I read a few new books, and I added one at the beginning that I had originally left out.
1. Maus, by Art Spiegelman is a two volume graphic novel (biography) about the author/illustrator’s father’s experience as a Jew in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. It is incredible. I didn’t originally include it in this list because it is a graphic novel, but the books were amazing and so I am adding it in as the official first book I ever read. I’m counting them as one book.
40: The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton, by Joe Klein. Since I basically work for Bill Clinton as the Clinton School’s chief photographer, and because I see him several times a year, I thought I should learn a little about who he was as a President. This book is very well written and surprisingly (to me) quite entertaining. I couldn’t put it down. Like him or not, Clinton was a game changer.
41. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, by John Berendt. Honestly, this was one of the worst books I’ve ever finished, which isn’t entirely a bad thing. I’ve never finished a bad book. I generally get bored and give up if I’m not wildly entertained, so everything on this list gets my approval and recommendation to anyone out there looking for something to read. It just so happens that this book falls squarely at the end of the list of books I enjoyed the most. I’m surprised I trudged through the end of it at all, actually. It’s slow, and pointless, and has very little action. The main character of the book is undoubtedly the town of Savannah, Georgia, which is interesting, but serves as a poor protagonist. If you like books from/about the south though, you might like this one. I didn’t.
42. Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History, by Ben Mezrich. Once again, Mezrich serves up a gripping narrative of a smart kid doing something crazy. This book is about a kid who landed a gig at NASA and then proceeded to steal a safe full of moon rocks to try to sell to a buyer in Belgium. Crazy. Couldn’t put it down.
43. Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Billions, by Ben Mezrich. Since I was back on a Mezrich kick after Sex on the Moon, I decided to read the only other non-fiction book by him I hadn’t yet read. This one was the worst. Which, again, isn’t all that bad. The story was just a little slow and I got the feeling he was reaching for something to fill the pages with. As I was reading I kept wondering why anyone found this story interesting enough to write a book about. It’s more of a magazine article I think. Regardless, the book was decent. I finished it.
44. We Die Alone: A World War II Epic of Escape and Endurance, by David Howarth. Folks: This is the best book I’ve ever read. Hands down. No contest. Game over. This book chronicles in amazing vivid detail the story of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian secret operative fighting for the British army during WWII. Right from the start, Baalsrud’s plans are foiled and he spends the rest of the book on the run from the Nazi’s in northern Norway, trying to make it to the Swedish border before the snow melts. It completely blew my mind. I read it in about 10 hours over two days. If you like true stories of survival, this is the best one ever. Insane.
Anyway, that should bring us up to speed. I’ve now read 44 books in my life. Here, again, is the complete list (with links to Amazon).
So before I get into this short book review, I have to say that I did read other book between this and my last one, Love Wins. The book I read in the middle is called Three Cups of Deceit, by my favorite author of all time - Jon Krakauer (link below). Some might argue that it was not an official book, because it is only like 100 pages long, but I am making this life list and I get to decide what qualifies and what doesn’t. So Krakauer’s latest mini-book makes the cut. It was incredible, riveting, shocking, and classic Krakauer. He’s just so good at what he does - and to further the point, I’ll say this: don’t piss off Jon Krakauer. He will totally get you back by writing an amazing book exposing all the bad stuff you’ve ever thought you got away with.
And now, back to the point:
Prophet’s Prey was incredible. The book doesn’t officially release until October of this year but I scored an advance reading copy at this years BookExpo America, which was held last week in New York, and which I shot for a magazine that my brother writes for. Sidenote: any book fanatics out there should definitely attend next year, there are tons of free books for the taking and a huge autograph area where you can brush shoulders with lots of big name authors. It’s pretty cool.
Anyway, Prophet’s Prey is a fascinating piece of investigative journalism by Private Investigator Sam Brower that digs deep into the insanity of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (otherwise known as the FLDS), not to be confused with the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (otherwise known as the LDS or mainstream Mormonism). The FLDS crew is simply a sad cult of people that were literally all born into the faith and really never had any hope of a normal American life. The people that followed David Koresh or Jim Jones to their demise made foolish decisions to join up at some point in their life whereas FLDS people have literally never known of the outside world, not to mention any laws that would clearly prohibit them from doing what they do.
Long story short, the FLDS is run by the maniacal self-proclaimed “prophet” Warren Steed Jeffs, who runs every aspect of the lives of his 10,000+ followers with absolute control. Make one misstep, and you’re gone. Kicked out forever, never allowed to speak to your family ever again, and everything you own is taken from you in one fell swoop. The cult believes that the only way to salvation is to practice the principle of “plural marriage,” where a man must take on multiple wives - the more the better. In addition to that, they must adhere to an insanely strict behavioral code and always told by the psychopath leader whom they call “Uncle Warren” to always “keep sweet,” no matter what.
The “prophet” hand picks young FLDS girls to marry the men whenever he deems them ready, often at the tender age of only twelve or thirteen years old. Many young boys, called “lost boys,” are run out of town simply to boost the male-to-female ratio so more of the men can take more poor girls as underage brides, raping and abusing them as a part of daily life. It is not uncommon for an FLDS man to have more that ten or fifteen “wives.”
So the book is a detailed account of the authors seven year investigation into this mind-blowing cult that I find totally fascinating - in a really weird way. I just can’t believe stuff like this happens in this world, not to mention right here in America - in the twenty-first century. I will definitely be picking up the official release of the book in October, which will have an up-to-the-minute account of Brower’s investigation, including, hopefully, an update on “Uncle Warren’s” criminal trials in Texas (he is currently awaiting trial in a west Texas jail).
Insane.
As always, here is my updated list of all the books I’ve ever read:
(Double sidenote: (1) Jon Krakauer appears as a character in the book who assists the author in his investigation (which was totally awesome to read) because of (2) his in depth knowledge of the FLDS from his own investigation several years ago, detailed in his book Under the Banner of Heaven - book #22 on my list.)
