All NIck Belardes All the Time! (plus some Tolkien!)

Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can't Live Without - Nick Belardes

Genre: "Reference," but, please -- it's a trivia book.

While there are more books of weird facts, quirky stories, and mind-bending figures than there are dimples on a golf ball, Nick Belardes’ Random Obsessions leaves the rest of the trivia book genre looking puny and sophomoric by comparison. Divided into eight chapters covering such themes as weird scientific anomalies, freakish illnesses, the strangest jobs ever, and assorted tales of films, authors, inventions, and artists, the sections read more like an amusing free-association Mensa exercise than a run-of-the-mill book of random information.

 

Take Chapter 6: Eccentric Authors and Fantastic Art. A typical trivia book would list interesting factoids under clearly defined, encyclopedia-boring headings. Not Random Obsessions. The chapter starts with information about expatriate writer V.S. Naipaul, leaps to random expatriation facts, moves on to J.R.R. Tolkein, then on to info about famous art depicting war. Each chapter follows this setup: leaping from one topic to another, related, if off-beat topic, to still another. The entire book is like an intellectual and oddly fascinating playground. Goody, goody.

 

What to drink while reading Random Obsessions: I'd suggest a festive, yet sophisticated, cocktail for this one. My choice would be a Gimlet. As Julie Powell of Julie and Julia fame (and soon to be released bookish movie) says, Gimlets are "exquisitely civilized and not at all girly." Well said, ma'am. Although the traditional Gimlet recipe is about 2 oz. gin, 1/2 oz. Rose's lime juice, and 1/4 to 1/2 oz. simple syrup, that's sissy stuff, in my opinion. I'm with Terry Lennox from Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye when he tells Philip Marlowe that, "a real Gimlet is half gin and half Rose's Lime Juice and nothing else." Get thee behind me, simple syrup.

 

Verdict?: This is one trivia book that won't be relegated to Bathroom Status.

 

Just Keep Putting One Foot in Front of the Other

A book came out today that means a lot to me- Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can't Live Without. It is by Nick Belardes, a brilliant fellow if ever there was. Just looking at the quirky, colorful cover makes me smile and remember how I met "The PT Barnum of Bakersfield."

It was nearly two years ago and I was in a bad state. My long-term boyfriend had finally succumbed to the cancer he had been fighting. I was in a fog, very numb and sort of sleepwalking. I had committed to speaking at a Writers Conference and, while it seems pretty unimaginable that  I would be able to even talk, let alone form full sentences, I did like the idea of being at a beautiful retreat lodge at Yosemite. I felt it might be healing if  I could just get through my obligations and then walk in the woods and be with nature in one of the most beautiful places in the world. The gracious organizers offered me an out but I said I thought I could certainly meet with writers and offer basic publishing wisdom. Looking back , it seems kinda crazy even to me but I held onto my "chop wood, carry water," notion that small tasks could distract me, keep me busy, and keep me out of the fetal position I resumed when alone.

 I took the train to Fresno and cried the entire way. I was reading "The Other Boleyn Sister" and I could get through a few pages, place the book in my lap, sob for a time, repeat.  I had planned to nap but I was a bit worried that I had made a HUGE mistake in attending the conference and was going to embarrass myself and make people uncomfortable with the mess I regularly dissolved into.

Upon arriving at Fresno Amtrak, I was picked up by the lovely Hazel Dixon Cooper, author of "Born on a Rotten Day"and Cosmo's Bedside Astrologer.  She was a dear and had a good stock of tissues for me and snacks for the road. We then met literary agent June Clark and climbed into a limo that swept us away enroute to Yosemite. The limo also had a good stock of liquor of which we availed ourselves heartily. Was I distracted? You bet! We chattered amiably and I noticed I could go AN ENTIRE MINUTE without thinking about Robert's death.

I looked at the beautiful scenery passing by the windows of the stretch limo (soon dubbed "The Boozemobile") and I thought to myself. "This just might work out after all."