As if the book weren’t exciting enough, on June 2nd, I’m going to see John Waters speak at the Smithsonian as part of their fantastic Resident Associates program. Check out John Waters: An Unconventional Self-Portrait.

John Waters is a cult icon. In his new book, Role Models, Waters discusses some of the entertainers, murderers, fashion designers, artists, strippers, deviants, and pornographers that he admires for various reasons. Running themes seem to be honesty and clarity of vision. Waters cheerfully calls his heroes on their bullshit and shows them off in their unvarnished glory. Would you expect anything less?

In a chapter about former Manson follower and current convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten, Waters describes first his morbid interest in the Manson family and then the development of an unlikely and enduring friendship with Van Houten that has spanned her decades in prison. It seems like his long experience with the grotesque has prepared him well to see and acknowledge the circus of horror and cut straight to the humanity. What we’re left with is a portrait of Van Houten that is clear-eyed and not cloying. Full with regret, but not asking for the favor of forgiveness because, well, would it really be right for her to ask for favors? He says she has the patience, “not to find religious fanaticism that would forgive her instantly and take away responsibilities for her actions.” Isn’t that beautiful? That’s not a statement one jots down lightly – Waters has given this a lot of thought.

He also answers one of my favorite questions for people who are in the public eye and so get a lot of stupid questions – “what question do you hate and hope to never have to answer again?” For Waters, this question seems to be “Do you have a hobby?” His all caps reply: “DO I LOOK LIKE A FUCKING DABBLER?!” Love it. Of course, he also mentions loathing the Great Dog Shit Question of All Time

At the end of the book, when I was racing downhill to the end zone, Waters speculates about what a perfume with his name would smell like. He mentions “Odorama” cards – which I actually remember, and were my first Waters experience. My parents went out on a rare date night “to see Polyester. When they got home, they showed us kids the cards. We were accustomed to scratch and sniff books with scents like “peppermint,” and “grape.” Imagine our surprise.

It’s honest, gleeful, benefits from a short attention span, and is generally awesome. He writes about the art he collects (describing the artists as his roommates), and the heroes who made him nervous. He describes with relish seeking out the scariest bars I’ve ever heard of, and how he nurtures his trademark mustache. It’s squalid and filthy and gorgeous – kind of like the clothes by his favorite designer.

• An excerpt on The Huffington Post – Leslie Van Houten: A Friendship
• An interview with Waters on Kansascity.com
• A review of Role Models on Bookforum.com
• The Education of John Waters – Baltimore Sun

• Would love to know what you’re reading. Please feel free to comment below or e-mail me at thea [at] nutgraf dot net.
• Join BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

Not a command, Bite Me is the title of the latest novel by Christopher Moore. If you’ve had the good fortune to read any of Moore’s previous books, you know why I picked his latest. It’s bound to be fast-paced, funny, gripping and ludicrous (in a good way).

This is Moore’s third venture in the vampire vein (heh). His previous contributions on the theme include You Suck and Bloodsucking Fiends. This isn’t the Twilight saga, and while Moore often explores The Dark Side, it tends to be an oafish, flailing dark side with a bad sense of direction. If you’re looking for longing, brooding or sparkling, look elsewhere. Here you’ll find slapstick, drama and snappy repartee riddled with sarcasm. In fact, I’d call Moore’s writing “humor with a heart,” but that would leave out the very important fantasy element, since most of his books have impossible creatures in them – vampires, a giant lizard, a ravenous man-eating demon, the messiah… and I’m totally looking forward to reading this one.  I hope you enjoy.

I’ll post some thoughts on the book on June 20th. If the spirit moves you, let me know what you think about the book, Moore’s other work, my work here, the weather… whatev.

Confession

This selection is partly an excuse for me to ping Moore’s people and see if I can coax him into responding to a few questions. Mostly so I can gush to him about how much I enjoy his work and envy him what must be a very fulfilling career. Wish me luck.

What a great book, no?

Narrated by Cal, a man living in Berlin describing his girlhood in Michigan, this is the story of a family and an era. It’s several love stories – many of them forbidden for various reasons. The message I got is that at least half of love is anguish. Guilt, dread and fear are natural elements of the emotional broth in which love steeps. Wow, that was overwrought. Sorry.

