Rodrigo y Gabriela: Mettavolution

One of the most exciting releases this year, Rodrigo y Gabriella take new flamenco, rock, jazz and pop influences to the extreme. These two acoustic guitarists are masters, and they have been creating catchy, engaging virtuistic creations for much more than a decade now. On Mettavolution,however, their sound evolves from mostly duets to full-band experiences, and the more fully realized songs now combine classic flamenco and jazz guitar elements with modern rock and pop influences. As a result, it’s a catchier and more appealing music than any they have yet produced. There’s very little not to like about the constant movement of this virtuoso guitar duo as they tear up licks across the musical spectrum in each piece.

American Football: American Football

Indie pop-rock with an easy-on-the-ear feel; some call it emo, but this group, like Death Cab for Cutie, which it sounds a bit like, has far outgrown that moniker. There’s attention to songwriting and melody—hooks more than riffs—combined with organic rhythms akin to The National. “Uncomfortably Numb” is the most catchy, tap-your-foot-and-hum along song of the year for me. I spent many a run this year with it stuck in my head, propelling me through the miles. If you still remember them (and they haven’t stopped producing music), Trash Can Sinatras is the closest comparison, with uncluttered but still jangling guitars and interlaced keyboard sounds. It’s nice to hear this kind of careful production in pop music.

Fennesz: Agora

One of the kings of electronic music (though for him that’s usually a misnomer), Christian Fennesz has been creating drone soundscapes that are frequently pushing boundaries. His characteristic combination of blurry electric guitars and sound oscillations make his work immediately recognizable and yet in this latest creation—recorded in his apartment—reveals the wisdom of addition by subtraction. His trademark fuzzy guitar sound is muted here, and this allows some of the other mesmerizing sounds to speak a little louder than usual, and the result is a transcendent transportation of the listener to a place above the earth. I know, it sounds a cliché, but give any of the four 10-plus-minute songs a listen and odds are, you will feel enlightened by the experience.

Chihei Hatakeyama: Void XVIII
I understand. Hatakeyama was on last year’s list. And he releases five or six albums on average every year. And a lot of it sounds similar. But I do a lot of writing on my computer, and appreciate the rare ambient artist whose talents can transport me and inspire me (without boring me, as most ambient artists do). Hatakeyama is a master at the task, and this is another organic, oscillating composition that ebbs and flows gently to lift you like a leaf into the sky, where you see and understand the entire landscape below.

Loscil: Equivalents

Scott Morgan continually surprises with his ability to legitimize the ambient music genre. Those without imagination or attention might overlook his music as background fodder, but those who listen repeatedly will find that, like only a few in this genre, Morgan creates true music. The clouds that inspired this album (Alfred Stieglitz’s cloud photo series) suddenly come to life. As such, this music becomes the definitive cloud music. Try it on your next flight and see if I’m wrong.

Bat for Lashes: Lost Girls

Loosely based on a supernatural-80’s-horror-movie theme (Get it? Lost Girls/Lost Boys?), Natasha Khan’s songwriting, voice, and lyricism are as incisive as ever here. If you like the sound of an ultra-slick (dark, in this case) production, this will appeal to you. If not (I tend to be a not), the songs still don’t get completely overwhelmed by the 80’s Roy Thomas Baker-esque production (the songs could be the soundtrack to season 4 of Stranger Things). This seems like a step toward Khan discovering she has the chops to create an album that doesn’t need the heavy-synths or complicated percussion, but those elements don’t ruin what are haunting melodies and sincere singing.

Tiny Ruins: Olympic Girls

A glance at the album cover will give you the timbre and sentiment of this album. The grainy photograph of, presumably, the three band members, centered at the bottom of the cover, with a weighty unkerned serif font at the top, screams 1974. At her best, Hollie Fullbrook transcends the three-piece sound and 70’s folksy material to create timeless melodies. At times, it stays there in the unsurprising but still highly listenable territory.

Vanishing Twin: Age of immunology  

Good rainy day pop. Or sunny-day if you’re in a car driving somewhere you like. Or music to listen to if you go back to the late summer of 1975 and want to fit in.

Helado Negro: This Is How You Smile 

The band name and the album name tell you all you need to know. If you’re inclined to like either, you’ll like this music: eclectic and interesting, and even though there are some misses, there are mostly hits.

Jay Som: Anak Ko

You know this: jangly guitars, airy female vocals borrowed from the early 1980’s—more Cocteau Twins than Shelleyan Orphan, though a little of both. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll get it here and be very satisfied.

Sleater-Kinney: The Center Won't Hold

Yes, this sounds a lot like a St. Vincent album (as it is produced by Annie Clark), but if you listened to the last St. Vincent album, that mess of an attempt at pop music didn’t sound like a St. Vincent album, so this one corrects that mistake. It’s clever, discordant, varies its pace and engages with newness at every turn. 

Bon Iver, 'i,i'


Admit it. You love the idea of Bon Iver, but rarely listen to more than four songs of any one album. Each new one seems so fresh and inviting, and the first couple of songs amaze you. Then… well, then it’s like the guy runs out of steam. Ultimately, you still appreciate his attempts at songwriting and/or originality. But it’s the next album you’re sure will be the one he puts it all together and makes music you want to listen to over and over. This one, for better and for worse, is another such example, and it’s easy to trace the problem this time. It’s production. From some of his live performances and his finest work (an unreleased performance at AIR Studios), one can recognize his songwriting and vocals are top-notch. So why does he muddle it in so many unnecessary cute-and-or-annoying knob-turning and vocal-messing? The songs here are some of his best. If you can find them over the unnecessary beats and percussive elements and double-and-triple-tracked vocals, you will enjoy this album immensely. But it’s the nextalbum that’s going to be the really good one!

Vivian Girls: Memory

Until the vocals on the fabulous single, “Something to Do” begins, you’d swear this was Bob Mould (Husker Du), and even afterward, you’d say to yourself, “Wow, this is the music Mould was still making… clever, angry, a wall of sound beating forward forward forward, and yet full of tiny little hooks and surprising chord changes. The most exciting rock album of the year.

Front Line Assembly: Wake Up the Coma

One of the first generation industrial groups is still one of the best. Dark, moody, yet rhythmically moving (it could move faster, as 90’s FLA used to), its electronically generated soundscapes are great when you’re in a very bad mood. 

1. High Plains. Pilot Hill.

Scott Morgan (electronics) and Mark Bridges (cello) released this on Bandcamp, and it is a haunting combination of sounds that transport you to a landscape. High Plains’ universally lauded Cinderlandevoked the cold, expansive loneliness of Wyoming’s mountains. These six songs take daytrips from the region to bring a broader sense of the American West to the listener. Nature exudes from every pore of this music, and its economy is alternatively heartbreaking and beautiful. The sounds here are more scrub brush, grasses and wild horses than rocks, and no trucks invade the scenery  (it makes sense if you listen to both albums intently). Close your eyes and explore the Dakotas to as far south as Northern California. The combination of sound recordings, electronics and mournful cello is absolutely masterful.

2. Jon Hopkins, Singularity.

Have you ever travelled cross-country and were listening to an ambient radio station in your car when that signal started fading out and a techno station from the new area started taking over? That’s what this music sounds like—sometimes club-like, sometimes meditative, sometimes both at the same time, sometimes accidental and sometimes even downright wrong, but compelling throughout.

3. Steve Tibbetts: Life Of. 

It’s been a long time since the master guitarist put out a new release (there’s an inspiring history of why on his website), and the last two were meditative collaborations with Vietnamese vocalist Choying Drolma. Here it is just him and percussionist Marc Anderson, and they work miracles again in creating sometimes-soothing, sometimes-disconcerting eastern-western hybrid soundscapes. Consistently more contemplative than Tibbetts’ earlier progressive-jazz-fusion releases, it rewards those looking for post-rock music that surprises and engages them.

4. Chehei Hatakeyama:Far from Atmosphere.

The man released six, yes, six albums in 2018: all shoegaze ambient, all simply constructed, yet each beautiful in its own surprisingly unique way. There is considerable sameness in Hatakeyama’s compositions, yet some transcend. Far from Atmospherestruck me as somehow heartbreaking despite the coldness of space that these dark soundscapes contain. Go ahead and listen, then tell me you don’t feel like you are on a ship far from earth, aiming to return yet knowing you will not make it in your lifetime.

5. Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar.

Thank you, Andrew Smith! Every year I can count on you introducing me to one new band. As he says: "I can't really tell you what Young Fathers is like, but there is something deeply satisfying [about them]." This is a band for those of us bored with the status quo and yet who still believe music can be new. You wouldn’t be wrong to call this funk-infused album R&B or hip-hop, but it’s not likely to appeal to mainstream fans of either (especially not the punk and/or psychedelic aspects). It’s the most interesting music I've heard this year, and it deeply satisfies my brain. After about 10 listens, it’s starting to seep into my heart.

6. Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto: Glass.

The pair that brought us the haunting soundtrack to The Revenantreturns with a mesmerizing, meandering, icy-cold (in a different mode than the astounding Revenantsoundtrack) atmospheric experience created to accompany the opening of a recently preserved glass house in Connecticut. Fans of ambient music often say this is music for background listening, but artists such as Noto+Sakamoto (and Loscil, High Plains and Stars of the Lid) transcend this definition; this is meant to be listened to deeply and intently.

7. Confidence Man: Confident Music For Confident People.

Too much music takes itself far too seriously. Confidence Man is not one of those groups. This post-dance group provides a party-club vibe that is perfect for when you’re taking yourself too seriously and want to bop. What if the original B-52’s band kept recording all along (and added a member or two from Danielson)? This might be what they became: clever, eminently tuneful and ironic.

8. Neil & Liam Finn: Lightsleeper.

Quick: how many father-son duos in rock music have ever made music together worth listening to? Then, how many of them can you honestly say featured legitimate contributions from both artists? Neil Finn, often cited as the world’s finest living songwriter (I don’t think it’s hyperbole), combines his gift for compelling lyrics and riveting pop hooks, with son’s psychedelic quirkiness to create an album of engaging 21st century gems.

