Davy Rothbart's magazine Found is dedicated to discarded notes, letters, flyers, photos, lists, and drawings found and sent in by readers. The magazine spawned a best-selling book, Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World, published in April 2004. A second collection was published in May 2006. The magazine is published annually and co-edited by Rothbart's friend Jason Bitner.
Rothbart, a former Chicago Bulls ticket scalper, often tours the country to share finds and invite others to share their finds with him. His brother, musician Peter Rothbart, often accompanies him on these tours.
The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas, a collection of Rothbart's short-stories, was published in August 2005 by Simon & Schuster. A shorter version of the same book was previously self-published by Rothbart's own production company, 21 Balloons Productions (named after Rothbart's favorite book, The 21 Balloons, by William Pène du Bois). An Italian edition, Il Surfista Solitario del Montana, was published in 2007 by Coniglio Editore. In 2008, actor Steve Buscemi optioned the book for film adaption, to be developed by Olive Productions; Buscemi has written the screenplay and plans to direct.
This is the most disgustingly white upper-middle-class thing I have ever read.
The charming detritus that appears in each issue of Found is replaced here by unnecessarily long essays about encountering other people's cast-off stuff, nearly all of them capped off by some cloying moral about how the stuff we find says as much about ourselves as it does about other people or some crap like that. Sweet Christ, there's even a work of short fiction about a dude trying to remember a wild party by looking at a photo, then realizing he's gay.
Found Magazine works because there is no context. When you get a bunch of pretentious people to write endless speculation on what the context for all these objects may have been, you destroy everything that made Found worth buying. Found Magazine made me more interested in other people; this anthology makes me hate them.
Sadly, the more I read this book the less I liked it.
Found Magazine is really fun -- it's actual images of the stuff people have found. It makes you wonder about the stories behind the stuff. This book seemed to be more of the same, but with the finder's story of finding or wondering.
What it often ended up being, though, was a gaudy, juvenile, sometimes morbidly obsessed romp through other people's belongings and lives. For example, one finder was walking down the sidewalk and came upon a house with a front yard filled with all the stuff of someone's life. He and his girlfriend stood there, wondering if they could dig into it, until another couple came up and dove in. I've worked with enough people who have been evicted unwillingly that this disturbs me quite a bit.
Sometimes the stories are about a find from the finder's youth, and the essay tells the story of the immature way the finder rejoiced and shared with friends the original owner's story or pain or mistakes. The essay ends with a more reflective, mature view that may regret the way s/he handled the find.
That's nice, but aren't they mostly just doing more of the same now?
I'll have to see if after reading this I'll still enjoy the magazine, but sadly the fun I expected from the book, at least, was missing.
I'm not sure why so many others have such negative things to say about this book. I love Davy Rothbart's Found Magazine collections, and I thought this was an interesting twist on "found" things. When I find things, especially very mysterious or cryptic items, I always wonder (and often concoct)the story behind the item. Voyeuristic? Perhaps… but I’m OK with that. I prefer to think of the process as calisthenics of the imagination. It’s healthy! What harm is there in theorizing about the individuals and the circumstances that prompted said found item? None that I can think of. I’ve almost convinced myself that a Tom Snyder Productions Post-It note about aliens featured in a “Found” anthology was something I lost while on my honeymoon in New Orleans, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
I thought this short story collection, which did just that, sometimes by celebrities, sometimes by everyday Joes, was fabulous. I really liked the following quote by author, Katherine Dunn, "To me, found letters and notes... are the poetry of the universe."
This book, edited by the creator of Found Magazine, should be better. A lot better.
Of course, beginning with Seth Rogen talking about his found childhood porn did not exactly bode well. Perhaps it would be amusing if you were a 14-year-old boy...although I doubt it.
There were a few gems: Miranda July, Charles Baxter, Tom Robbins, Robert Olen Butler, Paul Coelho, Jesse Thorn and Jim Carroll. Out of about 70.
And there were some wise observations hidden in the other essays and stories.
But Paul Coelho says it best: "I believe in science. But there is something magical about finding things....The universe places things in your path; it's the language the universe uses to communicate with you."
