#232 Confessions of a Transsexual Porn Star (2007)

Author: Meghan Chavalier
Title: Confessions of a Transsexual Porn Star
Genre: Autobiography
Year: 2007
Pages: 220
Origin: read on the good old Kindle
Nod Rating: 1 nod out of 5
 

 

Undoubtedly, this book has the most bizarre title that the Worm has yet to read. Yes, dear readers, it beats – hands down – other winners of the Odd Book Title Award, including the toilet history Flushed With Pride and even the poetry volume Once I Was A Washing Machine.

As it says on the tin, Confessions of a Transsexual Porn Star follows the life of a transsexual within the porn industry. Meghan Chavalier is an interesting character: originally born a male, who later found adventure in various locations around the United States, before eventually entering the porn industry. Today, as her intriguing website demonstrates, she has attempted to forge together the role of author of transgendered books and singer of low-budget music videos.

The book is a refreshingly honest look at one of the planet’s biggest industries. Chavalier attempts to tell the nitty-gritty of the porn industry behind the scenes, including some revelations of the rich and famous:

‘A guy called and said he wanted to party. My friend told him that there were three of us there and he was interested in all of us. He didn’t take long to show up and when he did my friend asked him to show her his dick so that we could make sure he wasn’t a cop. I wasn’t really looking at him at this point and honestly didn’t care who he was until I realised it was C.S. I told my friend she didn’t need to worry about him because he was a movie star. He came in and he was obviously drunk and high on something. I think this was around the time that he was going through all of his drug problems. C.S. is definitely a sex freak.’

C.S. Hmm… Charlie Sheen, anyone?

Her book, thankfully, is not centred fully on the porn industry. Rather, it is a tale of her early years and eventual transformation. It expresses more of her doubts, confusion and uncertainty of her youthful years. All of which could have been very engrossing, if only the book was not written in a sloppy manner, thereby aggravating the Worm on many pages. Undoubtedly, it would have benefited from proof-reading and some structural editing to avoid repetition.

Chavalier writes of the experience of putting together the book: ‘Most people thought that it must’ve taken me a long time to write my first book, honestly, it only took me two weeks.’ And here, folks, is the problem.

 
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#231 The Eugenics Wars (2001)

Author: Greg Cox
Title: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Volume 1)
Genre: Science Fiction
Year: 2001
Pages: 390
Origin: read on the good old Kindle
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 

Whilst reading Star Trek articles on Wikipedia – as one does – the Worm somehow stumbled upon the expanded universe that seemingly incorporate millions of novels featuring the likes of Captain Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. One particular two-part series struck the Worm’s imagination: a secret history of the twentieth century that combined the character of Khan (recently resurrected in the blockbuster Star Trek Into Darkness) and a minor creation from the original series, Gary Seven. Science fiction and history had collided together: this was all the Worm needed to get reading.

In Star Trek mythology the Eugenics Wars was an event that occurred in the 1990s; a race of supermen took control of the planet, before being jettisoned into outer-space. This outlined was written as part of the original series in the 1960s, when the 1990s seemed a long way off. The character Khan – the leader of these supermen – resurfaced in a motion picture, establishing himself as a cult villain within the canon. This book, written by Greg Cox, returns to the original source material. But rather than place Khan in outer space in the distant future, he attempts something slightly more radical: the story of Khan’s time on Earth in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. What’s more, in an attempt to tie in Earth’s real history as well as the imagined Star Trek universe, Khan’s place within these decades is formed as a “secret history”, using real events such as the fall of Communism and ethnic cleansing in the hope of producing a page-turning adventure story.

This volume – the first of two – is set in the early 1970s. Khan is a child prodigy and generally an unknown quantity; his home environment – a giant research laboratory – is besieged by Gary Seven and his accomplices (Roberta Lincoln). Seven succeeds in destroying the work of “evil” scientists, but the fall out of this means that the planet is under threat of a young generation of potential power-hungry super-beings.