9. Say Sue Me: Where We Were Together.

The 80’s are not dead. The busy production, jangly guitars and unabashed new-wave melodies of South Korea’s Say Sue Me exhibit a band exploring the range of emotions all in a post-New-Romantic timbre. At any given moment, they evoke New Order, The Knack, Darling Buds, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Shelleyan Orphan, New Order again, before returning to Darling Buds one more time. My favorite song title for 2018 comes from this album: “About the Courage to Become Somebody’s Past.”

10. Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Post-punk (another of those ridiculous terms for the evolution of a genre, so it might as well be called punk) stuff that brings some different elements into the mix (funk, dance, pop), and doesn't ruin the mix by turning up all the levels to ten. You can do that for yourself at home, and then sing at the top of your lungs. Try not to sing out loud to “Wide Awake.” I don’t think it’s possible. The best songs are strangely, and effectively, reminiscent of Sandinista-era Clash, and they’re more at the end than in the beginning.

            When I was seven-, eight-, nine-years old, I was one of the first of what they once called “latchkey kids.” The circumstances of this fact are not important, but every day after school I walked myself home along through the streets of Newark and Bloomfield, let myself into the apartment and spent most of my afternoons occupying myself by listening to horse races in the radio (yes, that was a thing in the 1970’s) and, mostly, by playing imaginary games of baseball or football in the backyard.

            Before every game, the national anthem. Yes, really.

            The few but regular sporting events my father could afford to take me to were always special events. The bus or car ride to the venue, the popcorn, hot dogs and pretzels at the stand (Dad and I were always big eaters), even the ticket stub that was invariably saved, was part of a cherished ritual, a time of togetherness. To culminate the actual start of whatever event it was, there was one more ritual that galvanized the whole affair and was thus very special for me: the national anthem. Dad would touch me on the arm, and that was the sign, to stand. There was something special about thousands of people pausing whatever they were doing to rise en masse to honor a flag and country with a song. Back then most also remembered that holding one’s hand over ones heart was part and parcel of the experience, as well.
            The games themselves were memorable, or they were not. But everything up to and including the anthem was. So much so that, when it came to my own imaginative backyard sporting events, I was sure to convert my indoor blackboard easel to an outdoor stadium scoreboard, complete with American flag draped carefully off the right hand side. I think a real estate agent stuck the thing in our easement on Memorial Day.

            Before each afternoon’s sporting event, I brought my sister’s fancy cassette player outside with me, placed my special cassette inside it (I don’t remember when or how I made it), and pressed play. I stood at attention, right hand over my heart, and sang the National Anthem out loud with the tape.

            Yes, every day. All by myself.
            I loved the whole ritual that was the national anthem.

            As I grew, and subsequently realized that I would be mocked (or had I already been mocked?) for playing The Star-Spangled Banner just to throw a baseball against a wall or a football in the air to run under it and catch it, I stopped playing the national anthem when I went to the yard to play.

            But I still loved the song and the ritual. I always stopped to listen when it was played on television (which was happening less and less for sporting events. I guessed it didn’t bring good ratings).

            When I went to games as a teenager or young adult, it was still a big deal to stand for the anthem. It bothered me a little (not a lot) when people stopped putting their hands over their heart. I guessed that wasn’t cool.

            Once, when I was 19, there was an outcry over people burning the flag in protest. The idea of something that was sacred to me (and, I had thought, all Americans) being desecrated appalled me. I recall writing a letter to my congressman (who, in the great spirit of American progress, I believe is still my congressman now), urging him to support legislation that would ensure protection of the flag. At the time, I felt empowered that at least I could do something to show more support for an American ideal. I'm not going to say I was wrong then. I'm not sure I was. I know it disturbed me and I needed to say something about it to someone who had the power that I didn’t.

            As a single adult, my friend Rob and I subscribed to season tickets for the New Jersey Devils for several years. We both loved getting there early, buying a King Kone (Rob’s favorite) and Devil Dog (mine), and getting to our seats in time to finish eating and stand for the national anthem.

            I noticed as the years went on, American sports fans found that it was incumbent upon them to cheer before the anthem finished, and the cheering started earlier and earlier, sometimes before the singing was even half over. I always wondered why these people bothered standing at all, wondered if they thought about why the National Anthem was still the official beginning to every communal sporting event. In short, it bothered me.

            As an avid runner, I still appreciate the ritual of the national anthem, and sometimes the song has a wonderful communal effect: for a minute or two, it unites the various runners who are going to take part in a competition where they are otherwise very much alone. Some of the time, it’s a disappointing affair. Often, runners fail to take off their caps or head-coverings, talk or stretch during the song or ignore the anthem altogether. Sometimes, however, it reminds us about community.

            In fact, my favorite recent memory was during a small event in my hometown. The mayor always shows up for this fall 5k and brings an extremely outdated cassette player oddly very much like my sister’s, depresses the button and points the speaker at the microphone for all to hear. It’s low-tech and unimpressive, but it is sincere.

            A couple years ago, something went wrong with the cassette player. Its batteries were drained, or it finally gave up the ghost after decades of usage. The mayor looked around at the race officials, helpless. Did anyone have a solution? No. Seconds passed. He opened the battery pack, pressed more buttons. Nothing still. There was going to be no Star-Spangled banner that day. Unless…

            I looked to my left at one of my running companions, Tom. We didn’t speak, but somehow we understood. It wasn’t a big deal; we knew the words. So, we opened our mouths and sang. A few people next to us joined in, then people near them, and soon the whole crowd had joined in to share an a capella version of the anthem. When we finished, there was no one there who didn’t stand a little taller, didn’t feel a little prouder. It wasn’t a life-changing event, but it was our anthem that day. It meant something then. It means something still.
            The National Anthem and I have a long history together, a wonderful relationship. And while I don’t think any of this qualifies me as an expert of flag decorum or arbiter of what is or isn’t respectful, it does identify me as someone who cares and has considered why I do care. I like to think, still, that I am just one of many thousands, maybe millions (but probably not) of Americans who do have a personal relationship with the flag. So, I really do understand when people are upset about the treatment of the flag and/or our National Anthem. Only I have learned, for me, that it is not what you do when it is played; it’s what you think about.
            Someone thoughtfully kneeling with a hand on his heart while the national anthem plays is not a demon or a son-of-a-bitch. To me, the act is a patriotic one. It’s the huge number of people I have encountered through the years who do not remove their hats, do not look at the flag and do continue their conversations while the anthem plays bothers me much more. They disrespect the flag, the anthem and the country by refusing to even pause to think about what any of it might mean. It's not thoughtfulness that should offend us; it’s thoughtlessness.

Because I like to keep my reviews brief, and because I can't do that when it comes to some writers, I let myself ramble and put those reviews here:

Stand-Off

by Andrew Smith

I no longer believe that Andrew Smith intentionally breaks the rules of literature.  Instead, I think he just writes the books he wants to write, conventions be damned.

Either way, he continues to rewrite the definitions of 21st century Young Adult literature, and the world's readers (there's a reason he's translated into so many languages, you know?) are all the richer for it.

Case in point: Stand-Off, a sequel to Smith's magnificent, hilarious and heartbreaking tour-de-force, Winger.

Without giving too much away (because if ever there were a book you wanted to unfurl a chapter at a time, it's that one), Winger was a stunner of a novel--a seeming teen sex-and-humor genre piece at first, then subtly but increasingly insightful, occasionally maddening, realistically romantic, obsessively biological, then absolutely hilarious before finally being--well, what it really was all about in the first place, though you didn't realize it the first time you read it.  Winger was, in being a somewhat schizophrenic book, a perfect model of 21st century life.  It didn't try to be a single consistent narrative (let's not forget the intertextual comic panels and letters throughout), but a stirring example of indeterminacy, mutability, morality and accident.  It also left the reader, when its climactic scene occurs (or rather doesn't occur: it happened outside the narrative of the protagonist, Ryan Dean West) without the climax that English teachers like myself have been trained to teach students to identify in stories.  It left readers, to use a cliche that this time works, breathless.

Winger's ending also left the reader certain that, if any book didn't need a sequel--in fact, couldn't sustain a sequel--this would be it.

So, naturally, Andrew Smith produced this, Stand-Off, a sequel.  Ryan's Dean West returns with girlfriend Annie Altman, and pursuing their relationship might be the traditional, expected course of a sequel.  But what do you do with a relationship once you've achieved boy-gets-girl?  Lesser writers would indulge in misunderstandings, the required breakup and finally reunion.  Ho-hum.

Remarkably, Ryan Dean and Annie stay together as maturing young lovers--against all convention, expectation be damned--and for the rest of the book!  No, that’s not a spoiler, so that’s why I didn’t alert you.

But where's the drama in a reasonably successful relationship, right?  Lesser writers, again, wouldn't care, because once boy and girl find each other, it's either Happily Ever After or You Don't Understand Me.  No novel has ever had to endure actually showing two teenagers dealing with what life would otherwise tell us is a normal relationship.  But for Ryan Dean and Annie, life does go on after their eventful junior year of high school, just as it does in--dare I say it?-- real life.

So,  now it is senior year of high school at Pine Mountain High, and, since Andrew Smith continued to write about him, Ryan Dean is forced to continue living, learning and loving (I know, it sounds corny, but perhaps the hardest thing to learn is how to live once the best and worst things you can imagine have already happened to you).  How to make everyday life compelling in a novel, well, that's Smith's challenge with Stand-Off.

In his senior year, Ryan Dean is finally in the unique position of no longer being one of the youngest kids in the school (for newcomers, he had skipped two grades earlier in his education).  Being a fourth year player on the rugby team, however, he is now looked upon as a leader, so he has quickly jumped from being a new teenager who had to prove himself on every level to a team leader... in fact, captain.  And as a leader, he also must do what is best for the team, which means leaving his position as winger and taking on the role of Stand Off (don't worry, Smith explains it sufficiently). 

Also as a leader, and the only student at Pine Mountain HS who could possibly identify, he is forced to room with newcomer Sam Abernathy, a 12-year-old freshman.  That's right, Sam is the Ryan Dean of three years ago.  The difference between the two is, Sam has in Ryan Dean a role model that he, Ryan Dean, never had.

But Ryan Dean never asked to be team captain, or role model to a neurotic 12-year-old.  He'd been through a lot last year, and all he wanted to a little continuity and a smooth, easy senior year.  Like it or not, however, growing up means you can't easily blend into the background.

