Roadshow: Landscape with Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Neil Peart

One thing I can say for myself, the longer I am out of university, the more non-fiction books I have been reading for fun. I do not really have to challenge myself to read them, I just pick them up. I do read more memoirs than straight non-fiction, but it is not like I am closed off to anything, just depends on what I am in the mood for. I enjoyed being able to ramble on about books to someone, so I ended up reading this book faster than I originally intended. Now, back to books that do not really interest any of my friends. Sad, really! While I was reading this book and Ghost Rider, I could talk freely.

Neil Peart is an internationally acclaimed, bestselling, and award-nominated author, and for more than thirty years has been the legendary drummer and lyricist for the band Rush. For decades, Neil prepared and waited to write a book about the biggest journey of all in his restless existence, his ultimate travelogue - a concert tour. Finally, the right time and the right tour: Rush's 30th anniversary trek -- 9 countries, 57 shows, and 500,000 fans.

This book covers the 30th anniversary tour for the band Rush. Being his newest book, it was available in all the bookstores, so that was my criteria for what I read next by him. The 30th anniversary for the band was almost exactly four years ago now, but you learn a lot reading this book. After Ghost Rider, I obviously knew that Rush got back together after a five-year hiatus, but when Neil Peart was living the events he covered in that book the future seemed unclear. For fans all over the world, I am sure they were happy that Peart rejoined the band and they carried on making great music. The first thing that really surprised me about this book was that they only did two shows in Canada. Considering it was their 30th anniversary and they are a Canadian band, you really think they would have done more shows here. That's what happens, though.

Anyways, during the course of this book, Neil Peart talks about what it is like to be a musician on tour with a band as recognized as Rush is, but he also talks about the landscape of his travels, reminises on his past with the band, and inserts humourous asides that made me laugh a long. One of my friends is a drummer and he had lots of drumming jokes mixed in with the story, so if my friend wasn't there, I would grab my cellphone and text message him the jokes. He said some of them made him laugh at work, and work is a better place with laughter! Actually, as I was finishing up the book early this morning, Neil Peart had one last joke, so to coincide with being finished I sent that to my friend as well. I decided to share it here as well.

A drummer was dancing around, celebrating, when the guitarist came in.

"What's up?"

"I just finished this jigsaw puzzle," the drummer replied. "It only took me six months!"

"That's not very good," the guitarist said. "Why are you so excited?"

"The box says two to six years!"

With it being mother's day, I haven't talked to my friend today, so I have no idea what he thought of that early morning piece of wisdom. It made me laugh. He said all he is doing is missing playing the drums. He doesn't have a place to set them up, so while he informs me he is in fact a drum player, I have never actually heard him play before.

Moving on. Some of the things that I pointed out to my friend, so obviously they were the things that stood out to me, were for example, the fans of Rush are mostly men. That does and does not surprise me. It explains why my female friends think I am nuts for listening to Rush, for example. Peart says it might be because they have an aggressive sound, but for whatever reason, the majority of people that listen to them are men. I like being untypical once again. Me and my friend had a big discussion about this topic actually, with him pointing out that women generally like dance-music, and Rush is not really the easiest band to dance to. I think Peart might have made the same observation. He also points out (Peart, not my friend) that the women that do listen to his music tend to understand it on a deeper level than the male fans because they actually pay attention to the lyrics. He quotes a lot of his songs in this book and explains the inspiration for sentences and things that I did not pick up on when I listened to the songs, so while I might know the lyrics to a lot of Rush's songs, it really surprised me what Peart was thinking when he wrote them.

I thought it was really interesting to read about all the planning that went into this concert. Not being a musician, I have obviously never had any experience in this avenue, so I was never really sure what happened to turn a bunch of musicians into a touring success. It takes a lot of work! Peart explains all the different people that it takes to put this plan into action, as well as how the three actual band members work together to make each night a success. I was very surprised at how little time the band actually spends together. Geddy and Alex travel in a plane together, so they see each other, but since Neil travels by motorcycle they only spend a little part of each day with him. Considering how meshed together they are when they walk out on that stage, they obviously have something that has come together seamlessly after all the years together.

