The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

 

 A story that might have been just interesting, Norman Mailer's treatment is superlative and rightfully won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980.  The Executioner's Song is the kind of book that is very long but not overly long, since it's endlessly fascinating.  The relationship between the notorious killer Gary Gilmore and Nicole Baker proves the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction.  One cautionary note about the book is that the content of the letters between Gilmore and Baker is most decidedly R rated.

Miscellaneous recommendations...

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner by Nina Munk (Excellent)

ESPN: The Uncensored History by Michael Freeman

The Reckoning by David Halberstam  (About the auto industry, focused mostly on Ford and Nissan)

Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U2 Affair by Michael Beschloss 

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Highly recommended; funny and interesting)

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson (Very funny book about growing up in Des Moines, IA in the 1950s)

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson (Good but not great)

The Conquerors by Michael Beschloss (End of World War II)

The Last 100 Days: The Tumultuous and Controversial Story of the Final Days of World War II by John Toland

Car: A Drama of the American Workplace by Mary Walton (Truly fascinating story of the development of the second generation Ford Taurus)

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

A Savage Factory: An Eyewitness Account of the Auto Industry's Self-Destruction by Robert J. Dewar

This is one of the most interesting books I have read on any subject.  The author worked in a Ford transmission factory in the late 1970s and his time there is the focus of the book.  Even if you're not interested in the auto industry, the human interest element alone is fascinating, if not outright shocking.
Buy "A Savage Factory" on Amazon

One Last Shot: The Story of Michael Jordan's Comeback by Mitchell Krugel

About Michael Jordan's first season with the Washington Wizards, this book is one big cliche.  The author's obsession with putting the word "Air" or "Third Coming" into every other sentence is distracting at first but soon becomes pathetic, and obscures some interesting if less than revelatory narrative.  Take, for example, the following: "...asking Michael if his success of the past two months proved to all the doubters that he had refilled his Air supply."  Also, what's with writing a book before the story is done?  Yes, there's a later paperback version with a chapter on Jordan's second and last season, but that's just a gimmick if you ask me.  Wait to write the book until the story can be fully told.
Buy "One Last Shot" on Amazon

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

It seems like everyone I mention this book to has already read it, so I won't go into much detail.  Probably the most notable thing about it is that Krakauer had only just become a bestselling author when he went on the journey to Everest, and the fact that he was intimately involved with such a fateful episode right after publishing Into the Wild is interesting to me.  The climb was originally supposed to be just the basis for an article in Outside Magazine, but Krakauer expanded it into a book when he felt that the length restrictions on the article had been too limiting.
Buy "Into Thin Air" by on Amazon

The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt

An account of the infamous 1996 Everest expedition that resulted in several deaths.  Boukreev was a Russian guide with an American group that climbed on the same day as Jon Krakauer's group, so the book covers much of the same material as Into Thin Air by Krakauer.  Boukreev doesn't come off too well in Into Thin Air, but after reading The Climb, I tend to think he was inaccurately portrayed.  Boukreev, after all, saved several lives by himself while everyone else, from guides to Sherpas to other climbers, was either unable or unwilling to help.  As good as Into Thin Air is, I think The Climb does a better job fleshing out some of the details.
Buy "The Climb" on Amazon

Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan from Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again by Sam Smith

Truman Capote spent six years working on "In Cold Blood," and agonized over the fact that he couldn't fairly publish it until there had been a conclusion to the story.  This attitude is rare these days; most writers seem to want to strike when the iron is hot and don't always care if the ending is neatly tied up in a bow.  Such is the case with "Second Coming," and the book suffers greatly as a result.  A sequel to "The Jordan Rules" by the same author, the book is endlessly fascinating and makes for good reading.  But I have two elephantine complaints.  The first, referenced above, is that the author just couldn't wait to spill everything about the behind the scenes drama and dysfunction; thus, the book was prematurely finished after Jordan returned from baseball for a few games at the end of the regular season in 1995 and the failed playoff run.  The story of Jordan's return did not end there!  He went on to win titles the next three years in a row.  It is not an academic complaint; the whole tenor of the book is informed with the notion that the comeback was suspect based on its lack of immediate success.  It would have been a dramatically different book if Smith had waited even a year to publish, after the Bulls won a record number of regular season games and a championship! This leads naturally into my second--can't be overstated--criticism: the implication that Jordan was washed up after his return from baseball.  While Smith never comes right out and says this, the vapor is in the air, and "Second Coming" proves that the pressure to "publish or perish" can lead to the death instead of a good idea.
Buy "Second Coming" on Amazon

The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of a Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls by Sam Smith

