The Art of Racing in the Rain • Garth Stein

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is the first of two books that I very recently finished, but before the 50 in 2012 project began.  I finished the book recent enough and I liked it enough that I wanted to include a write-up, but it will not count as one of the 50.

The Art of Racing in the Rain caught my eye initially through a newsletter or recommendation on PaperbackSwap.com.  The story is told by Enzo, the faithful and loving, but very old, dog of a semi-professional race car driver.  Like I said Enzo is old and is very close to dying, but this is okay to him as he fully believes that a dog’s next step in the living cycle is to come back as a man, and Enzo desperately longs for thumbs.  He is convinced of this return to the world as a human from documentaries that he watches through the day when his master is at work.

So Enzo narrates the story of his master’s life, Denny, that he has had the privilege to experience.  It is a gut-wrenching story of Denny’s wife getting sick and ultimately dying, of Denny having his only daughter stripped from him by his (possibly well-meaning, but very manipulative) parents-in-law.  The fight to recapture and rebuild what he can of his family, all while juggling work and his other love, racing.   Intermixed though the story are tales of racing, Denny and Enzo’s many hours spent watch racing videos (both of Denny and of professional races), Denny’s wisdom in racing situations and how that same wisdom can translate into real-life situations so easily and appropriately.

This book really hooked me in with so many connections.  The love of dogs, as a father of kids about the same age as Zoë, Denny’s daughter, and the racing wisdom really spoke to an inner me.  I have raced cars, and while a back condition has kept me from the track for several years now, I still hold on to the possibility that I can climb back into my Formula Ford soon.  Garth Stein’s ability to take these track sayings, sayings that I used to hear or even use, and cast them over life itself was remarkable.  I feel that I learned about myself, how my mind operates, through the experiences, example, and thoughts of Denny.  For an author, that I am presuming does not have racing experience, to weave that world into the book in a way that I learn about myself…gifted writing.

Sayings like “No race has even been won in the first corner – but plenty of races have been lost there.”  Showing how being aggressive, launching hard (even showing off) early, or being so wrapped up in the excitement of the start of the event, can yield disastrous results, especially in an endurance race.  Or “Your car goes where your eyes go.”  A truism that is translated to life several times by both Enzo and Denny as, “That which we manifest is before us.”  Even talking about the selfishness of a racer and then seeing those same examples in me.  These are connections that the non-racer may not be as impacted by, and as such, may not have the same love and respect of this story as I have.  I would be interested in other’s thoughts as they read these in the book and if you experience similar understanding or impact.

The other reason that I like this book so much was how Garth Stein was able to take a situation like a dog dying (served up to us on page 2), and then get the reader so wrapped up in the story that when Enzo does actually die, it feels shocking!  It is a tear-jerker that you forget about as you are reading and when it does finally happen, the author is still able to draw out that much emotion from the reader.

When I was reading this book, I immediately wanted to give it to my father.  He had done some racing of various kinds in the past (and with me), and I thought that he would connect in a similar way as I did.  He is also a serious dog-lover, and I thought that the connection to Enzo would be strong.  As I was finishing the book though, one of his dogs died, and suddenly.  I debated actually giving it to him, torn between the thought of pouring orange juice on an open wound or could the book offering some healing and happiness to the situation, as you really end up loving Enzo and I felt that he was going to get what he believed was coming to him.

In the end, I did give him the book, but I am not sure if he has read it (or will).  I can only hope that it offers healing.

Read more...

Changing Directions

I have decided this year to develop an objectives document, similar to the versions begrudgingly written by employees at the beginning of each year, to offer framework and vision to what I want to accomplish (and even to define goals) in 2012.  Noted financial talk show host, Dave Ramsey, frequently talks about the importance of reading and how it can change your life.  He is often heard quoting Charlie Jones, "You are the same today as you'll be in five years except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet."  Taking this to heart, in many of the subsections of my Personal Objective document, I have detailed various books that I want to read to support the section goal.  I have accumulated many books through the trading sites that I use (paperbackswap.com and, to some extent, swap.com) over the past couple years, but they seem to stack up in a tower of things that I romanticize about doing.  To add motivation towards tackling this reading tower and in support of the many books that have appeared in my Personal Objectives document, I have decided to document which books I have read during 2012.  The overall goal of this blog will be to read 50 books in 2012.

There, it is committed to in black-and-white.  I am not a particularly fast reader; my make-up tends more towards comprehension than speed.  So the additional goals of this project will be to document particular things in the books that strike me as profound.  Learning opportunities.  As I reach the end of each book I will write up some sort of book review (I may even post the review on Amazon, just depends on how they shape up).  Initial plans would be to describe the story or message, personal thoughts on the book, and (especially important for me going forward) to highlight those striking or important concepts in the book.  What things did I really take away from the book and want to remember if I am looking back.  The sideline benefit of this project is that it will get me writing again.  Writing frequently helps me to commit to memory what I have read.  Many times the analysis that I go through during the writing process yields some added nuggets of wisdom that do not normally bubble to surface.

Now, to be totally up front and honest, there will be a mix of fiction and non-fiction books.  I am relatively confident that Dave Ramsey’s message is more geared towards the non-fiction side of the coin, but I need to have some fun here and there.  There are insights and lessons within fiction as well, but I am fully cognizant that many of these will simply be ‘Mind Candy’.  I just have such a sweet tooth that needs to be satisfied from time to time.

I will start of with a couple books that I finished in Dec 2011 as practice and to set a tone and framework.  These couple of books will not count towards the 50 book goal, but they did contain some good insights that I want to document, remember, and share.  I have about 15-20 books selected for the queue, so if there are additional titles that you think would be worthy of a read, drop a line and share the title and quick synopsis…sell me on why I should read it.  I will work on developing the list as an article so you can see where I am headed also (maybe you even want to join me in the project).  Fair warning, it will be all over the map, as there are many things that interest me.

I am really curious on what will happen by putting Charlie Jones’ quote to the test.  Best case, I learn a significant amount of knowledge and wisdom, even learning to think (there are several titles in queue on critical thinking and how to be better at it), perhaps change my life as suggested by Mr. Jones and Mr. Ramsey.  Worst case, I read a bunch of books.  Not really much of a downside, with some real potential on the upside.

Read more...