The Odds: One Season, Three Gamblers, and the Death of Their Las Vegas by Chad Millman is REALLY interesting look at the Las Vegas sports betting scene. As the subtitle suggests, Millman took a look at three different gambling situations: a big time gambler, a new gambler, and the sportsbook (at the Stardust) themselves.  The contrast between the three was really interesting.  Especially the relationship between the Stardust and the “wise guy”, named Alan Boston.

The interesting aspect of that relationship was that the Stardust and the wise guys are in direct competition, a zero-sum game.  Yet at the same time, because of the massive amounts of money being bet by the wise guys…the sportsbooks want their business.  So the dynamic between “customer service” and hoping painfully that the wise guys lose is an odd one.

One of the main themes that I found while reading this book was that being a Las Vegas sports gambler is a very sad and lonely existince.  There didn’t seem to be a lot of happiness amongst that crew.  Of course, gambling is an addiction…and most people addicted to things don’t appear to be a particularly happy group anyway.  It was very sad to read the stories of people spending all day, everyday, at the sportsbook.  Even when they won a bet, there didn’t seem to be much joy…just relief.  Then the high would wear off and they needed to get another bet down.  The book certainly didn’t make it seem like a very fun way to live.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in psychology, sociology or sports.  It really does mix all three aspects into an easy to read story.  Millman is an excellent writer and storyteller.  I haven’t read anything else he has written…but I’m sure I will soon.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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I Shudder: And Other Reactions to Life, Death, and New Jersey by Paul Rudnick is a very funny part memoir, part fiction book.  He has a very relaxing style of writing, which is always nice to read.  I never felt like anything that he wrote was forced…and that makes it a very fast read.

He tells his stories with great wit and honesty.  I found myself laughing quite a bit reading about his times as a writer for various movies and times spent with some pretty weird friends.  Oh, I should stop here and mention that he is gay.  It’s a theme throughout the book…though I didn’t think it was overwhelming. So if it would bother you to read a memoir by a gay person, you should probably stay away. Also…shame on you.

Anyway…as I said before, part of the book is a fiction tale about some really weird dude. Those sections were enjoyable to read and reminded me of reading a Chuck Palahniuk book. Well, kind of like a Chuck Palahniuk book minus the totally disgusting stuff Palahniuk writes about. And minus the fear of a lack of identity which is the only thing he can write about. I don’t know if that makes sense…but it should it you have read anything by Palahniuk.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. If you like memoirs, you will probably like this one too.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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So…in order to enter into the drawing for the signed (by the author) copy of A Walk for Sunshine you only need to leave a comment on this post.  I’ll run a random number generator to decide who wins the book.  Don’t forget to include your e-mail address when you post a comment (there is a spot to enter it in and it will not publish…only I will see it)!

The contest will end at 11:59pm on Wednesday October 14th. UPDATE: Extended to October 21st!!

Good Luck!

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• A Walk For Sunshine by Jeff Alt

Shooting Stars by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger is an OK book about Lebron James’ back story and his years of high school basketball. It is also the first book I have reviewed for Letters on Pages that did not have a subtitle! The book itself is fine. It is written in the voice of James telling everything that has happened to him up until high school graduation. I think it was very difficult for me to give this book a fair shot though because it was associated with Buzz Bissinger. For those who don’t know, Bissinger is a pretty famous sportswriter who became even more famous recently for exploding in rage about blogs and bloggers. He HATES them/us, especially sports bloggers. He went on an HBO round table a little while ago and verbally assaulted a sports blogger. It was embarrassing to watch. Plus, he very recently started a mini-feud with my man Joe Posnanski. Needless to say (but I will anyway), I don’t particularly like Bissinger.

That said, it is an interesting story to say the least. LeBron James is quite the character and has lead a pretty interesting life so far. He grew up very poor in Akron, Ohio. He moved around a lot, but eventually found his true love in basketball. But LeBron James is not just a basketball player. He sincerely appears to be a pretty good guy. He is famous for being extremely loyal to his friends, and that is really what this book is about. He, and his 4 best friends, pretty much ran through high school basketball. Of course, it helps that James is the best player in the game…but one person can’t win a championship himself.

Now, James is still very good friends with those guys from his high school team. He says they keep him grounded…something that would probably be kind of tough to do…considering he signed a $100 million Nike contract before he ever played a professional game. In fact, I think the reason he even “wrote” this book is because it would give some limelight to his buddies.

