Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman

Sometimes I come to something a little later than everyone else. Case in point, this year (2015) I just discovered Parks and Recreation on Netflix. That led me to the good fortune of getting to enjoy Nick Offerman's portrayal of Ron Swanson, the Head of the parks department in the mythical town of Pawnee, Indiana.  That led to seeing his special, American Ham, on Netflix as well. Between that and my fiancee raving about it, I finally got to listen to Offerman narrate his book, Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living.

This book made me laugh. Out loud. A lot. It also made me think a great deal as well. While Offerman is often self-denigrating when it comes to his own intelligence, he seems to me to have the thoughtfulness of one who has spent a great deal of time in contemplation. He knows who he is, and he is comfortable with that person. He has his own strong, definite opinions, and is not shy about expressing them in a plain and blunt manner.

This book is part autobiography, part philosophical treatise. That does not mean it is dry or dull, just the opposite, in fact. It is extremely entertaining. It is also very honest. He does not try to pretty up some of the mistakes he made. He does explain what he learned from those mistakes that he incorporated into his life. I agree with many of the points he makes in this book, with many of his precepts for "living a delicious life." He has somehow managed to escape become all-consumed by his career and remains intent upon recognizing that there are more important things in life.

I would recommend this book to adults--it would never find its way into my classroom library. There is too much profanity and too many "adult" situations of one kind or another. If you like the character Ron Swanson, you will probably like the book. He makes it clear early on the he is not the character he so masterfully portrays, but the two men have a great deal in common.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle

I first heard about Father Greg and his ministry while participating in the JustFaith program at my church. He works with gang members in East Los Angeles. He has done this for more than 20 years so far. He started Homeboy Industries as a way to help gang members transition to a life after gangs.

In this book, which he reads himself, he comes across as humble and loving. It is his love that has created a way out for his “homies.” They call him G or G-Dog. He calls them worthwhile human beings. More than calling them that, he treats them that way as well. And he shows their humanity in this book, breaking past stereotypes and letting the readers see it as clearly as he does.

Written after his diagnosis of leukemia, which has been in, as one of his homies put it, “in intermission” for several years now.  He wrote it to preserve the stories he has told for years. Stories that should live on even after he does.

This book has moments of pure hilarity and deep sorrow. More than once this book caused me to tear up, and I don’t easily cry over a book. He writes of successes and of disappointments. He has had many, presiding over 172 funerals of gang members at the writing of the book. But this is not a sad, morose book. Quite the opposite. Some of his stories made me laugh out loud, causing some startled looks from my daughter.

There is a strong dose of religion in this book; it was, after all, written by a Jesuit priest. But Father Greg comes to religion from a place of compassion and inclusiveness. He is the kind of Catholic I hope to be. I think that he and Pope Francis are on the same wavelength.

I strongly recommend this book. It presents a real view of how life in East Los Angeles can be. Better yet, it shows that there is always hope. Even the hardest heart can be opened to compassion, by compassion.

Pure Water: Poetry of Rumi by Coleman Barks

The first time I ever heard of Rumi was when I watched The Language of Life series by Bill Moyers. It must have been in the mid to late 90's. I fell in love with the Sufi mystic's take on life and God and love and... Well, you get the idea. I have read a couple of books of Barks's translations. They are always worth it.

There is something soothing about the voice of Coleman Barks. After spending his life translating the works of Rumi, he can read the poems like no other. In addition to Rumi's works, Barks also reads a few of his own poems. I rather enjoyed that.

If you have never heard of Rumi, or if you are a fan, this audibook is a good listen.

To This Day: For the Bullied and Beautiful by Shane Koyczan

I don’t talk much about it anymore, but I was bullied a lot as a kid. The biggest, baddest kid in the school didn’t like me. A small Catholic school where most of the other students had been in the same class since kindergarten and I was the new kid in sixth grade. It hurt. It still hurts.

That is the message behind this short book by Shane Koyczan. The wounds from being bullied never go away completely. They affect us “to this day.” In reading the poem I had flashbacks to what it was like for me. In reading his experiences I saw my own.
This is an amazingly poignant and heartfelt piece of spoken word poetry. It was illustrated by around thirty different artists who took turns making visual images to go with the words. This is similar to the video that was animated by many artists, but not identical.