But this book has that effect on me. It makes me slow down and think about the details a little. Taking just a moment to seek out the best path to explication, rather than the freeform ranting full of acronyms in which I usually indulge. Cultivating an eye for lush detail, like this:

“Over the years the Zebra Room had absorbed the exhalations of its auto worker patrons. The place smelled of their beer and hair tonic, their punch-clock misery, their frayed nerves, their trade unionism.”

Isn’t that beautiful? Doesn’t it conjure an incredibly vivid image, even though it describes the actual physical details of the Zebra Room not at all? This is advanced noveling, kids.

Says friend Denise, who selected this book: “I loved the poetic way the assembly line was described. The whole story just captured me. I’m not typically one to pick up books set in Detroit or immigration/identity stories, but I’m glad I did this time.”

I’m totally with her. It deftly walks the line of being poetic without being baroque or self-indulgent. There aren’t any short cuts.

One of the other amazing things about Middlesex is that Eugenides never goes for the cheap shot. There are a lot of easy gags in here, but it’s all written with such sensitivity, and the narrator is such a thoughtful soul that there is never an eye-rolling moment, rim shot or cheap joke. As a culture, we have a snickering relationship with sex and gender, and this book transcends a lot of that – allowing the reader to relax and look frankly at untouchable subjects like incest, gender identity and sexuality that is more complex than either/or. And it’s a helluva story.

Many thanks to Denise for selecting this book!

• Would love to know what you’re reading. Please feel free to comment below or e-mail me at thea [at] nutgraf dot net.
• Read an excerpt from Picador.
• Read about Middlesex: A Novel on Amazon
• Join BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

“And thus it was that my assistant, Kathryn, and I spent the afternoon ranging about lower Manhattan in search of tarts.” Does this sound like a pretty nice way to make a living, or is it just me? But its not all fun and games. Some of the tarts collected for this exhaustive taste-test were suboptimal – with tough or even mealy crusts. Gasp.

Jeffrey Steingarten has carved out a pretty awesome niche for himself (and his assistant) researching some of the finest foods available. From sea urchin to the best dry-aged steaks on the market, to tarts, Steingarten has compiled another compelling guide to some of the world’s finest foodstuffs.

He’s a fanatic, it’s true, but his deep and abiding interest is of the kind that grows out of love and so is a joy to read. His enthusiasm is infectious and his style is refined, self-aware (I was going to say self-deprecating, but that’s inaccurate), and very  good-humored. He also puts in the work – in the research, in the kitchen and in the writing – that makes this book neither precious nor self-indulgent.

I so loved his first compilation of investigative culinary features -  The Man Who Ate Everything – that I immediately and cheerfully dove right into It Must’ve Been Something I Ate, and was not disappointed. I am, however, kind of a squeamish omnivore, and must admit that I skipped the chapter about slaughtering a pig. Perhaps someone who’s read it would like to fill us in?

Many thanks to Flash for recommending this book!

• Read what I had to say about The Man Who Ate Everything.
• Would love to know what you’re reading. Please feel free to comment below or e-mail me at thea [at] nutgraf dot net.
• Check out BookGraf: The low-impact reading club on Facebook.

In a follow-up to my earlier post about Do More Great Work, author Michael Bungay Stanier has kindly agreed to answer a few questions and share some advice on how to make your work work for you.

Why am I finding this subject so captivating? My workplace philosophy so far has been “when in doubt, work harder.” It is slowly (yes yes, too slowly)  dawning on me that this is perhaps not always the answer and doesn’t produce the best results – for me personally or professionally, or for the work or my employer. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it can even be – gasp – frustrating  when you feel like you’re working flat-out and not getting stellar results.

So, if I can beat myself up less while getting better results and improving my job satisfaction and the satisfaction of my job with me? That sounds pretty awesome.

Michael Bungay Stanier offers a strategy to focusing your efforts,

• Do More Great Work, the blog post
• Do More Great Work, the Web site

You’ve included 15 “maps” or hands-on exercises to help people identify their strengths and goals. Was there one really good one that didn’t make the cut?