I really enjoy the humour in this book. Neil includes church sign sayings, and I have to say, a lot of them were pretty funny! Some of them I did not get at all, but I imagine they mean something to someone. The interaction between Neil and his riding partners Michael and Brutus is also hillarious. He is with Michael the majority of the book and when he recounts stories you cannot help laughing at their antics. Brutus played a big part in Ghost Rider, so it was nice that he was actually in this book and not just included in the "Letters to Brutus" section. There are so many other things I can talk about in regards to this book because there are so many other things that Peart talks about. I really like his writing style, though I can understand it is not for everyone, and I strongly recommend reading him at some point and time.

This also another read for the themed reading challenge. Apparently I only challenged myself to read four books and this is my fifth, so here I was done that challenge and did not even know it! Yay to slacker me finishing a challenge!

A Long-Winded Ramble

With the 1% challenge circulating around the blogosphere, I thought I would count and see just how many of the 1001 books I am supposed to read before I die I have actually read. The number came out to be 52. Not spectacular, but I own probably another fifty of the books from the list. I just haven't read them... Frankly, there were a lot of books on that list I have never even heard of before, so I am rather skeptical about them being something I really need to read. I toyed with the idea of joining this challenge, but I am sort of sticking to very few challenges this year because my reading numbers are down so much. I am just enjoying reading for fun. I am not even keeping track (which I may end up regretting) because if it is really low it will just make me sad! I have just dedicated 2008 as a fun reading year. I have been reading over a hundred books a year for years, some years reaching 200, so I think I need a relaxing year. I am just trying to keep this blog going because I don't want everyone to stop reading it... I might change my mind on the reading challenge. I own the book, not surprising, so I am going to go through it tonight and see if I want to join in afterall.

So, how is everyone making out? I am behind on my blog reading again, not surprising, so I am also playing catch-up and never really getting much chance to comment and respond like I used to. I am not allowed on the internet at work anymore, so that sort of is why I am not around anymore. I am reading another Neil Peart book right now, but I think I want to add another book into the mix so I do not get sick of him. I just have not decided on what that book will be yet. I have SO many books! It is pretty crazy, I have to say. I thin them out and I have hardly bought books all year, and yet, the shelves are still full! It gets over-whelming sometimes trying to decide what to read next. I have lots of books that I am really excited about, but with my reading habits lately I am sort of holding on to them until I can really get into them...

My friend couldn't believe how long it took me to read the Neil Peart book I reviewed yesterday, but I just get busy and don't have time to read! I mean, I sat down with the new one yesterday, but then I had to go somewhere, so I paused. Then, I come home and plan to read the rest of the night and then my friend called, and then another friend called, and then I was tired and I went to sleep. That means I am not even 100 pages into it yet. But, you know, not really complaining. I feel like I should because reading has always been such a large part of who I am, but at the same time, I am enjoying what I am doing (for the most part) when I am not reading. Weird how that is.

In any case, I am just rambling here, huh? I think I will end this for now. What I REALLY need to do is sit down and update this stupid blog. My header vanished for some reason and I still have not actually replaced it. It has been a while too... And let's not even talk about my profile... Anyways, hi to everyone! I will try and catch up on my blog reading in this century, but no promises. haha

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart

Well, I have no idea what happened to me. I thought it had been a couple days since I updated last, but turns out it has been like a week! I still have books to send to people. I have not forgotten!

Within a ten-month period, Neil Peart suffered family losses so devastating that they left him a ghost -- physically a man but with nothing

No hope, meaning, faith or desire to keep living. One year after the first tragedy, Neil was choosing between life and his own death. Finally, all he could decide upon was motion. He got on his BMW R1100GS motorcycle, and over the next fourteen months, rode 55,000 miles, in search of a reason to live. On a journey of escape, exile, and exploration, he traveled from Quebec to Alaska, down the Canadian and American coasts and western regions, to Mexico and Belize, and finally back to Quebec. While riding "the Healing Road," Neil recorded in his journals his progress and setbacks in the grieving/healing process, and the pain of constantly reliving his losses.

