Thursday, February 18, 2010

Wake Up, Sir!

By Jonathan Ames

Scribner

Absolutely Hilarious! It was better than Cats! I will read it again and again. Truly a great read, so much so that I wrote a fan email, which I never do, although unlike most writers I read, I felt Mr. Ames would really appreciate to hear that his work is very much appreciated; you know, to build up his self-esteem.
The adventures of the neurotic Alan Blair and his trusted valet, Jeeves, were not only deliciously funny but smart and intellectually stimulating. Ok, maybe the last comment is laying it on a little thick, but many great philosophical questions were discussed, such as “Is life long or is life short?” and “the Homosexual Question and the Jewish Question”. Oh! And Crabs…yes, there are crabs, and I am not talking about the Maryland Blue kind. Ok, maybe you wouldn’t categorize crabs as smart or intellectual so to speak, but Ames certainly manages to make crabs fun. Crabs! Fun! Who would have thought?
I declared myself a writer a few weeks back (see blog on Making of a Stand Up Guy), and I now have found my hero. The backdrop to these adventures is the writing of Alan Blair’s follow up novel, nine years in the making. I found the pitfalls to be remarkably familiar (i.e. believing solitaire to be a muse…just read my About Me!), so it is nice to know I am not the only one who is easily sidetracked. Even when Blair attends an artist colony, dedicated to allowing artists to focus on their art, he still manages to get distracted with drinking and the other mentally unbalanced artists. I can relate to dealing with crazy artists; my sister is a fashion designer and if you have ever watched Project Runway, you certainly know what I am talking about, although this season is quite tame except that girl Janine who appears to be quite overwhelmed with the whole situation. But, I digress. I do believe I have picked up a couple of strategies for overcoming by inability to put my words down on paper or on computer screen, to be more accurate from Blair/ Ames…specifically, I will wear an eye patch over my right eye to help promote growth in the right side of my brain, hence increase my creativity. Yes, it is all coming together now!
I have to say, with every book of Ames I read, I like him more and more. He certainly has gotten my attention, and I will continue to get caught up with his career by reading the five remaining books he has published to date. I am about to dig into The Extra Man, and I do so with very high expectations.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Objectively Speaking: Ayn Rand Interviewed

Edited by Marlene Podritske and Peter Schwartz

Lexington Books

My brain hurts. It has been a while since I really had to think, but now that I have, I guess I have a few opinions about Miss Rand’s philosophy. I will add this disclaimer; this book is a compilation of interviews given by Ayn Rand and is not a full view of her philosophy. I have not read The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, so my opinions are solely based on the views presented in Objectively Speaking.
Let me start with a few of the ideas that came up in these interviews that I agree with. First, there is the idea that “Congress should pass no law which contradicts other laws or which is unclear that no two Congressmen or private lawyers can agree what it means”. Politicians being politicians, and always worried about the next election, write laws in very vague language to please everyone, but in reality no one is happy. A) No one knows what they can and can’t do and B) the policies are open for interpretation and as such are exploited by political rivals to increase fear. If the laws were just written in clear language, using logic and reason as opposed to the prepackaged platform of a political party, the American people would no longer be held hostage by a government of non-action wasting everyone’s time and money. Speaking of wasting time, I also agree with Rand’s opinion on the filibuster. I believe in a healthy debate, but talking a bill to death for no reason other than sheer objection is blight on our democratic process. Again, debate is fine, debate is great, but following the debate there must be a vote, and that vote will be final. Now, you can either give a time limit to the debate or the members of Congress can stay there and listen until the debate is over. If it goes into a special session, it goes into special session, but there will be no overtime!! The filibuster is just a crazy concept and a total obstruction of justice.
I also agree on the importance of education and the quest for knowledge, where we differ is that in this country, this is a right and as such, I believe in public education. First, to debate the issue of Rand’s claim that public education instilling social conformity, I will agree. But, I also believe that education does not stop at school; it continues at home and other resources such as a library. This is where Rand’s concept of how man can pursue his own interest will really take off. For those truly interested in acquiring more knowledge, they will find a way to do it. I believe every American is given access to a basic education. True, some may not be into school or productive at school, but at the very least, they should learn how to read or write. They are given the basic tools to perform in life at whatever level they accept for themselves. Without that, we would be looking at a lot of ignorant people, and ignorance is not bliss Look at Afghanistan as an example; 70% of the population cannot read or write and you wonder why there is so much political and social upheaval in that part of the world.
And yes, I am a big supporter of social programs. I realize there are some issues in the system. There are many that abuse the system. I would like to see more rehabilitation programs required with acceptance of social assistance, but overall, I believe in helping by fellow Americans; better Americans, better America.
My biggest criticism of Ayn Rand’s philosophy is that it can only happen in a vacuum…a utopian vacuum. She makes assumptions about man that history has proven to be untrue. No better is this illustrated than the high esteem she holds the Founding Fathers. Yes, they laid the groundwork for what will be the best country ever, but may I remind Miss Rand (yes, I know she has passed on) that these men are hypocrites. They believe all men to be free, yet they owned slaves. The believed every man has the right to be represented, yet denied votes to women and blacks. They took away the rights of the Native Americans, and worst yet, they created the Electoral College! What was that about?
Rand dismissed the warning of scientists of the 1960’s about global warning, saying they had no evidence and that the lack a serious scientific method. Now, philosophy is part of the science of man or the Humanities, yet Objectivism has never been, and most likely will never be, tested using scientific method, not on the scale where we could definitely say it would work for the United States.
I am going to conclude here, because I could honestly “discuss, not debate” this until the cows come home. Now, as Ayn Rand admitted herself, she takes life too seriously. I, however, do not. I enjoy humor, I like to escape life from time to time; I guess I subscribe to the Billy Joel philosophy if you are straight A student, then you probably think too much. I do, however, believe I use reason with any philosophical question that arises in my life. Rand may consider me subjective, but, every situation is different and may not be answered with a blanket response.
I will say this, I do not believe in the two party system of the United States. It leaves little room for individual thought and representation. I admire people like Rand that think and provide people with new ideas that open up the discussion beyond just Democrat and Republican. So, if you are looking for food for thought, I highly recommend Objectively Speaking . Alright, I got to go switch gears and read Jonathan Ames.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Don't You Forget About Me

