Katie Stew

Once I had finished “Emergency” for book club, I had a few weeks to kill before it was time to start reading our new book. I grabbed a copy of Tom Robbins’s “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”.

A few years back, for book club, we read “Jitterbug Perfume”.  I loved it. Everyone loved it. It was such a fun book and I decided I was a fan of his work. So, the next time we were selecting books, we decided to read another of Tom Robbins’s, “Skinny Legs and All“. Unfortunately, we didn’t like it as much. It was ok, but not nearly as much fun as the first. It brought to light the question, do I love his work or just that one book? Was “Jitterbug Perfume” a fluke?

I had heard good things about “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”, and figured it would be a nice place to stop and maybe figure out the answer to that question. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it. The thing that I think is so cool about his writing, is the way he describes things. He has a great sense of words. For example:

“A sigh, not a snort, was what Dr. Goldman issued next; a soft sigh like a trade wind blowing its nose against the sail of a toy boat.”

But the problem is that in this particular book, I thought he spent too much time philosophizing, and not enough time on the story. It had all the elements of a really great story, but it was broken up with long winded wanderings on philosophy and time and speaking directly to the reader about storytelling that it was hard to get to the meat of the story. Though I did enjoy this break in the story about writing.

” “But…” said Sissy. Sissy said “but” while sitting on her butt on a butte. The poetic possibilities of the English language are endless.”

Generally speaking, the story follows Sissy Hanshaw. She was born special. She was born with enormous thumbs. Unable and uninterested in fitting in, when she is a teenager she hitchhikes away from home and never turns back. Sissy is the best hitchhiker in the world. Best in history. She doesn’t hitch to go anywhere in particular, but just to stretch her thumbs and soak in the magic of movement. It is a solitary life, but one she is happy with until she is introduced to Julian. A very normal man that makes her feel wanted and safe. She stops moving and tries to fit in, with poor results.

When given an opportunity for some work by her benefactor, who is quite a character, she takes it. The job is on the Rubber Rose Ranch, where she meets Bonanza Jellybean for the first time, and the rest of the cowgirls. She finds her fate intertwined with theirs and with the mysterious man that lives on the ridge overlooking the ranch, the Chink (who is actually Japanese and is considered an Indian shaman. Go figure.). The story wraps her up with cowgirls, Indians, a philosopher psychiatrist, the meaning of time, and an endangered group of whooping cranes.

The story is about love, time, the end of the world, and the point of civilization. Will Sissy succeed in fitting in with society? Will she decide that she is better off alone on the road? Or will she find her own place?

Like I said, it had all the makings of a really enjoyable book. Vivid characters. Crazy cowgirls. Giant thumbs. But Robbins got too involved with the theories and didn’t focus enough on the people for me. It seems clear that it is an early novel, and one where he played with experimentation in style and perspective. Unfortunately, it just didn’t come together for me.

On Wednesday night, the book-club got together and discussed the first book of this session, “Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life” by Neil Strauss.

It was a great meeting. Everyone dug the book and found it inspirational.

The basic premise is this. Neil Strauss was a music writer for the New York Times. Around the time everyone was freaking out with all that Y2K business, Neil started wondering what would happen if everything really did shut down. What would happen to him if civilization crashed? He realized early on that if anything bad happened in America, he would be stuck here with no exit strategy and no real life skills. He had grown up in an apartment in the city and didn’t know how to provide for himself in any way.

This book documents his really interesting journey to become self reliant. What starts as a venture to get a duel citizenship, so that he can leave the country “when shit hits the fan”, turns into a more fully realized plan involving learning how to track, kill, prepare, and eat animals, make his own weapons, learn how to shoot a gun, advanced first aid training, and lots of other skills. He meets many interesting and bizarre people along the way.

Strauss’s voice in the writing is great. The descriptions of his adventures are easy and fun to read and the information is useful.

This made for a great discussion in book club. I think it helped everyone realize how much we depend on the system. We take for granted our running water, electricity, plastic wrapped pieces of meat that we pick up in the grocery store, and all the other conveniences that come along with being part of a civilization. It also inspired us to start developing our own skills and back up plans.

I was personally less inspired by his efforts to get a dual citizenship and buy a home outside of the US. I figure, if the shit hits the fan, I live pretty close to Canada and really, the US is really big. There’s bound to be somewhere to hide. However, I am pretty interested in developing some of my outdoor and survival skills.

Namely:

Starting to go on edible plant nature walks in my area with a guide to learn what wild plants to eat in the Pacific NW.

Learn how to start a fire without matches or a lighter.

Learn how to build an efficient water filter system on my own.