Well, there’s a 16th map people can find at www.DoMoreGreatWork.com which is about “Who Really Matters?” and it helps you decide which relationships are most important for you to nourish

You mention in the book that you transitioned from a career in marketing to one in personal development and executive coaching. What was your “ah ha” moment, when you first saw your new path?

It was more an experience of whittling away what wasn’t right until I was left with what was. In some ways, I’ve been involved in coach-like activities for most of my life. One of the key tipping points was when I lost my job as an internal change agent within a big company, and I started Box of Crayons. Suddenly, the question of “what are you doing?” was more apparent.

In one of the exercises, you suggest making a list of people (real and fictional) we admire. I love your idea of thinking of them as a virtual board of advisers, helping us to chart our own best path. Care to tell us about one or two people on your board?

Sure thing. Buzz Lightyear – love his “to infinity and beyond” sense of anything is possible. Peter Block, who’s a brilliant writer about taking responsibilitiy for your choices. Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil who combines creativity and joy with business savvy.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

“Don’t take any advice.” I’m only half in jest when I say that. The most recent piece of wisdom that I find helpful is “make everything a project” – that makes the start and finish of things much clearer, rather than getting sucked into “business as usual”

And what’s the best piece of other advice? (cooking, home maintenance, school… whatever)

Last week Marshall Goldsmith said, you have a choice to be happy or not be happy. Chose to be happy.

Is it really that easy? Can the secret to professional fulfillment be found between these covers? Can Michael Bungay Stanier help me tweak my career? And recapture some of the glitter and shine that has – and this is totally my own fault – worn off over the millennia?

Should I even be talking about career enhancement in a public forum while I’m on maternity leave, or will this raise eyebrows at a workplace I haven’t been to in weeks? Er… let’s get back to the book.

Right off the bat I dig his style. The first page follows principles of good content delivery – it uses numbers to draw you in instantly and gives you a road map for what to expect:”…share four tips… suggest three things you can do… and finally I’ll share the first of fifteen maps…” You know what’s coming and that it’s been thoughtfully organized. This is not going to be a meandering journey, which is great because you’re probably reading this in the first place because you are in a state of general frustration. I like this guy.

The thesis is that there are three kinds of work:

Bad Work: Stupid meetings, outdated procedures, busywork that doesn’t help anyone. It’s soul-sucking, demoralizing and hugely frustrating. It wastes time, money and energy.

Good Work: Work that you can do happily enough, but that doesn’t really light your fire or move your professional ball forward. We all do a bunch of this – it’s necessary, it can be comforting in a habit-y kind of a way and it’s a big part of what keeps the doors open at your company. If you’re reasonably lucky, you’ll spend most of your time doing Good Work.

Great Work: This is the exciting, meaningful stuff that makes a difference to you, to your colleagues and your field. This is where innovation happens. We could all use more of this.

This is a pretty exciting concept, and is an interesting way to categorize all of the elements of your workday. We spend a lot of time on the job, and who wants to just trudge through large swaths of your waking life? Great Work, however, comes with risks. When you’re pushing the envelope and taking things to the next level, not all of them will be successful. Successful Great Work will come from people who have developed their expertise. In other words, Great Work is built on a foundation of Good Work.

The Secret to Meetings

In particular, his position on meetings is alluring. It’s revolutionary. It’s enticing. It’s: Don’t. Meetings, he posits, are a waste of time and energy. While we almost certainly can’t just do away with them categorically, I do agree that we have too many meetings generally – many of which are inefficient and some of which are downright coma-inducing.

The Road to Spiffy

The section on innovation also speaks to me – namely the concept that you can’t innovate on a dime. Often, we work away, trudging more or less effectively through the day, churning out great piles of Good Work, which we do well. And then, once in a while, we are summoned to come up with great ideas. In a group setting. Preferably before 3:00. This, he posits, is not a recipe for Great Work. Starting fast with a cold engine, and working in a committee can stifle the boldest, most creative ideas. Even if they’re functionally impossible, the fringe is where inspiration happens. You can always rein in something that’s just too crazy, and wind up in an awesome and viable position. It’s much harder to spiff up a dull idea. You have to start from your spiffiest position, you know?

Portable Context

Do More Great Work offers a framework to take you out of your usual Good Work thinkery – to see outside of the rut of the competent. It’s a tool to help you define Great Work, identify opportunities, chart your path, and even get back on track when challenges derail you. The inspiration, work and risk must be yours, of course, but career satisfaction is a tantalizing goal.

