June Book Club

We are really excited to bring you this month's installment of our book club. Really it's a book selection list, but who are we kidding, it's more fun to be in a club :) Lots of research went into this month's club selections. We think we have brought you a diverse list of what everyone is talking about. Go ahead and click on the link to get these reads for your upcoming afternoon at the pool. Feel free to let 10 Links A Day know what you would like to appear in future postings by emailing us at 10linksaday@gmail.com.

Today's 10 Links a Day: June Book Club

1. Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life, by Tim Russert
   Veteran newsman and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert is known for his direct and unpretentious style and in this charming memoir he explains why. Russert's father is profiled as a plainspoken World War II veteran who worked two blue-collar jobs while raising four kids in South Buffalo but the elder Russert's lessons on how to live an honest, disciplined, and ethical life are shown to be universal. Big Russ and Me, a sort of Greatest Generation meets Tuesdays with Morrie, could easily have become a sentimental pile of mush with a son wistfully recalling the wisdom of his beloved dad. But both Russerts are far too down-to-earth to let that happen and the emotional content of the book is made more direct, accessible, and palatable because of it.


2. Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons by Tim Russert
   Surprised by the overwhelming and heartfelt reception to Big Russ and Me(2004), Russert follows that memoir of his relationship with his father with a collection of letters he received recounting relationships between fathers and their sons and daughters. Russert, host of NBC's Meet the Press, received 60,000 letters and e-mails from readers with their own touching memories of filial love. Interspersed throughout, Russert recollects moments as a son and as a father, as well as conversations with famous figures, including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and news reporter Maria Shriver, about their fathers.
   


3. Netherland: A Novel by Joseph O'Neill
   O'Neill has published a rambling account of one family's encounter with the attacks upon the World Trade Center and its impact upon the marrage of Rachel and Hans van de Broek. The writing is riveting and compelling as Hans is the first person narrator who tells his story in a stream of consciousness. For the reader looking for a linear story, this is not that novel. But it is also a novel about cricket (the sport), the men who play it, and Hans' friendship with Chuck Ramkissoon of Trinidad. This opens up the novel to be a tale of New York City surviving 9-11. This is one of the few times where a book is too short.


4. The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts Tom Foley & Tanner Colby
   You don't have to be a rabid Chris Farley fan to enjoy The Chris Farley Show, an honest, endearing oral biography about a truly funny, deeply troubled addict that is as likely to make you cry as it is to make you laugh out loud. Made up mostly of excerpts from intimate interviews with family, childhood friends, famous castmates, and writers, The Chris Farley Show is a vivid portrait of a performer, told plainly by the people who knew him best at every stage of his life.
   


5. Ghosts Among Us: Uncovering the Truth About the Other Side by James Van Praagh
   Van Praagh, the New York Times bestselling author and co-executive producer of the CBS series The Ghost Whisperer, shares his knowledge and life experience about ghosts, a subject that can seem to many of us both bizarre and terrifying. But when the world beyond is explained fully by an experienced guide, dismissal and apprehension can be turned into knowledge and inspiration. With incredible true ghost stories and surprising details about how ghosts actively participate in our lives, Van Praagh challenges us to question our perceptions and shows us how we can live more fully through understanding the world of spirits. Including eerily accurate readings, the author's development as a medium, and detailed how-to information, Ghosts Among Us is an all-encompassing guide to the supernatural.
   


6. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
   When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous.
   
   Sidenote - 10 Links A day absolutely loves Chelsea Handler and recommends everyone reading this review not only to buy the book but to tune into her show on E!
   


7. What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan
   Scott McClellan was one of a few Bush loyalists from Texas who became part of his inner circle of trusted advisers, and remained so during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Drawn to Bush by his commitment to compassionate conservatism and strong bipartisan leadership, McClellan served the president for more than seven years, and witnessed day-to-day exactly how the presidency veered off course.
   
   In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, written with no agenda other than to record his experiences and insights for the benefit of history, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, Washington's bitter partisanship, and two hotly contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and into the personalities, strengths, and liabilities of his top aides. Finally, McClellan looks to the future, exploring the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.
   

8. Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives for 101 Days (No Excuses!)
   Creeping into middle-age and saddled with work deadlines, child-rearing, homemaking, and fourteen years of togetherness, an ordinary, happy but harried couple set an outlandish goal: to have sex for 101 consecutive days—no excuses (not even the flu, late-night child wanderings, or flat-out exhaustion).
   
   What ensued is by turns hilarious, tender, and seductive, including sexual romps in hotels (both cheap and classy), at an ashram, in a basement, atop boulders and unstable easy chairs, but most often in their own bedroom, which they dubbed the “sex den.” As Doug and Annie Brown literally screwed their way through months of a cold Colorado winter, they turned up the heat by attending the Adult Entertainment Expo in Vegas (the Oscars of the porn world); taking Bikram “hot” yoga to get limber; and stocking up on candles, Viagra (just in case), lube, lingerie, and sex toys galore.
   
   The jolt that every marriage needs and longs for, Just Do It proves that even when it feels like there’s never enough time or energy, trust Annie and Doug...THERE IS.
   


9. Intercourse: Stories by Robert Olen Butler
   A provocative new short-story collection from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler, Intercourse delightfully reveals what goes through a person's mind at a crucial moment—during sex. Smart, provocative, subtle, and erotic, each story is a many faceted gem. Butler dazzles and entertains as he channels the most intimate thoughts of 50 couples, including: Adam & Eve, Bonnie & Clyde, Pocahontas & John Smith, Richard Milhous Nixon & Pat Nixon, Walt Whitman & Oscar Wilde, Elvis Presley & Holly Singleton (admirer), Princess Diana & Prince Charles, William Jefferson Clinton & Hillary Diane Rodham, Santa Claus & Ingebirgitta (elf)
   


10. The Endless City by Ricky Burdett & Deyan Sudjic
    More and more people are moving into towns and cities to live and work, which is altering the urban/rural balance of countries worldwide. THE ENDLESS CITY is an unparalleled study of the growth of six of the world's international cities (New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg, and Berlin), exploring key structural, social, and economic factors. This book was overseen by the London School of Economics, and features extensive research and coherent texts by world-renowned professionals in the field of urban planning and development. The information is presented in a comprehensive and visually compelling sequence, enabling quick and efficient reference as well as offering material that is exciting to study. Each city is examined individually in its own chapter as well as being analyzed comparatively in an observational chapter. THE ENDLESS CITY is authoritatively edited by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic in collaboration with the London School of Economics and the Urban Age Project, an expanding international organization seeking a new urban agenda for global cities.