In Winger, we were introduced to a Ryan Dean we immediately felt sorry for (he had his head in a toilet bowl, after all), wanted to like, and even rooted for, but as an immature young teenager, he made some choices that frustrated us (and the delightfully limbed Joey Cosentino).  To some degree, because Joey liked Ryan Dean, and because he made some wonderful choices, too, we stood by Ryan Dean as he pursued Annie, and new friendships, and a sense of self that he himself didn’t despise.  By the end, Ryan Dean rewarded our faith in him, and he felt a little less like a loser.

That, too, presents a typical sequel dilemma.  We already appreciate Ryan Dean, so how can he earn our appreciation again?  Answer: throw him into a new role.  He perhaps earned our respect as a fourteen-year-old, but now he's a year older and presumably more than a year wiser.  He can't remain where he was.  We have new expectations of him, just as his rugby coach does, his friends and classmates do, and even Annie does.  Oh, yes, and Sam Abernathy, too.

The problem is, and if I've stated the problem before, it's because Ryan Dean restates it too:  he didn't ask for these expectations and responsibilities, and he certainly didn't ask for a claustrophobic prepubescent roommate to ruin any positive reputation he may have had coming into this year.  Quickly, he learns to resent young Sam, and spends much of his time abandoning the kid as Sam totes around after him in search of guidance.  The more Sam idolizes him, the more Ryan Dean resents Sam.  And THAT's how Ryan Dean returns to the role of protagonist we adore but are repeatedly frustrated by.  Once again, we return to repeatedly saying, "Why doesn't he..." And "Why can't he just..."  And of course, we answer ourself with, "He's not yet ready."  Ryan Dean is who he is, and will only become more than that when he becomes—well, more than that.

In Winger, Joey was there for him as father figure who taught him how to expect more from himself and how to act like a man.  In Stand-Off, Smith remarkably has the 12-year-old Sam, as a wide-eyed idealist, act as much as Ryan Dean’s teacher as his pupil.  Teenage life can be full of weighty melodrama, but Sam is a delightfully young kid who time and again steals the show with his extreme lack of sarcasm and irony.  He alone makes this an even-funnier-than-Winger sequel.  (By the way, it could never be as heartbreaking, so don’t expect it to be.)

Okay, so I know this has been more of an essay than a review, the kind of I thing you read after reading a book, to help identify why you liked it, rather than before it to get you to want to read it in the first place.  And I know it seems like the book concerns so many "lessons" that are "learned." But Ryan Dean’s story is, in fact, so much about growth and self-awareness.  Smith's talent--and frequently genius--is that a good review of Winger and/or Stand-Off would talk nothing of awareness and growth and maturity and still do a fine job of explaining the books.  Such a review would go something like this:

Ryan Dean West is back for his senior year at Pine Mountain, and this time he's paired with a 12-year-old neurotic roommate named Sam, who needs his guidance as much as Ryan Dean needed it when he was a freshman.  But Ryan Dean never had a role model to hold his hand.  Why should he have to lead little Sam around with him wherever he goes?

Besides, Sam is so claustrophobic that the pair will have to sleep with their door or window open all through the winter.  And whenever Sam has to use the bathroom, Ryan Dean has to step into the hallway.  And his classmates have started teasing Ryan Dean about his constant companion, which is the last thing a senior trying to cement his reputation needs.

Annie Altman is still here, too, and now 15-year-old Ryan Dean doesn't exactly know how to take their relationship to the next level--yes, you know, sex.  Of course, Annie might know a little more about that, being 17, but he's always had issues with being the younger partner in that relationship.  Besides, at Pine Mountain, how could they ever find free time alone, anyway.  That is, if Sam Abernathy would ever stop following him around like a puppy.

Last year's senior class cast of characters is gone, so the book brings us evolving returning characters like former best friend Sean Flaherty, and brand new ones like horny bisexual Swede Spotted John, who has the hots for Ryan Dean.  Yes, you heard all those adjectives correctly.  And Joey Cosentino's brother is here now, too, but he is as reserved and reticent as Joey was outgoing and approachable.  But Ryan Dean needs to talk to him.  He's not sure what he'd say, but so much seems to have been left unsaid with Joey.  And then there's wide-eyed Sam again, popping up at every corner at the worst possible moment.

Throughout, Ryan Dean is sure the Next Accidental Terrible Experience is about to happen, and draws the personified NATE in all his latest comic strips.  The fact that nothing terrible happens as time passes doesn't change Ryan Dean's attitude.  He's clearly not over last year's calamities, and all he wants is to slide by his senior year—oh yeah, and to sleep with Annie.  But there's Sam again, and, well, sometimes you can’t avoid your responsibilities, especially when you don't want them.  Damn that Sam!

Stand-Off is an absolutely delightful book about an absolutely delightfully flawed fifteen-year-old whose struggles to accept his twelve-year-old roommate mirror his struggles to accept himself.

My rating:  Four-and-a-half out of five pair of Wonder Woman boys’ underpants.

Andrew Smith is not my friend.

He is my Facebook friend.

Like 1000 other people who claim him as such.

In short, he is not my friend at all, really.

I do believe he knows that I am a defender and proponent of his writing.  I have taught his novels in my Young Adult Literature courses at Montclair State University for the last three years, and four times he has been the recipient of Boy Book of the Month honors on my site, BoyBookoftheMonth.com.  But I can’t honestly claim him as a friend.

I say this because there are people who believe that social media gives them certain rights, like the right to claim a stranger as a friend, or the right to bully said stranger personally and professionally.  That has happened recently to my Facebook friend Andrew Smtih.  It should not have happened.  It happened because Andrew Smith writes books for boys (there, I said it), though in no way do I think there’s ever any intention of excluding girls from his readership.  They just often tell stories about boys trying to learn about themselves, the world around them, and girls.  And so boys often gravitate toward these books.  So, someone who read ONE of his books some years ago decided that he was a sexist somehow.  I won’t belabor that point, mainly because I don’t understand it myself. 

In short, a Andrew Smith got railroaded out of the virtual world because he dared to honestly answer a question.  What did he say?  He answered the contention that “there isn’t much of a way into your books for female readers” by saying “I was raised in a family with four boys, and I absolutely did not know anything about girls at all.  I have a daughter now; she’s 17.  When she was born, that was the first girl I ever had in my life.  I consider myself comletely ignorant to all things woman d female.  I’m trying to be better though.”  What an awful thing to say, right?   No, of course not!  But to some people, apparently, this makes him a sexist.

After this online event, Andrew Smith cancelled his Twitter and Facebook accounts and his website is down, which means I have no way to tell him that I support him, and I’m sorry about what happened to him yesterday, and that it was the work of the ignorant who think they are arbiters of taste in the world.  Right now I wish there was no social media, so people like Andrew Smith, who have done nothing but try to be a voice to disenfranchised young people (yes, usually teenage boys: you got a problem with that?), wouldn’t be hurt by people who think that because they are allowed to speak on social media that they actually have something worthwhile to say.  I am not his friend, but I know enough about his life to know he is a sensitive human being who writes books about sensitive boys because he wants to help them understand their world better.

Anyway, if you are looking at anything posted on the internet today, Andrew, please read this: Do not let them silence your voice.  Stay off social media if you must (although, where am I going to get new independent music suggestions?).  But do not let them keep you from writing for those of us who were left out by mainstream trends that told us we had to fit our square edges into their round holes.

I was first introduced to Andrew Smith’s work four years ago by M. Jerry Weiss, the man who discovered Paula Danziger, and always finds writerly gems for the world.  “Here, read this,” he said, putting a copy of Stick in my hands.  “There’s not a school in America that can teach it.  It’s wonderful!”

In short, Stick is about a boy who suffers at the hands of abusive parents and is forced to make his way through the world on his own.  It’s about every kind of taboo—verbal, physical, sexual and psychological abuse; teenage sex; bullying; drugs; prostitution.  After reading it, I understood what Jerry meant.  It’s not a book that maybe anyone would want to read, but it’s a book many people need to read.  It’s the kind of book that Andrew Smith has been writing ever since—a book for kids whose lives aren’t sitcoms.  I could go on to more reviews, but that is not my aim here.  All I can tell you is that Winger is, in my estimation, one of the four most important Young Adult novels of the 21^st century, one which just might have the chance to change teenagers’ attitudes about—oh, hell: sexuality, homosexuality, bullying, friendship, open-mindedness, education, love, responsibility, loyalty, and maybe three or four more themes.

He is a writer who makes a difference, and I want him to continue to make a difference, despite some ignorant people’s claims that if you aren’t writing for them personally (whoever they think they are), you aren’t worthwhile.  So, Andrew Smith is not my friend, so I can't call him, I can't email him.  If one of his friends is reading this, though, maybe you can tell him for me:

The loud-mouthed bullies of the virtual world are wrong.  You’re right.  Keep writing, Andrew, and if you never return to social media, I’ll miss you, but I understand.

So, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to the MegaBookStore and move more Andrew Smith (and David Lubar, Jason Reynolds, Benjamin Alire Saenz and Alex London, Matt de la Peña and a few others’) books to the top row of the first shelf so more people can see that there are writers who speak for them.

I just responded to someone's Facebook post.  It was a very funny picture, so I responded with my usual answer to something that makes me laugh out loud… specifically, "Bwaahaahaa!"

I know, some of you are saying, "If you laughed out loud, shouldn't you have just written 'LOL'."  My answer to this is: no.  My experience with that acronym is threefold:

1) Some people write LOL indiscriminately, so even if they write it as a response to your post, you are correct to wonder if they even read what you posted.

2) Even if they really mean it, EVERYONE writes LOL.  Therefore, it doesn't even mean that much any more.  It's like "love" and "hate."  What do they mean anymore?  "I love broccoli; I hate the Kardasshians; I love my car; I hate my boyfriend."

3) You can never tell for certain if someone is writing it sincerely or not, so whenever you read LOL, you can pretty much assume they're doing little more than clicking the "Like" button, which in itself could mean anything, too—anywhere between "I honestly, sincerely enjoyed what you wrote in such a way that it improved my day and/or made me think seriously about something I had not previously considered" and "I read your post."

