Book Review: Jack White: How He Built an Empire from the Blues
Katie 
Jack White: How He Built an Empire from the Blues as a title pretty much explains what the book is about. Jack White – one half of the white stripes (who were an ex-married couple and not siblings) got his start in Detroit. Although he probably would have fit in more as a black man in the 1980s he has created an empire. The book is a timeline of his journey through music – and Jack is a bit mysterious so it was nice to see a little bit more from behind the curtain so to speak and learn more about him. The book is based on interviews from band mates and friends and has a lot of interesting information in it.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
Jack White, the “coolest, weirdest, savviest rock star of our time” (The New York Times Magazine) is one of music’s most enigmatic and mysterious figures.
Together with Meg White, the The White Stripes’ guitar virtuosity and shrieking vocals ousted all competition and ignited the blues-rock revival of the early millennium. White went on to collaborate with Loretta Lynn, Alicia Keys, Bob Dylan and more, founded The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather and a critically acclaimed solo career whilst also rejuvenating Detroit’s arts scene through his innovative record label, Third Man Records.
Based on interviews from people close to White, including former band mates and Third Man artists, such as Neil Young and Seasick Steve, no other book goes as deep into the lore of Jack White and the mythical White Stripes.
Odd Birds is by Ian Harding who you may know as Ezra from Pretty Little Liars. What you may not know is that he is into bird watching. Since his character on the show wrote a book, Ian decided that he should be able to write a book as well. The book talks a lot about his adventures in bird watching and relates some of the lessons he has learned while doing it to his life as well. He also talks about how he auditioned for Pretty Little Liars, call backs and how he feels now that it is ending after seven seasons.
There are very few college basketball coaches that I can name – but Jay Wright is definitely one of them. I don’t watch too much college basketball, but whenever Villanova was on the TV I’d stop and check out the game. This book has a foreward written by Charles Barkley and is all about Jay Wright’s path to becoming a coach and building a winning season. Throughout the book there are “beyond basketball” notes with lessons that can be used in any part of life. You really don’t need to be a basketball fan to enjoy this book, it’s a great read and a lot of really great information – even though Jay says he’s not an authority on leadership.
Blondie was like a reality show before there was reality TV. In New York, in the punk era – they knew they had made it when they landed the cover of Rolling Stone in 1979. Debbie’s entire life she had been trained to become a house wife and for marriage – but that’s not what she wanted. In a time when NYC was collapsing and life in New York resulted in seeing a lot of dead bums, Debbie and Chris had a spark and made Blondie a household name by 1980-1981. This book was a really cool look back at a band that I wasn’t all that familar with – and as always – I loved all the pictures! There was lots of pictures. I also loved reading about New York in the early 80s, even though it was nothing like it is today, it’s cool to see how far it has come.
Joey’s Journal is subtitled “Staying Strong when Far From Mom” and is the journal of a 12 year old boy whose Mom took a job offer on the other side of the country and decided to not move the family there. They visited back and forth and Joey and his sister continued to go to their regular school – and watch lots of American Idol. I guess that I was not the ideal audience for this book because to me it was just a journal of a young boy. “Today we…” every day… I didn’t see him having too much struggle with his Mom being away – he was happy to visit her and happy when she visited him and other than that seemed to go on his merry way to school each day. This was a quick read and might be better for a family who is going through a similar situation. (I guess I need to stop picking books because I think they have cool covers)
Whoa, Baby! is a book by Destiny’s Child’s Kelly Rowland. I wanted to check it out because of the music connection but I really am not the audience that Kelly was looking for. The book is a guide for new moms and talks about trouble and questions that new moms may have after giving birth and is written with her doctor. Each chapter is a question that Kelly had or that new moms might have that they discuss. Some of it was a little bit TMI for me – but I think that as a resource for new moms it will be really great because it may be things that you are too embarrassed to ask your doctor or friends about and there is information that you need to know! If you are a new mom, are going to be a new mom or know a new mom, definitely pick up this book.
Thurston Moore: We Sing A New Language is about Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. I did not realize that he was from Bethel, CT! The band was signed in 1989 and the book documents 130+ recordings and collaborations with interviews from the collaborators involved on each of the recordings. I thought it was really cool and a different approach to a biography. You could go to specific recordings that you wanted to know more about, or just check out the whole book and find out pretty much everything you ever needed to know! It includes collaborations, solo recordings and guest appearances.
The Poetry of Pop looks into the magic of pop songs in the language of lyrics and breaks down some lyrics as poems. This is a deeper look into songs than I am used to and there are a lot more to lyrics than I thought! There is a lot of mentions of Taylor Swift in the book and despite me not liking her at all, I can give props where props are due and I do think she does write some great songs. I liked the part of the book about different rhymes. I also liked the paragraphs about how Justin Timberlake is white. haha. (ok that’s a very basic break down of what is trying to be explained but if you are a Justin fan I am sure you get the idea of what is being discussed.) This book definitely made me think more about reading lyrics and reading them as more than just lyrics, but as poetry too.
Taken By The CEO is about Emmaline who has just gone through a divorce. She thinks that she needs a big change in her life and she is debating changing her name. When she locks herself out of her car and meets a new guy when she is trying to get help, she decides to lie and tell her that her name is Sarah. They go on a date and then she realizes that he is the new CEO at her job!! Emmaline is worried now that her promotion is at stake and the CEO thinks that she is a liar. The CEO, Parker, ends up forgiving her after he finds out that she didn’t know who he was at all and wasn’t lying to try and get to his money. Emmaline ends up withdrawing from the promotion as her relationship with Parker heats up. She doesn’t want anyone to think that she slept her way to the top. Parker reinstates Emmaline’s application behind her back and even though typically the CEO has final say in who gets the promotion and wanted it to go to Emmaline, he lets the rest of the committee decide instead. It looks like this is going to be the first in the series and I’d definitely consider reading more! This was a fun, quick read even though there was a lot of will they / won’t they back and forth with the main couple I still enjoyed it.
The Sweetest Kiss is the 4th book in a series. I didn’t realize this until after I had finished it, but it worked just find as a stand alone. I thought this was going to be a sweet romance novel, but it wasn’t very romancy, if you get what I mean.