Second book of 2008 is Dave Bidini's Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs .

First things first, by gigs, he means musical gigs, not computer terminology gigs.

I'm a big fan of Bidin's writing. In fact, at this point, I've read every single one of his books except Baseballissimo because I generally find Baseball boring. But I imagine if I did read it, I'd probably enjoy it because Bidin's style is very engaging. He has great sense of metaphor and also a wonderful sense of humour.

This book basically takes place over parts of 2006 and 2007, where Bidini finds himself facing the breakup of his long time band, the Rheostatics. The Rheostatics are a Canadian band of (as Bindini himself puts it) moderate success. They've been together for over 20 years at this point, have had highs, and a bunch of lows, and one of their main members, has just said he's quitting. Which causes another member to quit. Bidini has to decide if he should fight for the Rheos, or finally let them go.

He chooses the later.

As a way to continue in music and perhaps as a way to get over the breakup, he embarks on a whirlwind world tour, playing solo stuff, mainly of his own composition, but also a variety of Rheostatic tunes. Bidini's never really embarked on a solo tour before, so his nerves are high and his confidence low as he travels to Finland for his opening gig.

He obviously enjoys his time in Finland, where heavy metal is alive and well, the crowds restrained (he basically calls Finns 'everything that Canadians think we are, but aren't really'.) and the people friendly but reserved. He plays some successful gigs and works out some of his pre-jitters and realizes that he can do this and have fun.

Over the course of the book, Bidini intersperses tales of his own life (including the account of saving Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip's life), his introspection over the breakup of the Rheostatics and the history and impact of rock and roll not only on his own life, but on that of the world.

He travels to Russia, to China, to Liberia and Sierra Leone, places of poverty and recently stricken by war, all of whom searching for their own rebellious rock n' roll voice, some not finding it easily, some doing so. In China, there isn't much rock at all, but they do revere some Beatles tunes, while in post-communist Russia, there is a lot of rock n' roll being made, and there, the impact that the Beatles had was increadibly huge.

In Sierra Leone, he meets two young boys who lost large parts of their families in the recent civil war, who have been forced to grow up way too fast, and who are finding their voices through hip-hop and rap, singing about the state of their country and the hope they have for its future. Bidini is obviously very greatful to be there for this.

Overall, an enjoyable book, mainly for the tour of world music, both present and historical, told through the voice of a Canadian hoser.

Yay! First post of 2006! And I've already read two books!

Ok, so one was pretty damn short, but still, two books! Two weeks into January!

I'm not going to keep this pace up...

So, what have I read? Well, I read Inheritance by Devin Grayson, and Five Hole Stories by Dave Bidini. What are they about? Well two of my very favourite things, superheroes and hockey, respectively, and even better, there's sex in 'em!

lol. Yes, I'm juvenille.

Devin Grayson normally writes comic books. She normally writes comic books that I don't read because I don't like her writing. She took over the writing chores on one of my very favourite characters, Nightwing, and I had to drop the book, I was so unhappy with her writing on it. Now, I understand that she probably feels kinda like how I do about Nightwing... i.e. she's got a bit of a fetish about him. So while I can totally get on board with that, I still think her writing style stinks, its way too soap operaie. Why did I want to read Inheritance then? Because, way back when, Rich Johnston of Lying in the Gutters fame, posted a couple of passages from this book and they were DELICIOUSLY awful and I decided right then and there I had to read it. Plot doesn't really matter, it has to do with a (made up) foreign dignitary's son nearly being assasinated in Gotham, so Batman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Arsenal, Aquaman and Tempest team up to find out whodunit. So, with all these heroes and their side kicks running around, you see where the title came from. The thing I took most from this book? Devin must think Green Arrow has bisexual tendencies as she has him comment on how good looking Nightwing is NUMEROUS times, and she is terribly concerned with both Nightwing and Arsenal's sex lives. Unfortunately, she doesn't go into quite salacious enough detail to really make this book worthwhile. As far as superhero porn goes, it wasn't that good.

I'm a big fan of Dave Bidini's. No, not his band, The Rheostatics, but his writing. Another of his books, Tropic of Hockey, ranks up their amongst my favourite books. So, when I heard he'd published a book of erotic hockey stories, well, lets just say I was thrilled and rushed out to buy it as soon as I could. Five Hole Stories is not very long, there's only about five short stories in it, but they're well written if not very... titilating. A few of the stories were even tinged with a bit of sadness; there's nothing graphic about them, and the most controversial one of them got was about a goalie who feels unrequited love for his team star player, a very thinly disguised Wayne Gretzky. I mean, I enjoyed the book, I guess I was just expecting something more... erotic.

Hmm, these reads seem to have left me rather frustrated. lol