So what am I saying?  I'm saying, if you really laughed at something, you could come up with a response that is uniquely you, and takes maybe 1.3 seconds longer to type than LOL.  You know, something like, "Holy sh*t, that's funny" or "That's g--damn hilarious, bro!"  Your friends will love you for it, and we'll be a better world because of it.

That is all.

Is there such a thing as a "Boy Book," as in, just for boys?  Of course not.  I never said there was.  As the incomparable John Green said (or was it his brother) in one of his great vlogs (an even uglier word than "blog"), human sexuality itself is not a duality (one isn't merely gay or straight), but rather each individual is somewhere on an infinite line between conceptions of typically heterosexual and homosexual behavior.  (Okay, so maybe Green said it better!)

Our conceptions of what a "boy" or "girl" is needs to be reconfigured this way, as well.  Is a "traditional," sports-loving male more of a "boy" than one who likes to cook?  Of course not.  Is a soccer-playing girl with short hair less a girl than a princess-loving one who likes to wear pink?  Of course not.

My decision to create this list several years ago was never with any intention of marginalizing anyone.  In truth, I think of these books as books for anyone, and say so elsewhere.  My first goal as parent and teacher, however, was to keep the dialogue open for teachers and librarians to remember that just because they loved a book didn't mean their students (boy OR girl) would love it.  Males and females do share more things in common than we have differences, but those differences can be difficult to conceptualize.  As such, I'm always trying to make my student teachers aware of the fact that, just because, say, The Good Earth worked for them does not mean it will work for their students.  I'm idealistic in believing there are books that can appeal to both genders, though I also recognize that no book will appeal to everyone.

That being said, we need to address the fact that reading materials have traditionally excluded male readers in the recent, oh, century or so.  Is it enough to say, "Well, they're just going to have to read it?"  I don't think so.  I think there's a reason why so many boys are what we call "reluctant readers," and those educators who ignore their role in creating the gender reading gap are as guilty as those in the last half of the 20th century who believed girls had less aptitude for science and math.  Of course they didn't.  Okay, maybe a little.  But not nearly as much as we thought.  And so, we didn't try to create mathematicians and scientists out of little girls.  Shame on us.

But now there are some who say boys have less aptitude for reading than girls, because they can't sit still, or something like that.  Of course they don't have less aptitude for reading!  Okay, maybe a little.  But not nearly as much as we think.  And so, many of us don't try to create readers out of boys.  We just throw books at them and hope they'll stick.  Shame on us.

Hence, my list.  I hope the list contains books that appeal to both genders, to be truthful.  Almost all the best books do.  Is Harry Potter a boy book?  The Lightning Thief?  The Hunger Games?  Well, do boys like them?  Yes.  Then they're boy books.  Do girls like them, too?  Yes.  Then they're girl books, too.  Wonderful.  Everyone's happy.

But are there books that are more likely to appeal to girls than boys?  Of course.  Go to the local mega-bookstore and see how many covers have girls-kissing-boys, girls-pining-for-boys, girls-staring-at-boys-from-afar.  This pains me.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  Some of them are wonderful, and I personally love them.  Gayle Forman is one of the finest writers alive, and I'm sorry to say I have yet to recommend her books for boys.  Lin Oliver is another...  okay, okay... getting off the point here.  Now look for books that have a boy who is not merely a gorgeous hunk of flesh being adored by a girl.  A lot harder isn't it?

Is there such a thing as a "Boy Book," of course.  A boy book is for everyone.

There’s nothing like a cold, snowy run in a park or along the trails with a personally selected group of songs playing in my ears from the iPad shuffle I borrow regularly from my son.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not one of those runners who always has to be plugged in to enjoy a run.  In fact, I probably only listen to music while running at most once a week, and that’s only for those long, lonely solo runs of 10+ miles.

But there ARE people who can’t bear to be alone with their thoughts and need music to carry them along.  I empathize with them, I really do.  During most of my races, my brain is constantly yelling at me to slow down, speed up, relax my arms, use that big guy over there to shield me from the wind.  Or it’s telling me how tight my calves are, how heavy my body feels, that my hamstring isn’t as healed as I thought it was, that trying for a sub-7:00 opening mile was a bad idea, or that running in general is a stupid thing for a fortysomething guy to endeavor.  It can be maddening.  I understand why races forbid personal listening devices.  It’s as close to cheating as anything I can conceive of.

But on those aforementioned long training runs?  Yeah, that kind of cheating is sometimes exactly what you need to get you to forget how much your body doesn’t want to do what you’re making it do.

There are some people who can (and do) listen to any kind of music, and are happy to do so.  I envy those people.  I really do.  Okay, no I don’t.  I can’t stand most contemporary pop music and feel that anyone who eats what the music companies are shoveling them are more or less brainwashed by the equivalent of fast-food music.  But that’s a different story, and my wife will be the first to tell you that you don’t want to get me started on that topic.

So then, what about the rest of us—those of us who are bored with the same old music over and over again?  Especially those of us more, er—mature runners who still enjoyed 80’s music more than any of the decades that came afterward?

What was that?  You want to know the SCIENCE of music as it pertains to running?  Well, of course I’d only be happy to oblige!  You see, studies have shown (and even if they hadn’t, pay attention the next time you’re listening to music and exercising and see if you’re stronger or weaker when a certain song starts or ends) that there are at least two, maybe three important variables to consider when pairing music with exercise.

The first, and most important is rhythm, or beats-per-minute.  Strangely enough, most middle-of-the-pack distance runners tend to take a similar number of steps per mile, and that pace translates to a musical beats-per-minute pace of roughly 180.  Now, there isn’t an abundance of songs written at that speedy rate, but halving that rate (90 BPM) also result in success.  Whether we like it or not, we tend to run to the pace of the music in our ears or on the course in the case of running series like the ING Rock-and-Roll races.

Now, in truth, you can find TONS of lists of songs on places like jog.fm, spotify and itunes, but what I found was that no matter what the list, you’re going to find the same Big Hit Singles on each one of those lists.  If you’re not a fan of the same 100 songs you hear on the radio in the first place, you’re out of luck.  (But that’s where I come in).

The second variable to consider when selecting music I can label tone.  This is where people’s tastes vary.  Some like smooth, easy-flowing jazzy (or soft rock) sounds that allow them to float over the ground.  Others prefer the angst of hard rock, metal or industrial music to fuel them with a kind of aggression as they pound out the miles.

The last variable is vibe, and while this often overlaps with tone, this concept takes into consideration the lyrics of a song.  I know, some of you want to say that you don’t even listen to the lyrics.  And others say the lyrics don’t matter.  But every study ever done about positive reinforcement has shown that it matters in every way.  (After all, don’t most of us engage in positive mantras while running?  You know, like The Little Engine that Could?  I think I can, I think I can.)  The National Geographic series, Brain Games, recently aired an episode that revealed just how successfully positive words can affect someone trying to perform even the simplest tasks. (By the way, it’s a fantastic and engaging show that will teach you a lot about the world in the most fascinating experiments!)

Now, while I can’t guarantee that you’ll like all of the songs that I like, my hope is that at least you’ll find an artist that can make your training runs a little more enjoyable and/or successful.  This is the playlist I’ve been using lately.  For the sake of explanation, I’ve divided the songs into four categories, but most of the time I don’t mind shuffling between moods.  If you like a less schizophrenic running experience, you might stick to one category at a time.  (The lists are alphabetized by artists’ first names: sorry, that’s the way iTunes does it).

The first group let’s call Happy Music. These are the songs that serve to get your mind lost in the running, pacing your feet with an upbeat rhythm and lyrics that either don’t get in the way or lighten your footfalls.  If you want to glide over the ground, these are the songs to listen to.  Oh, and there are plenty of instrumentals here, too.  They’re also good highway driving songs, too—the kind that allow you to happily battle the traffic without getting stressed.

Acoustic Alchemy (pop-jazz fusion):

                  Flamoco Loco                        4:05          2001

                  So Kylie                               4:22          2005

                  Angel Of The South            6:41          2000

                  Tete A Tete                         4:44          2000

                  The Last Flamenco              4:20          2000

                  Kidstuff                                4:20          2000

                  Catalina Kiss                           4:36          1989

                  Evil The Weasel                     5:38          1988

                  Homecoming                         5:36          1991

Ambrosia (light rock):

                  Apothecary                              4:53          1978

Andrea Mingardi (Italian rock—yes, really):

                  Sai Ragazzo                             4:54          1994

Andy Narell (jazzy World music with steel pans):

                  Disorderly Conduct             6:40          1992

                  Down De Road                      3:17          1992

Andy Summers (melodic pop-jazz from the Police guitarist)

                  Easy On The Ice                     4:36          1990

                  World Gone Strange           6:31          1991

Arto Lindsay         (smooth Latin pop-jazz)

                  Habite Em Mim                     4:35          2004

                  Kamo (Dark Stripe)              4:46          2004

Average White Band            (70’s funk-rock)

                  Pick Up the Pieces                4:00          1974

Aztec Camera        (catchy pop)

                  Black Lucia                              4:00          1993

                  Vertigo                                  4:54          1993

                  Valium Summer                    5:54          1993

                  Beautiful Girl                         4:50          1995

The B-52's (80’s party rock)

                  Channel Z                                4:50          1989

                  53 Miles West of Venus            4:53          1980

Bob Marley & the Wailers (reggae, mon)

                  Jammin’                           4:42          1977

                  Could You Be Loved          4:27          1977

                  Waiting In Vain                     4:16          1977

Crowded House (alternative pop-rock)

                  Saturday Sun                         3:26          2010

                  Either Side of the World           4:35          2010

                  Twice If You're Lucky          3:33          2010

David Byrne (alternative rock with a World twist from the former Talking Heads leader)

                  Angels                                        4:41          1994

                  Don't Want To Be Part of Your World             4:58          1989

                  Office Cowboy                             3:42          1989

                  Strange Overtones                        4:16          2008

David Cullen & Michael Manring (virtuoso jazzy guitar/bass duo)

                  Shuffle In                                 4:45          2001

                  Buenos Dias                           6:03          2001

Depeche Mode (new wave kings of the 80’s)

                  Enjoy the Silence                 6:13          1990

Devo (still dishing up catchy pop with a beat)

                  Monsterman                           2:09          2012

                  Fresh                                           3:00          2010

                  What We Do                            3:17          2010

                  Cameo                                       2:50          2010

                  Later Is Now                            3:52          2010

                  March On                                  3:51          2010

                  Knock Boots                            3:36          2010

Donald Fagen      (you know, the guy from Steely Dan)

                  New Frontier                           6:21          1982

Electric Light Orchestra (70’s Beatle-esque champions)

                  Shine a Little Love              4:41          1979

                  Last Train to London              4:30          1979

Genesis (70’s-80’s British art rock)  

                  Turn It On Again                   3:51          1980

Haircut 100 (upbeat 80’s jangly-guitar pop)

                  Love Plus One                       3:34          1982

                  Fantastic Day                          3:13          1982

                  …and the rest of the Pelican West album!

