A Few Things

So I took last week off in order to properly celebrate Thanksgiving. I hadn't read anything good anyway and it was best to not bore you with a lackluster book review. Plus, I had to participate in the best family Thanksgiving tradition ever: tequila shots.

I'm going to mention a few things today. First off, I've started watching a new program that's being broadcast online in a few different places called quarterlife. It's by Marshall Herskovitz who produced one of the best shows ever, My So-Called Life. So far I've only watched 3 parts of the first episode but I'm hooked. It's about a magazine editor who really wants to be a writer and her video blog that exposes the secret desires of all of her friends. It's kind of trashy, but that's what makes it good. Plus, with the producers still stupidly holding their ground and the writers still (rightfully) striking, I miss television.

This past weekend I read the latest PostSecret book, A Lifetime of Secrets. It was basically the same as the last two books, some of the secrets I had seen before and some were new. The overall tone of the book was depressing; in fact, some of the secrets were almost unbearable. It's easier to take the blog that only posts 10 secrets once a week. A whole book of them was just too much.

A few weeks ago someone nicely commented on my review of Madlands by J. Allen Kirsch and mentioned that there was a sequel. I was not aware of this so I requested God's Little Isthmus immediately. Unfortunately, when I sat down to read it I was fairly disappointed. Everyone was so Madison: liberal, environmentally conscious and a do-gooder to the extreme. Now I like to think that I am all of those things, but in moderation. I'm not going to stop drinking a beer that I like just because it happens to be owned by the same company as another product that is doing something borderline bad. Maybe it was just my mood, but this sequel rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps I'll try it again some time, but right now, it's not for me.

The Beloved Son

I read Jay Quinn's gay fiction book Back Where He Started a few years ago and really liked both the story and the writing of this novel that details the break up of a long term relationship and what happens to the grown children in the process. Last year Quinn came out with another novel titled The Good Neighbor which I was not really a fan of, I thought it felt rushed and didn't think it was the same quality of story. That novel details the ever-growing relationship between one half of a gay couple and a neighboring husband and father. Despite not loving his last book, when I found out Quinn was coming out with another novel I got on the hold list right away for The Beloved Son. I figured that The Beloved Son would be written in a similar style, but it wasn't. Quinn still brought good writing to this story and I definitely enjoyed it, the difference was that this time Quinn employs a straight male narrator. The Beloved Son is the story of Karl Preston and his gay brother Sven's role reversal as they have the take care of their parents and deal with their mother's mounting dementia. I loved the family dynamics in this story and thought that Quinn dealt very well with presenting the story from both Sven, who lives in the same city and is a primary caretaker for his mother yet disliked by his father, and Karl, who lives far away and has only seen the "good face" of his family until the weekend during which this book takes place. Karl's wife and daughter join Sven, his partner and their parents for a big family get together weekend and the novel is divided into each day of the weekend rather than into chapters. In an interview, Quinn did mention that this book might appeal to a larger audience than his other books, and that's true, but that's not why I liked it. It was Quinn's fair and nuanced portrayal of a family in turmoil that made this a great read.

I Am America (And So Can You!)

I've been horribly neglectful of my blog lately. Lots of stuff is going on and on top of it all I'm sick which is really annoying. But, I'm back with a vengeance, a vengeance to take lots of Emergen-C, get better and of course read awesome books.

So Stephen Colbert...it's hard to come up with something original to say about him these days since he's already said it all himself. We all know the guy is his own biggest fan. I was lucky enough to get on the hold list early for his first book, winner of the Stephen T. Colbert Award For The Literary Excellence, yes that's right, I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert. This book is a patriotic look through Stephen's eyes at issues affecting America such as race, science, sports, sex & dating, old people, immigration (No way Jose!), etc. All of the chapters begin with text in the shape of an American flag and this book includes my favorite book feature, say it with me, foot notes. It also includes margin notes that read much like The Colbert Report's famous segment The Word. I'll break it down for you now: this book is funny. Colbert is pretty great and even now, watching the video of the White House Correspondents Dinner, I want to make excited arm-pump gestures like Dwight Schrute. I hope he doesn't actually run for president because I think that's taking it too far, but otherwise, he's great and the book is an extension of his greatness. Just like he planned. I should stop gushing now, instead, I'll share some funny excerpts from the book.

Page 108: Things That Are Trying To Turn Me Gay and Their Success On A Scale Of One To Ten. Gay People get a 4 while Clive Owen gets an 8.

The chapter on seniors starts out in large print. Stephen then goes on to say on page 22 "Plus: Since seniors can't read this I can say whatever I want about them. They look like lizards. See? No angry letters.."

In the Media chapter, Stephen mentions on page 152, "Simple Question with a 'Yes' answer: Is the mainstream press too liberal? The answer is Yes. Need proof? Just look at some of the headlines I'm able to imagine." Included is the High Times headline "That's Right. This Magazine Exists!"