animate the hand. Catmull and his team weren’t satisfied at NYIT because their goal of making movies wasn’t being shared by the wealthy patron they had there. So they moved to California to work George Lucas at his Industrial Light and Magic. Gradually, Catmull was able to bring the rest of his team to ILM.

While at Lucasfilm, Catmull and his team designed a computer that could render computer graphics. Over dinner one night they were thinking about what to call the computer and someone suggested creating a Spanish type verb “Pixer” for something that makes pictures. Someone else suggested the “ar” sound at the end making it Pixar. The company soon broke away from Lucas although they were able to get a building on the same Lucas property and their first order of business was to sell these Pixar computers and their Renderman software. These computers cost 10s of thousands of dollars. Here is where Steve Jobs comes in. Jobs believed all computers should have this capability of rendering so he became a huge investor in the company and was in charge of the business dealings the company would have.

Over all this time was going on Catmull never lost what his true ambition was which was to make computer animated movies. They hired John Lassiter who had gone to school at CalArts and was very familiar with the Disney way of making movies. Lassiter would then direct these shorts using computer animation and show them at the annual Siggraph convention to great acclaim. Lassiter had a great talent for telling stories in his animation which has carried through to all of Pixar’s later movies. So while all of this was going on at Lucasfilm and then when Pixar was it’s own company, Lassiter was directing a short a year and showcasing them at this annual convention. Still, the goal was a feature film. They set a roadmap for getting there by first doing commercials, then a half hour TV special and then finally a movie. What was interesting to me was that Pixar was involved in the Listerine commercials where the bottle is in a boxing ring beating tartar and plaque. I don’t think Pixar did the TV special, but they were soon working on their first movie Toy Story. Toy Story was John Lassiter’s idea because he was a big toy collector and had done a short a year or so earlier called Tin Toy.

The rest of the book goes into what went into making each of the movies through Cars. Ratatouille is mentioned in the epilogue. This was really interesting also in the level of detail the animators wanted where they would get professors to lecture to them about fish for an hour for Finding Nemo. There were also a couple of lawsuits over Monsters, Inc. I don’t remember ever hearing about concerning Pixar appropriating other people’s drawings or poetry for the movie. That was fascinating as well. I’ve already written probably too much about the book already, but it was a fascinating listen (of course I heard the audiobook version) and sure would be a great read for anybody who is a fan of animation in general or Pixar in particular.

Between these two covers lies two completely different stories, intertwined because of proximity, and both of them actually happened. Readers who enjoy American History, stories about Chicago, architectural marvels, or terrifying true crime murder mysteries will find something attractive here.

The connective force in all these little stories is, of course, The World’s Fair that took place in Chicago. In many ways, it is astounding that this Fair ever made it into existence. The Architects had far too little time to build what was essentially an entire new city. There were many discussions about exactly which architects would be involved, because where the architect was from apparently said more than could be expected at first glance. It mattered to so many people how many architects from the East Coast were selected, compared to how many were from the Midwest, for example.

It was hard to get architects, once invited, to accept the invitation because the general consensus was that this Fair would not upstage the previous World’s Fair in Paris. That was the Fair where the Eiffel Tower was unveiled, and, up until right before the Chicago World’s Fair opened, no one had any idea what was going to be built that could possibly be more impressive than that. The general belief was that this Fair would be a gigantic failure, that it wouldn’t be complete by opening day, and that it would bring shame to not only the architects involved, but also the city of Chicago, and America itself.

Imagine being the guy in charge of coordinating all that! Larson does a wonderful job of dropping you inside the heads of the the men in charge of this huge project. Eventually, these men, (and a few women), surpass all odds, and create more than just a Fair. They create a “White City”, clean and shining, wondrous and unforgettable. I realize a quick google search will, very likely, give you some quick facts about exactly what wonders appeared there. However, I suggest readers refrain from doing just that. Don’t spoil it for yourself, be as surprised as the Fair goers of the time, the book is more fun that way.

If you want an example of “Chicago Politics” at it’s finest, look no further than the chapters describing how the site for Fair was selected. It seemed to me that anyone who had a little bit of power or political sway stepped up to argue about how their precinct was, in fact, the very best place the Fair could possibly be located at. The eventual location, although pretty, became something of an architectural nightmare. The land was, in places, a quagmire, in other places impossibly hard to dig into. The weather itself seemed to be fighting the architects, with stifling heat, mountains of snow, and winds that insisted on tearing down freshly built structures. (If you’ve ever lived in or near Chicago, this will come as no shock. Readers who haven’t will get a little taste of what “Chicago Winter” can be.)