By Jancee Dunn

Villard

As you may or may not know, I usually am not a fan of the modern novel, but every once and awhile an exception is made. One such exception would be Don’t You Forget About Me. I read Dunn’s Why Is My Mother Getting A Tattoo last year and absolutely loved it. So, I took the chance that her novel would be equally enjoyable…I was not disappointed. The book came out in 2008, around the same time that social networking sites started infiltrating our daily lives. Never, not even in high school, have I ever been subjected to such peer pressure as I have when it came to joining Facebook. I abstained. For one, I abhorred the narcissistic tone of such posts as “Rachel is going to the grocery store right now.” Well, Godspeed Rachel, but no one gives a fuck. Do I really need to know how boring Rachel’s life is…can’t she just wow me with the highlights? The other thing I despise is all the friend requests from people that, as luck would have it, happen to occupy the same building that you did for four years. Yes, I am talking about the high school reconnect request. Maybe I would consider joining Facebook if there was a “I don’t believe I said one word to you in high school, so why would I have something to say to you now…so friend request DENIED” button, but they don’t. Really, if you were so interested in someone from high school, you would have taken the steps to maintain or create any relationship prior to the invention of Facebook. So where am I going with this? Well, like Lillian, the main character in this tale, I believe these old high school “friends” are romanticizing their glory days and forgetting there was nothing glory about them. Maybe I am a negative Nellie, but I remember the pain of high school all to well. Not that I was tormented by mean girls or a target for ridicule, in fact, I was more of an under the radar crowd, but I remember the anxiety, the self loathing, the dread, the awkwardness…all the feelings that made high school downright uncomfortable. Forget About Me does a great job reconciling the discrepancy between the “peak-end” memories (term from the book) and the realities that were high school. I recommend it to anyone who wants a fun read or anyone looking for a self-help book on moving forward with life but really don’t want to shop the self-help aisle at the bookstore! For the record, I still have exactly four and half friends from high school that I still TALK to…not Facebook with, on a regular basis; Allison, Amy, Kate, Sharon, and Melissa. Melissa is the half mainly because I didn’t meet her until the end of senior year and really consider her more of a college friend. She was also the only friend of mine that went to our 10th high school reunion and she said it was a complete waste of time. Yeah, duh!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Harvard Psychedelic Club

