Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret to a Man’s Soul
by John Eldredge
RATING: 6 out of 10

I’ve been “reading” this book for quite a long time. I started it sometime in January and it took until June for me to finish. This was not necessarily the fault of the book (although it could be improved), but more the fault of it not being what I wanted to read.

Normally, I would have given up, but I really wanted to actually get through the book because I love the concept behind it - it delves into exactly what the title says. It talks about the spiritual aspect of how men need to be men…we’re built to be wild and passionate people and the world has emasculated us in a way that keeps us from reaching our full potential.

It sounds a little new-agey, but Eldredge has some excellent points in the book. Unfortunately, he struggles to string them together into coherent chapters. The ideas are there, but the book really needs some editing. (Mr. Eldredge, you can email me shane at this domain dot com if you need an editor.)

Over time, I felt like the book was repeating its key concepts instead of focusing them into specific sections. And while I wanted to really like it, I just couldn’t get over the organization of the book.

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So I’m back from Jamaica.

Alli and I and the rest of the family have been at Beaches Negril since last Saturday. While we were there, my brother and his lovely significant other Kelly got hitched on the beach on Tuesday afternoon. Both families were there as were a bunch of Jake’s friends and we had a great time. After an all-day journey yesterday, we’re back in Kansas City, away from the island humidity.

It looks as though the internet didn’t break while I was gone, although I  did win a contest and my biography was posted on Brad’s site. It looks like everything else is as it was. 

I read two books while I was gone, finally finishing Wild at Heart by John Eldridge and quickly consuming Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. I’ll post reviews soon.

As far as the rest of the week…I’m taking the rest of the week off from work. I may tackle a redesign of my own site if I can do it quickly. We’ll see.

How are you?

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In 2006, I read 25 books. In 2007, I didn’t read nearly as many. I’m going to try and read at least 25 in 2008 and here’s a list of what I’m going to start with. Some of these I got for Christmas, some are ones I’ve had for ages that I’ve intended to read for a while, but never got around to them. I need to finish Kevin’s book soon, so that will be my first one. It’ll be followed (in no particular order) by:

1. Wild at Heart by John Eldridge
2. Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins
3. A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
4. Spunk & Bite by Arthur Plotnik
5. Lucky Dog by Mark Barrowcliffe
6. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
7. The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
8. Become a Better You by Joel Osteen
9. The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
10. The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
11. Plum Island by Nelson DeMille
12. Marley & Me by John Grogan
13. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield

Obviously, to get to 25 books, I need a lot more books. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

With the ongoing writer’s strike, it won’t be difficult to find time to read since, outside of American Gladiators, I don’t have a ton of shows to watch outside of Iron Chef America and the standard Bravo reality fare.

I’m sure that will be good for me. Less TV usually is.

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In 2006, I read 25 books. Those books ranged from the first 6 books in the Harry Potter series to excellent nonfiction tomes like The Tipping Point to books about my industry like Designing With Web Standards.

I enjoyed most of the books, but I haven’t read nearly as many this year. I don’t know what it’s been, but I’ve still read plenty…I just haven’t posted many reviews. I read several books when we were in Europe and never got around to reviewing any of them officially.

• Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• Textpattern Solutions by Kevin Potts, Nathan Smith, etc.
• Songbook by Nick Hornby
• The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
• others that for some reason I can’t think of

I just finished reading Stormie Omartian’s book, The Power of the Praying Husband. Omartian has written several The Power of a Praying… books and Alli really loved The Power of the Praying Wife. It’s taken me quite a while to get through it completely, but I really thought it was a great read.

As someone who has a strong belief in the power of prayer, I really liked how Omartian wrote 20 different chapters about things to pray about for the most important woman in my life. There’s stuff in there that I would never really think of, but after reading through it, it made a lot of sense. Alli and I have started giving these two books to new married couples and I would highly recommend them to any married person. I really thought the book was great. Wherever you might be in your life, I think there’s a Power of Praying… book for you.

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I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Tuesday and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m just about ready to read all 750+ pages again, just to re-absorb and re-experience it in all its glory.

One thing that’s caused me to do is to devour all the information that I managed to avoid prior to reading the book - all the reviews and spoilers and such that have been splashed all over the news and internets. Today, I found an absolutely wonderful overview of J.K. Rowling’s accomplishment written for Entertainment Weekly by the king of the horror novel, Stephen King. NOTE: If you have not yet read the book, you’ll want to avoid the article…there are MANY spoilers.