Imogen Heap (hoarse-voiced electronic pop)

                  Swoon                                       3:54          2009

Jamiroquai (psychedelic rock)

                  Virtual Insanity                      5:41          1996

Jane Siberry (ageless singer/songwriter with a great voice)

                  Bound by the Beauty                            4:42          1989

                  Everything Reminds Me of my Dog 4:20        1989

                  Begat Begat                                               6:36          1995

John Cale (former Velvet Underground singer with a great gravelly voice

                  Zen                                              6:03          2004

                  Bicycle                                        5:05          2004

                  Face to the Sky                       4:57          2012

                  December Rains                        4:23          2012

Joey Fehrenbach (electronica that sweeps you away)

                  Being Around You                       7:35          2006

                  Behold                                      5:19          2006

Jovanotti (the king of Italian hip-hop/rock)

                  Bella                                           4:36          1997

                  Il Futuro Del Mondo                     4:29          1994

                  Viene Sera                               4:35          1994

                  Un Uomo                                 7:40          2002

                  Salato Parte Uno                            3:59          2002

                  Il Quinto Mondo                           4:32          2002

                  La notte dei desideri                             3:27          2011

                  Safari                                          4:24          2008

The Judybats         (quirky 90’s pop with jangly guitars)

                  Our Story                                  4:34          1992

                  She's Sad She Said                    3:18          1992

Kate Bush (ageless and quirky singer/songwriter)

                  Why Should I Love You?                 5:02          1993

Laurie Anderson (even more quirky experimental songwriter with a great sense of humor)

                  Only an Expert                       7:26          2010

Level 42 (80’s dance-pop)

                  Lessons In Love                    4:06          1986

                  World Machine                      5:17          1985

                  Something About You              4:27          1985

Luca Carboni (smooth Italian adult pop)

                  Ex. T. Blu                                 4:11          1995

                  Ho Visto Anche Degli Zingari Felici 3:44      2009

Lucio Dalla (gravel-voiced Italian songsmith)

                  Nun Parlà                                 3:53          1996

                  Io Tra Un'ora Sono Li        4:23          1999

Masayoshi Takanaka           (the king of Japanese jazz-pop)

                  Blue Lagoon Surf                4:23          2010

                  LAGOON DAYDREAM                     5:44          2010

                              月と金星                                      5:24          2009

                  Nightmare                                5:07          2011

                  Blue Lagoon 'K'                    4:38          2011

Matmos (electronica with a dance beat)

                  Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan  5:21     2006

New Order (80’s-90’s alternative Brit-dance-pop)

                  Fine Time                                 4:43          1989

                  Round & Round                                     4:32          1989

New Orleans Night Crawlers (New Orleans jazz)

                  Pick Up The Pieces                        8:15          1997

Nick Heyward        (singer from Haircut 100)

                  Atlantic Monday                           5:12          1983

                  The Kick of Love                            4:36          1983

The Ocean Blue (90’s British upbeat pop)

                  Mercury                                      4:13          1991

Ohio Players         (funk, man!)

                  Fire                                              4:32          1973

Oingo Boingo      (quirky, edgy, adventurous alternative rock with xylophones)

                  Just Another Day                                     5:13          1985

                  Same Man I Was Before              3:24          1985

                  Islands                                       4:41          1982

Orange Juice         (80’s New Wave pop)

                  Rip it up                                    3:45          1982

Paolo Conte         (gravelly voiced smoky lounge singer)

                  Gli Impermeabili                                    3:55          1984

Pat Metheny Group (the king of American jazz)

                  Here To Stay                            7:39          1995

Patrizia Laquidara (Italian lounge pop)

                  Ziza                                             3:53          2007

                  Sciroppo di mirtilli                      3:52          2003

                  Kanzi                                          3:37          2003

Perpetual Groove (jazzy improvisational stoner pop)

                  Three Weeks                                              9:17          2003

Pino Daniele        (Italian pop-jazz guitar virtuoso with a woodwind voice)

                  Alibi Perfetto                                            4:24          1999

                  Viaggio Senza Ritorno                                 4:34          1999

                  Stella Cometa                                          3:52          1999

                  Continueremo A Navigare                          3:54          1997

                  La Mia Emozione Più Forte                       4:20          1997

                  Back Home                                                 3:31          2007

                  …and many others

Poi Dog Pondering (quirky pop-folk-alternative rock with upbeat lyrics)

                  Complicated                           4:09          1995

                  The Shake of Big Hands             5:21          1995

                  Watermelon Song                         5:15          1990

The Police (come on, you know The Police!)

                  Voices Inside My Head               3:53          1979

Roddy Frame        (silk-and-honey-voiced songwriter)

                  Here Comes the Ocean               3:23          1998

Roger Hodgson (from Supertramp)

                  You Make Me Love You            4:59          1988

Spandau Ballet (edgy dance music)

                  Chant No. 1                             4:08          1982

Split Enz (New Zealand alternative rock)

                  I Walk Away                              3:50          1984

                  Doctor Love                            4:17          1984

                  Make Sense Of It                   3:34          1982

                  The Choral Sea                      4:39          1980

Steely Dan (timeless smooth keyboard pop)

                  Hey Nineteen                         5:07          1993

                  Glamour Profession           7:30          1993

                  Time Out of Mind                 4:13          1993

Talk Talk (eclectic alternative post-rock)

                  Living In Another World   6:55          1986

Talking Heads (kings of the punk/New Wave era)

                  I Zimbra                                                      3:09          1979

                  Animals                                                       3:30          1979

                  Blind                                          5:00          1988

                  (Nothing But) Flowers               5:36          1988

                  Moon Rocks                            5:05          1983

Todd Rundgren (ageless pop music)

                  Tables Will Turn                    8:51          1995

                  Truth                                           5:13          2004

                  Living                                         5:36          2004

                  Parallel Lines                         4:25          1989

                  In My Mouth                           4:17          2013

                  “Healing, part III”                  5:30          1981

Was (Not Was) (very fun, fairly weird R&B pop)

                  Are You Okay?                                 4:30          1990

Wax UK (easy pop)

                  Bug in the Machine                      4:22          1991       

Way of the West

                  Don't Say That's Just for White Boys (12")     7:28          2008

Zucchero (the Springsteen of Italy)

                  You Make Me Feel Loved                            4:00          2004         

                  Occhi                                                            3:39          2006

                  Ahum                                                           4:44          2001

The second group is Aggession-Music, or “Dammit, I’m getting up that hill no matter what” Music.  Sometimes you need a kick in the pants, a heavy dose of attitude to keep you from giving up.  These are those songs.  If you don’t like hard rock, you’d better skip this section entirely (but there’s very little with any objectionable lyrics):

Bob Mould (angry hard rock from Husker Du’s frontman)

                  Stop Your Crying                                    4:30          1990

                  Sacrifice/Let There Be Peace             5:32          1990

                  Trade                                                            5:24          2002

                  Whichever Way The Wind Blows              6:26          1989

The Clash (if you don’t know The Clash, you’ve missed something)

                  London Calling                             3:20          1977

                  Clampdown                                     3:50          1977

                  Lost In The Supermarket                    3:48          2003         

                  The Magnificent Seven                       5:33          1977

                  Rock The Casbah                               3:43          1977

Crowded House         

                  That's What I Call Love               3:40          1986

Danny Elfman (yes, the soundtrack composer)

                  Sucker For Mystery                5:19          1984

                  Lightning                                 3:46          1984

Depeche Mode

                  New Dress                                3:44          1986

Devo

                  Gates of Steel                         3:28          1980

                  Through Being Cool                    3:19          1981

Front 242 (repetitive, angst-fueled industrial music)

                  Tragedy (For You)                                   4:32          1990

Front Line Assembly           (danceable angst-fueled industrial music)

                  Iceolate                                     5:16          1990

                  Exhale                                        5:28          2013

                  Final Impact                            6:04          1992

                  The Blade                                 5:51          1992

Gary Numan          (danceable angst-fueled industrial music)

                  Metal                                          4:04          1979

                  Films                                           4:11          1979

                  A Question of Faith                      4:52          1994

                  Big Noise Transmission             4:20          2012

God Lives Underwater (guitars and drum machines)

                  All Wrong                                 4:55          1995

Harry Connick, Jr. (no, I’m not kidding; this is a song that moves)

                  Mind On The Matter                    4:09          1996

Helmet (harsh but talented jazzy metal)

                  Wilma's Rainbow                          3:54          1994

                  Unsung                                     3:58          1992

                  Fbla II                                         3:22          1992

                  See You Dead                                 3:48          2004

                  Last Breath                                       3:03          2004

                  …and most of their other songs

Jean Leloup (quirky French rock)

                  Le Monde Est A Pleurer             4:51          1996

Jovanotti

                  Tanto                                          3:31          2005

                  Attaccami La Spina                      3:44          1994

The Knack (great guitar solo; NOT the single version)

                  My Sharona                             5:06          1979

Lucio Dalla

                  Trash                                           5:06          1999

Marillion (British art-rock; think angrier Genesis)

                  Incommunicado                                     5:17          1987

Michael Manring (possibly the world’s best bassist)

                  Dromedary                               4:15          2004

                  Helios                                        4:21          2005

                  Big Fungus                              3:36          1994

                  Disturbed                                 3:05          1994

Midnight Oil (one of the original grunge artists)

                  Blue Sky Mine                        4:16          1989

                  Sell My Soul                           3:37          1988

                  Read About It                         3:53          1982

Nitzer Ebb (heavy-on-the-rhythm industrial music)