I will find a copy or two or three of this and add them to my personal and classroom libraries. I urge you to read it as soon as you can.

Secret Origins, Volume 1 by Jeff Lemire, Pete Tomasi, Greg Pak, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, and Kyle Higgins

A couple of years ago DC comics rebooted its entire universe. This means it needed to update the origins of all the superheroes who made the transition to that universe. Most of these tales are ones I know. Heck a couple of them, like Superman and Batman, everyone knows. So why bother?

Well, for one thing, the way a story is told matters. The details of a story matter. And the details in these origin stories are slightly different from the older versions. Not so different as to be completely (or even substantially) changed. But the details allow the writers to set up the way they want these characters to grow and evolve in the New 52.

Some of the techniques used to tell the origin stories worked for me. The double-voiced narration of Superman’s story. The darkness mixed with hope in Batman’s story. It’s a different look at Aquaman and how his own future nemesis springs from it. Starfire’s story is definitely much darker. Batwoman’s story was completely new to me.

Of course, now that there is another multiverse shaking event coming up soon, who knows how quickly these new origins will be dated as well?

Godless by Pete Hautman

I chose to read this book because I have, more than once in my life, gone through a spiritual crisis of faith. I was a teenage Catholic boy ( a long time ago) and remember grappling with questions about my particular religion and religion in general. I was interested to see where this book would take me.

Fifteen-year-old Jason Bock finds himself stifled by traditional religion. His father is a traditional Catholic and wants Jason to be like him.  Jason doesn’t. In fact, Jason isn’t sure about the whole religion thing at all. His father forces him to attend a young person’s group at the church.

As a joke, he creates a religion, the “Chutegodians.” They worship the water tower at the center of town. He enlists his friend Shin to join. Then Magda Price, a girl he is really interested in but can never figure out how to approach, and even Henry Stagg, a violent, dangerous young man. The characters were not cardboard cutouts. They had some depth. And things never worked out quite as expected.

The joke soon takes on a life of its own. The religion that started out as a joke begins to be taken seriously, too seriously at times. This doesn’t happen to Jason, he is desperately trying to keep the lid on the situation. He discovers that although it is still just a lark to him, he has started something that he cannot control.

This was a more thoughtful book that I thought it would be at first. The ridiculousness of water towers as gods is not played for laughs. It is used as a way to explore what faith is and how ideas take on their own life. I keep circling back to that tired metaphor about not being able to put the genie back in the bottle. It was uncomfortable at times. But it made me think.

I am not totally in love with the book. Maybe because it made me so uneasy at times. I am not sure that this is for a seventh grade classroom library. Maybe high school. It is going to stay part of my personal library; even when uncomfortable the book made me ask some interesting questions.

Trigger Warning: Short Stories and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan and was happily surprised when I saw he had a new book out. I was going to put it on my wish list in Audible, when my fiancée told me not to. Then she gave me my Valentine’s Day present a little early. Not hard to guess it was the hardback of Trigger Warning.

This is a book of short stories, with a few poems added in. As he is noted for, Gaiman’s stories are all more than a bit unearthly. He has a way of subtly raising the hair on the back of my neck, all unnoticed. Unnoticed, that is, until the story’s climax.

Included in the collection are a Doctor Who story, a story about Shadow (main character of Ameican Gods—a must read), a rather different take on Sherlock Holmes, and the award winning “Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains…”

The title comes from the Internet. Often a post is prefaced by the words “trigger warning” as a way to let readers know it contains disturbing material that could trigger “flashbacks of anxiety or terror.” The power of words to sculpt and shape our emotions and our emotional responses is always amazing to me. In the hands of a master like Gaiman, that power is multiplied.

If you are a Gaiman fan, I don’t need to tell you to get the book. If you haven’t read his work yet, this is a good an introduction as any. I don’t think I’ll put it in the classroom library, I think some of what is in here is a bit too much for most seventh graders. I will definitely keep it as a proud part of my collection of Gaiman’s works.