Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World
by Davy Rothbart
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Book Reviews of Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World
Book Review: Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't read non-fiction all that often, but I was intrigued by FOUND when it was nominated as a 2007 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. And I'm very glad I picked up a copy!
FOUND is, quite simply, a book filled with notes, letters, lists, pictures, and other miscellaneous items that have been found--either in the trash, on a sidewalk, stuck on a windshield, or just about anywhere else--that people have sent to the editors of FOUND Magazine for inclusion.
There is no real index to allow you to search for specific found items, but you can search by state. It doesn't really matter, though, because once you get started, you'll want to read the entire book. There are found items ranging from the funny, to the heartbreaking, to the downright insane ramblings of someone who obviously needs medication.
Some of my personal favorites include:
THIS PHASE OF YOURS found in Hoffman Estates, IL
FIND GOD, START DRINKING found in Lincoln, NE
MY OWN PRIVATE LIBRARY found in Casper, WY
AARON'S ALGEBRA TEST found in Portland, ME
This is definitely an informative and funny read. I'm looking forward to the release of FOUND II on May 2nd, which should be very educational, indeed!
Book Review: Gutter scripture
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fascinating, infinitely layered, bottomless, and genuinely human book.
After reading it straight through after buying it, I left it in my bathroom for months, and was amazed at how much I continued to find in it that I had missed the first time--the drawings that could be turned upside down to be something else, the hidden innuendoes in crumpled notes, the crushing sadness in seemingly funny letters, the humor in painfully sad confessions, the notes in codes that have to be broken, and the tiny clues in the backgrounds of photos.
This book is like scripture.
Gutter scripture.
In the same way a theologian can go over the Bible until he sees a truth he felt was previously hidden to him, anyone can go over any found note in this book and find additional humanity, insights, and truth.
The book is a random collection to be sure, and "Found" magazine has many finds that are better than or as good as the ones in here, but still this book somehow seems to present a portrait of all of America, of the whole world, of a place of real sadness and hopes and humor, of secrets and fears and dreams.
At times it's hilarious, as in the drawing of a missing rabbit on a lost pet poster with unmatching leg lengths, or the crude advertisement for "a mother type." But often it's heartbreaking, as in the boy's letter to his absent father, or the note reading, "Dear Dad I Love you so much just so you no I cry for you evry night. I love you so much dad."
I recommend "Found" to everyone. It will make you see the world differently. It's transformative. A street strewn with litter will become a place to glimpse a peek of people's lives. The people around you will seem more interesting. And they will be. And they are.
"Found" can prove it to you.
Book Review: Balloons Casting Shadows on Stars
Summary: 4 Stars
This isn't a purely positive review of this book but I liked the content. Take your curiousity, unleash it on a home where homeless items roam, and wonder. The packaging is a little of everything; some happy, some sad, the oddity of the book itself is a nice selling point.
One problem I had herein was that, for items found in random places, some sure had paragraphs wrapped around them. Yup, some things have huuuge backstories. Sometimes I found myself combing through alot of wording and I kept wondering why it happened, why people were being interviewed, and if those words were always necessary.
That said, I still liked the book and its content because some of the stuff within it reminded me of different things. Checklists of Star Wars figures, a balloon with a wish attached that was supposed to make it to the stars, a love letter that says that a relationship should end because being related just made it feel odd; sometimes it takes forgotten stuff to remind me why I'm reading.
Book Review: Voyeurism...
Summary: 5 Stars
It's such an exciting thing to be able to take a peek into the lives of others...Book Review: ADMIT YOU ARE NOSEY
Summary: 5 Stars
Come on admit it...we're all nosey to some degree or another. We're all interested in whatever happens outside the norm, as long as it is to someone else. It's why we rubberneck at accidents and why we look out of the corner of our eye when the couple at the next table in the restaurant is having an arguement.
Found makes snooping easy and anonymous for all of us. It's designed the same way as the "Found" magazine looking like a cross between a scrapbook and your kids school folder. In other words it's rather jumbled but it does make you look closely at everything on the pages. These notes, tapes, photos, homework assignments play to the voyeur in all of us and give us a glimpse into the lives of people we don't know and will never meet.
Sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, often profane (such as notes left on car windshields) it's a very eclectic collection of random lives and thoughts. Rothbart organizes the book state as his staff scour the country to bring us these tidbits. It's all quite amusing. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.