It’s just too bad Bissinger had to be involved!

Rating: 3 out of 5

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American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson is the story of his life. It is, surprisingly, not really funny. It isn’t unfunny…it’s just not a book of jokes like I kind of expected.

Ferguson’s life hasn’t been particularly easy…though it seems a lot of it was his fault (and I’m sure he would agree with that). Growing up is Glasgow, Scotland sounds like a pretty tough place to be. I don’t think I would do very well there…plus I don’t have that awesome accent. I wish I did. Where was I? Oh, so Ferguson’s life was pretty rough for a while. A lot of sleeping on couches and not really doing anything with his life. Eventually he stumbled upon a stand up routine and it did very well. And to risk blowing the ending…he becomes successful.

The overriding theme of the book was his desire to come to America and to become an American citizen. Ever since he was a young boy, he knew America was the place for him. Just a short while ago, he was able to complete his goal and become an American citizen, which was pretty exciting.

The book as a whole was an interesting story about an interesting person. I like to know more about people, and I was happy to hear Ferguson isn’t a jerk. Of course, it was his own book…so maybe he is a jerk. But he doesn’t appear to be one. If you are a fan of the show…then I obviously recommend you read this. If you just like reading memoirs…this would be a good, pretty quick, read as well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Go here to read my review of the book.

After you check out my review — take a look through the rest of the September issue.  There is some good stuff in there!

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The radio show is at 9pm tomorrow night (Wednesday Sept. 16th).  I hope you can stop by and have a listen!  I assume the show will be available for download later and I’ll post that link for those who want to listen to me talk.

I have no idea what I am going to be talking about.  I assume I was asked to be the male/non-fiction point of view.  I hope we don’t talk about Dan Brown or Twilight the whole time…I’ll probably end up saying something that angers people and get hung up on.  It wouldn’t be the first time!

Anyway…go here to listen to the show on Wednesday at 9pm!

Link to Radio Show

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As you probably know by know…I am a HUGE Beatles fan (see here, here or here). On Wednesday, a couple of Beatles related things were released to the public and I want all of you to go buy them because they are the Beatles and they are awesome.

I bought The Beatles: Rock Band immediately and basically have spent 2 days playing it. It is super fun to play the game and to be able to participate in the music. Now, as has been pointed out to me already…”But Adam…you play guitar. You can play their music…FOR REAL…as much as you want.” This is a valid point…and I do play their music all the time anyway. But the game gives you the opportunity to play WITH the band (or at least their digital avatars). It’s a lot of fun. Especially playing along with McCartney’s bass lines…which are incredibly awesome. If you are a Beatles fan (and like video games)…you MUST buy this game (but make sure you get the right game for the system you have!)

Secondly, their entire EMI catalog of albums was remastered. I have heard some of the songs and they are incredible. In the music community there is usually a lot of consternation on the thought of changing audio away from the old hissing vinyl masters. I am of the thought that the music should be as clean as possible…and remastering the old tracks allows that. You can really hear each instrument and vocal line individually. Again, McCartney’s bass lines really jump out at you.

The stereo remasters have been released in a box set and as individual albums. The box set is really expensive…but I would strongly recommend buying Revolver or Sgt. Peppers to hear the difference.

If you are a Beatles fan…you have to get some of this stuff…you WILL NOT be disappointed!

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Best Music Writing 2009 edited by Greil Marcus is theoretically a good idea. A lot of different genres of non-fiction have “Best Of…” series’ to recap that year. I’ve read sports writing and food writing collections and they were fine. This, on the other hand, was tremendously bad. Now…I don’t know that it is the fault of the editor or Da Capo Press. I think it has far more to do with the current state of music writing.

Music, like other forms of art, lends itself to a lot of pretension. I think music writers are mostly elitist who only like “indie” style music and crush on anything remotely popular. If you write about some great band no one has ever heard of it is acceptable. It is also OK to write about old cool jazz/blues musicians or Johnny Cash of course.

Anyway…most of this book bored me and I skipped through the sections. However there were a few well written, non maddening essays included in here. So there was some redeeming value at least. I realize that my frustration with all things pretentious likely clouded my vision on this one. I just have a really hard time reading what other people write about art. (What about you though? Right now you are reading something someone else wrote — about something somebody else wrote — about something somebody else did!)

Anyway — if you really like music writing — you should be all over this. Otherwise, you probably won’t want to read this.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

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