Kanye West Owes me $300: And other true stories from a white rapper who almost made it big

It's dangerous to buy someone a book.

Not dangerous like a knife fight or running from a cougar. But, dangerous in an intellectual sort of way. 

Or is that just me?

As the title of this blog will imply, I'm kind of a book snob. I won't publicly ridicule others for what they read (at least not out loud), but I'm picky about what I read myself. There are a few reasons for that. For one, I don't have a ton of free time. I'm a mom and I have a full-time job and I spend a lot of time at Target and whatnot. Also, I was an English major, so I had to read a lot of books I didn't care for. That means now, I read only what I like to read. And, if someone buys a book for me or recommends something, I feel pressure to read it. If I trust your suggestion and I love the book, awesome. But, most often, I'll be mad at your if your advice or purchase was wrong.

What does that have to do with Kanye West? Well, this book was a gift. A former co-worker and his wife sent me this for my birthday and I had never heard of the book before. Knowing the Regimbals, though, I knew this would be good. This was a risk for them with immense reward for me. After devouring this book in one day, the Regimbals can buy me a book anytime.

I had never heard of Jensen Karp before I read this book, but now I know that he is engaged to Topanga! Before he fulfilled the fantasies of every dude who grew up in the 90's, he was a white kid from Calabasas trying to make it in the rap game. He started, in fact, when he was 12. He and a buddy performed at some talent shows and other random events, headlining with a song that was basically trash-talking rap youngsters Another Bad Creation (see below...)

That led to a few gigs, then fizzled out. It wasn't until Karp started calling into an LA radio show and competing in rap battles that his future was laid out in front of him. 

Things went well. REALLY well. Until they didn't. And, since you've never heard of his rap alias Hot Karl, you know that his rap career ended without a hit.

This book tells the story of the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of Hot Karl. It speaks of encounters with music royalty (Mya!) and a one-sided feud with actor/singer Tyrese. It also explains the rather sweet story of how Kanye West ended up indebted to him for $300.

It's a quick, funny, enlightening read. If you love 90's rap and hip-hop, that's a bonus. But, you don't have to know the members of the Wu-Tang Clan to appreciate a guy who brings his mom on stage, dressed like Nelly.

Thanks to the Regimbals for taking a chance on buying me this book. The rest of you? Stick to my Good Reads "Books I want to read" list for your future purchases.

Us Against You

You know those books where you have to keep a pen and paper (or iPhone notes app) handy so that you can write down the quotes you find most profound? 

This is that book. You couldn't write them all down if you wanted to.

You know those books where you nearly choke up every 50 pages or so, only to close the book and sob?

Yeah, this is that book, too.

And, it's every one of Fredrik Backman books that I've had the pleasure of reading.

This Swedish author writes so beautifully, so eloquently, you find yourself jumping to the next page, waiting to see if he could possibly keep it up. Backman reaches into your chest on page 1. Then, for the next several hundred pages, he holds your heart in his hands. He'll gently squeeze it from time to time. Then, he'll grip it just enough hard that it breaks. Always, though, you feel that you're respected in the vulnerability you've given over to him. His books are, simply, breathtaking

Us Against You picks up where his book Beartown leaves off (review here.)  I do think you should read that one before this one. He reflects back enough that maybe you wouldn't need to, but I don't know why you wouldn't. The characters he brings into your life deserve two books, at the very least. So, read Beartown, then immediately pick up this book and it's like you never left.

Beartown is a town in the woods, defined by ice hockey. They live and die for what happens between the goals, whether they play the sport or not. It's all that gets them through the dismal winters and the weakening economy. 

In the prequel to this book, a horrific act divides them. People choose sides - and nothing will ever be the same. Us Against You is the aftermath of that act and that division. He goes deeper into the characters we fell in love with in Beartown and gives us insight into some that were only shadows in the first book.

It's a book about sports, about families, about fathers and sons and mothers and daughters. It's about teenage friendships, about the pride we have in the towns we complain about. It's about how small events define our lives. And, it's really fucking beautiful.

I dont want to share too much because I want it to unfold in your hands the way it did mine. I want you to put your heart in Backman's hands and give yourself over to the people of Beartown.

(Then go read all of his other books because they're all damn near close to perfect. Here's my favorite.) 

Circe

She turned Odysseus's men into pigs.

She used magic to transform her enemies.

She was banished into exile.

But, what if she was a hell of a lot more than that?

That's the premise behind Madeline Miller's Circe, which I finished more than a week ago but that has been hanging with me ever since. There's so much here to interpret from Greek mythology that, as all great myths do, has meaning today. As a woman, this one hit home even harder.

I read this immediately after reading Miller's Song of Achilles, which came out quite awhile ago but that I was hesitant to read. You can read my review of that one here. I felt like it made sense to stay within the genre and there was just enough slight crossover between the two that it felt right to read them together.

Like the other, Circe can be criticized as a book that oversimplifies a classic tale. That's what I liked about it, though. It doesn't feel "dumbed down" - it feels accessible. And, though she's a sorceress or a nymph or at the very least a magical witch, it feels relatable, too. Much more than the mythology I tried to read in high school and college.

Circe's a complicated woman, to be sure. She's exiled to an island and relies on her magic to keep herself safe. If you believe in Miller's interpretation, she's widely misunderstood. This book reveals motive behind the magic and the struggles of a woman forced to go it alone, facing danger from nature and from the men who come upon her shores (holy crap, that sentence proves I need to read some non-mythological fare for awhile.) I came to see Circe as strong and weak, as victim and as vulnerable. Like so many women, the outsiders try to see her as one thing or another, not the combination of many.

I read a New York Times interview with the author in which she talks about how "Circe as a character is the embodiment of male anxiety about female power... of course, she has to be vanquished."

By revisiting Circe's story, but this time with Circe recast, you feel her more as a representation of the criticism women face while showing their strength to the world.

This book is long, but not complicated. It's an easy read, in fact. And, it's the kind of story that has made me think more in the days since I finished it about the role of women in literature and culture - and how so much - yet so little - has changed.