                  Control I'm Here                   3:53          1988

                  Rope                                           3:27          1990

Poi Dog Pondering

                  Jack Ass Ginger                       5:33          1992

The Police

                  Message In A Bottle             4:51          1978

                  Synchronicity I                       4:58          1979

Primus (metal that defies description)

                  Jerry Was A Race Car Driver                 3:11          1991

The Spent Poets (quick-paced alternative rock)

                  Mr. Einstein                             4:19          1992

                  Your Existential Past          3:53         1992

St. Vincent (Annie Clark)  (scratchy guitars and piercing lyrics)

                  Birth In Reverse                     3:16          2014

                  Digital Witness                      3:22          2014

                  Cruel                                           3:35          2011

Sugar      (see Bob Mould)

                  Tilted                                          4:08          1993

                  JC Auto                                      6:13          1993

                  Feeling Better                         6:22          1993

                  The Act We Act                        5:10          1992

                  A Good Idea                           3:47          1992

Therapy? (Irish hard rock when you’re in an angry mood)

                  Living In the Shadow of the Terrible Thing                  3:56          2012

                  Enjoy The Struggle                       4:11          2009

                  Crooked Timber                    5:52          2009

                  Low Winter Sun                    4:19          2010

                  Stories                                       3:11          1995

                  30 Seconds                              5:25          1995

                  Rise Up (Make Yourself Well) 2:49  2004

                  Teethgrinder                           3:27          1992

                  Little Tongues First                      4:25          1999

                  Femtex                                       3:14          1994

                  Unrequited                             3:03          1994

                  Brainsaw                                   6:28          1994

                  …and most of their other songs

24-7 Spyz (ska-hard rock)

                  We'll Have Power                  3:42          1990

Todd Rundgren

                  Espresso (All Jacked Up)           5:52          1995

                  Mercenary                                 4:03          2008

                  Strike                                          3:30          2008

Ultravox (80’s new-wave Romantic rock)

                  Accent On Youth                          4:45          1981

                  The Ascent                               2:20          1981

Utopia (see Todd Rundgren)

                  The Marriage of Heaven and Hell   4:19          1979

                  Communion with the Sun                6:56          1978

UB40 (Reggae)

                  The Earth Dies Screaming                  8:21          2010

White Zombie (er, um… hip-hop metal?)

                  More Human Than Human               4:29          1995

XTC (new-wave meets punk meets pop)

                  Down In The Cockpit                   5:28          1982

                  Poor Skeleton Steps Out           3:28          1989

                  Across This Antheap                    4:52          1989

Zucchero

                  Music In Me                             3:21                            2001

                  Porca L'oca                              3:28          2001

                  Datemi Una Pompa                     4:14          1998

                  O.L.S.M.M.                                3:33          1998

The third group is the Vibe group, those songs that inspire you with their positive attitude and often have some attention to running itself.  This is the feel-good category, kind of like having a coach inside your head constantly telling you “You can do this.  Keep up the good work.  Atta boy.  Atta girl!”  Though many songs from the first group could fit here, I only listed the most inspirational and/or fun.

Aztec Camera

                  Oblivious                                 3:12          1983

                  All I Need Is Everything              5:50          1985

The B-52's

                  Topaz                                         4:21          1989

Bruce Springsteen

                  Born To Run                           4:31          1975

Crowded House

                  Don't Stop Now                    3:54          2007

Roddy Frame

                  Turning the World Around                3:16          2002

Hinterland (Scottish rock)

                  (Racing up this) Dark Hill                   4:31          1999

Jamiroquai (psychedelic rock)

                  Use The Force                         4:01          1997

Jovanotti

                  Coraggio (Courage)             4:18          2005

Kate Bush              

                  Running Up That Hill                 5:04          1985

K.C. & The Sunshine Band (70’s dance pop)

                  That's The Way (I Like It)    3:07          1975

                  Keep It Comin' Love           3:55          1977

Marillion

                  Childhoods End?                4:33          1985

                  White Feather                         2:25          1985

New Radicals (90’s pop)

                  You get what you give        5:02          1993       

Newsboys (almost too catchy Christian rock)

                  In the Belly of the Whale          3:05           2002

The Ocean Blue (90’s British upbeat pop)

                  Peace Of Mind                       3:01          1993

                  Bliss Is Unaware                    2:24          1993

                  Mercury                             4:13          1991

Poi Dog Pondering

                  Everybody's Trying               5:03          1990

                  Big Walk                                    4:48          1990

Roddy Frame

                  Bigger Brighter Better         3:27          1998

Steven Curtis Chapman (contemporary Christian rock)

                  Dive                                             3:59          1999

Talk Talk                 

                  Happiness Is Easy                         6:31          1986

Talking Heads

                  Air                                                3:34          1979

Tears For Fears (80’s alternative rock)

                  Everybody Wants to Rule the World 4:12      1983

Todd Agnew (Christian rock)

                  Grace Like Rain                     4:22          2005

Todd Rundgren

                  Courage                                                      3:44          2008

Ultravox                  

                  Reap the Wild Wind                    3:50          1982

                  The Song (We Go)                3:31          1982

Utopia  

                  Say Yeah                                   3:04          1982

Was (Not Was)

                  I Feel Better Than James Brown       4:45          1990

                  Walk The Dinosaur                                                  4:22          1988

Will Powers (self-help dance music; weird but strangely effective)

                  Smile                                                            6:28          2004

The Woodentops (80’s rockabilly on steroids)

                  They Can Say What They Want         4:15          1988

XTC

                  Jason and the Argonauts                    6:09          1982

                  Garden Of Earthly Delights               5:03          1989

                  The Mayor of Simpleton                     3:58          1989

                  We're All Light                                         4:39          2000

The fourth group may be a surprise: Floating on Clouds.  These are songs that don’t fall within that 90-180 BPM realm.  Many of them are at the halfway mark of 45 BPM, but most have no discernable beat at all.  This kind of music doesn’t so much propel you as it does lighten you.  Because of the songs’ ethereal nature, you’re likely to lose yourself in them, and (hopefully) forget any pains or troubles as they carry you into the clouds.  Slow music for running?  Yeah, try it.  It works!  (Just don’t run in traffic while listening to these):

Acoustic Alchemy

                  Lullaby for the First Born         3:36          1991

Alaska & Halloween (see Talk Talk)

                  After the Flood                      5:34          2012

Andreas Vollenweider (yeah, harp music)

                  World Inside a Grain of Sand          5:15          2009

                  Still Life                                                                        5:38          1989

                  Moon Dance                                             4:11          1986

                  The Secret, The Candle And Love  3:44          1986

Bruce Springsteen

                  Streets of Philadelphia              3:17          1994

David Hykes (meditative voice music)

                  Anything from Harmonic Meetings, or before 2000

Franco Battiato (gravelly voiced, soaring music)

              Anything from Shadow, Light

Howard Jones      (yeah, that uber-positive guy from the 80’s)

                  Hide And Seek                       5:39          1984

Loscil     (ambient music)

                  Diable Marin                          4:15          2002

Luca Carboni

                  La Nostra Storia                    4:52          2001

Luis Bacalov (orchestral composer)

                  I Suoni Dell' Isola (& others from the Il Postino soundtrack)

Michael Manring

                  You Offered Only Parabolas             6:13          1994

Pino Daniele (haunting elements of a cappella)

                  Africa A Africa E                              5:55          2001

                  Arriverà L'Aurora                            2:31          2004

Riley Lee/Gabriel Lee (Japanese meditation music)

                  Anything from Satori.

Sufjan Stevens:

                  Vito's Ordination Song                       7:07          2003

                  Oh God Where Are You Now?                   9:24          2003

The Sugarplastic (90’s quirky alternative mellow punk)

                  Soft Jingo                                                   5:27          1996

Suzanne Vega

                  Medley: Ironbound/Fancy Poultry                   6:19          1987

Talk Talk

                  Time It's Time                         8:11          1986

                  New Grass                               9:40          1991

Tears For Fears

                  Famous Last Words             4:31          1989

Thomas Dolby (yes, the guy who did those kooky songs)        

                  The Flat Earth                         6:40          1985

'Til Tuesday

                  Coming Up Close                 4:44          1986

Todd Rundgren (meditative)

                  Healing, Pt. 1                          7:32          1981

                  Healing, Pt. 2                          7:51          1981

XTC

                  Chalkhills And Children           5:00          1989

Now, while I don’t consider this list to be in any way complete, my hope is that there might be something useful to many of you.  I can’t even say that’s a definitive list, only my favorites right now in 2014.  But there is one thing I can say for this collection: it’s not full of everything you’ve heard before.  So, take a chance.  Let the music lift you up, and, as always, have fun!

           If you’re like me, you want to know as much about running now as you can, because you’ve reached a point where PR’s no longer mean beating your best time by a minute.  Now it’s more like three seconds.  And, for that matter, your PR’s are coming few and far between.  Maybe you even confronted that existential moment when you considered why you keep running if you aren’t even getting consistently better any more.  But then you decided that running wasn’t just about PR’s, but about the sense of satisfaction you get from completing a difficult run, or the camaraderie of sharing the running experience with old and/or newfound friends.

            But you still feel like there’s room inside you for improvement.  But how to achieve that improvement is the big question.

            Yes, you’ve gone to those speed sessions at the track with the rest of the club on Tuesdays.  And they’ve helped.  Those weekend runs with the team have helped motivate you through the cold winter months, as well.

            But what about all those, you know, scientific things?  Maybe it’s time to consider that you can get more from your body if you actually buy shoes because of how they work biomechanically for you instead of the fact that they’re a kick-ass design and you’ve always loved the color orange.  And maybe you shouldn’t do a long run without any water or nutritional supplement.

            That’s where I want to go today.

            Gels and chews and drinks are almost certainly unnecessary to most of you who are running no more than 5k’s, and you might not ever need them for a 10k, either.  I’m no scientist (and truth be told, the only A I ever received for a science course in my life was a college Acoustics course), but from what I’ve researched, the body only starts depleting its stores of glycogen (that sugary-carbohydratey-type-substance that your muscles need as fuel) after about an hour of intense activity.  So, somewhere along the way there, when your muscles deplete that, they’ll start to use up whatever else they can find as fuel, including consuming themselves.  Any of you who have hit “The Wall” know what it’s like when your body has exhausted everything it can find as fuel.