The Fair brought jobs, in a time when jobs were incredibly scarce. Not only did the Fair employ builders, and masons, and painters, and architects, etc… it also allowed other jobs to sprout around it. Hotels, boarding houses, apartments, and restaurants near the Fair flourished, long before the Fair opened. Everyone wanted to be in Chicago. It was not unusual for young women to take their newly learned office skills, and move to Chicago, alone, to start a life. It was these combination of factors that allowed a very twisted and dark soul to find endless prey.

A man, who went by a series of fake names, went to Chicago, built a massive house with some peculiar features, and used his innate charisma to get everything he wanted out of people. He bilked people out of money, by promising to pay for his purchases “later” when his situation got better, and also by creating a fake person who “owned” the property.

Women, especially young women, quickly became enamored with this man, and he had no shortage of secretaries, lovers, and even wives. Larson also puts the reader inside this man’s head, and it’s a creepy and disgusting place to be. This man was evil incarnate, and I can think of few better examples of what it means to be a sociopath. Because Chicago was so big, and because no one who thought they knew this man would ever think him capable of anything nefarious, he literally got away with murder, over and over again. Reading these parts of this book reminded me of the books by John Berendt, which I found fascinating.

The brilliance in this book is in the juxtaposition. Larson gives the reader one or two chapters about the “White City”, and sandwiches them between some chapters about “The Devil”. The contrast is striking.

This book was published in 2003, so, it’s not brand new, but it is still gathering attention. Just a few days before I wrote this review, I overheard a woman on the street downtown telling her husband “You’d like this book! It’s about the World’s Fair… and you won’t believe what happens!” If you haven’t picked up a copy for yourself yet, I recommend it. It’s now available in paperback.

I wish I could say I loved reading Annie’s Ghosts. On the other hand, I can’t say that I disliked reading it, either. The book chronicles author Steve Luxenberg’s research into a family secret he discovered at the time of his mother’s death. She had a sister that she had never mentioned to him, or anyone else in their immediate family. In fact, Luxenberg has clear memories of his mother’s frequent proclamations of being an only child. So why did she keep her sister hidden? By the time Luxenberg learned of the secret, he was left to try and solve the mystery on his own. Luxenberg employed many of the skills he had acquired as a professional journalist in hunting down his aunt (Annie, for whom the book is named). He traveled cross country and even to a small Ukrainian town, to try and dig up clues about why Annie had been kept a secret by his mother. He interviewed family members, acquaintances and many others who might’ve been able to provide some insight into the situation. In turn, he uncovers even more family secrets that he was unaware of (specifically, his father’s somewhat questionable discharge from the military, and another relative’s abandoned pre-Holocaust marriage). Annie’s Ghosts is full of captivating family drama and intriguing historical information. There were times when I was very riveted by the story of what would be, on the outside, a seemingly typical 20th-century American family. But I must admit, I was glad when I had finished the final chapter of this book. I can only imagine the whirlwind of emotions Luxenberg must’ve experienced while writing this book. Just reading it at times was an intense experience.

I really didn’t know a lot about Abraham Lincoln before reading this book other than that he was president during the Civil War, he was an Illinois lawyer, and he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. I’m not usually a fan of historical nonfiction, but this was a fascinating look into the life and presidency of Lincoln. Part of why I liked the book is that I listened to a good audiobook reading, and partly because Goodwin is a really good writer.

The focus of the book is on how Lincoln when running for the 1861 election ran against Bates, Seward from New York, and Chase from Ohio for the Republican nomination. When Lincoln won the presidency he ended up hiring all three of these men for his cabinet. Seward became Secretary of State and was the first chosen for the cabinet, Chase became Secretary of the Treasury, and I can’t remember what cabinet position Bates got. Seward was disappointed about not winning the presidency, but as soon as he got to know Lincoln and when Lincoln appointed him Secretary of State, Seward grew to have a tremendous amount of respect for the man. Chase on the other hand was always resentful about not winning the presidency, tried to resign the post 4 different times during Lincoln’s first term in office and Lincoln finally accepted his resignation the 4th time. Chase also may have been involved in the circulation of slanderous circular against Lincoln when Chase wanted to run again in 1864. This time, because Lincoln had garnered so much popularity and respect among Northern voters, the circular backfired on Chase and he had to pull out without getting any recognition in the party primaries.

