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Elevation: A Novel by Stephen King
Would you like a book recommendation for an incredible paperback that is under $8 right how? Great! You’re in the right place. Technically, I don’t know if King’s Elevation is a book or a short story or a novella. He bills it as a novel, but the entire read is a lightning-fast 150 pages and it is brilliant in its simplicity.
There are only four main characters and two major storylines to follow. The first storyline involves Scott, a big guy at 6'2" 240, who is dropping weight at an alarming clip...except...he's not losing any size. He loses several pounds a day, with no end in sight, but looks and feels the same, other than the fact that with his strength and no weight, it’s like he’s living on the moon. Bounding and bouncing around everywhere. Of course, this is only fun for a little while because he keeps getting lighter and lighter.
Also, any object he touches seems to lose its weight as well. Naturally, this creates a ticking clock scenario... What happens when the scale gets to zero? What happens when he’s weightless? It’s a fascinating idea. (SIDE NOTE: If this happened to me I’d spend at least one full day doing every dunk imaginable on a ten-foot hoop.)
The secondary storyline cleverly involves the prejudices that can develop in a small town. I know these seem wildly unrelated, but King weaves them masterfully and it all makes sense in the end. This is fun and fast. A book you truly can read from cover to cover on a flight. Check it out here.
I’m a fan of when guys post training videos when they’re preparing to compete in something epic. Their first Iron Man. Their first powerlifting competition. Whatever you’re into, if you’ve decided to revamp your entire training routine around getting stronger and competing, I can dig it.
This video got me more than most. This man truly understands the big picture. He’s not just training for a one rep max or the glory of a medal. No… He’s training for all of humanity.
If you’re a guy over 40 and you’ve been looking for a new digital magazine that’s written for midlife men, by midlife men, on the topics that actually matter to us: family, fitness, fashion, finance, food & fun, then join us at Midlife Male.
I’m the Editor-in-Chief and I write a column every Tuesday called The Manologue. This week I decided to share all the steps I’ve used to master smoking a filet mignon. I’m telling you, this is legendary:
And while we’re recommending a Stephen King book, I came across a video by Nick Parry who runs a YouTube channel and Instagram account called Books Are Sick. I don’t know how I hadn’t discovered him before, but this video popped up in my feed about the King book, Under the Dome. I thought the book was awesome when it came out maybe a decade ago, but there was a big controversy about the ending. Not political or anything, mainly that many people thought it was the worst ending to a terrific book, maybe ever. I liked it. So did Nick. So now we’re pals. Here he is talking about it. Be sure to check out his channel.
BEAR BRAWL UPDATE: Some of the promo art we having coming out for Bear Brawl is incredible! This graphic, which depicts one of my favorite scenes in the book is so strong. The lake. The bear. The deflating zodiac boat. The father and son. It’s so good. I can’t wait for you to read this!
You can pre-order Bear Brawl on AMAZON HERE, or at BARNES & NOBLE HERE or at BOOKSHOP.ORG here. Appreciate you all!
Thanks for reading - Jon
Jon Finkel is the award-winning author of Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks In Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Greene and more. His books have been endorsed by everyone from Mark Cuban, John Cena and Tony Dungy to Spike Lee, Kevin Durant and Chef Robert Irvine. He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, Good Morning Chicago, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams. Jon was recently profiled in The New Yorker about the awesome community he’s built around his Books & Biceps newsletter. They describe him as “a gym rat’s Reese Witherspoon”. Reply to this email for any media requests. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Midlife Male and a Top 10 US Masters Swimmer in the 50 and 100 butterfly.
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