An Army of Normal Folks - Our Favorite Books

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

For Shop Talk, Coach Bill and Alex reflect on some of their favorite books. And want to hear about yours! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Welcome back to the shop, by the way. How are you doing, Alex? Everything all right with you? I'm doing great, Bill. Are you? Is anything new? Really?

That's your life. Nothing new. Okay, how about this? Are you enjoying a new cigar? You're smoking the same old cigar. Actually, I enjoying a new cigar? You smoke the same old. Actually, I got a weird cigar smore story from last night. Tell it to me. It's actually kind of annoying. So I'm at my cigar shop. OK.

And I'm working there. And the new manager comes up to me and says, hey, can you have can we have this other guy sit in your chair? And he's an older guy sitting in your chair. Yeah I mean, he's an older guy. Sit in your chair? Yeah, yeah. I'm like, I got here first. Like, what? What?

I'm like. I can actually see you saying that. I actually did say it, because that's what's going through my brain, but this is previously one of the other employees kind of gave me crap about sitting in this chair, because this other guy prefers sitting in this chair. It's both of our preferred chair, the shop and traditionally whoever-

Is it a comfy chair? Yeah. It's like the best view of everybody else. It really is kind of the best chair. But it's always just kind of Ben whoever gets there first gets it and the other person's a sucker. So it's like- That's the way it works.

That's just the way it- but then they approached me yesterday and asked me if I'll move into another chair. I am. And so the guy's 70, so I get he's older. We maybe give him a little respect, but still, I mean, this guy still moves just fine. Like, it's not like he's a, you know. But anyway, so the, I'm like, whatever.

And he tries to sweeten the deal by giving me a free drink and a free cigar. So I still at least got that, but it still kind of pisses me off, because now I can never sit in that chair. So you've lost your chair. I've lost my chair. If I were you I'd bring in a new one. Bring in your own chair. It's more the spot. Yeah you know. Boy these are really difficult problems. Yeah these are first world problems. These are first world issues when you don't have your preferred chair and your cigar lounge. Well the reason I sit

there though too is I'm still working like 60, 70 hours a week on the army. So it's like, that's why I'm there working at night. This isn't like fun. Alex having a grand old time like it. The cigars help me keep working. I mean, that's a little do what I was doing for four hours there last night. Well, at least you're putting in your time. OK, so hurting my own health to help the army. Shabtaught number 61 is about my favorite books. And we'll hear it right after these brief messages

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I'm Maria Hinojosa. first Latina in the newsrooms where I worked. I'm Maria Hinojosa. I dreamt of having a place where voices that had been historically sidelined would instead be centered. For over 30 years now, Latino USA has been that place. This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and cultura. As the longest running Latino news and culture show in the United States, Latino USA delivers the stories that truly matter to all of us. From sharp and deep analysis of the most pressing news,

They're creating this narrative that immigrants are criminals. This is about everyone's freedom of speech. Nobody expected to pokes from the American continent to stories about our cultures and our identities. When you do get a trans character like Emilia Perez, the trans community is gonna push back on that. Colorism, all of these things that exist in Mexican culture and Latino culture.

You'll hear from people like Congresswoman AOC. I don't wanna give them my fear. I'm not gonna give them my fear. Listen to Latino USA as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeart radio app, fear. I'm not going to give them my fear. Listen to Latino USA as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now why in the world on Chop Talk are we talking about this? Well, here's why. Because this. Well, here's why. Because I think reading is really important and I think in this age of cell phones and stuff we're getting away from reading. And so every once while we're going to

talk about some of my favorite books. And I want you to email me what your favorite books are. We're not going to start a book club, but we are going to have a shop talk slash army of normal folks. Let's share good book ideas with everybody and we'll just post them. How about that? And why would it meant to you reflections on it? Don't just say what your favorite book is like go deep. Well, obviously. Yeah. What's your book and why and everything else. And in my book is called against the grain. It's available wherever you get. Shameless plug. And you're welcome to buy my book and read it. And it may become one of your favorites. Against the Grain by Bill Courtney.

You can buy it. Usually you hate promoting your own stuff. So that's pretty cool. I almost never promote my stuff, but we're talking about books. But my book is actually pretty good. And The Forward was written by Phil Jackson. That's pretty cool.

That is pretty cool. All right. So that's my book. But here's, I'm gonna give you two of my favorite books this time and we'll touch base on it. I'm dead serious. Write me so I can read some books. One, A Confederacy of Dunces.

Wrong answer, it should have been the Bible. Oh my God. Keep going. Okay, see, it's a complete setup. All right, number have been the Bible. Oh my God. Keep going. Okay, see, it's a complete setup. All right, number one, the Bible. Number two, do I need to review the Bible for you? No, that's fine. Can we just move on?