He also recorded with dazzling, colorful, entertaining, and moving artistry, the enormous range of his travel adventures, from the mountains to the sea, from the deserts to Arctic tundra, and the dozens of memorable people, characters, friends and relatives, he met along the way, and who increasingly contributed to his healing and sense of meaning and purpose. He begins the journey with nothing, "the Ghost Rider." What he finally attains is joy, love, and indelible memories of the most extraordinary journey of his life.

GHOST RIDER is a bold, brilliantly written, intense, exciting, and ultimately triumphant narrative memoir from a gifted writer and musician, who started out as a man reduced to trying to stay alive by staying on the move.

I mentioned last month that I was very interested in the band Rush lately and Stephanie, I believe it was, mentioned that he had written a book about life after the death of his wife and daughter. So, you know I had to get myself a copy. It works perfectly, though, because he is a Canadian, so this will fit in with the Themed Reading Challenge. See how I justify that! My friend that got me paying attention to Rush commented on how they have loved the band for years and never felt compelled to buy a book by them. I pointed out that is because he is lucky to read a book a year, while I, well, I read... Normally a lot, but this year has just been average. In any case, I went to the store and bought another book by him, so you know that I do not feel guilty in the least buying this book.

I love how Neil Peart writes. He was just what I needed lately. He kept me up late at night reading! This is something that has hardly happened in six months! I called my Rush-fan friend at 3 in the morning one time to tell him he was missing out and to share some of the interesting things I had just learned. And thanks to the wonders of text messaging, as I read along I tend to share interesting sentences and thoughts with him. I am sure he is thrilled. To get back at me he showed me three old pictures of the three members of Rush and asked me to tell him which one was which. Evil! Anyways, let's get on with the book. Neil Peart is the lyricist for Rush, so it stands to reason that since I really like a lot of his song lyrics, there was a very good chance he could also write pose. I was willing to take that chance, and I am very glad I did!

Instead of summarizing the plot or whatever, I am just going to share what I was thinking as I read the book and some of the things that stuck out for me. First off, this is at its core a depressing book. It is about a man that lost his daughter and wife in a ten-month period. There is no way that can be a happy beginning to a book. He doesn't really know how to deal after suffering such a tragic lost, and really, who would? So, he sets out on three different motorcycle adventures during the course of this book. I suddenly really want to go on a motorcycle. I have before, but very few times, so my Rush-fan friend is going to get one of his friends to take me for a drive. That was the topic of conversation at supper today... I just have motorcycles on the mind, so I want to experience one now.

Another thing I want to acknowledge is that I am very happy that things played out the way that they did. My friend likes older Rush, not so much the new stuff, but I am actually pretty infatuated with both eras (or however you want to look at it), so I am happy that the band got back together. There was a period there where Neil wasn't drumming at all, so the band took a hiatus in order for him to work through all the things that are discussed during the course of this book. If the book had any different ending then they may never have got back together, so I am happy about the ending. I also really enjoy Peart's writing style. It is coherant, for starters, much different than I am sure this rambling review is, in any case. He covers the depressing stuff, but there is a lot more going on during the course of the book. He is not boring, sometimes memoirs seem to drag on with all the contemplative stuff. He has a really refreshing sense of humour (I actually told my Rush-fan friend that he reminds me of him in many ways), so there were many times where I found myself laughing at what he was saying.

I think I especially liked the fact that I could ramble on about this book to my friend who does not read. It was refreshing because very few of my friends read, so I never really talk about books. I have to read a Pink Floyd book now, my friends orders, but since I like Pink Floyd I am not really complaining. He has actually read it, which in itself is pretty amazing! It is a really good thing he doesn't read my blog, huh? haha

Anyways, I really liked this book. I think even if you are not a Rush fan, it is a good read. I am going to plug away at another one by him, but I want to read some fantasy as my main reads. One thing I can say, I haven't read as much this year as I normally do, but I also have not really read any really bad books, so at least when I do read, I enjoy it. That is saying something!