But one thing that King does better than anyone I’ve seen so far is really get to the heart of what an accomplishment this series has been for Rowling. It may not get the literary appreciation and it might not ever be taught in schools, but the sheer scope of the world of magic she created and the way that her characters and their story grew as the years at Hogwarts passed was nothing short of magnificent.

I applaud Rowling for creating this amazing body of work that is appreciated by children and adults alike (although from about Book 5 on, the subject matter could be considered more adult in nature). My hope is that she will continue to write and create because she is more than just the writer who brought the world Harry Potter; she is extremely talented and can communicate to a wide range of age groups with ease, something that should be valued in a world where children and adults very often have trouble finding common ground in communication.

And for those of you who, like myself, felt like they were “too old” or “too educated” or whatever to appreciate Harry Potter and the wizarding world… I implore you to reconsider. What you’ll find in the books is a series that can be read and re-read, passed along to others, and enjoyed for many years to come. Plus, you’ll have 7 rather large books to add to your personal library and everyone knows that having a lot of books is cool.

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I finished the final chapter of the Harry Potter books last night and immediately felt remorse. It was like when Friends ended and I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to see Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe on Thursdays anymore…I will really miss Harry, Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and all the Hogwarts gang.

I take off my hat to J.K. Rowling for such a wonderful accomplishment. Her books will be remembered for a very long time and Harry will go down as one of the most popular fictional literary characters in all of history.

While I recognize that we’re not talking about Salinger or Toni Morisson or F. Scott Fitzgerald here, Rowling will be known throughout history as the one who brought the world The Boy Who Lived.

As for what I thought of the book…it was terrific; more than I’d hoped for. And now I’m sad it’s done. It’s not the first time I’ve been sad to finish a book, and I certainly hope it is not the last. The rumor is that Rowling is working on a new series now. I’ll be certain not to wait several years before starting this series.

Until I pull out the series again, I’ll say this… I enjoyed every page.

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Love Monkey: A Novel
By Kyle Smith
RATING: 3 out of 10

I mentioned it before, so it should be no surprise when I say that this is my least favorite book that I’ve read in the past year and a half.

I had high hopes for the book. It was dubbed as the male version of chick lit, and I have read a few chick lit books, specifically the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. I liked them and I was looking for something else since Nick Hornby’s last couple outings haven’t been all that great and I needed something light to read.

Perhaps it was my adoration for the TV show of the same name starring Tom Cavanaugh (of Ed fame), but I had some high hopes.

Boy was I wrong.

In Love Monkey, we find Tom Farrell, a copywriter at Tabloid, a New York - wait for it - tabloid newspaper. He’s a miserable case, which many of us can relate to…unlucky at work, unlucky in looks, unlucky in love, etc. He spends 80% of the book pining for a girl named Julia, who he meets and woos while she has a boyfriend from back home.

She’s very obviously unhappy in the relationship and he encourages that unhappiness by taking her fancy places and being witty (at least he thinks so). Along the way, she never really shows a lot of interest in him past friendship. He is, afterall, about 10 years older than her, and not very cool, despite his attempts at coolness.

Even despite this unrequited love that he claims overtakes him completely, he manages to date 3 other women at the same time, treating each of them with disdain and meanness…perhaps one of the most clueless men in the history of dating.

The book is based in Manhattan and when 9/11 happens, I was expecting a poignant turn. Not so. The main character really just brags about where he was when it happened and uses the story as a way to get laid, further cementing his place as the most unlikable main character I’ve read about in the last 2 years of reading.

The story comes to an abrupt end and you’re left thinking, “Is that all?” But wait…there’s more. A full 15 pages of information on the author, who like his literary likeness, Tom, can’t seem to stop talking about himself. Could have done without that.

Overall, I pretty much loathed this book. It was poorly written, it mixed metaphors, and the fact that it was turned into a failed (but likable) TV show is confusing, considering that it had absolutely nothing in common with the show except the characters names and the title.

Worst book I’ve read in several years. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

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I’ve really been lacking in the book category this year. I haven’t been particularly inspired to read anything in particular (although I scanned through The Brand Gap and I’m about 2/3 of the way through The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

For my first attempt this year, I wanted to read Love Monkey by Kyle Smith, the book on which the failed TV show (which I loved) was based.

I have not finished the book yet because I want to punch the main character in the face. There are characters you are supposed to dislike. And then there are characters that are supposed to be liked, but fail miserably because they are complete wanks.

Maybe I was a little too hopeful. I loved the show and thought it was a traveshamockery that it got cancelled. Tom Cavanaugh (of Ed fame) was brilliant on it and the casting was really great. After reading the book, I realized that they only took the characters and then a much better writer than Smith actually made them likable. Because the book namesakes are downright loathsome.