Cox attempts to build a thriller full of suspense, blending real events with his imagination: all of which can be deemed a success. Of course, Cox is no Shakespeare… or indeed, any other in-depth, gripping writer (of which there are only truly a few). However, his novel is one of action, if not emotional or intellectual depth. The Worm was mostly hooked with the weaving together of fiction and non-fiction; unfortunately for the outcome of the novel, Cox appears to have missed a few open goals in terms of real-life events to feed from.

As such, this volume – and Star Trek fiction as a whole - is commendable, but unfortunately not recommendable to those outside the science fiction family.

 

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#230 The Tudors For Dummies (2010)

Author: David Loades & Mei Trow
Title: The Tudors For Dummies
Genre: History
Year: 2010
Pages: 360
Origin: read on the Kindle
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 

The Dummies series of books is seemingly everywhere. The trademark and standout yellow of its covers can be found in all good – and bad – bookshops, from high cost to the bargain basement. They have found success is taking dense subject matter and breaking it down for the unwashed masses in the hope of enlightening us all. There are around two-thousand (yes, two-thousand!!) titles in the series. It is a surprise to the Worm, then, that he has not gotten his mitts on one of them.

This all changes with The Tudors For Dummies title in the series. At the helm of this book is a duo authorship of David Loades and Mei Trow. Loades is well known in Tudor-reading circles as a man who has researched and written heavily on the Tudor monarchs Henry VIII and Mary. Less well known to the Worm is Mei Trow: a historian and novelist who has appeared on documentaries as both expert and presenter. A dream-team of Tudor history? Let us find out.

The Tudors For Dummies devotes sections to the “Big Tudors” (Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth), as well as one on the “Little Tudors” (the ill-fated Edward VI and Mary – deemed by the authors as the ‘Forgotten Tudors’). Furthermore, the book – like others in the Dummies series – devotes a section to ‘The Part of Tens’. This is a countdown list of ‘Tudor people’, of architecture, events, and other ‘Tudor firsts’.

The proceedings are all as to be expected: the Battle of Bosworth, the troubles of Henry VII’s reign with imposters and pretenders, the passing of the baton to the next generation, and his son’s desire to become a king feared by all. The section on Edward and Mary are of interest, with the author duo feeling enabled to go off the script and pick out some intriguing snippets of detail. But the main action is resumed with the section ‘Ending with Elizabeth.’ The reader is treated to her battles with religion and then the greater threat of the Spanish and their Armada fleet. The book is neatly wrapped up, with a short examination of the Tudors’ lasting legacy to Britain.

Although there is minimal detail, luckily the book is spruced up with anecdotes and appealing facts; all of which makes the reading experience a pleasurable one. Furthermore, Loades is unshackled from his usual academic sphere, adding a sense of personality to the chief Tudor protagonists. For example, how about this on Henry VIII: ‘Henry began his reign promisingly enough as a handsome, talented Renaissance prince with a 19-inch waist, but he became a bloated monster who terrified his subjects and whose soul the pope sent to hell’. Furthermore, we are also treated to the humour behind the relationship of Henry and Anne Boleyn: ‘Henry certainly fell for Anne, the daughter of a Kentish knight, longing, in his own words, to “kiss her pretty dukkys”. Dukkies meaning – of course – her breasts.

This is the first For Dummies read for the Worm. Although it failed to deliver the dizzy highs of inventive and authoritative history writing, it entertained and filled in gaps of knowledge. It is not comprehensive, but serves as a solid introduction to the Tudors of the sixteenth century. Therefore, the Worm will be back for more reads in the For Dummies series.

 

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#229 The Story of Writing (1995)

Author: Andrew Robinson
Title: The Story of Writing
Genre: Language
Year: 1995
Pages: 220
Origin: a tried and trusted library book
Nod Rating: 3 nods out of 5

 

‘Writing is among the greatest inventions in human history, perhaps the greatest invention, since it made history possible.’