By Don Lattin

Harper Collins

Ooh! Two of my favorite topics, history and drug use, all in one book! How could you go wrong? The book was definitely written in a fun way (I mean, it is about magic mushrooms and LSD, how could it not be fun?), while weaving the great story of the events that truly impacted the world of the sixties and still, today. At some points, I wondered why Lattin decided to follow the paths of these four particular gentlemen. I understood telling the story of Tim Leary and Ram Dass (Richard Alpert), their story alone is a good one and truly the focus of the book. I can also understand Weil’s place. Although absent for part of the story, he was a key player in the downfall of Leary and Alpert at Harvard and in an ironic twist, someone who became a big proponent of psychedelics after his Harvard days. I guess my real question is how does Huston Smith really fit in? Yes, he was part of the early Harvard psychedelic drug research project conducted by Leary and Alpert, but so were many others. Smith’s importance in teaching and changing people’s world view of religion is significant. In fact, out of the four men, Smith’s journey is one that I identify with the most. I guess I just don’t consider myself to be really new age, more just a common sense type of gal, not necessarily someone who is all into the “far out, man” type of thinking, so maybe that is why I see Smith as the one that doesn’t belong in this book…but that is me. And, Smith is a very interesting story, so I definitely will put his autobiography on my reading list. But I digress. I did enjoy the book. I love soaking up all the information I can that I will one day use to become Jeopardy Champion!!!! The Harvard Psychedelic Club did not disappoint me there!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Making of a Stand-Up Guy

By Charlie Murphy with Chris Millis

Simon Spotlight Entertainment

When I picked up Stand-Up Guy to read, I thought it would be a fun read filled with many stories a la the True Hollywood Stories on the Chapelle Show, but what I got was the true story of Charlie Murphy. Charlie and I come from two very different worlds. Although we both come from Long Island, I am from an über suburban town of Smithtown, while he is from the violent town of Roosevelt (ask Howard Stern about it). The closest I ever came to Roosevelt was seeing NKOTB at Nassau Coliseum in nearby Uniondale. I never had a gun put to my head, joined a gang, or went to jail, yet, I totally identified with his story. I know what it is like not to know what you want out of life. When I was in college, everyone seemed to know what they were going to be…they took the right classes and got to work after graduation. I used to joke that I just want to be a Jeopardy champion, because all my classes, although educational, were very random. I chose my major by looking at my credits to see what I had the most classes in at the time to declare. I was aimless and wandering. Making me feel even more lost, like Charlie, I also had that sibling who always knew what they wanted to do. My sister, Kara, had known she wanted to be a fashion designer since she first got Fashion Plates as a child. She had a natural talent, but she worked her ass off to make it happen. She is hugely successful now while I am unemployed. So I now find myself asking the same questions Charlie Murphy was asking himself when he realized he didn’t just want to be looked at as a hanger on. Who am I? I have been saying for years that I want to write, yet do not have the cajones to declare “I am a writer!” Instead, I am afraid of what I have to say. I choose to write cheesy cover letters begging for a shitty job that I really don’t want all to avoid it.
Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unlikely source; for me, that source is Charlie Murphy. I was inspired from the moment I read the opening words of The Making of a Stand Up Guy, “Anyone who has given up will never know just how close they came to winning…” So today, prepared to do all the work involved, I am ready to declare that I am a writer.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

You Better Not Cry

By Augusten Burroughs

St. Martin's Press

Hi, my name is Jill and I am addicted to Augusten Burroughs. I have been eagerly awaiting the release of You Better Not Cry since June 20. That is when I had the opportunity, thanks to the best library system in the world (Clark County Library District), to attend an evening with Augusten Burroughs. They may have called it a reading, but I will not, as there was no reading, just Augusten talking off the cuff. It was amazing…he is hilarious and also a lot thinner than I thought. Anyway, it was there that he shared the idea behind this new work. And now, after waiting all that time plus waiting my turn in the library hold system, I finally got to read it. I was not disappointed. Now, I admit, I may lack objectivity when it comes to Burroughs, but I do thoroughly enjoy all he has written. After Running With Scissors, Dry, and A Wolf At The Dinner Table, you feel as you know Burroughs intimately. The additional books of essays and stories are just like kicking back with a friend and sharing the embarrassing stories from our past (or yesterday!). Cry was no different. It is something I think we all can relate to, as Christmas can often fall below our expectations of the holiday. Now, I never ate a plastic Santa or slept with one either, but, it is always something. One thing Augusten does offer in all of his Christmas from hell stories is hope. Maybe, we can just appreciate the day and the season for what it is, a comedy of errors…and the birth of Jesus-Santa!