• Do More Great Work – The Web site
• Cute or HR – Bad work at work.
• BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

Middlesex is a pretty great book. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides was published in 2002, and has been a high profile featured novel on the front tables of bookstores ever since. It’s easy to see why. It’s a beautifully, lyrically written story that is at once grand and personal. It’s the epic tale of one person’s life – full of birth and rebirth, and the hope and pain that we can all recognize, even if some of the protagonist’s specific challenges aren’t familiar to us at all.

This book’s been on the scene for a while, so I won’t be giving anything away by sharing the fact that the narrator goes from a girl named Callie to a man named Cal. It’s a long road, full of family and cultural history – no baby is born into a vacuum, right? – and it’s beautifully told with candor, humor and a great deal of grace in the face of a good deal of confusion.

Friend Denise selected this month’s book, and she’s got excellent taste in general. I’ve read it before, but know it to be well worth the revisit. I’m also making it the March/April book because I got all busy having a baby, which gave me a late start on reading in March. I plan to work through it during 4 am feedings myself, so I might wind up with a skewed perspective on it at the end of the month.

• Read an excerpt from Picador.
• Read about Middlesex: A Novel on Amazon
• Join BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

This one I can sum up in four words: Couldn’t put it down. Water for Elephants is the incredible story of near-veterinarian Jacob Jankowski and the flea-bitten circus he found himself with.

I thought this book was fantastic. Imaginative, beautifully written, gripping, at once outrageous and realistic. Life in the circus is squalid, stunning and romantic. It can also be brutal and dramatic. And Gruen makes it hard to look away as events unfold.

I burned through it in two days which is record time for me in recent years, since I usually read books in small sips between other engagements. But I raced through Water for Elephants, and will totally buy Sara Gruen’s next book in hardback – high praise in my library.

• Here’s an excerpt, provided by the publisher.
• Author Sara Gruen’s Web site
• BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

Well, that’s several hours I won’t get back.

I’d been really enjoying Phillipa Gregory’s series of books about the women of Henry VIII’s court. Yeah, I’ll admit it. While I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of being associated with the bosom-intensive covers on the train in the morning, downloading the books to my phone were a great solution to this petty and childish concern. They’re almost guilty pleasures, but have a little too much history in them to be totally brain candy. So, the other week when I was browsing the offerings at Daedalus books (a truly superior discount bookstore), I was tickled to find a book that looked kind of similar.

• Henry VIII? Check.
• Bosomy cover? You betcha.
• Promises of intrigue on the back? It’s in there.

Gave it a try, and this one was different. It was preachy and didn’t have the right flow. It was more about a guy (named More, actually) who was sanctimonious and good and smart, but got hisself in a heap of trouble with the petulant, egotistical, hedonistic king that I’ve come to know through Gregory’s work. But trouble just made him more beatific and intent on suffering for his beliefs. This is a guy who wears a hair shirt. And the book kind of him. And the trick is that while it’s not hard to admire someone who is noble, it is more difficult when this person isn’t conflicted at all. But that may be more of a treatise on human nature than anyone cares for.

Also, the book is billed as “The Story of the Daughter of Sir Thomas More,” and it’s kind of not that at all.

So, the upshot: A decent book about a man who was probably quite remarkable. But somehow I wasn’t put out when bad things happened to him. Possibly because he didn’t seem to mind. But I found it wearing.

Did you read it? Are you glad you didn’t? Got something to recommend? Hit me in the comments, or join us over at BookGraf on Facebook.

This month’s BookGraf pick is Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. I must admit that I’ve read this one already, but was delighted when Friend Jenn suggested it because I thought it was just phenomenal.

I must admit to a family history of affinity for the circus. My uncle (who passed away years ago) was a fanatical fan and obsessive collector of posters, photos, memorabilia and other errata. He also belonged to a number of organizations and developed long and mutually rewarding friendships with others so afflicted.

The history and mystery of the circus has long captivated our imagination. This book is also captivating, and I hope that you enjoy it.

• BookGraf, the low-impact book club is on Facebook. Stop by and/or join us.