Of course, a big part of the book centers around the Civil War because that was the dominant issue of the day. There are some amazing stories uncovered by Goodwin about General McClellan who was in charge of the Potomac army. McClellan liked to lay blame on everybody but himself. Whereas General Ulysses S. Grant in the West could live with the clothes he had on and a toothbrush, McClellan needed a staff just to haul all of his stuff to the campsites. Also, Lincoln would advise McClellan to move forward against the enemy, and McClellan would wait several days saying his troop weren’t ready, thus giving the South and General Lee time to either retreat or build more troops. There were at least two occasions where if McClellan would have moved, the war may have ended sooner. Lincoln was always very humble and gracious with McClellan even if he started to get annoyed with McClellan’s inaction. What was also very interesting was that McClellan won the Democratic party ticket in 1864 and ran against Lincoln. Lincoln won in a landslide electoral votes with something like 200 to 20. The popular vote was a little closer, but Lincoln still won a second term.

There were so many interesting facts and stories in this book. When Lincoln was working on his emancipation proclamation, for example, he decided he wanted to talk to some of the free blacks in Washington so he invited them to a conference at the White House. Some people in cabinet had this idea that whites and blacks couldn’t live side by side with each other, so Lincoln tested this idea out in the meeting that once the slaves were free they could be exiled to a shore in South America. The blacks at this meeting basically said that they were born here, worked here, died here, and even though they were brought against their will to this country they were not about to leave. Frederick Douglass was also very angry with Lincoln for awhile about this idea. Lincoln eventually got to spend more time with blacks and came to empathize more with their position later and he and Douglass came to respect each other.

I won’t give anymore away about the book except to say that the assassination part at the end was fascinating and I may read another book just about that aspect of Lincoln’s life. It was very interesting that Wilkes Booth had this plan to not just assassinate Lincoln, but also Seward and the vice president Andrew Johnson. Booth would handle the president at Ford’s Theater while his two friends would handle the other two murders. Needless to say, his friends weren’t as successful. You never hear about that aspect of the assassination in school and I thought that was very interesting. Overall I ended up enjoying the book even though I didn’t think I would. I think that is a testament to the writing of Goodwin and her meticulous research.

After seeing the movie with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, I decided that I wanted to read the book. I’m glad I did because there were a few scenes that weren’t in the movie and a whole part of the movie that was not in the book. Before I get to those comparisons, here is the basic story. John and Jenny at the beginning of the book (this is nonfiction by the way) are worried about having a baby because Jenny can’t even take care of a plant. One day while looking at the classified ads, John gets the idea of getting a dog. They go to the breeders, see the mother Labrador retriever and her little puppies and wonder where the father is. They pick up a puppy and as they are leaving the farm, this male Lab comes barreling out of the forest at top speed with tremendous energy. This foreshadows what the Grogans will have to deal with with Marley.

Marley is a handful from day one. He chews up the drywall, tears up the furniture, everything in their Florida home has to be dog proofed. There is a lot written about dog poop in this book because that is one of the big things they have to deal with, especially after Marley becomes enamored with eating mangoes. Speaking of eating, Marley eats at top speed and will eat anything that he can find whether it is edible or not. There is one point where he eats a gold necklace John was going to give Jenny for their anniversary.

John and Jenny are both journalists working for the local papers in Palm Beach, Florida. The movie dealt more with John’s working life and how he became a columnist and even introduced a close friend of John’s at the paper. These were only barely touched on in the book. We knew he was a columnist and we knew what paper he worked for and he talked about some of the stories he wrote as a columnist and how he would get those stories, but other than that, work life wasn’t discussed as much. Another aspect of this book is Jenny’s pregnancy and the complications she had with her first baby and how she was able to have two more. Marley’s reactions around Jenny when she was in distress were very interesting and it makes me think of another good Fiction book I’ve read called The Art of Racing in the Rain where the dog narrates the story, but has this sixth sense when the human the dog is close to is in real pain. It is very fascinating to me how the dog’s mind must work.

One more comparison that I wanted to make is a scene in the book that was completely left out of the movie. Marley was a movie star. . . briefly. A film crew came to Florida to make this movie called The Last Home Run that ended up being so bad it went straight to video. They wanted a dog so Marley was auditioned and got the part. This is a hilarious chapter in the book because of all the antics Marley gets into from stealing food from the buffet table to having them do take after take because Marley behaved so horribly. Here are a few scenes from that movie with the actual Marley:

Just like the movie, the book was funny and sweet and the ending was a real tearjerker. It was a very enjoyable book though and one any dog owner would probably like.