Friday, January 22, 2010

The Captain Is Out To Lunch And The Sailors Have Taken Over The Ship

By Charles Bukowski

Black Sparrow Press

When I noticed, at my wedding reception, that someone was about to step on my dress, I said something bridely like “Oh, my dress!” to which my Grandmother replied “You’re never gonna wear it again.” (God, I love and miss her!) It is this kind of wisdom that I found in The Captain; the words of someone who has seen enough of life to know what is important and certainly what is not. I think people can read as many self-help books as they would like, but I do not believe it would help as much as an aging cynic’s views to truly see how silly they are. Some may say there was a morbid tone, but I don’t believe this to be true. It was honest and fearless. Bukowski was 71-72 years old in the period of these journal entries, wise in the knowledge he should have been dead years ago but also knowing death was not far away. It had been eleven or twelve years since I last read Bukowski, and then it was his writings from his earlier years. The stories and poems were wild and untamed, as was I. The Captain was still Bukowski, just in the calm of his life, as am I.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Great Gatsby

by F Scott Fitzgerald

Scribner

The Great Gatsby was not read in any of my high school English classes. To be honest, even if it was, I probably would not have read it. I never read any of the assigned books; I just paid attention in class and got the gist of what I needed to know to pass the test. It is probably just as well we did not “read” Gatsby in high school, because I would have lied to myself and said I read it and never would have re-read it as an adult. I would have really missed out. There is a reason this book is a classic. This is how great novels should be written. I am not a novel reading type of gal. My general opinion is that authors of novels tend to throw in a lot of extra words to show you how smart they are and then the story is lost, if there was a story at all. In Gatsby, this simply is not the case. The story is told in a way that captivates you from the first page through the last. The characters are fascinating. Obviously, the rich have and always will be of particular interest and curiosity (hello, how else can we explain Paris Hilton?). It was just so beautifully written…I sound sappy, I know it. All aspiring novelists should read/ re-read The Great Gatsby, then read what they have written and start editing!! Less is truly more.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The First Third & Other Writings

Neal Cassady

City Lights

Oye! I thought I was down with the hipster beatnik generation, but I'm afraid Cassady lost me somewhere on the streets of Denver. To say this was a difficult read would be an understatement. I struggled, managing only two or three pages at a time. I started the book on January 3 and just finished Friday night, January 15...and it is only 222 pages!(just to prove I am not an idiot, I picked up The Great Gatsby Saturday and finished Sunday morning...and Saturday is "chore" day!)Anyway, when I got to the After-Word by Carolyn Cassady, Neal's wife and also a writer, I realized I was not alone. She explained he was influenced by Proust when writing The First Third which made reading it an "uphill battle". (note to self: don't read Proust, it is beyond your reading comprehension level and you will not like it.) Because the "Other Writings" were from an un-Proust-influenced period, I decided to read the remainder of the book. These stories and letters, even when left unfinished, were very enjoyable. I would have like to have read more. So, it wasn't so much content of The First Third that didn't agree with me, but the style of writing. Anyway, I finished it. On to the next...The Great Gatsby will be reviewed tomorrow.

Monday, January 11, 2010

The Rest of the Great Reads of 2009

I read a lot of great books in 2009, but I did say I was only going to spend a week discussing these books. Alas, the week has come and gone and I must move on. But not without giving you this; a list of books worth reading:

Memoirs:

  1. A Wolf at the Dinner Table: A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs (I am a huge Augusten fan. I am currently waiting for You Better Not Cry to come in to my library. After reading it, I will probably dedicate a week of blogs to his books!!)
  2. I am not myself these days: A Memoir
    by Josh Kilmer-Purcell (Perfect combination of crazy, addiction, and love!! A must read!)
  3. Too Fat Too Fish by Artie Lange with Anthony Bozza (I love Artie and wish him the best.)
  4. Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin by Kathy Griffin (Not only funny but very honest.)
  5. Why is My Mother Getting a Tattoo by Jancee Dunn (such a fun read. I definitely will be reading more of her this year)

Non-Fiction:

  1. Chemical Cowboys by Lisa Sweetingham (I loved this book about the investigation of the Ecstasy trade.)
  2. The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and The World of Immigrant America by Thomas Buk-Swienty (I am a history buff!)
  3. Clark Clifford: The Wise Man of Washington by John Acacia (very interesting on the power and influence in Washington DC)
  4. The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders by Anthony Flacco with Jerry Clark (horrifying!)
  5. The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw by Michael Sokolove (As a lover of baseball, I found this book to be incredibly interesting)

Fiction(I am not a huge fiction reader, but I did like these):

  1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  2. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Ernest Hemingway:

Every year I try to read authors I probably should have read a long time ago. This year, I read three books by Ernest Hemingway. Needless to say, I now want to move to Europe and drink wine all day; unfortunately, I should have read these books in my twenties when there was still time.