And Jesse Thorn adds: "What's special about something that's been found isn't what it is--it's the possibilities it represents. There's only the tiniest sliver of objective truth, and you have the opportunity to fill in the rest however you please."
I wish the rest of the book had lived up to these thoughts.
This book is based on the magazine "Found" where people send in the random items the find. The book has a collection of thoughts, impressions, and stories inspired by these finds. There is quite the mixture of stuff with comments from a variety of well know and not so well known people. I would recommend this book to people who like to people watch but can't leave the house.
I have been an avid fan of Davy Rothbart’s Found Magazine since reading his first Found book and have frequented the Found website, picked up back issues of the magazine, and searched for my own finds ever since. Found remains one of my favorite books, and I too have been captivated and intrigued by the intimate (voyeuristic?) look into the lives of other people through the finding and collecting of lost items, of all types. Apparently, I am far from alone. In this work, Rothbart collects short essays and stories (generally no more than a page or two) by a wide variety of prominent and semi-prominent creative types (artists, musicians, writers, etc) responding to the mysteries, joys, sadnesses, triumphs, and failures of human life through the theme of “finding” things.
The pieces are extremely diverse in their subject matters, ranging from comics to poetry, with some writing fictional accounts of the imagined back stories to such finds, and still others expressing favorite personal finds that changed their lives in various ways, others responding and reflecting on some of Found magazine’s more interesting discoveries. Though a few might have drifted a bit from the theme of reflecting on the lost detritus of human culture to reflect on one's own life in relation to others, I enjoyed the latter essays the most. Kimya Dawson, in particular, expressed the feelings behind the special way of getting an inside view of what it is like to be another, anonymous person by finding a lost piece of the detritus of life. On the other hand, descriptions of and fictional stories based on find items lack a bit of the mystery and self-reflection of simply displaying the finds themselves. I did enjoy this anthology, and it is a great celebration of Found by fellow devotees for fellow devotees, but it just doesn’t have some of the pure joy, randomness, and mystery of other Found magazine publications. It is well worth a read from Found fans but others should definitely read Found magazine first.
These were my favorite stories. One doesn’t expects a collection like this to be great from start to finish, but less than 30 pages of zingers is much less than I hoped for. These were my favorites of the bunch:
David Simon's story ("Best Regards, Robert Zimmerman, 45-50) about the hunt for a letter Bob Dylan wrote amongst police files
Frank Warren shares ("Post-Rock," 86-89) his parental wisdom of creating magic for his daughter in the form of etched rocks..
Andrew Bird recalls a time in "Russian Hill" (108-109) that finding a hat lifted his spirits out of a funk.
Michael Yon's memory in "Al-Zawahiri's Letter" (122-123) of seeing a classified letter written by a top terrorist. At first the letter says to stop slaughtering hostages savagely, which seems nice until later in the letter it is clear that he still wants them murdered, but in a way that doesn't make them less popular to moderate Muslims.
Dave Egger's account in "Eggs Before They Hatch" (124-126) of how valued space on a page is for students in Sudan.
Paulo Coelho's explanation in "The Good Pirate" (160-161) of getting the push he needed to write from finding a feather.
Kevin Dole 2's recollection in "Personette" (205-209) of thanklessly finding and returning a stranger's bag.
Jim Carroll's gross true tale ("Inside Out," 225-227) of his friend finding an army man during a colonic at a spa.
Also, this favorite quote: "It was one of those pretentious art conversations, the kind that every college kid has. We thought ourselves the deepest of philosophers, delineating the meaning of art, and what makes good art. Very suddenly, I got sick of this circular conversation and blurted out: "You know, art is just that thing that makes you think there's a point to life when women aren't around." it stopped both of us in our tracks, and soon we were doubled over." ("If Found, Please Return To..." by Fred Chao with Dylan Babb, 106)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
One of my favorite book series is The Best American Non-Required Reading, a compilation of short stories, essays, lists, emails, and other pieces from the year. I’m currently reading the 2013 edition and will post a review when I’m finished.
One of the stories in that edition was “Human Snowball,” by Davy Rothbart. It quickly became one of my favorite pieces, so of course I went looking to find more work by him. And that’s how I found Requiem for a Paper Bag: Celebrities and Civilians Tell Stories of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Found Items from Around the World.