When most people plan a vacation, they think of warm weather, palm trees, and sunny beaches. Sarah Vowell thinks of graveyards, tours of old houses, and metal plaques mounted on walls of buildings. Readers get to tag along with Vowell as she vacations, visiting places of historical interest as they connect to the lives, and deaths, of assassinated former United States Presidents.

Despite what you may be thinking, about a historical book written about long dead Presidents, I assure you, the book is fascinating. Vowell has split the book into three parts, one for each President she focused on. The first section is about Lincoln, one of the most famous U.S. Presidents. The second section is about Garfield. Who is that?

“The most famous thing said about President James A. Garfield is about how nobody has any idea who the hell he was.”, explains Vowell.

The last part is not about JFK, as you might expect. Vowell does talk a little about the JFK assassination in the book, but, he doesn’t get an entire section dedicated to him. No, instead Vowell finishes off her book with a section on McKinley.

There is something about Vowell’s writing style that I found captivating. She can be sarcastic one minute, serious the next, and humorous the entire time. I am not one to wake up in the morning, while on summer vacation, and think “I just can’t wait to read that book about dead Presidents!”. However, Vowell’s snarky writing made this book something I did not want to put down. All high school history textbooks should be cast aside, and replaced by one written by Sarah Vowell. She really makes what could be dry, dull, subject matter into something so interesting I didn’t want to stop reading.

Vowell uncovers some bizarre things about the lives of the Presidents, the childhood’s of their assassins, and how they all came together. In one chapter, she describes a sex cult, that later on made pottery. She points out that Todd Lincoln might have been the “Angel of Death”, because of a series of bizarre coincidences. Vowell brings family and friends with her as she tours places people lived, died, or used as a hideout. I found myself laughing at the statements her friends made about these strange vacation destinations.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that I wish I had read it sooner. I guess that’s more about my poor timing, and not about the book at all. Vowell wrote this book while George W. Bush was still president, and she refers to him throughout the book as “the current president”, instead of by name. This can be confusing to readers who lose track of who she means, now that time has gone by, and Obama is now our current President.

I have had an extremely hard time writing this book review. I did like the book, quite a bit, actually. It’s hard to capture the essence of Vowell’s macabre, yet quirky, style in this book, without making things sound dull. Go read it. You will soon see what I mean.

The story about how I got a copy of this book might be more interesting than the story in the actual book itself. Allow me to explain.

Here at Book Sandwich, we will, from time to time, receive books from publicists that want us to review the book on this site. Right now, there are a handful of publicists that we communicate with, and we know what to expect. It goes something like this:

We get an email asking “Wanna review this book?”.

We send an email back saying “Yes, please!”.

The book arrives in the mail, and we look at the address on the big envelope and think “Oh, yes. This is the book I talked to (particular publisher at particular publishing house) about. Hurray! Can’t wait to start reading it!”

Sometimes, we have also had the good fortune to have authors contact us, asking if we would like to review their books. Lots of emails are sent back and forth, (sometimes resulting in an author interview). The book arrives in the mail. We read the name on the envelope and think “Oh, yes! This is the book from the author I’ve been talking to. Can’t wait to read it!”

Now, the common factor in both these scenarios is communication. It’s important! Without good communication, things start to fall apart. How do I know which book I want to read next? Often, it’s the book that is in my head because of the emails I sent to and got from a publicist or an author. Books that no one is waiting on get set aside to wait for a less busy time. Once a review (or interview) is up, I know exactly who to contact to show the results to. Easy is best. Mystery is frustrating.

Which brings me to this book by Andrews. A trip to the mailbox one day resulted in two books we knew were coming, and a third envelope we did not expect. Hmm… that’s odd. The address on the mystery envelope came from a publicist we had worked with once or twice before, but we hadn’t heard from in a long time. It was obvious that a book was inside, (you could feel it through the envelope), but, what book? Confusion ensued.

Did one of us somehow agree to read this book, and then completely forget about it? Back home, frantic searches through email inboxes revealed nothing. There were a few emails found from this publicist, but, nothing recent. Perplexed, I opened the envelope of mystery. Inside was a book called The Noticer, and a few papers. Most of the papers were blurbs about the book, a short description of the author, and one about something called “The Noticer Project”. Nothing that told us why this book magically arrived in our mailbox.