Perhaps raise my own goats or chickens. The benefits would be having fresh milk and cheese, learning how to breed animals, and learning how to slaughter and prepare animals.

Along with the milk thing, it would be cool to learn how to make cheese.

A better understanding of using, cleaning, and owning guns. (crazy, I know.)

Oh! And I want to start buying survival, plant identification, and other useful books. Because if things go wonky and the Internet goes down, having real books on useful information would be invaluable.

Generally speaking, I think that I’d be a really good survivalist. I’m determined, inventive, and I’ve got a wide variety of skills. I can cook, sew, grow food, shoot a rifle, and I’m pretty sure that I could manage to clean and butcher animals if the need arose. I’m also pretty sure that my book club would make an excellent survivalist team. (which is a pretty funny statement really.) Between all of us, I think we’d have the skills necessary to survive. I think we should just all move to a big cabin in the woods somewhere and get started.

Maybe all this sounds paranoid. Strauss asked himself many times over the course of the book if he was going too far and if he was just being overly paranoid, but he came to the conclusion that even if nothing ever went wrong, gaining all this extra knowledge gave him a sense of personal strength and confidence that can only come from knowing that you can take care of yourself, which I think is pretty darn cool.

I’d highly recommend this book. It was a fun read and it will really make you think. It offers itself to great discussion, is full of useful facts, and is just a great story.

Go for it. This book could save your life.

Remember last year when one of my Resolutions was to restart my book club? Well, I didn’t do that last year. But, I figured the same resolution list could carry me over into this year and I am happy to say that I can finally check this one off the list. Last week, my book club kicked back off! We had our initial planning meeting and came up with the reading list for the next 7 months. I’m happy to share it here in case you want to follow along. I’ll be writing reviews for each book after the meeting where we discuss them.

June’s book:

“Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life” by Neil Strauss

With the same sharp eye, quick wit and narrative drive that made”The Game” a bestseller, Neil Strauss takes us on a white-knuckle journey through America’s heart of darkness as he scrambles to escape the system. As the economic downturn, continuing climate change and the prevailing terrorist threat prove that the dangers facing our world loom larger than ever, Strauss decides he’s had enough. Soon he is investigating ways of getting second citizenship on the island of St. Kitts, protecting his assets offshore,and making friends with an elite group of billionaires who are thinking exactly the same thing. Strauss’ thirst for survival becomes more extreme as he prepares for The End Of The World As We Know It. He trains with guns, learn American Indian tracking skills, hides caches of supplies and acquires a special forces motorcycle to help him ‘bug out’. When The Shit Hits The Fan, this book might just save your life.

July’s book:
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neil Hurston

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American Literature, Zora Neale Hurston’s beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving self hood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston’s masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published — perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American Literature.

August’s book:

“Kushiel’s Dart” by Jacqueline Carey

The land of Terre d’Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good…and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phèdre is a young woman trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair…and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear. Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel’s Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.

The rest of the books chosen are the following and their months will be selected later on:

“The Wind-up Bird Chronicles” by Haruki Murakami

“Drift” by Rachel Maddow

“The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

I can’t wait to get to it!

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with my brother and watching “Sahara”, the treasure hunting action adventure with Matthew McConaughey. It is a silly, but really fun movie, and as we were watching it, he mentioned that it is based on a Clive Cussler book. I’d heard of the author before, but never read anything of his. Once I looked into it, I learned that my vision of him as a prolific writer was really understated. Cussler has written more than 50 books in his career, 17 of which were bestsellers. Reading about him is really a little fascinating. Not only a writer, he is also the founder and chairman of NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency, which has discovered more than 60 sunken ships and other sites of interest.

But I digress. After watching and enjoying “Sahara”, I decided to pick up one of his books. On my flight back to Seattle, I grabbed “Lost Empire” from the airport book store and dove in. What a fun read. I really enjoyed this book.

“Lost Empire” is part of the “Fargo Adventures” series, which follows Sam and Remi Fargo, two millionaire dive and history enthusiasts. They are vacationing off the coast of Zanzibar when they discover a ship bell off shore while scuba diving. Before they know it, they are being followed and harrassed by mysterious Mexican millitary men who are determined to get the bell and keep them from learning it’s history. The mystery gets deeper and deeper the more the Fargos learn about the bell and the danger gets higher and higher. They end up flying all over the world and learning secrets of the history of the Aztecs that could turn the world on it’s head.

The book is packed with chases, explosions, adventure, discovery, history, and mystery. It was a fun ride. I would love to dive more into his collection of books. This was an easy, fun read, but not as cheesy as much of the light reading that I enjoy. I would recommend this book and I look forward to reading more.

I think I’ve found a new go to author for summer reading. Check him out.