Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Dewey & Born Standing Up



Two books I finished just lately are "Dewey: the small town cat who touched the world" by Vicki Myron, and "Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin.
Let's start with "Dewey"; this book appealed to me because its about a cat that lives at the library and it is written by the library director (since retired). Because I'm a cat lover and it is set in the library, I could really relate to this true-life story. Maybe those who don't work at a library wouldn't find it as appealing. Of all the things dropped down a book drop, a kitten would be the most unique, I think. Deciding to let the kitten live at the library isn't an easy decision. Many people don't like cats or are allergic and who will feed the cat, clean the litter box, and take care of it during vacation... You have to have one special cat who likes people. The library where Dewey lived was in Spencer, Iowa and both the town and the library seemed a lot like our library and city. Dewey came to the library in 1988 and lived there for 19 years.



"Born Standing Up" I saw on the New York Times best seller list and wondered what was so special about it. I saw the book on cd was only 4 cd's long so I thought I'd listen to it. I've really haven't been that crazy Steve Martin's comedy. I've liked the movies he's been in, but sometimes he's just too off the wall for me. The book is read by Steve and that makes it more personable, you feel that he's telling you face to face. I especially liked listening to him read about his younger life when he was still living at home. Disneyland was just a bike-ride down the road and he got a job there when he was only 10. As a baby-boomer, I could remember a lot of the things he talked about growing up. He doesn't go into much of his personal life, a bit about his relationship with his sister and his parents, a mention of girlfriends, a wife but nothing detailed there. He does talk a lot about what it took for him to be a comedian and how he worked out his routines trying always to do original work. If you want to be a standup comic, it would pay to read this book - it isn't an easy life. I hadn't realized that he no longer does standup - he switched to a movie career which can be more permanent and he quit standup completely.

No comments: