Things I learned About My Dad In Therapy is a book by the notorious Heather Armstrong, author of www.dooce.com and one I’ve been meaning to pick up for a while now. This copy showed up on my doorstep Tuesday afternoon as a surprise gift from my friend Tasha. Timing could not have been better. I was having a minor meltdown due to the plumbing incident that night (see previous post) and this was the one good thing I was just looking for to go right in my day. Thanks again, so much my dear. You always know how to cheer me up even when you don’t know that I need it.
As for the other books upon the stack, I thought I would share some of what I am reading and/or am about to.
A Wild Sheep Chase ~ Haruki Murakami
Since I read Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, I have been itching to get my hands on another one of this man’s books. Thankfully, he has got a few on the shelves for me to read and catch up on! His writing generally takes on a feel of surrealism. The stories start out innocently enough with average people and end up with them on some kind of wild far out journey that only someone with a very special kind of imagination could dream up. I’ve just started this book, but am so far loving every word.
I haven’t started reading this one yet, I’ll be honest. It is definitely next up on the reading list though. I used to own a lot of Harvey’s books (and I still have my small collection of favorites, others I’ve lent to friends) but had in the last few years kind of lost touch with what he’d been writing and releasing. Last time I was in a book store I suddenly had the urge to head straight for the section I knew he’d be in and picked up one of his newer titles. It’s been along time, Mr. Harvey, but I’m excited to see what you’ve been up to. ;)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ~ Dave Eggers
Okay, so I have been a long time fan of McSweeney’s, but somehow managed to not put two and two together when I heard people raving about this book. I picked it up just so I could see what the fuss was about when I found out it was written by the creator of the infamous McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (I’ve also read his wife’s work, Vendela Vida… I highly highly recommend her)
I’m going to go off on a bit of a tangent here, but bear with me. You know when you hear a bunch of great and wonderful things about a movie (lets say, for example, the Dark Knight) and knowing that you’re already a fan of the subject matter (namely Batman) you get super excited to go and see it and then when you finally see it, it’s an enormous let down (there is only one Batman. His name is Adam West.) ? No matter how much I like Dave Eggers and no matter how much I wanted to like this book, I found it to be a difficult read. I read it in short sittings and picked up another book inbetween. It is, without a doubt, a poignant tale of brotherly love after the loss of both parents and the struggle they both faced to lead relatively normal lives, but I also felt at times it tried a little too hard and tended to jump all over the place in terms of story telling.
Don’t get me wrong, I do the same. But there is a reason people don’t pay me to write.
Moving on….
Loved Into Submission ~ Christopher Baldwin
This was a surprising read. I stumbled upon it one day while surfing the web at an online store that sells t-shirts and other typical swag from a variety of web comics. This seemed kind of out of place, but also looked really interesting. There were a few spelling mistakes and *probably* a few grammatical errors, but overall, the story was really well thought out and easy to read. It was a short book, but one I’d probably read through again on a lazy afternoon when I feel the need to read something, but just can’t decide what. This would be an easy choice.
This book was lent to me by a friend (Hi Dave!) who I have seen once in the last five years. He figured the chances of getting it back any time soon were pretty slim to nil but he desperately felt the need to lend it to me anyway. That’s how much he loves this book. All I said was “yeah, I really like Palahniuk. I know Lullaby isn’t considered very good by a lot of people I know, but I quite enjoyed it.”, and BAM! I had a very well loved copy of Survivor in my hand. “The best Palahniuk book ever” according to Dave. And so I read. And so I loved. If you like anything by Palahniuk whatsoever, you’ll want to read this. A bit bleak, sure. But excellent. Just excellent.
Okay, so I was a bit embarrassed to buy this book. What I learned after I bought it is that, apparently, a lot of my friends are closet fans also and I could have just as easily borrowed it instead of spending the money.
There are a few things I know about vampires:
1. They like blood. We need this to live. My desire to live > desire to shag a vampire.
2. Vampire mythology and lore dates back to very barbaric times. There was nothing noble or beautiful about them.
3. Vampires should not sparkle.
Those things aside, however, all I can do is admit that I loved reading this book. I felt like I was 14 again. It’s like Sweet Valley High with fangs. It is definitely not a particularly well written book, but it is a fun read nonetheless.
See? I totally CAN read.