Book: Manhood for Amateurs

Manhood for Amateurs
by Michael Chabon

Last November, just a few days after I heard Michael Chabon interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, I saw this book strategically blocking the entrance to the Barnes and Noble store in Apple Valley. I happened to have a gift card in hand and so made my purchase. Score another one for the book marketing machine.

Chabon is a gifted writer. These essays, all framed from the vantage point of manhood, come across as part confession, part memoir, and part social commentary. I really liked it for the most part. There were parts that disappointed and others that made me squirm, but overall I was glad to be reading. I laughed. I learned. I was moved and even inspired. My favorite essays were: The Binding of Isaac; The Wilderness of Childhood; Faking It; Sky and Telescope, and Normal Time.

"...Maybe my children will just look up and remember the weight of my hand on their shoulders as they stood beside me on a warm summer night, the rasp of my beard against their cheek, my voice soft at their ear, telling them, Look."
--from Sky and Telescope