September ‘23 Recap

episode SUMMARY:

In this episode of the Books for Men podcast, host Douglas Vigliotti gives a quick rundown of the previous month's episodes. He expresses gratitude to listeners for their support and encourages them to rate, review, and share the podcast. Vigliotti also invites listeners to connect with him on his website or Instagram @douglasvigliotti for personalized book recommendations. He then provides a recap of the books featured in the previous month, September 2023, starting with Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, an autobiography that ranks among Vigliotti's top five rock memoirs. He mentions including numerous excerpts from the book in the upcoming newsletter. The next book discussed is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, a novelization of the film that intertwines fictional and real events in 1969 Hollywood. Vigliotti praises the book for its entertainment value and its commentary on the film industry. The final book highlighted is The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt, a minimalist detective novel set in a small town in Kentucky. Vigliotti appreciates the author's lean writing style and recommends reading the book to experience it for oneself. He concludes by reminding listeners to visit the podcast's website for full transcripts and to sign up for the newsletter, which includes additional book recommendations and quotes.

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Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this is going to be a pretty short episode, I think. I don't have much planned aside from just a quick rundown of the episodes, but before I do that, as always, I just wanted to send a big thank you to everybody who listens to the podcast and even more so to those who double down on that support and share it with others, as well as any of the things that you can do to further your support, which is liking, rating, subscribing, following on whatever podcast platform you listen to this on. It really does help more people find the show, which in return raises awareness around the mission of the podcast, which is again, to inspire more men to read. So if you haven't yet and you are a regular listener and you do enjoy this show, then please take thirty seconds to just rate it or review it or any of the stuff that I had just mentioned.

(01:08)

Also, I wanted to make a point to remind you that if you would like to connect with me, you could do so either at my website, of course, DouglasVigliotti.com, or even easier on Instagram @douglasvigliotti. That's the only social media platform that I'm active on. But I did want to open up the line of communication with you because I am aware that sometimes a podcast of this nature can be like me just talking into a black hole. And so if you have any commentary on the show or the books or just anything at all, you could reach out to me on either one of those two platforms. Maybe you'd like a personalized recommendation. I specialize in those, so don't be afraid to reach out. Alright, so now that we've got that out of the way, let's jump right into the recap. And it was a full month with three books.

(01:54)

There was one nonfiction book and two novels this month. And so that nonfiction book was Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, and it's an all-encompassing autobiography about the rock and roll legend who wrote it, tackling everything from his struggles to his successes, both personally and professionally. It's really, really well done. If I have to say, it ranks easily in the top five for me, maybe the top three, actually, of books of its nature, and that is the Rock Memoir of course. And I'm sort of using memoir and autobiography interchangeably, even though they aren't. An autobiography really tackles the span of one's whole life whereas a memoir tackles a very specific moment or time period focusing on a thematical overarching concept for it. Whereas the autobiography really is just giving you the total picture of an artist or entertainer or celebrity or someone's life, anybody for that matter.

(02:56)

This really is more of an autobiography than a memoir. I will say that I included a lot of excerpts in the newsletter that will go out at the end of this month. I just finished writing it, and it's possible that there are more excerpts in quotes from this book than there have been for any one book previously in any other edition. So just a little tidbit there. Of course, if you want to know more about this book, then I highly recommend going back and listening to the episode. Okay, so that leads us now to the works of fiction for the month. And the first novel wasn't really a novel at all. It was a novelization, and it was called Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and it was by none other than Quentin Tarantino. Yes, the same. Quentin Tarantino, who has made nine films. As I already mentioned, this is a novelization of the award-winning film of the same name intersecting two narratives.

(03:50)

So it takes a fictional character called Rick Dalton who mirrors a John Wayne type of individual trying to transition into New Hollywood in all of the humorous and sad elements that make that an interesting story. It takes that and mashes it together with the real story of the Tate-LaBianca Murders on Cielo Drive up in the Hollywood Hills at the hands of the Manson Family members. So the book goes much deeper than the film, and I won't share too much about it. I did a long episode on it, perhaps one of my longest episodes yet. I think the Springsteen episode was also pretty long if I remember correctly. But it's the first time I've ever featured a novelization on the podcast, and it's a really entertaining book, as you might expect coming from the person who wrote it.

(04:59)

And it kind of doubles as commentary on Hollywood and a time period that once was, in a culture-defining industry, really. Of course, I love the movie as well. The second novel that I shared this month was The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt. And it really couldn't have been more different stylistically where Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was loud and bombastic and over the top, both in its writing style and its content. This is a novel that is much more minimalistic and stripped down both in its prose as well as its plot. And I really enjoyed that about the novel. I really felt aligned with the author's sensibilities, which is always a very specific and particular thing, something that you either get down with or you don't. So you'd have to read it to find out for yourself. Oh, right, what is it about?

(05:57)

About an Army CID agent on Leave who is tapped by his sister, a newly appointed sheriff of a small town called Rocksalt in the hills of Kentucky to help solve a local murder has a very traditional setup for a detective-PI-mystery-type of novel. I think the thing that really sets it apart for me is that it's just written so well, or at least by my standards. Alright, that's all I've got. Of course, with this book, just as the other books, if you're interested in it, go back and listen to the episode. But before I wrap this up, I did want to remind you that if you want more information about the show, then you can visit BooksforMen.org where you can get full transcripts for every episode, as well as sign up for the newsletter, which is a monthly roundup of every episode complete with full book and author information, all the best quotes. And as I've already mentioned, there will be plenty for Springsteen as well as The Killing Hills and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Additionally, there are book recommendations that you can only get in the newsletter. So again, if you're interested in it, you could sign up at BooksforMen.org.