"The Jordan Rules" is the most famous (or infamous) of all the books about Michael Jordan.  It was published in 1992, shortly after the Bulls' first title.  It caused quite a stir when published; I was in college at the time and remember hearing about it even though I wasn't a Bulls fan at the time.  Sam Smith was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune who traveled with the Bulls.  His level of access to the principles makes this book a veritable treasure trove of fascinating behind the scenes details.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and would highly recommend it to any sports fan.  That being said, the Bob Woodward expose style of writing doesn't necessarily speak very highly of Smith's character, in my opinion.  Simply having access, based on the needs of a journalist, and using that access to spill all of the juiciest details you know are two different things.  While Michael Jordan doesn't necessarily come off badly in the book, he was angered by it and its easy to see why.  The Bulls GM, Jerry Krause, was not exactly pleased either.  Still, what the subjects might consider invasion of privacy makes for fascinating fodder for the reader.
Buy "The Jordan Rules" on Amazon

Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller by Janet Leigh and Christopher Nickens

This book was written in a breezy and informal way, while I would have preferred a bit more of an academic approach.  Still, Janet Leigh offers some interesting insights into the film and the book contains a fair amount of enjoyable detail for the casual  fan. 
Buy "Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller" on Amazon

Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey by Goran Kropp

About a Swede who biked from Sweden to Mt. Everest towing all of his supplies, then climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen (a nearly impossible task).  There was a ghost writer who apparently did most of the writing, then it was translated into English by another party.  His expedition occurred in 1996, at the same time as the events chronicled in Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  Considering the magnitude of his feat, the book is written rather breezily and it covers large portions of time in a few short pages.  By the time Kropp started climbing Everest though, I couldn't help but be drawn into the adventure and ended up admiring him.  After a bit of research I discovered the sad information that he died climbing a mountain in Washington state in 2002.  It's too bad, because it seems he was a good guy and became a bit of a philanthropist after his climb of Everest.  He wasn't exactly rich so its admirable that he used his success to help others.
Buy "Ultimate High" on Amazon

Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad

A good book, and one that proves again that you can't judge a book by its cover.  It looks like it's about a plane crash in the San Gabriel Mountains of California, and it is...but the "memoir" in the subtitle is more revealing than the photo and other crash/survival text on the front cover.  The first chapter starts with the plane crash, and each chapter after that (until near the end) alternates back and forth between childhood memories of Ollestad's loving, adrenaline junkie father, and the crash.  I've got a few quibbles with the ending, and I think the epilogue should have at least referenced his mother and stepfather who were major characters in the book, but I enjoyed it and read it quickly as a result.
Buy "Crazy for the Storm" on Amazon

Car Guys vs. Bean Counters by Bob Lutz

In the late 1990s and early 2000s I often wondered why GM car interiors were so bland.  This really baffled me.  My parents had a Chrysler 300M, Motor Trend's Car of the Year when introduced, and it was nicer in almost every way than GM products, but particularly in the interior.  Bob Lutz explains why this was the case and how he changed it; GM cars now have interiors on par with the best in the industry.  Basically, Lutz explains how GM was a leviathan populated by people more afraid of making a mistake than they were in striving for product excellence.  When he became Vice Chairman of Product Development in 2001 he changed much of the culture.  I was excited to get my hands on this book and it did not disappoint.  What is disappointing is that Lutz was the exception rather than the rule in the American car industry.
Buy "Car Guys vs. Bean Counters" on Amazon

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Superficially a true crime book about two heinous murders committed in modern times by adherents of a Mormon splinter sect, it's as much or more a thorough and fascinating history of the origins and violent early history of the LDS church.  Krakauer does his usual superlative work in explaining how critical polygamy was in early Mormonism, why the church was forced to disavow it, and how the disavowal led to modern Mormon splinter sects or "fundamentalism."  It's an excellent read and highly recommended.
Buy "Under the Banner of Heaven" on Amazon

The Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans

Timothy Treadwell is the subject of The Grizzly Maze.  (See the Grizzly Man post below).  Jans is a great writer and I very much enjoyed this book.  By the end, it is, perhaps, a bit redundant, maybe in an effort to pad the length.  Still, it is excellent, and I look forward to reading more of Jans' work.
Buy "The Grizzly Maze" on Amazon

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

This is a classic of the adventure/climbing genre, and rightly so.  From my perspective, the early portion of the book about an extremely difficult climb in the Peruvian Andes was a bit of a slog.  I'm not that familiar with climbing terminology and sometimes it's hard to visualize what is being described.  The latter 2/3 of the book deal with the writer's devastating injury high on the mountain, his mental and physical turmoil, and his almost unbelievable fortitude in fighting for survival.  It is beautifully written and well worth reading.
Buy "Touching the Void" on Amazon