That's been well reviewed. I think it's been very well reviewed. So number two, a Confederacy of Dunces. Why? It's hilarious. Two, the way that it was actually brought to publication. The story itself is phenomenal because the author had, uh, commit suicide and been gone for many,

many years when his mother found the manuscript in a trunk and read it and thought it was amazing and got it published. Really? Yes. It has been optioned for a movie three or four different times and I wish to goodness they would make a movie out of it because it would be hilarious. But it's about it's a fictional story but some think it's kind of half fictional because some thinks that the protagonist Ignatius P. Reilly is built into who the author was. But it's about a guy who lives in New Orleans, who is a corpulent, slovenly kind of fiasco, who thinks he is far superior in intellect and political understanding than anybody

around him who has failed job after failed job after failed job a socialist girlfriend and frequents a brothel and it's just his comings and goings and interactions with his mother his girlfriend and the people in New Orleans. And it is hysterical. So you need to write it. And there is tons of social commentary weaved into the story. Is there anything redeeming in this book or is it just a joyride? It's hilarious and it's...just read it. It's a cautionary tale. It is a cautionary tale a little but it is also it it through his eyes uh it's an interesting commentary on society. Speaking of Confederacy of

Dunces you used that line in in that clip we featured on Instagram about Max and his car getting stolen and the Confederacy of Dunces involved. It was a Confederacy of Dunces. So for those who don't follow us on Instagram, that's a shameless plug. Go and watch this clip, because it is so funny. Well, it really was.

Is it funny? It's so funny. I haven't even seen it. But it is, it really, I wasn't, you know, using the Confederacy of Dunces as the title of the book. I think that is an interesting, I mean, how many times have you run into what you think is a Confederacy of Dunces operating in some place?

It's just, yeah, so that's it. Second book. And it is absolutely a book I might have read 10 times. And I know way too much about it because I've read it over and over again. It is nothing. I mean, everybody's going to know it, but to kill a mockingbird to me is such an important book. Um, and I use the word to Merida often because Atticus Finch when defending,

um, in his defense, uh, in the courtroom said that the only son of the defendant was having the to Merida to feel sorry for a white woman. And I just remember reading that and getting chills that there, that there could be a social construct where having empathy could actually be a negative thing. Harper Lee is often thought to be Scout, Scout in the book,

or at least to have grown up in a social setting, like what Scout did and there are so many tales that are woven to understand that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird and to kill a mockingbird stands for the degradation of so many different thoughts people races and creeds and I just think it's uh I think it's just one of the best best books ever written because of the story it tells inside the story. So there you go. Now give me one of yours. Uh, an interesting one that you probably haven't read is Coming Apart.

I should buy this book for you. Uh, so Charles Murray wrote this and it talks about how the society is coming apart. Um, but one of the interesting examples that I often cite with people is he talks about growing up in Iowa in this factory town. The CEO and one of his regular workers would live on the same block and their kids would marry. Now that's furthest from the truth. The CEO's kids are going off to Princeton and they're marrying other people from Princeton. That's not true.

That's really- And they're driving different cars, they're living other people from Princeton. That's not true. The work that's really and they're driving different cars. They're living in different neighborhoods and the hyper polarization in terms of income where these people don't even interact with each other, you know, anymore and how it's, you know, pulling the country apart. I would love that. Yeah. See how this works everybody.

So I know everybody has a favorite book or two. Um, shoot them to us. We'll talk about them the next time we do this. These two books that I've done are fiction. My next two books I'll talk about on the next time we do this will be non-fiction. One of them is something I read recently and the guys like Nostradamus because what he said five years ago when he wrote the book about globalization is actually happening as we speak and it's really interesting but we'll talk about

that one later. What else? That's it. Goodbye. So shop talk number 61 read to kill a mockingbird a Confederate Confederacy of Dunces read coming apart there you go and Send us what you think are your books and we'll start playing with book titles every once a while If you like this episode, rate, review it. Email me anytime at bill at normal folks dot us. If you have any ideas for shop talk, subscribe to the podcast. What else? Rate and review us. Become a premium member. I said rate and review us. You're being redundant. I'm just getting confused. Okay, what else? Anything else? That's it. All right, shop talk number 61. That's our favorite books. What are yours?

We'll see you next week. Ding! A Body, a Suspect, and 100 Years of Silence. Buried Bones is a podcast about the forgotten crimes history tried to leave behind. A common misperception about serial predators is that every single time they commit a crime, they commit it the same way. The past is a way of talking if you know what to listen for.

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