The title describes what you are about to get, but it’s the unexpected variety of the pieces that is so engaging. There’s a mixture of nonfiction and fiction, a few poems, and a few illustrated pieces. Most are very short, only a few pages.
I guess I never thought much about the peculiar things that are lost and found: a frog, a lobster, a bloody jockstrap, a Bob Dylan letter, a bag of bottles to be recycled. Scraps of paper with lists or notes or cryptic sentences. A falling bullet.
Many of the writers talk about the universal qualities of lost and/or found items, their significance, their mystery. Others describe their personal connection to the items. It’s quirky, unexpected, and fascinating.
The book encourages a sense of wonder about the world. Maybe instead of stopping to smell the roses, I should pay attention to the stuff lying in the gutter.
FOUND Magazine and the FOUND tours are absolutely amazing... This book falls short of that due to the different takes that creative people were allowed to make on items not found by them. The amazing parts come from some finds that people did make on their own. I mean who wouldn't like to know how Seth Rogen first found porn, or the story from Cory of Mates of State which sounds like a Jawbreaker song (Chesterfield King) come to life. ( in SF of all places, apparently magical shit happens in Frisco!) Lot of interesting stuff that kinda gets thrown to the wayside in everday life ends up presenting here. Tom Robbins' story about finding a wife is phenomenal. Some of the stories based on other peoples' finds just lose the luster of FOUND in the first place. Definitely check this book out after you've read the other FOUND books or seen Davy doin' his thing on tour.
More like 4.5 stars! Though it took me a few months to get around to reading it, I really enjoyed almost every single contribution here--which shows that Rothbart must be as good an editor as a writer and finder. Even some of the celebrity chapters (Andy Samberg, Weed's creator Jenji Kohan), which I thought would be filler, are a lot of fun. I have a story in this too and it really sticks out like a sore thumb--as opposed to 90% of the book's contents, which are personal essays, mine is a fictional piece told from the point of view of a dirty photo. My friend, Elizabeth Ellen, also has a superb piece in this. Fun book!
These little vignettes exploring found, lost, or tossed objects (a'la' Found Magazine, whose creator is the editor of this collection of short short stories) made for a weird and enjoyable read for the most part. Each essay is only a few pages long, so it was perfect reading while sick - no attention span needed! Plus you can skip the bad ones easily, and there are a few that seem included more for the celebrity name than the worthiness of the story. Still, "No Panties Allowed" by Steve ALmond and the essay by Jenji Kohan (creator of the TV show Weeds) are standouts that made the whole book worthwhile.
This book was it's own found object. It was hidden under a stack of other used books at a book fair in central-Virginia. A found anthology in every sense of the word. I'm not sure why I bought it. It wasn't the Drew Barrymore blurb on the back, that's for sure. It may have been the simple pull of the cover art or the potential of a collection that includes Miranda July,Steve Almond, Sarah Vowel, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien . What I discovered was an anthology of lost things found, but also short stories inspired by contextless clues, lists, urban poetics, and the smudges of human existence left on the windows of abandoned cars. This anthology is utterly charming.
This book. It started off as addictive as "Found" magazine; full of mental crack and poignancy. In the middle there is a story about a person who attempts again and again to keep a journal but is derail each time by a sense that the writing is inane, self-serving, and basically pages of douchebaggery. It is surrounded by examples of this exact same type of story. Then at the end it picks up again, regaining its mysterious allure. Some contributors clearly "get it"; some CLEARLY do not. Reading this book must be what it is like to be Davy Rothbart sifting through garbage and finding the occasional diamond.
I love all things "Found". I liked the stories of how finding something seemingly insignificant can really and truly impact people's lives. My favorite was "Inside Out" by Jim Carrol. Davy read that one at the last Found Magazine event I went to, so I could still hear his voice and the laughter from the audience when he read it. Tears were flowing, I laughed so hard.
The cover art is amazing. If you look closely you can find a little drawing of the author of each story or the meaningful found item from the story. It's better than Where's Waldo!
I am a huge fan of both Davy Rothbart and Found Magazine, so naturally, I had to read this book. It's a great concept, people talking about their own favorite found objects. I also like how the concept for this book allowed for creativity. The contributors could give a straightforward explanation of the object and it's meaning...or they could create a fictional story,poem, comic strip, et...
Some of the highlights for me were the pieces by Jim Carroll (gross, but fascinating), Esther Pearl Watson and Kimya Dawson. This is a eclectic collection and worth checking out!
Found porn, found pictures, found rocks, free boxes, thrift stores. The stories themselves aren't that bad, but the writing at times was very lazy. I wish the book would have been divided into sections separating the fiction from the non-fiction. It would have made the book easier to read. I enjoyed the pieces by Drew Daniel and Byron Case, but Jim Carroll's was the best as far as story-telling goes. Chuck Klosterman's critical view of Found Magazine was also good to read. Finally someone speaks the truth! And I was shocked to read that Chuck D once worked at Sears! Gasp!
Unfortunately this wasn't as entertaining as Found magazine. I didn't enjoy the "found" stories about people finding their spouses, careers, etc. Most of the celebrity stories were dull. The joy of Found magazine is the strangeness of it, and hardly any of these found items were worth speculating about. I did enjoy the quotes about the reporter's father who passed away on page 11. That was the highlight in the whole book for me, so thank you, K.C. Johnson.
This is the second time I've read this book ~ and it has held up to my fond memories. Reading people's stories about found items is at once fascinating and a lot of the time hilarious. The people feautured in this anthology know how to ponder about things that can only be guessed at, that's for sure. They leave you wishing that you could find your own scrap of paper with a mysterious scribble, or someone's wayward doodle, or... heh heh, toy soldier.
The idea is so interesting... people write about things they find, at any given time, be them scraps of paper, objects or whatnots. the book had been in my wishlist for months, because I thad thought it would be too good - I almost had it shipped, never mind the gadzillion charged in taxes for Brazil. Then it just fell flat. There are a couple of nice stories - one about a wallet, one about a porn mag, for instance - but all in all, I'm deleting it from my kindle archives in three minutes.
Almost tenaciously boring; each story seemed to just verge on, or hint at, the Interesting. I found myself (ha) constantly wishing it would get better, and consistently being disappointed. And I am certainly one who appreciates found objects and the beauty of the unknowable and conjecture... but these stories seemed to be groping for a sharp dress in a dark, empty closet.
Just read Requiem for a Paper Bag edited by Davy Rothbart (creator of FOUND magazine). A great collection of celebrities’ short stories of the trinkets, treasures and trash they found over the years in the most unsuspecting ways & places – random notes on the street, junk at a thrift store, souvenirs, omens, etc.
It seems some people don't enjoy the essays within this book- i found them to be quite beneficial. It shows how others would translate what they had found & it makes you realize you would do the same thing-- you wonder to the point of making up your story behind the item you found...
Pretty good mix of stories....some bring a smile to the face, some make you sad, some are--for lack of a better word--meh, and some are just laugh out loud funny. A neat take on the whole "Found" magazine ethos.
some of these stories were really good (frank warren's, jenny owen youngs's obviously, a few others), but a lot of them were poorly written and / or uninteresting. it wasn't a bad way to spend my morning, but it wasn't a very good way to spend it either.
Like I said in my status, I only read bits and pieces of this book as they struck my fancy, but I really liked it. It was a great companion to the Found books and really interesting to read the stories by some of my favorite interesting celebrities and artists.
Once I stumbled upon a copy of Found and was intrigued. I thought this might be fun, too, as I really enjoyed the magazine and this was put together by the same guy. The first two stories in the collection were about pornography. I can tell you, I didn't get any further.
Davy Rothbart is a brilliant man, to make a living from the found treasures that he catalogs in his books. Requiem... is probably my favorite of the Found books; I really enjoyed the personal stories, written by pretty comical authors, about each of the Found items.
The fiction pieces are hit or miss, and I mean hit or miss in the sense that they're either decent enough or absolutely stomach churningly terrible. A lot of fun entires though. Schlichter, Rogen, Lethem, and more I'm forgetting. A nice, easy read. Like Dr. Seuss books.