Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Scar Tissue
The book I chose as my next adventure is the story of Anthony Kiedis's, the lead singer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, life. It shares the same name as one of their songs, Scar Tissue. It was recommended to me by my friend who is not much of a reader at all. So when he told me it was one of the most interesting books and he couldn't put it down once he started it I knew that it'd be worth reading. I was right. Even in the introduction I was hooked. He tells about how he is almost killed on the street while waiting for a friend to finish a drug deal. Most of the entire book is about drugs, so if you're one that is easily disturbed by drug use it might not be the book for you. This is the first book I have read that I'm completely immersed in, yet I have nothing in common with in any way. Included with the book is photographs that explain some parts of Anthony's life. Something that relates specifically to this class and what I thought was pretty fun for my friend to tell me is the fact that the bands songs make much more sense when you listen to them when their names come along in the book. I've only come along three of the songs but so far it's pretty interesting. I wen't on a forum where people were trying to decipher the meaning behind the song "Green Heaven" but it is not a "deep" song at all. Tony wrote it after reading a National Geographic article about dolphins and then took some type of drug and those two things together become "Green Heaven". Although I love this book, I'm not positive it is appropriate to all audiences. I wouldn't recomment it to my students unless they were seniors becuase of all the sex, drugs and rock and roll that is supressed within the pages of Tony's life.
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I think you're showing good judgment by suggesting that there are books that aren't all appropriate for students. I wouldn't necessarily put an age or class limit on what I would recommend to students, but it's a great idea to be sure the person is ready, both as a reader and in terms of the subject matter. It's something you might want to run past parents too because even if you think the student is ready, there might be family reasons why this kind of text just isn't appropriate until the student is living independently. I'm intrigued by the way you're bringing the music into the text--that's probably a really good idea. I recently read a biography of John Lennon and did a similar thing. Ashley, I'm curious about the style. Is there a co-author or did Kiedis write it himself? Is the style similar to the group's music? Does he learn anything along the way, or is it a text telling the shocking details of life without building in any of his life lessons or deeper thoughts as he reflects on those experiences? That's the part of non-fiction that I really appreciate--the chance to see what the person learned or thought about what happened. It was that way for me in the book Open by Andre Agassi too.
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