  1. A Moveable Feast
  2. A Farewell to Arms
  3. The Sun Also Rises

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

By Barton Gellman

The Penguin Press

Dick Cheney has been very vocal lately criticizing the policies of the Obama administration. Well, as we all know, Cheney IS smarter than everyone and regardless of the legality of his policies, he did always know what is best for the American people (for those of you from Canada, that is what we Americans like to call sarcasm). Oh, I'm sorry, wasn't it your foreign policy that got us into a BS war in Iraq, sacrificing the lives of many young men and women for your own glory? That was you, right? Jerk. But I digress. Let's get to the task at hand, my review of Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, one of the best reads I had in 2009.

Angler gave great insight to Cheney's manipulation of the Bush Administration. Cheney's abuse of his office was astounding. He used "creative" interpretation of law to expand the role and the power of the vice-presidency, circumventing the checks and balances that would normally prevent such a thing, all to push his agenda through. Cheney's plan was clear and no dissenter would be allowed to stand in his way. Anyone in the administration not conforming to Cheney's point of view was subject to intimidation or being undercut by Cheney, as the gatekeeper to the President (the story about Christy Todd Whitman was a great example of this). It is unbelievable to me the actions of Cheney were not stopped; which really speaks to his power and control over things.

I will say I was schooled a little bit on my opinion of Cheney when it came to social issues. I have always lumped Cheney in with Bush when it came to the whole Christian Right crazy talk and it never made sense to me. I mean how, for example, could Cheney support anti-Gay rights when his own daughter is a lesbian? In Angler, I came to understand that Cheney did not necessarily support or share those opinions with Bush. Social issues were not a priority for Cheney so any policies/ positions from the White House regarding social issues were Bush's.

My only issue with Angler is the chapter where Gellman put in a letter from Cheney to his grandkids. It humanized Cheney. I am very easily swayed to see the good in people. I did not want to see the loving, caring side of Cheney…I prefer seeing him as the devil. Darn you Gellman!!! Great book, though!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life of A Shattered Rock Star

By Nikki Sixx with Ian Gittins

Simon & Schuster

I remember watching a Behind The Music: Motley Crüe back in the day; I knew all about Nikki Sixx's overdose…well, at least I thought I did. I read a lot of personal memoirs dealing with addiction (books of this nature are my addiction) and I have read a lot of good ones, but this…this was intense. Sixx basically cut himself open for all to see…this is an honesty I have never seen before. The diary entries were for one year, the year he spent spiraling down to the bottom. To have that intimacy of the real time mindset of the addict as opposed to just the recollections from years later was truly unique. As if exposing your most intimate thoughts isn't enough, Sixx had the cajones to let the people who were in his life at the time of the diary entries, unleash with their own commentary of this time period…most were not at all flattering to Sixx! The commentators did not hold back. I commend Sixx for being able to hear it. This book was exceptional. If you really want to see what it means to party like a rock star, read this book…it probably won't seem as glamorous as you think…in fact, it is flat out scary. Speaking of scary, the commentary by Reverend Denise Matthews (formerly known as Vanity) seemed to me so disconnected from the situation she was commenting on that it confirmed one thing…"Drugs are bad, mm'k."

Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy

By Thomas Buergenthal

Little, Brown, and Company

Today, I am honoring one of the best books I read in 2009, A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy. Everyone should read this book. Everyone.
Thomas Buergenthal's story of his miraculous survival from the Jewish Ghettos to the labor camps to the orphanage before reuniting with his mother (not to mention the deadly marches in the middle of winter) will have you in tears. At times, I had to put the book down because I was so upset at the actions of the Nazi's and Gestapo's; their behavior was so twisted and incomprehensible. I mean how? How could someone inflict such torture on innocent people? Innocent children? The release of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourius Basterds shortly after reading Lucky Child, made me wish that it was a true story. Much like Elie Wiesel's Night, Buergenthal's equally moving story is an important read. The Holocaust was such a horrible mark on human history, one you hope would have taught us many lessons; but even today, violations of human rights and genocide still occur. Buergenthal's personal experience led him to fight for human rights and currently sits as a Judge on the International Court of Justice in Hague. READ IT!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I Love You More Than You Know

