So, I’m an alcoholic with about three and a half years sober as I write this. I’ve been sober and in the program long enough to have done a ton of self-reflection about my drinking years (25-33 were pretty bad) and to be removed enough from those bad times to not flinch too much every time I think about them. I’m one of those people sober folks and newbies at meetings are sometimes shocked by, because I tell horrible stories of things that I did […]
Still One of the Best Horror Books of All Time
I’m a huge horror fan, but am very picky about horror books. There are lots of great horror movies out there, but I always think there are far fewer great horror novels. Horror seems to work better as a short story or novella when written, for some reason, perhaps just because it’s hard to build and maintain tension for the entirety of a novel. But King? He tends to know what he’s doing when it comes to writing horror, even if he is often bad […]
Eddie Izzard is Just as Delightful in Text
I have loved Eddie Izzard since Definite Article, and Dress to Kill is my favorite stand-up special of all time. One could say that isn’t saying much since I don’t really listen to or watch a lot of stand-up, but that just means it’s one of the rare specials that actually made me enjoy stand-up, right up there with Paul F. Tompkins’ Laboring Under Delusions and anything Mitch Hedberg. So of course I wasn’t surprised that Izzard’s autobiography is just as delightful as his stand-up. […]
What is Up With the Gross Stereotypes?!
I’m wary of reviewing this because I wonder if maybe it speaks to an experience I don’t have, and what I perceive as gross stereotypes are actually true to many people’s experiences. Hell, I’m sure they ARE true to plenty of people’s experiences, because people and their experiences are extremely varied. I do feel comforted by the fact that many people on Goodreads seem to share my frustration with this novel, though. This novel is set up in 13 vignettes, all set in different periods […]
Dry and Informative, and Unfortunately Timed
First, let me tell you all that reading this book on the bus or train or generally in public made me weirdly nervous: it felt like it the title could be misread as an alarmist book about how scary the end of white Christian America would be, and I didn’t want people to think I was some deplorable. I was very tempted to attach a little note below the title that said “Would Be Great!” or “I Support This!” or something. Instead I ended up […]
A Quick, Intense, Faulted Read
I don’t know why “my kid is evil” books terrify me so much, since I’m never having kids anyway. But they do. We Need to Talk About Kevin FUCKED. ME. UP. when I read it. I suppose the true terror is being in an untenable situation without any way to get out: it’s not like you can return your kid at the New Kid Store and get a replacement, so the stress the protagonists feel in these types of stories feels inescapable and horrifying. Knowing […]
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