#2 - Waiter Rant

As much as I hate the term, I could be considered a "foodie." I love to cook, I love to eat well, I love to eat adventurously, and I love to read and watch almost everything about it all (except for The Food Network). I've worked through a number of chef/authors such as Pepin, Bourdain, Ramsay, Zola, etc. and through the huge expensive food porn books filled with chemistry experiments and tiny morsels like Alinea. One piece mostly left out is the experience of the front lines. I had hoped Waiter Rant would be that tale, especially due to the high praise... even from Anthony Bourdain himself. It wasn't. The book is all filler and no meat. A handful of actual tales and page upon page of uninteresting drivel. To make matters worse the "author" really thinks he is good at his craft, and while busy churning out cringe worthy garbage he is tooting his own horn and spending quite a bit of time explaining the actual writing of the book you are reading to again fluff up the page count. Ugh. Amateurish and pretentious at best.

As always this book sits with high marks on sites like Amazon while it honestly doesn't even deserve to be published. I think people's expectations are so low and the acceptance of terrible writing so high that no one knows what good is anymore. If it can be read in a few days and not eat up much brainpower while being the literary equivalent of Top 40 radio it is destined for lavish praise and critical acclaim these days. This stuff might make for a middle-of-the-road blog (which it was) but certainly not a book. NOT Recommended.

#1 - Zen Shorts

OK, so a new year is upon us and that means 52 more books (hopefully). I imagine I probably read around 40-45 books naturally in a year so it can be a bit of a push to hit the magical 52 but we shall see if I can repeat the effort. Here goes:

Zen Shorts popped out at me in the bookstore both because of the title and the art style of the cover. I have a great love for Zen Koans, which are generally short tales that have some sort of morale or thinking point. I have often thought that many would make great children's stories and it seems someone has beat me to it. Stillwater the panda is the sage and his three child friends are his pupils as he relates a famous ancient tale to a modern situation. This book has won a number of awards, including The Caldecott Honor Award, I would give it none. The retelling of the tales is far too wordy and muddled which obscures the essence and the half-hearted application of the story to the children is even worse. Pitiful. I honestly think the author has no real grasp of the subject matter and instead has a basic curiosity/understanding and sought to cash in on the idea (which seems to be working despite the effort). I really could not recommend a book less, terrible.