This is the central argument within Andrew Robinson’s engaging book The Story of Writing. In the space of two hundred well-designed pages, Robinson manages to chart writing’s history: from the early days of cave paintings to its various branches and off-shoots. The Worm finds such boasting of ‘350 illustrations, 50 in colour’ as rather endearing; harking back to innocent times when colour was a feature that was useable as a bragging instrument. However, there is a greater seriousness within the print itself.

Robinson focuses on some of the key developments in writing. These include the story of the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone; extinct forms of writing (including cuneiform and hieroglyphs, as well as the interesting Linear B script); as well as those pesky undecipherable scripts such as Cretan Linear B, Etruscan inscriptions and the fabulously named Rongorongo. We chart the evolution of the alphabet, with a particular focus on Chinese and Japanese and how it exits within the media and society in the present day.

The reader is treated to various detours down confusing alleyways of human language, forever turning back upon Egyptian hieroglyphics (of which the author is assuredly obsessed). Like the splendid Bill Bryson, Robinson picks up the story of those daring adventurers who deciphered the ancient scripts in the Victorian period. These include the likes of such enigmatic names as Jean-Francois Champollion and Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson.

The Worm can safely say that he has never read a more authoritative and entertaining book on hieroglyphics. In fact, the Worm has never read a book on hieroglyphics; which makes the first sentence of this paragraph appear rather redundant. However, the Worm confidently states that the read caused much chin-stroking merriment that he will consider reading subsequent books on hieroglyphics; on which the author, Andrew Robinson, is clearly to thank. The Story of Writing is not a classic of a text, and perhaps – and quite rightly should be if research continues – it will be superseded within a time. However, it is an entertaining text that makes the throat utter glottal sounds of wonder at the discovery of the vast amount of facts that abound on every page. With the reader now knowing the Worm’s depth of hieroglyphic knowledge, they can be content with feeling secure that The Story of Writing can provide a nice introduction into this confusing, bamboozling and wonderful world.

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#228 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Genre: Short Fiction
Year: 1892
Pages: 300
Origin: read on the Kindle
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5

In recent years, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has received amorous glances from the Worm. Two book-reading seasons ago the first Sherlock Holmes adventure, A Study in Scarlet, was read; whilst last year’s book reading season began with a read of The Sign of the Four. What better way, then, to kick-off this (rather delayed) review than with yet another from the Sherlock Holmes collection.

The twelve stories that make up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, A Case of Identity, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Five Orange Pips, The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb, The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor, The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches) were first published in the Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1892; being collected and sold in book form later in 1892. They show Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion, Doctor Watson, in a series of adventures in which the duo really come into their own; establishing the power of a myth that has endured right through to the present day.

These twelve short stories manage to show Holmes at work in a greater variety of situations that the previous novels. Again, the distinction is drawn between the shut-down when not working on a case, as he drifts into his ‘drug-created dreams’ before arising when ‘hot upon the scent of a new problem’. As Holmes himself explains, he feeds and thrives off the action of the cases of crime: ‘It saved me from ennui… my life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so.’

Holmes’ unorthodox practices and reasoning is further detailed by a mystified and intrigued Watson. This includes Holmes needing to go into a slumber when smoking what he deems ‘a three-pipe problem’:

‘He curled himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn to his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.’

We also witness Holmes becoming the master of disguise (in A Scandal in Bohemia), in which Watson describes the change: ‘It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.’ Furthermore, the growth of Watson’s own deductive powers are much improved; although there are plenty of sharp comments from the chief detective: ‘You see, but you do not observe.’

The collection established the Holmes-Watson connection. Furthermore, it has cemented the legend of other characters, notably that of Irene Adler (‘To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman’). The short story format provides greater energy to Holmes-Watson tag-team. The earlier novels (A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four) lose interest throughout the reading experience; far better to concentrate Holmes within smaller – and sillier – mysteries that allow his full personality to spill out onto the page. For this principal reason, the Worm sees 4 nods as a fitting return for stories that have cemented themselves as classics.

 

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Read the Worm's review of A Study in Scarlet here

Or his review of The Sign of the Four  here