            That’s where these supplement things come in.

            Now, I’d like to say I’ve tried them all, and have definitive evidence that one or the other is The Thing That Will Shave 10% Off Your PR and Make You Feel Invincible, but none of that is true.  I have, however, tried many flavors of almost every brand, and can give you SOME insight.  You’ll have to settle for that.

Category One: Bars

            The most important thing you need to know about this, and anything you put into your body, for that matter, is you have to read the label for yourself!  The problem for us newbies to Running Science is we don’t know what we’re looking for.  In bars, gels and drinks, the one thing you must always seek is The Almighty Carbohydrate.  Despite what the current dietetic trends say, as a runner, you must understand the following four-letter-word equation: CARB=GOOD.  There’s more to it than that, but we’ll get to that later.

            The second ingredient to check for in the nutritional allowance is protein.  While protein is good for building muscle, in no way is any runner building muscle when he/she runs.  Furthermore, protein takes a long time to digest and may cause gastro-intenstinal distress.  I learned this firsthand when I tried using Snickers bars (yes, I’m serious) halfway through some long runs.  Peanuts, I discovered, were kind of like gastroliths (any dinosaur fans out there?), tearing away at my stomach as I churned through the last six miles.  When I switched to Milky Ways, I had no such problems.

            The third item, and potentially most deadly is: Fiber.  Unless you enjoy stopping at each and every port-a-potty on a course, I advise you to avoid eating anything that has fiber in it!  As Forrest Gump used to say, “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

            Recommendation: Milky Way bars, but only at the end of longer runs, and only if you can’t stomach gels and chews.  The purportedly “nutritional” bars almost all have protein or fiber.  That’s for weightlifters, not runners.

Category Two: Drinks

            You know these.  Gatorade, Vitamin Water, etc.  Almost all of the choices available correctly identify carbohydrates as the necessary component.  Some are sweeter than others, most have sodium to restore the salt that we will inevitably sweat out of us during our runs.  I’m not going to tell you what flavor to use.  That’s entirely a personal choice.

            The pet peeve I do have is with these increasingly ubiquitous sweeteners that aren’t sugar.  Unfortunately, the U.S. government has decided to classify sucralose as a natural sweetener, and foods with the stuff in them don’t even have to list it as such.  In this case, you not only have to read the labels, but you have to interpret what it might mean.  Sugars (whether sucrose, glucose or fructose) and corn syrup will likely be listed as such.  If, however, you see the following wonderful phrase: “natural sweetener,” you are likely looking at sucralose (the ingredient in Splenda).  Okay, aside from the fact that I’m a bit of a nutritional snob here (I like organic milk and eggs, wild fish and non-antibiotic meats), I personally hate the taste of sucralose, find that its aftertaste lingers more than sugars, and frankly, just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean it isn’t bad for you.  I say stay away from the stuff.

            Recommendation: anything that doesn’t have NutriSweet or sucralose.  Sugar is not the enemy.

Category Three: Gels and Chews

            Alright, so here’s when things get complicated…

            I envy those of you who don’t need to augment your long runs with some kind of carbohydrate supplement.  Of course, the most commonly imbibed form of these things is the dreaded “gel.”  (I actually have to suppress my gag reflex to write that word.)  Okay, and I know some of you can actually ingest those things without a problem.  But I bet you’re also the type of people who have no problem with the taste of diet sodas and Twinkies, either, eh?

            For the rest of us, gels are a necessary evil.  Yes, we’ve tried running our half marathons without the aid of the “energy kick” of gels, and it just didn’t work.  The wall hit, and it hit hard.

            But did you know that all gels were not created equal?  Now, I don’t claim to corner the market on gel technology, but I’m still paying off credit card bills for gel purchases from 2012, so I think I have done enough research, with my eyes, with my taste buds and with my wallet to feel like I can offer the rest of us middle-of-the-packers some insight.  Maybe it’ll save you a few dollars.

            First, we start with calories.  Like carbohydrates, calories are also GOOD!  The word calorie comes from Latin, and actually refers to heat, so when we athletes say we are “stoking the fire” with food, it’s a fairly literal statement.  There is, of yet, no low-calorie energy supplement besides caffeine, and though caffeine is effective, it is an addictive drug.  (Don’t believe me?  Try going without for a day without your morning mugs of Starbucks and see how you enjoy your afternoon headache.)  Besides, caffeine primarily aids in your brain’s perception of tiredness, without providing you with any of the actual calories that your muscles require to perform optimally.  In other words, those five hours of energy are a way of depleting your body without your body recognizing it.  When your hamstring pops or your Achilles aches for months on end, maybe you should wonder about the intelligence of depriving your body rather than fueling it.  (Did I scare you? Good. Stop with the peppy-zippy stuff!)

            Of course, I’m not one to say that all caffeine is bad.  Okay, maybe it is.  But I’d be a hypocrite to say it, because I’m a big morning coffee drinker, myself.  As such, it’s actually important for me to not cut back on caffeine on race day.  Half the gels or chews I choose have caffeine in them, and I’ve found that my body (or is it my mind?) responds a little better to the caffeine, especially in the second half of a half or full marathon.  If you’re not a coffee drinker (tea doesn’t count, by the way, because caffeine is delivered in tea much gentler and more gradually), you shouldn’t be adding caffeine to your regimen unless you’ve tried it during long runs and have found it gives you the mental clarity and euphoria that is sometimes connected to caffeine use.

            But let’s get back to the muscles, shall we?  Your muscles, like nine-year-old boys, are particularly fond of sugars, because during activity they are regularly depleted of glycogen (think glucose).

            And now we’re getting close to the topic of carbs.  You see, most carbs are converted into sugars, but at different rates, and in different measures.  Here’s where it gets scientific.  If you examine the nutritional information on a pack of gel or chews, you are generally looking for as many calories as you can, and as many carbs as possible.  Yes, really!

            Most athletes seem to know that carbohydrates in general are what give you the energy kick for an event.  What many don’t realize is that all carbohydrates are not created equal.  What you really want are “the right kind” of carbs.  If you look at the nutritional information on any supplement, carbohydrates are divided into two subcategories: sugars and dietary fiber.  You’re left to do the math in your analysis of a gel.  Dietary fiber is not the right kind.  We’ve already mentioned the hazards of too much fiber before a run.  Well, then, the only other item listed on your traditional nutrition label is  “sugars.”  Sugars are good for the muscles, make no mistake about that.  They are processed quickly by the stomach, and are turned into glycogen by the muscles quickly, as well.  However, just like they are processed quickly, they are used up quickly.  Hence, there is the “crash” that is often associated with gels (and with Milky Way and Snickers bars, too, which is why I only use them at the end of my runs).

            The same crash can occur with honey-based supplements.  If you’re part bear like me, you love honey, especially exotic Italian honeys like Buckwheat honey and eucalyptus honey.  Well, you need to go no further than Honey Stingers.  I find them excessively sweet, but I find almost every gel excessively sweet.  The danger in the Honey Stingers is that the recipe contains more sugars than other gel brands.  What’s the problem with that?  Well, here’s where it gets a little complicated.

            Science Warning: the following paragraphs contain detailed scientific analysis.  Let’s start with the dietary fiber.

            Products like Honey Stingers, while natural tasting and really quite enjoyable experiences, are almost entirely sugars.  Translate: big boost, big crash.  Even if you replenish regularly and quickly, you are likely to experience very large fluctuations in your energy levels over the course of a long run, as your body accepts then exhausts these sugars.

            Ultimately, it’s the “other” category of carbohydrates (the one that’s usually not listed) that is essential to sustaining energy levels from a gel.  So, let’s take two products, say a GU Energy Gel, cherry flavor, and a PowerBar gel, cherry flavor.

            Both give you 100 calories of fire for the furnace.

            Both offer 25 grams of carbohydrates.

            Where PowerBar gives you 20 of them in the form of “Sugars,” for a quick boost, GU only provides 5 grams of “Sugars.”

            Now you have to do the math (Yes, really). 

            Okay, I’ll help you.  I’ve got a calculator right next to me.  For GU, we start with 25 grams of total carbs minus 5 grams of sugars.  That means the fine folks at GU give us 20 grams of non-sugar carbs.  Those carbs are processed somewhat slower than sugars, but also last longer before being depleted in the muscles.  The PowerBar people have given us a quicker boost by making 20 of its 25 grams of carbs in sugar form, but your Pep graph would be much steeper, and you’d likely feel noticeably revitalized for three or four minutes before returning to exhaustion.

            This is the essential science behind most runners’ preference for the GU brand.  They do not seem to offer the same kick to runners that Honey Stingers or PowerBar, but also do not leave the runner with as much of a crash.  The Hammer Brand, by the way, offers a similar carb profile to the GU.  While slightly more “dietetic,” at 80 calories, it provides 21 grams of carbs, and only TWO grams of sugars.  I’ve only used these a few times, but so far I’ve been pleased.  All the other brands fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between GU and Hammer on one side and HoneyStingers and PowerBar on the other.

            Chews seem to follow the same paths, with GU having less sugars than most, but it’s important to note that almost all chews have a higher sugar quotient than the equivalent gels.  If you haven’t tried these delightful confections, you might want to experiment.  I remember the first time I tried GU chomps.  They were given out at the 2011 Superhero half marathon, and I figured, “What the heck.  Why not try it out?”  I was only running the race to keep my friend Alex Heredia company.  Well, I opened the pack (which was a bit of a chore, I might add), and threw two in my mouth.

            I chewed.

            I chewed.

            I chewed.

            A half-mile later, I was still chewing.

            At the next water stop, I was still chewing.

            A mile and a half after putting the things in my mouth, they finally dissolved in my cheek.  Whew.

            Now, this might have been a blessing, or a curse.  On the one hand, I was getting a bit annoyed by my inability to get these gelatinous chew-toys down my gullet.  On the other hand, for the entire 1.5 miles, I was solely focused on my chewing, and ran my best splits of the morning.