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

I thought this non-fiction book was about a young man who gave up all his worldly possession to live alone in the wilderness of Alaska.  In fact, the movie tie-in edition suggests as much.  That's a little misleading.  It's true that the protagonist was a modern day tramp who did not care for material possessions, but he had no plan to live permanently off the land (at least not in Alaska).  It was more of an extended camping trip.  However, this is about the only quibble I have about the book.  There's a reason why Jon Krakauer is one of the bestselling non-fiction authors out there, and his great success started with this book.  The story in his hands in gripping and fascinating.  Like Under the Banner of Heaven, and Into Thin Air, this book stayed with me long after I finished reading it.
Buy Into the Wild on Amazon

Better than your Average Biography

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Yes, Jobs was a jerk and a megalomaniac.  There's a reason why they don't say "nice guys finish first."  A walking contradiction, a cruel master, a visionary leader, Steve Jobs was a uniquely American success story.  The excellent writing and fascinating subject matter make this a better, more accessible biography than most.
Buy "Steve Jobs" from Amazon

Murder in Connecticut

In the Middle of the Night by Brian McDonald
The author of this book about the brutal murder of a family in Connecticut has been attacked as an opportunist.  Perhaps he is.  The book is not a very good "In Cold Blood" clone.  It's a bit superficial and does not do the reader the favor of waiting for a conclusion to the trials before publishing.  Still, it is interesting.  And why is this book such a violation of the family's privacy when other publishers and authors (Ann Rule comes to mind) profit handsomely from "True Crime?" 
Buy "In the Middle of the Night" on Amazon

History, Michael Moore Style

Rivethead by Ben Hamper
I like books about how cars are made.  This would fall into that category, and it is interesting.  It's also written by someone who thinks the world owes him something and who thoroughly fails to understand that he's not entitled to a good paying job on an assembly line.  It is art as history, or art as biography; either way, it's only for the hardcore lover of automotive history.  It is also, perhaps, a sad commentary on why the American automotive industry fell into decline.
Buy "Rivethead" on Amazon

Dining on Jurassic Carnivores

Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
Before I read this book, I didn't know there were writers like Chuck Klosterman.  In this book he delves into matters I have always wondered about yet never expected would be explained so thoroughly and philosophically.  For instance, why was Ralph Sampson, the UVA/Houston Rockets member of the "Twin Towers" so hated?  Why did Garth Brooks become Chris Gaines?  How is AC/DC like ABBA?  If you are interested in just about everything, and always asking "why?" about things few other rational beings care about, Klosterman's writing will be right up your alley.
Buy "Eating the Dinosaur" on Amazon

"Tragic Hero"

Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog (DVD)
Treadwell lived with grizzlies in Alaska for parts of 13 summers with no means of protection.  And though he was no hero, at least not in the way we usually think about heroes, I think it would be fair to consider him a "tragic hero."  Dictionary.com defines as a tragic hero as a "character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy."  Treadwell would have been a psychologist's dream, since reveling in potential imminent death on a daily basis surely cannot be considered rational behavior.  Still, he was incredibly brave and seemed to truly care for the wild creatures that were his subjects. While I had laughed and snickered about the "guy who was eaten by grizzlies" before I ever saw this film, I was touched by it and slightly ashamed.  No, I don't think Treadwell was really helping the bears.  Yes, I think he was crazy.  Yet, due to my own soft-hearted feelings toward living creatures, I feel some kinship with Treadwell and am sorry he could not have channeled his love for animals in a more useful direction.  While he was clearly troubled, Treadwell was not the joke I had made him out to be.
Buy "Grizzly Man" on DVD on Amazon

"The Rule About Bears is their Unpredictability"...anonymous

Night of the Grizzlies by Jack Olsen
This book details the first two grizzly related deaths in Glacier National Park, both on the same night in 1967.  Written by acclaimed journalist Jack Olsen, it's is a fascinating insight into the National Park Service's understanding of the grizzly threat to man over 40 years ago.  Before these killings, one would have been forgiven for thinking that grizzlies were a potential nuisance to man rather than a danger.  While it's heavier on background than action, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's still a relatively popular read, and it led me to Grizzly Man.  While Grizzly Man has been and will be, no doubt, easily parodied, it is a deeply moving story for anyone who loves animals.
Buy Night of the Grizzlies on Amazon

Air Jordan

Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made by David Halberstam
A good overview of Michael Jordan's basketball career, up through his second retirement in 2008.  Halberstam is an excellent historian (see, for instance, The Reckoning).  Maybe that's why this book struck a bit of a discordant note with me; it reads like a book about sports written by a historian.  There's a distance or lack of intimate feel for the small details of the game.  Too, like many sports books, it includes too many locker room- type quotes; frankly "we're so *%$#@! great" just doesn't come across as well in the written word as it might in the verbal heat of the battle.  Another quibble I have is that the book is not written in a linear fashion.  There is a lot of back and forth, past to present.  While useful at times, it feels like a gimmick.  A book on the Bulls' last season, Blood on the Horns, while not nearly so comprehensive, is a much more enjoyable read.
Buy Playing for Keeps on Amazon