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Issue #200: The Best of the Best
By
Published: Jan 01, 2005
Category:
Beyond Classification
Issue #200: The Best of the Best
I’ll spare you how the baby looked the first time I saw her. Or the Grateful Dead cliches about the long strange trip. Or even the fond hopes I have for the future, which will have some moaning ‘I liked that Butler much better when he was all mine’ and will have others saying ‘I knew that boy was destined for glory.’
But I will thank you for showing up. And telling friends. And talking back.
Butler may look like an ego trip to some, but it sounds like a conversation to me — a community of virtual friends who come back because they get (and give) what they need. That’s why, when I thought I’d take this day to showcase the Best Stuff published here, I realized I ought to start with Your Favorites. Because what you like has shaped what I write about. And because what you like tells a riveting story.
Judging from your letters and Amazon purchases, you are busy people with two overriding needs: helpful information and spiritual wisdom. I hear you. I’ll lean into those categories more in the future. For those of you who like eccentric books, movies and music — fear not, my ‘to-do’ list in those areas is long.
Here, in order of popularity, are the HeadButler.com selections you liked best:
The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do — Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times, tells you not to save old newspapers. Frederic Fekkai advises that you don’t use the same shampoo every day. Donald Trump has smart advice about negotiation. Larry King shows you how to listen — really listen. And 96 more.
Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer’s Guide to Getting It Right — Can you begin a sentence with “and”? Bryson: “The belief that ‘and’ should not be used to begin a sentence is without foundation. And that’s all there is to it.” More: You cannot be married and celibate. If you are married and don’t have sex, you’re chaste. More: A boat sailing “nine knots an hour” — do you know what’s wrong with that? “Imply” and “infer” — but you know the difference, yes? “Sentences that begin with ‘it’ are almost always worth a second look” — can you guess why? There’s lots more. And most of it is not only fun to read, it sharpens your sense of good writing and speech — this book literally wakes you up.
Oldman’s Guide To Outsmarting Wine — As wine experts go, Mark Oldman is just a kid, and that’s a good thing. He started a wine club at Stanford University in 1990, where he and his friends sampled California wines. Later, he escaped to New York, where he taught classes in wine appreciation and drank widely from a broader selection. He’s under no one’s spell. He writes like a person who has not been indoctrinated in the cult of wine. And, in addition to having great taste, he has figured out a way to teach you about wine that is simple, logical and painless. Finally, he has a nose for a bargain — learn his simple lessons and you will never be fleeced by a waiter or wine merchant again.
The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need — Andrew Tobias is different from most writers who give financial advice — he is more concerned with what’s true than what’s pleasant. There are hundreds of people who will tell you how easy it is to amass a fortune in real estate, with no money down. They don’t demand discipline. Or sacrifice. To them, the world is a giant sundae, with a cherry on top. There it is — pluck it! None of the easy path for Tobias. His precepts are clear. And simple. (Just hard to follow.) 1) Live below your means. 2) Save 10% of every dollar you earn. 3) Invest in the stock market via index funds. 4) Stay the course.
Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences — Barbara Holland’s ideal breakfast: “A glass of cold champagne and a perfectly ripe pear, perhaps with a spoonful of caviar eaten straight from the jar.” Clothes for men, she feels, would be improved by the return of “lace cuffs and velvet breeches.” Cigarettes after sex say “I am here” and “So am I.” How can you justify a nap? “A perfectly healthy cat can nap through the entire month of February and wake up feeling better for it.” Don’t drink only at home: “A good bar is a great joy in life and a fine place to be after the day’s work.” Restaurants? “Expensive and worth every penny.” One of the “great unsung pleasures” is…Sunday-morning sex. Sports rule — because they’re fair.
A Month of Sundays: Searching for the Spirit and My Sister — Shirley Kress Carter, born in 1937, died as Christmas ended in 2000. Shirley was a mother of six, a professional caregiver, a resident of that northernmost patch of Vermont that qualifies almost every resident to call herself a hermit. Women like this often pass through the world unnoticed. It is not surprising, therefore, that one of her sisters, bowed by grief, would attempt to lift her up — to pump importance into her life — in a memoir that celebrates the holiness of an unheralded existence.
Anam Cara : A Book of Celtic Wisdom — “It is strange to be here. The mystery never leaves you alone. Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world. Through the opening of the mouth, we bring out sounds from the mountain beneath the soul. These sounds are words. The world is full of words. There are so many talking all the time, loudly, in rooms, on streets, on television, on radio, in the paper, in books. The noise of words keeps what we call the world there for us. We take each other’s sounds and make patterns, predictions, benedictions, and blasphemies. Each day, our tribe of language holds what we call the world together. Yet the uttering of the word reveals how each of us relentlessly creates. Everyone is an artist. Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become visible.”
And now, some random favorites of mine:
The Queen’s Gambit — Beth Harmon, an eight-year-old orphan named Beth Harmon, turns out to be the Mozart of chess. Which brings her joy (she wins! people notice her!) and misery (she’s alone and unloved and incapable of asking for help). So she gets addicted to pills. She drinks. She loses. And then, as 17-year-old Beth starts pulling herself together, she must face the biggest challenge of all — a match with the world champion, a Russian of scary brilliance. You think: This is thrilling? You think: chess? You think: Must be an “arty” novel, full of interior scenes. Wrong. All wrong. “The Queen’s Gambit” is “Rocky” for smart people.
The Killer Inside Me — This is the story of Lou Ford, deputy sheriff of Central City, Texas (population: 48,000). He’s the kind of dullard you do anything to avoid — he spouts the most inane cliches, he’s Mr. Hearty to one and all, he’s so damn friendly and boring he drives everybody crazy. What nobody gets: He’s really a kind of genius who acts like a dope on purpose. And then, when no one is looking, he’s a serial killer who’s kinky as hell.
Essential Writings of Thich Nhat Hanh — "This body is not me. I am much more than this body. The space of 50 or 60 or 70 years is not my lifespan. It is not true that I did not exist before I was born. It is not true that I will no longer exist after the disintegration of this body. My ground of being is the reality of no birth, no death. No coming, no going. It is like water is the ground of being of a wave. The wave might be afraid of being or non-being. But if she knows that she is water, she will lose all her fear. Nothing is born…nothing dies. Birth and death cannot really touch us. If you know that, you will be able to enjoy every second of your daily life — even if you are in terminal illness."
A Man and the The Blues — Buddy Guy was Jimi Hendrix before there was a Hendrix; he would pick the guitar with his teeth and play it over his head. (One night Hendrix came, stood in the front row and taped Guy’s performance so he could go to school on it.) At the same time, Buddy Guy was Clapton before there was a Clapton. In fact, the young British bluesman got the idea for Cream as a power trio from Buddy Guy. And as for Cream’s music, well…. “You know that Cream tune,
