Author Topic: The Mike Show Book Club  (Read 5232 times)

B_Buster

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The Mike Show Book Club
« on: July 11, 2010, 07:49:03 PM »
I'm kicking off The Mike Show Book Club with Nick Reding's Methland. Please join me here to discuss.
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cavorting with nudists

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2010, 07:38:00 PM »
Mike, have you read it or are you just starting it?  Did you see the brief exchange about it in the "Books I'm currently reading" thread?
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B_Buster

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2010, 09:04:47 PM »
I just started reading it, cavorting. I've already learned about the Fuckit Bucket which I find very intriguing.
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Omar

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2010, 09:20:33 PM »
Damn good book!

I gave this book to my sister last week as one of her birthday presents.  Prior to the exchange my mom asked me what I got her, and I said "a book about meth."  She was initially appalled, thinking it was some sort of DIY how-to manual.  I then informed her that my sister had been running a fairly successful meth lab since 1993, but the book was in fact a work of investigative journalism.
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B_Buster

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2010, 06:59:26 PM »
For those of you who may be still on the fence, here's a little taste of Methland:

"Following one of his trips outside, Jarvis looked down and saw what he thought was egg white on his bare arms. It was not egg white; it was the viscous state of his skin now that the water had boiled out of it.  Jarvis flung it off himself, and then he saw that where the egg white had been he could now see roasting muscle. He looked at his legs and his abdomen. His skin was dripping off his body in sheets. Panicked, standing there in the frigid night outside the inferno of his mother's home, naked but for his boxer shorts, which he'd inadvertently soaked in water while fighting the fire, Roland Jarvis began pushing sheets of skin from himself, using his hands like blunt tools, wiping and shoving the hide from as much of his body as he could reach. He'd have pulled the melting skeins of skin from himself in bigger, more efficient sections, but for the fact that his fingers had burned off of his hands. His nose was all but gone now, too, and he ran back and forth among the gathered neighbors, unable to scream, for his esophagus and his voice box had cooked inside his throat."
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Jason

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2010, 08:42:07 PM »
In like Flynn.

JonFromMaplewood

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2010, 09:47:24 AM »
For those of you who may be still on the fence, here's a little taste of Methland:

"Following one of his trips outside, Jarvis looked down and saw what he thought was egg white on his bare arms. It was not egg white; it was the viscous state of his skin now that the water had boiled out of it.  Jarvis flung it off himself, and then he saw that where the egg white had been he could now see roasting muscle. He looked at his legs and his abdomen. His skin was dripping off his body in sheets. Panicked, standing there in the frigid night outside the inferno of his mother's home, naked but for his boxer shorts, which he'd inadvertently soaked in water while fighting the fire, Roland Jarvis began pushing sheets of skin from himself, using his hands like blunt tools, wiping and shoving the hide from as much of his body as he could reach. He'd have pulled the melting skeins of skin from himself in bigger, more efficient sections, but for the fact that his fingers had burned off of his hands. His nose was all but gone now, too, and he ran back and forth among the gathered neighbors, unable to scream, for his esophagus and his voice box had cooked inside his throat."

I'll stick to Goodnight Moon.
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DJ Clem

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2010, 11:42:11 AM »
I'm about three chapters in. Really enjoyed learning of Tom Arnold's connection to the Midwestern meth trade.

This is a great companion to the last novel I read, Winter's Bone. The film is incredible too; I recommend taking them both in.

DJ Clem

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2010, 12:35:24 PM »
At times this book reads like an updated Winesburg, Ohio. Dude goes really deep into the personalities & motivations of the town's sheriff, family doctor, mayor--and, of course, the town's most notorious addicts. Entire chapters go by with only passing references to methamphetamine. I don't mind the digressions, because the guy's a great storyteller, if a little egg-headed. As someone who grew up in a rural community, I have a hard time with the notion that the town doctor is quoting Kant or the deputy prosecutor is applying the Whorfian hypothesis to his cases--maybe a little poetic license on the author's part? All in all, a great read. Thanks for the rec, Mike!

B_Buster

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2010, 06:14:04 PM »
That's a good analogy, Clem. I thought it was also another classic example of greed trumping the public good in American politics. It's a very good read.
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Kublakhan61

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2010, 01:41:41 PM »
For those of you who may be still on the fence, here's a little taste of Methland:

"Following one of his trips outside, Jarvis looked down and saw what he thought was egg white on his bare arms. It was not egg white; it was the viscous state of his skin now that the water had boiled out of it.  Jarvis flung it off himself, and then he saw that where the egg white had been he could now see roasting muscle. He looked at his legs and his abdomen. His skin was dripping off his body in sheets. Panicked, standing there in the frigid night outside the inferno of his mother's home, naked but for his boxer shorts, which he'd inadvertently soaked in water while fighting the fire, Roland Jarvis began pushing sheets of skin from himself, using his hands like blunt tools, wiping and shoving the hide from as much of his body as he could reach. He'd have pulled the melting skeins of skin from himself in bigger, more efficient sections, but for the fact that his fingers had burned off of his hands. His nose was all but gone now, too, and he ran back and forth among the gathered neighbors, unable to scream, for his esophagus and his voice box had cooked inside his throat."

Best part of the book.

Shaggy 2 Grote

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2010, 03:15:09 PM »
Jesus Christ.
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

Chris L

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2010, 03:30:57 PM »
I also got a weird look when I asked about this book at a bookstore over the weekend.  Does the title really suggest to people that this will be a cheerful celebration of all things meth?

Emily

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2010, 11:58:11 AM »
Maybe the title reminds people of fun films like "Adventureland" and "Zombieland" but with meth.

Corman

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Re: The Mike Show Book Club
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2010, 02:28:50 PM »
I haven't read this book yet, Mike, but I do have something that might be of interest to you-

http://exiledonline.com/stupid-or-how-to-lose-money-running-a-speed-lab-part-1/#more-19133
http://exiledonline.com/stupid-or-how-to-lose-money-running-a-speed-lab-part-2/#more-19583
http://exiledonline.com/stupid-cubed-let-the-alchemy-begin-or-how-to-lose-money-running-a-speed-lab/#more-20044
http://exiledonline.com/stupid-or-how-to-lose-money-running-a-speed-lab-part-four-every-flake-a-20-bill%e2%80%a8%e2%80%a8/#more-20334
http://exiledonline.com/stupid-part-5-back-to-berkeley-for-the-big-epiphany/#more-22136

The above is John Dolan's work-in-progress "Stupid (Or, How To Lose Money Running A Speed Lab)". Dolan is an English professor whose dark, toxic wit and harsh opinions on populist literature have seen him booted from university lit departments in UCLA, Austrailia, and Vancouver, BC (among others). He's also the guy who busted James Frey, a year before Frey admitted to fraud on Oprah.