            You can decide for yourself if the experience is a worthwhile one for you.  Truth be told, I’ve learned how to run and chew at the same time, and sometimes will take the gummy-bear-chew route when I just can’t stomach another gel.

            Recommendations: GU and Hammer Gels.  GU Chomps.

            What? You wanted me to discuss flavors, too?!  No way.  Oh, yes, I’ve tried almost all of GU’s and Hammer’s and PowerBars and one or two other brands.  I think most of the gels are fairly inedible and disgusting.  But in talking with most of you good folks, I’ve found flavor is entirely preferencial.  Chocolate lovers choose the chocolate and coffee flavors, though for me I’ve found they all leave a thick, chalky aftertaste in my mouth that I don’t enjoy.  The very nature of gels, by the way, is cloying sweetness, so don’t expect anything less than a gulp of gooey paste.  For my money, the tarter ones are the least unbearable, so lemon and lime and cranberry flavors go down less miserably than all the others.  I did, however, find a rare, seasonal release from the good GU people, called Peppermint Stick.   It only comes out around the holidays and tastes, well, pretty much like a melted candy cane.  Just delightful.  But good luck finding any in North Jersey, because I buy up all the ones I can find and use them throughout the year.  Sorry.

            For any of the above, it’s vitally important that you don’t try them out when you’re going to be far from home, a park, a bathroom… and NEVER use something for a race that you haven’t tried multiple times.  It’s just like wearing new shoes to a race.  You really don’t want to discover anything new about your body on race day.

            Oh, and just in case your brain hasn’t exploded from all the science and math, there’s one more thing to add: you don’t want to combine gel/chomp use with sport drink use.  You see, all those ratios go out the window when you add the sugars from sport drinks to the mix.  It’s more likely to wreak havoc on your belly than your times, but the excess sugar could cause trouble there, too.  I’d like to say there’s a simple formula for dealing with THAT quandary, but there isn’t.  The way I approach it is this: while training, if I’m using a gel or a chew, I won’t use any sport drink, just water.  In a race, I might take a sport drink (so long as it’s one that doesn’t have artificial sweeteners or sucralose), but never at a drink station before, during or after I’m imbibing in a gel.  I wouldn’t want to spoil the lovely taste of concentrated carbohydrates!

            Here’s how I’d rank the most popular gels, based upon personal efficacy, with a little bit of attention to general taste and composition:

            GU Roctane

            GU Energy Gel

            Hammer Gel

            Clif Shot

            Honey Stinger

            CarbBoom!

            PowerBar Gel

            Accel Gel

            Now that’s only for pre- and during-running nutrition.  After running is a whole different story, but we can save that one for another time.  I think that was complicated enough for one month.  But isn’t that what being a MoP-head is all about: making ourselves crazy trying to get an extra second out of our bodies?

You know you’re a MoP-head if:

• You understand what the word biomechanically means.

• If someone asked you to define the word biomechanically, you’d say, “Er, um, well, it has something to do with, um, the way your body works, but, um—oh, go ask Tom Allen.  He can explain it!”

• You buy your shoes at a running shoe store.

• You actually know more than one running shoe store.

• You try on at least three pair of shoes every time you go to the running store.

• When you enter your favorite running store, you’re sure you hear the salesperson say, “Oh, damn, not him again.”

• You ran a race, or trained on any of the following days: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day.

• You try really hard to understand science even though you were always a C student in science, because you really want to be a better runner.

Just finished The Hunger Games trilogy (or watching the films?) and suffering from withdrawal?  Proxy should be next on your list.

Plot-wise and stylistically, it’s nothing like Suzanne Collins’ series, but the technocratic, classist world created in Proxy will be familiar ground for those who loved The Hunger Games.  Similar themes of friendship and betrayal and social awakening amid a whirlwind of violent escapes and pursuits also pervade Proxy.  But I don’t want to misstate myself here, either.  This is no easy reconsideration of Collins, and there are few similarities otherwise.  But it will (or at least SHOULD) make you think about a wide variety of things like loyalty, friendship, values, societal norms, governmental power, the role of technology in our lives, and more!

I admire writers like London and Collins for their ability to create complex futuristic worlds that hold little in common with ours.  Too often, however, sci-fi and/or dystopian writers are so focused on the creation of such worlds that I find myself disconnected from the story.  I can’t tell you how many such books I have put down because they’re just so hard for me to read.  Yes, I admit it, and I suspect that other reluctant readers do the same thing.  They want to be brought into a world, not work hard taking notes to try to make sense of it.

London avoids that predicament by presenting a lightning-fast, heart-stopping opening and keeps the foot on the accelerator through much of the novel.  That’s always the challenging part in these kind of books—how to teach your reader about this society without a) boring the reader and/or b) overwhelming him/her with complicated details.  London allows the reader to hang on by moving the plot quickly along even when the reader isn’t completely indoctrinated into the setting.  It’s that willing suspension of disbelief thing that your English teachers taught you about, and London is very good at navigating the line between showing what’s happening and revealing why the characters are doing what they’re doing.  As a reader, you follow along, appreciating what’s happening and telling yourself, “Okay, I don’t exactly understand it all, but I trust the writer will reveal it to me in time.”  London does not disappoint.

Oh, I haven’t told you what the book is actually about?  Well, you know I don’t really do that here.  I just provide the recommendations and tell you whether it’s worth your time.  Your dedication to this one will pay off.  In fact, I would say, more than any book I have read in years, the story grows increasingly more compelling as it proceeds, and you read it faster and faster, unable to put the book down, right up to the eye-opening (for the characters as well as the reader!) conclusion.

What's that?  You still want some plot explanation?  Okay, fine:

Knox is a teenager in a not-too-distant American future, a rich dude who has spent much of his life acting out against his father for reasons we don’t yet know.  You won’t like him at first (probably).  In fact, you probably won’t like him for most of the novel, and while it’s hard to read a novel about a spoiled kid you don’t like, that is quickly redeemed by his proxy, Syd.  Proxy?  Well, it’s complicated, but think of it this way: Whenever Knox does something wrong and/or illegal, Syd is punished, often violently and always cruelly.  All the rich kids have one; it’s just the way things are.  Syd is everything Knox isn’t, including likeable, and it’s for him you read the story at first.  When the boys are brought together and set on a mutual escape plan, London remarkably allows you to appreciate Knox more and more even as you’re recognizing that Syd isn’t the perfect human that lesser writers would have made him out to be.  They spend the last half of the novel with a third, female co-protagonist who I won’t tell you much about because it would spoil one of the book’s many surprises.  But she provides a fulcrum for the seemingly polar opposite boys, and helps them slide toward each other.  She also helps flesh out a little sexual tension (many readers can’t bear to read a book devoid of romance).

What?  It still doesn’t sound like The Hunger Games to you?  Well, sure it does.  There are varying arenas for violent struggles between the kids and their various pursuers.  The technocratic society is nearly absolute in its power over the people.  And the resistance groups are not often the idealistic saviors they’re made out to be.  Ultimately, Proxy teaches the lesson that the only people you can trust are your friends, and your friends are never adults.  What kid doesn’t like the message that the hope for the future is in the hands of his/her own generation?

In a recent study posted in The Wall Street Journal, male and female marathon runners were shown to run quite differently.  That is, women finishers were distributed fairly evenly across the spectrum of time.

"Male finishers, however, tended to bunch around whole-number times such as four hours. This suggests that their primary focus is finishing under a particular time, rather than running their all-out best."

This is fascinating. In many studies men have proven to be more goal-oriented in general. I know I usually shoot for a particular time in my races, and if it becomes clear I'm not going to make it, I usually lose a LOT of my incentive, and drop off the pace. If I'm on pace, it gives me the inspiration to push harder.

While the last sentence of the article states that women might run too conservatively and not strive to reach goals at all, I'm not sure that estimation is fair. Perhaps women in general just consistently push to do their best regardless of time? In that way, it might be a "purer" running intention than men's aims.  Of course, the more we make a dialectic out of these things (black/white; this/that; men/women), the more danger there is in oversimplification.  But there IS something to be said for the data.

Ultimately, the important thing to recognize here is there is a difference, and that maybe we could all learn from each other.  

 There are differences between everyone's learning style, and boys ARE "treated like defective girls." It's a shame that, in general, we hold ONE style of behavior up as the gold standard and ask ALL children to behave that way. It creates the myth of "bad boys" and "good little girls," and I'm not sure either one is a good thing. Let's find a way to acknowledge everyone's differences and allow for creative boys and boys, each of which we find hard to define because they are so amazingly wonderfully complex...

Yeah, those little energy drink shots?  A very bad idea.  Don't buy them.  Don't use them.

A couple thoughts on energy/carb gels for long distance running...

1) MOST of them are truly awful, barely palatable.  The more you indulge in them, the more nauseated you grow.  Unless you're good at suppressing your gag reflex.

2) I was very excited to discover the Peppermint Stick flavor that GU released for the holidays.  It was quite palatable.  A nice Christmas present!  Now I have to search online for leftover boxes, so I can stock up for the year.

3) The honey-based ones?  WOW, ARE THEY SWEET!  I'll give it another shot, maybe on the road, but as a pre-running gel, it took quite some time for me to get it down!

4) NEVER use a gel if you're running less than a half-hour.  It's just not necessary, and can get your body in the very bad habit of feeling it needs something when it really doesn't.

Just saw a new list of books for reluctant readers, by one of the otherwise respected literacy organizations of America.  I have to say, it's got me upset.

They should really call it "More Books that Adults Think Kids Should Read, with No Concern for What Kids Really Care About and No Understanding of Why There Are Reluctant Readers in the First Place."

Okay, maybe that was a little harsh.  I know the intention was good, but there's an inherent problem with consensus lists of any kind.  When it comes to books for reluctant readers, the problem is magnified.

You see, when you ask ten, or a hundred, or a thousand people who LOVE books to create a list for people who DON'T love books, you get increasingly further away from the goal.  You get a list, my friends, of reading-lovers' favorite books for people who love reading.

I'd much rather see 100 individual lists than one; so would reluctant readers and their parents and teachers.  Then they could find that one reader whose sensibilities are similar to their own and go crazy from that list.  That's where my hope for my lists lies...in reaching those individuals with whom I share the same sensibilities...

We're looking to help each other as Individuals, folks.  Keep that in mind.