The book sat on our table for a while. As I said, we had a few books we knew about all lined up ahead of this unannounced one. I was hoping that, as time ticked on, someone at said publicist house would send us an email, asking when to expect to read our review of the book. Then, at least, we would know who decided to send the book out to us. But no, sadly, no one seemed to want to claim this book as their own.

I wondered if the publicist had made arrangements with some other book review website, with a similar name to Book Sandwich, and accidently sent it to us instead? I discounted this theory almost immediately. Shouldn’t there be something in the big mystery envelope saying the intended recipients name, if that were the case? I was all out of clues.

So, I finally decided to just go ahead and read it, (after catching up on all the books we had made arrangements for). Andy Andrews…. who is he? I used to work for a big chain book store, and as a result, tons of trivial facts about titles and authors are still lodged in my brain, taking up space I could use on other, more valuable, pursuits. Isn’t he the guy that wrote The Traveler’s Gift? I think that was a best seller at one time and, if memory serves, we displayed it under the “Non Fiction Bestseller” sign. I’m going to guess that this book is either self help, or, possibly something from the Christian section. The publisher, Thomas Nelson, is one that I know publishes a lot of the books that end up various subsections of “Christian” in big chain bookstores. I was raised Catholic, mostly because it made my Grandmother happy. I’m not entirely certain which label my current religious beliefs fall under. I would never describe myself as “Christian”. With all this in mind, I will be honest, I wasn’t overly optimistic about what I would find in The Noticer.

The first chapter was kind of interesting. You got this narrator guy, whose name the reader isn’t given. He’s going through a rough time, when suddenly, out of nowhere, appears a man called “Jones”. Jones is an interesting character! He seems ancient, but it’s not clear just how old he really is. Jones is neither exactly Black, nor White, nor Asian, nor Hispanic, nor anything else, precisely. If he is mixed race, it’s anyone’s guess which ones. Jones appears the exact moment that the narrator is at the lowest point of his life, unannounced, uninvited, bearing wisdom the narrator needs to discover in order to have the happy life he always wanted. Jones describes himself as “a noticer”, which is someone who notices the important things, and points them out to those who need to see them. It took me the entire first chapter to figure out that the narrator is none other than the author himself, Andrews. I found Jones to be interesting, but, by the end of the chapter I wasn’t entirely sure if Jones really existed. Did this all actually happen, or not? There were enough hints of Christian influence in the advice Jones was giving for me to wonder if Andrews was giving readers something like a modern day parable with this book. I decided to finish reading chapter one, to see what else Jones might do and say, as he was the only thing I was finding to be at all interesting so far.

All of a sudden, it hit me. Wait a minute here! This book has a guy named Jones, who appears out of thin air and gives advice to people who had no reason to expect he was coming. This book arrived in our mailbox, from we aren’t entirely certain who, without being asked for. I closed my eyes, and did what I’ve heard described as a “facepalm”. It’s a marketing ploy, and I have fallen for it! I was unimpressed.

There was something else about this book that really bothered me. In chapter one, towards the end, Andrews casually mentions to the reader that he does corporate speaking events. He notes that he has written other books. Then he says that his experiences with Jones are what led him to find something called “the seven principles”. What are those seven principles? I’ve no idea. Andrews doesn’t say. I guess one would have to go buy a copy of his other books to find that out, or, hire him to speak to some corporate event, if you happen to be having one.

Now, I am all for authors who want to get the word out to readers about their books. But, there is a time and a place for this! Put some blurbs from reviews of those other books on the back cover of this new book. Add the first chapter of the next book in the series at the end of this current book. Put a short description of your other books on the inside of the dust jacket, at the back of your new book. Get a web page. Start a fan email list. Write a blog on myspace or facebook, or all of the above. Go on Twitter and tweet about it. If you can manage to get an interview on a podcast, or a local radio program, or on the Oprah show, so be it! All good things, in my opinion. (Ok, I’m not so thrilled with Oprah. Side effects of working in a big chain bookstore, on days her new recommended read gets talked about on her show, and the crowds come in demanding it).

The only place one should absolutely not put what amounts to a commercial about what other books you wrote, or how you are available for speaking events is smack at the end of the first chapter of your new book! I thought maybe this book was a self help book, which might or might not have Christian leanings. Now, I was feeling like this book was nothing more than an infomercial for everything else Andrews might be able to make money from. Money he wants you, the reader, to rush right out and give him right now, don’t wait until you finish reading this book! Disappointing, if not downright insulting!