By Jonathan Ames

Black Cat

My friend Amy (Amster) and I share similar tastes in authors. When she suggested I read Jonathan Ames, I immediately went to my library's website and reserved The Alcoholic (a graphic novel) and What's Not To Love. I very much enjoyed What's Not To Love. It was right up my alley. The Alcoholic was my first graphic novel. I enjoyed the story, but I am not really in to the format (it's just me…nothing against it). Later in the year, Amy had sent me 13 books to read. Among the cluster of novels and memoirs was I Love You More Than You Know. I looked forward to reading the collection of essays since my earlier experience was a positive one. Well, I have to say, this time, it was better! For one thing, when I read I Love You More Than You Know, I found myself
laughing out loud. There were parallel stories to those I had previously read, but in that way, it is like sitting down with one of your old friends retelling the great memories. The second biggest difference for me was that this time around, I actually like Ames. Not that I disliked him the first time around, mind you, it is just that he was more likeable. In I Love You More Than You Know, Ames tone was more genuine. One of my favorite essays was Self-Sentenced. It is a perfect example of the self-depreciating humor that makes Ames so endearing. Also, while I was reading his comments about Jonathan Franzen, I had all 565 pages of The Corrections in front of me; taunting me for only making it through one chapter (I did eventually finish it…good…just a lot of words to get through to get to the story). The essay is also accurate. I mean, why didn't I hear about him until this year? Well, more accurately, why didn't Amster…as I do rely on her to keep me on track with the new, edgy authors. If she didn't, this blog would be devoted to books about politics and history. Oh, and drug addicts, too. Anyway, I
Love You More Than You Know was published in 2006, and it was not on my radar at all. I hate being the last to the party….so, go out and discover Jonathan Ames…not to be confused with Jonathan Franzen, Lethem, Dee, or Coe!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction

By David Sheff

Houghton Mifflin

Well, I'm screwed; that was my first reaction upon finishing this book. I was on a plane when I read the last page of this heart wrenching story. Per my norm, I immediately picked up another book to begin to read (one I was very excited about) and I couldn't even get through the prologue. My mind was still processing David Sheff's story. I put my iPod on, looked out the window, and my eyes filled with tears. Parenting is hard and scary; it certainly does not come with a manual. Everyday I worry that at this very moment I am doing something wrong that will, in the end, mess my kids up. Paranoid? Maybe...and reading this book did not help relieve these thoughts.
Drug addiction is such a scary thing and the thought of watching your child go through it is unthinkable…unthinkable, that is, until reading this insider account. I read so many personal memoirs of addicts and although they may mention what their addiction did to their family, it never quite gives the scope of the family's experience. Why this book struck me as one of the best I read this year, is the simple fact that this could be anyone's child…this could be my child. Frankly, it scared the shit out of me…a sure sign of a great book. Basically, my first reaction was accurate. I am so lost now about how to protect my kids, because apparently there is no clear path to steer your kids away from drugs. It is basically a crap shoot. Sheff described visiting his son in rehab and looking around the room and realizing that everyone there had a different background, different circumstances; rich, poor, parents married, parents divorced, country, city…whatever, it doesn't matter. It affects anybody in any walk of life. I guess I should know that from personal experience, because I was a good kid growing up, always did the right thing, but alas even I succumbed to experimenting and was a borderline addict. I say borderline mainly because as far as I fell, I was always able to simply decide to stop and not think twice about it…not at all a common thing. What if my kids do not have that mechanism? What if they experiment with something that wipes out all reason and ability to be in control, like meth? What do I say about my history? How honest am I? How do I answer their questions? How do I protect them? After all, that is my main function as a parent…that is my purpose on this earth, right? Sheff offers no answers, just more questions. This is not to his fault, it is the God's honest truth. There are no answers, just the sharing of personal experience. Sheff really opens your eyes to the effects of drug use on the family of the addict. Maybe you will be lucky, maybe this will not happen to your family, but I recommend reading this book just because you are human.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Welcome to The Book of Jill

Welcome and Happy New Year to all. The first week of this blog will be dedicated to some of the best books I read in 2009 (in no particular order). This will help you get a good idea of who I am and the books I enjoy reading. If we share the same tastes, continue reading and tell your friends! I am also always looking for a good book to read, so I take recommendations. You may post a comment or email me at thebookofjill@gmail.com with comments, questions, or points of information.