Shakespeare's Pub, by Pete Brown

Pete Brown truly understands the appeal of a pub. Not just the camaraderie when sitting on a stool with a beer, but the security blanket aspect they can project in absentia as well. "We take pubs for granted. We think they'll always be there when we need them, unchanging, just how we left them. And if we don't visit them for weeks, months, or years, and we come back and find them changed, we're outraged. If we come back and find them closed, we berate all the other people who should have come here more often and kept them in business." This innate understanding of our relationship colors every word of Shakespeare's Pub for the better.

I enjoy hanging out at my local pub, but I certainly couldn't write over 300 pages about its history. Of course, B. B. Rover's hasn't been around for over six centuries, either. The George Inn at the foot of London Bridge is so old that the actual opening date is lost to the dusty past, but Brown does an entertaining job of sleuthing and maintains that it goes back to at least the 1380s. "If you are writing a history of anything, it makes sense to start that history with the date the damn thing was first built, invented, born or otherwise hurled into existence." He then proceeds to cover the entire history of the inn and southern London through the present day. This time period covers the rise of live theater (Shakespeare's Globe Theater was nearby), popular literature (Dickens used the George as a setting for Little Dorrit), and the entire stagecoach era (the George is the last remaining coaching inn in London). Pop culture references are used throughout (the TARDIS is used as a literary device to occasionally change the time period) and the footnotes often had me in stitches. This is the first of Pete Brown's books I've read but it certainly won't be the last.

First Sentence:

A century and a half, or thereabouts, after the last stagecoach thundered under the arch and out of its yard, the George Inn can be reached easily via the number 149 bus.

Vacation Rental Success, by Joel Rasmussen

I recently started a new job working for HomeAway, a marketplace for the vacation rental industry. Other than staying in a gorgeous rental last year I really don't know much about the business of short term rentals. Asking around the office for books that would help educate me, several people suggested Vacation Rental Success so I picked it up. Turns out the author lives here in Austin as well and is very friendly with HomeAway, mentioning the company several times and having our CEO write the forward. So not too surprising it was recommended, but it was enlightening regardless.

The book is quite readable; I was expecting a dry manual talking about rental agreements, legal documents, and tax ramifications but instead found a thoughtful guide on how to get into the game and become successful. Rasmussen touches on a broad range of topics, but doesn't go into great detail on many of them. Where he lacks in detail, though, he makes up for by mentioning several companies that he uses to run his business, such as HomeAway, FlipKey, VacationRentalDesk.com, CSA Travel Protection, the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center, and (most interesting to me as I'm fascinated by home automation) Nexia Home Intelligence. At just over 100 pages this is a short but sweet introduction to the industry that now employs me. It is clear that I'm not interested in being an owner—Rasmussen makes it clear that to be successful you need to be an extroverted "people person" and that is not me—but I look forward to my next stay as a traveler!

First Sentence:

If you're tossing around the idea of making a go at renting a second property, you might think that money considerations are your top priority.

Night Over Water, by Ken Follett

Set largely aboard the Pan Am Clipper, the legendary aircraft that launched commercial transatlantic service, Night Over Water is a somewhat entertaining, if far-fetched, read. The multiple plots follow the passengers and crew of a flight from the UK to the US immediately after war broke out between England and Nazi Germany, intertwining when they all board and begin interacting with each other. The descriptions of the plane were captivating and it often seems almost another character rather than the setting; as a reasonably frequent overseas traveler the luxury in which people traveled back then is virtually unrecognizable to the state of air transportation today. Of course, having three stops between Southampton and New York taking over 27 hours to make the journey is also hard to imagine today! Unfortunately, the people aren't as compelling; most are shallow caricatures—the lucky thief, the whiny teenager, the English fascist, the forthright engineer, the evil sibling, and so on—and more than one appears in a scene or two and then simply vanishes from the book. The multiple plots vary enough that they hold your interest, though; if it wasn't for the somewhat graphic sex scenes I'd say this was a good novel to give to a younger reader making the switch to adult fiction. While I won't recommend this book to anyone, I won't dissuade anyone from reading it either. Very average, which is disappointing for Follett.

First Sentence:

It was the most romantic plane ever made.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself, by Bill Bryson

The description of I’m a Stranger Here Myself depicts the observations of the author returning to America after 20 years abroad. Considering one good friend was an expatriate for many years and another was born in Europe this seemed a selection aimed right at my book club. While the discussion was lively as always, it largely centered around frustration at the misleading premise.

Bryson is an obviously talented writer, and his style of observational humor gets off to a great start by examining the national pastime. “What is the difference between baseball and cricket? The answer is simple. Both are games of great skill involving balls and bats but with this crucial difference: Baseball is exciting, and when you go home at the end of the day you know who won.” Other winning vignettes look at the legal system—“Allied with the idea that lawsuits are a quick way to a fortune, whether deserved or not, is the interesting and uniquely American notion that no matter what happens, someone else must be responsible.”—and our eating habits: “Obesity is a serious problem in America (well, serious for fat people anyway).” Unfortunately this collection of newspaper columns doesn’t stay on topic.

While subjects such as “Being sprayed by a skunk is absolutely the worst thing that can happen to you that doesn’t bleed or put you in the hospital” are damn funny, there isn’t anything here that relates to the promise of the title. The narrative titled Your New Computer purporting to be the installation instructions for a new PC literally had me laughing out loud. “At each prompt, reconfigure the specified path, double-click on the button launch icon, select a single equation default file from the macro selection register, insert the VGA graphics card in the rear aerofoil, and type "C:\>" followed by the birthdates of all the people you have ever known.” I’m absolutely positive this is what my mother hears when I try and explain how to update her virus software! Again, though, while amusing it has nothing to do with how America has changed over the past few decades or how it differs with other parts of the world. I think I’d have thoroughly enjoyed this book if the publisher had written the blurb differently. Disappointing.

I did violate one of Bryson’s Rules for Living though: “27. All reviews of the author’s work will, with immediate effect, be submitted to the author for correction and helpful revision before publication.” Oops.

First Sentence:

I once joked in a book that there are three things you cant do in life.

Plane Insanity, by Elliott Hester

I’m beginning to think that degreed writers are a dying breed. This is yet another book that is mainly a collection of previously published anecdotes, and another winner. Written by a former flight attendant, the tales of the friendly skies presented here are both outrageous and hilarious. I read this on an airplane and apparently my laughter caught the attention of a flight attendant. She came over and told me that not only had she read it, but it was all true!

Hard to pick my favorite story, but Pass the Defibrillator Please is certainly one of them. Starting with a medical emergency, moving on to a fight between a flight attendant and a passenger, and ending with an lynch mob at an international airport—all during the same flight. The Passenger from Hell is another great one: a drunk traveler gets increasingly more out-of-control, resulting with him being met by an army of cops at DFW; a further twist on this one makes it nearly worthy of O. Henry. Between the longer, first-person anecdotes there are newswire reports about funny flight mishaps, with titles such as “NWA fires pilot who delayed flight when he didn’t like the meal,” “Growling woman tied to seat, ” and the priceless “Malaysia Airlines steward sentenced for biting off colleague’s ear.”

If you are looking for light entertainment to read while flying somewhere, pick this one up. You probably won’t be looking at your flight attendants in the same way by the end!

First Sentence:

Speed and altitude notwithstanding, flying in a commercial jet is not much different than riding in a Greyhound bus.