I am, for good or ill, one of those people who hates to not finish a book that I started reading. So, I unwilling trudged on. This is not a book that impressed me, but, there were some good things to be found.

I think readers who want to find a self help styled book that could be interpreted with a Christian slant will like this book. It’s not so heavily Christian as to turn off readers of other religious persuasions, (or none at all), in my opinion. I kept wondering if Jones, who seems to be everybody’s best friend, who is always right there when you are in your darkest hour and need some help, might not be “outed” as actually being Jesus at some point in the book. (That didn’t happen, but it might be implied, if looked at a certain way). Some bible quotes appear, but not too many as to be distracting from what this book was really trying to say.

There is some good advice to be found within these pages. It can be summed up as “look for the good things” and “be good to people you love” and things like that. None of the advice in here was anything that made me say “This is amazing!” I think it’s a good idea to know how important a change of perspective can be, and how to use that when things look bad. But, you don’t necessarily need this book to tell you that. The advice given in The Noticer is not anything I consider to be harmful, like some other self help or religious/spiritual authors end up spewing. (I’m looking at you, Rhonda Byrne!) Overall, I can recommend this book to readers who are going on vacation and want something “deep, but not too deep” to meditate on as they sit on the plane, or are stuck in the airport. It’s surprisingly light weight for a hardcover book. If you are student who has a last minute book report due, and the book must be a non fiction title, this one won’t take you too long to read through. It’s not a bad book, it’s just not something I needed.

The drawing on the cover of this book is what first made me decide to pick it up. The outlined image of a head filled with a crazy map of streets that don’t exist in the real world was interesting. What is this place? I had no idea. To me, this drawing is a great visual example of the mind of a person with mental illness. Streets that take you nowhere, but seem to hold so much promise at first glance. Readers attracted to the artwork on the front of the book will be excited to learn that this kind of artwork plays an important part in the story itself. It’s not just pretty cover art!

Craig Gilner is one of the smart kids. He studied extremely hard, for most of a year, to get into Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional High School. He was the kid in Junior High sitting at the lunch table studying flash cards, when all the other kids were making friends, and having first crushes. Craig does more than get accepted to the school, he also aces the entrance exam. This makes him feel like he is on the first stepping stone to a successful future. The summer before high school, Craig starts making friends and having a social life, and even having some fun for once. But then, things start getting difficult. Readers learn early in the book that Craig is telling us his “kind of a funny story” from the inside of a hospital’s mental ward, which he voluntarily checked himself into.

This is a book one would find in the Teen or Young Adult section of the big chain bookstores. Craig is fifteen. His friends smoke pot, and he decides to try it as well. All the teens have the expected awkwardness that happens to everyone when they find themselves attracted to someone for the first time, and unsure what, exactly, to do about it. High school is the entire universe. Guys who are around fifteen, Craig’s age, are going to have an easy time relating to Craig in a lot of ways. Vizzini’s story is written with the perfect mix of seriousness and slightly twisted humor that will captivate readers of any age, even adults. The thing I like best about “Teen books” is the freedom author’s have to take the story into unexpected places. There is this acceptance of mixed genres that one does not find on other shelves in the bookstore very often. Don’t skip over this book simply because it came from the Teen Section!

What I found to be most interesting about this book is the depiction of mental illness. Readers get the view from inside Craig’s head, as he struggles. He identifies things as “Tentacles” and “Anchors”, feeling that there are too many tentacles grabbing at his time and attention, and not enough anchors to grab on to. He also is having trouble eating, and keeping food down, and the way Craig visualizes this is unique, but also very relatable for anyone who has had food issues of their own to deal with. He’s got this Army Sergeant in his head he feels the need to answer to, (but not out loud). Readers will get a glimpse of what it can be like to have crazy thoughts, to know these thoughts are insane, and to be unable to simply get past them.

This isn’t simply a book about teenage angst gone intense, however. Due to construction work at the hospital, the teen ward is full, and Craig ends up housed with the adults. Vizzini has created some fascinating characters here for Craig to meet. My favorite is his roommate, Muqtada, an Egyptian man who is afraid to leave his room. The rest of the ward, I will leave you to discover for yourself. Mental illness takes many forms, and differs in how it is expressed, and this is something Vizzini represents very well in his cast of characters. Perhaps the authenticity in the characters comes from Vizzini’s own experience. He spent five days in a hospital adult’s mental ward himself, before writing this book.