Chuck Klosterman X : a highly specific, defiantly incomplete history of the early 21st century
(Book)

Klosterman (But What If We're Wrong? Thinking about the Present as If It Were the Past, 2016) admits at the start of this highly entertaining collection of previously published pieces, mostly about music and sports, that gathering old articles is not something he particularly likes doing (It . . . isn't pleasant), although, on the other hand, he loves reading the indexes to his books (It's always my favorite part). That's Klosterman for you honest, unpredictable, and fun. This addictively readable collection includes short and longish essays on musicians Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Van Halen, Noel Gallagher, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Danger Mouse, and Lou Reed, and athletes Tim Tebow, Usain Bolt, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Brady. But there are also references to Breaking Bad and Harry Potter and a fine piece on Jonathan Franzen. Other highlights include a fantastic interview with the polite yet prickly Jimmy Page and a surprisingly poignant piece on Charlie Brown. If you can't empathize with Charlie Brown, writes Klosterman, you likely lack an ability to empathize with any fictional character. --Sawyers, June Copyright 2017 Booklist

Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; But What If We're Wrong) has written nine books and a slew of articles for newspapers, magazines, and online publications. This collection features his best pieces from the last ten years. Although a majority of the articles focus on music or sports, Klosterman also ruminates on literature, pop culture, death, and much more. Filtered through his literary sensibility are honest, critical, profound, and compulsively readable interviews with Jimmy Page, Taylor Swift, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Brady (to name a few). Each piece is a polished stone of insightful reportage. But Klosterman's work flirts closest with the sublime when he strays from the famous, including his retelling of an intense junior college basketball game in North Dakota, a conversation with a busboy in Tulsa, the infuriating demands of a forgotten NBA draft pick, and the evening of his father's death. VERDICT A funny, thoughtful Greatest Hits album from a master of nonfiction, with standout tracks that will stand the test of time.-Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A collection of journalistic pieces that remain provocative, or at least interesting, even if the subjects that inspired them have faded from memory.In his 10th book, pop-culture contrarian Klosterman (But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present as If It Were the Past, 2016, etc.) suggests that he has matured more gracefully than many of those he has written about. He built his career as the anti-critic critic, the guy who embraced hair metal and didn't care much for a lot of what music critics claimed to love. Or, as he writes in one of his more recent introductions to older pieces, "one of the things I love about covering uncool artists is that groups widely described as hated' are almost always more popular than groups who are described as beloved,' " referring to a piece on the critically reviled Creed and Nickelback. On that same page, he remarks, of a longer retrospective, "I don't expect most people who buy this book will read a ten-thousand-word essay on KISS. It is, however, twice as good as a five-thousand-word essay on KISS." Though it has been tempting to dismiss Klosterman as a one-trick pony, claiming black where others (in print at least) see white, the best work offers insight into the relations among artist, art, and audience that goes considerably deeper. The profiles of Taylor Swift, Kobe Bryant, and Jonathan Franzen will leave readers with fresh appreciation for both the subjects and the journalist, who understands how the three are similar in terms of what they have accomplished and what challenges they have faced in terms of popular perception. It is possible that nobody has ever understood Swift better on the page, while the Franzen piece falls a little short of that for reasons Klosterman explains: "We are both working writers with vaguely similar lives. He, however, is more talented, more successful, and considerably more respected.There was a power imbalance, recognized by both of us." Even those who only dimly remember Royce White, Pavement, or Gnarls Barkley will find the reflections on them engaging. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Klosterman (But What If We're Wrong? Thinking about the Present as If It Were the Past, 2016) admits at the start of this highly entertaining collection of previously published pieces, mostly about music and sports, that gathering old articles is not something he particularly likes doing ("It . . . isn't pleasant"), although, on the other hand, he loves reading the indexes to his books ("It's always my favorite part"). That's Klosterman for you—honest, unpredictable, and fun. This addictively readable collection includes short and longish essays on musicians Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Van Halen, Noel Gallagher, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Danger Mouse, and Lou Reed, and athletes Tim Tebow, Usain Bolt, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Brady. But there are also references to Breaking Bad and Harry Potter and a fine piece on Jonathan Franzen. Other highlights include a fantastic interview with the polite yet prickly Jimmy Page and a surprisingly poignant piece on Charlie Brown. "If you can't empathize with Charlie Brown," writes Klosterman, "you likely lack an ability to empathize with any fictional character." Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; But What If We're Wrong) has written nine books and a slew of articles for newspapers, magazines, and online publications. This collection features his best pieces from the last ten years. Although a majority of the articles focus on music or sports, Klosterman also ruminates on literature, pop culture, death, and much more. Filtered through his literary sensibility are honest, critical, profound, and compulsively readable interviews with Jimmy Page, Taylor Swift, Kobe Bryant, and Tom Brady (to name a few). Each piece is a polished stone of insightful reportage. But Klosterman's work flirts closest with the sublime when he strays from the famous, including his retelling of an intense junior college basketball game in North Dakota, a conversation with a busboy in Tulsa, the infuriating demands of a forgotten NBA draft pick, and the evening of his father's death. VERDICT A funny, thoughtful Greatest Hits album from a master of nonfiction, with standout tracks that will stand the test of time.—Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA