Book Reviews

I read a ton of books and have decided to start talking about them on my blog - if not for anything else but for me to keep track of what I read and what I liked or disliked! (gotta love pregnancy brain)

Ignore the Search Inside logos - obviously I stole the cover shots from Amazon.com!

First of all - I love me some T.C. Boyle (or T.Coraghessan Boyle as his friends call him). One of the few authors that I check out the jacket cover picture more than once while reading his book. He looks like a more intense Gene Wilder in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and loves to pose in his vests and disheveled hair. I have read his collection of short stories and Tortilla Curtain. What strikes me as most interesting about his stories is that he points out a million ironies - without making a personal statement. Tortilla Curtain was about illegal Mexican Immigrants but you still wouldn't know if he was for or against border control. Drop City was about a hippie compound and a "mountain man" in Alaska and how their paths meet. He is by far the king of comparison and contrast and his books really make you think.

This book really hit home for me. I'm at a point in my life where I am beginning to think a little less liberal than I once did. I was a self-proclaimed hippie but now realize that it is a title that many hide behind. Like musician. Many musicians aren't musicians, they are people that don't want to work and would like to drink all day and have sex with random girls/guys. Many people (ahem Oakley's mother) claim to be hippies when really they're just lazy and can't handle being held accountable for their actions. They choose not to work at certain places or to live near that mountains for their "energy" when really they need to get their asses out of the woods and into the nearest Denny's to support their free love children. Also, they can't be choosey about where they live. And, even if you are picky about where you live... then why in the hell would you choose not to keep it clean? Isn't clutter bad for your CHI? And - this is the one that really gets me... if you're so anti-establishment how DARE you accept public assistance! The 17-year old Nisha would not have said these things.

The book makes you compare and consider -

- prostitution vs. free love vs. using your body and looks to get what you want

- living off the land vs. ruining the land

- vegetarians vs. meat eaters vs. fur trappers (and killing bugs vs. animals)

- revenge

- using ideals as they were meant vs for your own personal gain

- views of a woman's role in the world

And a whole lot more. And you're not spoon fed, not at all. He is subtle and you are constantly stopping to think.

Augusten Burroughs, how I love thee! I poured over Running with Scissors and Dry but have to admit that I really loved Magical Thinking. There were parts of Running w/ Scissors that made me cringe and perhaps Dry hit a little too close to home and my years of drinking profusely. Magical Thinking was very David Sedaris like (who I adore and would love to have lunch with someday. Picture it: Me, him, Stevie - a buffet! That's heaven right there is what it is). The only difference is he's a tad darker than Sedaris, which is ok by me. I do have to admit to skipping over one of the stories becaue it was about killing a rat thing and it made me too sad. I feel like I can hear the collective groans but I couldn't handle to think of him being sprayed with roach spray, helpless in a bathtub.

I also feel like I need to say that anyone that saw the movie Running with Scissors and based their decision on the book on that monstrosity - please think again. The book is 10x better. I know that everyone says that but I haven't had such a horrible book vs movie comparison since Memoirs of a Geisha, which I turned off after 10 minutes.

Burroughs is so raw and candid. Coming from a person that feels the need to divulge too much of myself to people this is very refreshing.

Also - if you're looking for an afternoon read I suggest My Horizontal Life, Confessions of a One-Night Stand by Chelsea Handler (from girls behaving badly). She is definitely much more of a comedian than a writer but once you get past that it's very enjoyable. Much like Jenny McCarthy Belly Laughs - take it for what it is and it will give back. I laughed out loud quite a few times. The way she described the naked midget jumping down off of the toilet about sent me over the edge. Or the man with the penis so small that it was like a little clitoris... classic! (p.s. can't say I can relate to the midget but the little penis thing - oh yeah). So for any girls that have had a drunken, hotacious period in their life this book is for you. . . and me!