Not only that, but the main character doesn’t work at a cool record company, but at a tabloid (Smith works for the New York Post). You’d think it might make him that much more interesting, but it just makes him even more unlikeable.

Now I’d like to say that I’m not biased, but after I read about the crack that he laid on my boy Kevin Smith (see here near the bottom of the page), I lost a lot of respect for him. And then, after reading some of the reviews that Silent Bob came up with about Love Monkey’s original release on his site…stuff like:

“(Kyle) Smith has clearly taken lessons from a few successful writers of chick lit, but his boy version of Bridget Jones lacks the key ingredient: a sympathetic protagonist.” - Publisher’s Weekly

“In his first novel, Smith, the book and music review editor of People magazine, tries too hard to be clever (like Tom himself), piling witticism upon witticism and referencing numerous “in” people, places, and events. Consequently, the book seems facile rather than meaningful, at least to this reviewer, who is neither male nor thirtysomething nor a New Yorker. Libraries looking for lad lit to satisfy this demographic should purchase. Others can safely pass.” - Library Journal

“The monologues are nothing a smarter-than-average Maxim reader wouldn’t come up with” Kirkus Reviews

So anyway, maybe I’m a little biased because when you go after Kevin Smith, you offend me a little bit, but these reviews were more than telling. I’m not even sure if I want to finish it. It’s stalling me from getting to any other books, and now February is over and I’ve read ZERO books this year. That’s poor. Last year at this time, I’d read TEN.

So sad.

Kyle Smith, it’s all your fault.

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I really liked Brian’s post about his favorites of 2006, so I thought I would drop mine onto the internets.

Favorite Book: This is a tough one. I’ve read more books this year than in any year past. If I wanted to seem all intellectual and whatnot, I’d say that The Tipping Point was my favorite read. And truthfully, it was my favorite non-fiction read of the year. Great writing and a fascinating book. However, I would probably say that my favorite book of the year was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Call me cheesy or whatever, but after reading all 6 Harry Potter books this year, I finally see what the big deal is. While I held high acclaim for several books this year (I had about 8 that scored higher than 9 out of 10 on my scale, including The Historian, which I called “the best book I’ve read in the last 5 years”), I can’t think of a single book outside of the fifth in the Harry Potter series that I enjoyed more.

Favorite Movie: OK, so the year’s not yet over, but I’m going to need to categorize my favorite movies…

Favorite Comedy: There were not a lot of terribly funny movies out there this year. Out of the few, I had a great time watching both The Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine. Very different movies, but both were a lot of fun. However, my favorite comedy of the year was Stranger than Fiction. Honorable mentions for Clerks 2 and Thank You for Smoking.

Favorite Drama: Another tough one. I would like to retract my earlier statement that Leonardo di Caprio did not deserve two Best Actor nominations. After seeing Blood Diamond, I realized that he deserved every bit of them. Blood Diamond is excellent as was The Departed. I would give a slight edge to The Departed only because Jack Nicholson is so awesome in it.

Favorite Action: Casino Royale. Hands down.

Favorite Animated: Cars. Pixar does what only Pixar can do.

Favorite TV Sitcom: The Office is my clear choice here, but it is followed closely by How I Met Your Mother, which Alli and I have dubbed “the new Friends”.

Favorite TV Drama: Lost has really lost a lot of steam. Even at the top of its game, I don’t think I would enjoy it more than I am enjoying Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip these days.

Favorite TV Reality: Top Chef. Always Top Chef.

Favorite TV New: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perhaps my favorite show on TV right now. Honorable mention for the late Six Degrees.

Favorite Album: Either St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley or Continuum by John Mayer.

Favorite Event: Changing jobs. It was really hard to leave PSI, but it’s been a great experience so far. I’m really liking my new position. Also, the Chiefs making the playoffs is up there.

Favorite Home Improvement Project: I would probably say the tiling project if Alli and I hadn’t decided to make our bedroom a priority. We just got a bed, nightstands, new lamps, and drapes. Totally changes it (although we haven’t gotten the bed yet). Now we just need a new mattress.

Favorite Trip: VEGAS BABY.

Favorite Poker Night: Coming back from being desperately short-stacked to winning in the longest heads-up match against Darin at Jason’s house.

Favorite Restaurant: Pizza Shack. Would have been Chipotle if not for an AWESOME 30th birthday outing.

Favorite Present: Easily my painting.

That should be all for now. Here’s to a great 2007.

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