50 Books in 2012: God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F*cked

Book #6 of 2012: God, If You're Not Up There. I'm F*cked, Tales of Stand-Up, Saturday Night Live, and Other Mind-Altering Mayhem by Darrell Hammond.

There are two subjects that I like to read about that are often very closely intertwined: comedians and addiction. I did not realize that Darrell Hammond's book would involve both of these, but I suppose I should have guessed. Even had I guessed, though, I would not have been able to predict that the FIRST PAGE would make mention of him trying to cut off his own arm. I suppose that, since his characters on SNL were pretty much always impressions, it was impossible to get any sense of who he was, leading me to never really speculate much about his personal life. I just sort of thought of him as normal by default (though that is hardly what the default is for comedians...).

Anyway, the book was partly disturbing, partly amusing, mostly pretty interesting.

I think it could've used a better balance of focus--he tries to cover SNL, his childhood, his struggles, etc., which is great, but he perhaps covers small issues too much (LOTS of emphasis on time with Presidents) and some not enough (we get a very surface-level understanding of a lot of his life and I am rather curious about his sister's role in his life, which is hardly mentioned)--but it can't be easy to condense your entire life into a few hundred pages.

50 Books in 2012: Ready Player One

Book #5 of 2012: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

I'd heard a lot of buzz about this last year from various sources and now I know why. I really really liked it and have a feeling it'll make a "Favorite Reads of 2012" list, if the world doesn't end in December AND I actually make myself write the list this year. It's the first book I've read in awhile where I was really excited to read it--"Oh crap, I have to get out of bed? Dammit. Wait, but I can read on the train!!!"

The general premise here is that it's the fairly near future (2044), and the creator of a massive online universe where everyone basically spends their entire lives (called the OASIS) has died. His will stipulates that whoever finds three keys, unlocks three gates, and then finds the Easter egg hidden in the OASIS will become his heir. Five years pass and no one has made progress, even the massive corporation that wants to find the egg themselves in order to monetize the previously free OASIS, but then our protagonist finds the first key, and all hell breaks loose.

It seems like most of the people who dislike it think the references are too much, but in the context of the story, they make sense. Does it make a SHITLOAD of pop-culture references? Yes. Does that make sense as part of the story? Yes. Are they all seamlessly placed? No, but nothing's perfect.

Cline is not the best writer. He's probably not destined to be remembered in a century or two for his lasting prose. But that didn't make the book any less enjoyable for me. Some negative reviewers have said that the book should be targeted to young adults. I've been known to read a young adult novel from time to time, so maybe that's true, but again, doesn't mean it's not enjoyable or even valuable as a book.

50 Books in 2012: the Marriage Plot

Book #4 of 2012: the Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

I've never read the Virgin Suicides, but enjoyed Eugenides' other prior novel, Middlesex, quite a bit.

The Marriage Plot focuses on the lives of Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell, as graduating college seniors in the 1980s.

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Aaaand I started writing this forever ago and then let it languish in weird shitty outline purgatory.

I enjoyed the book a lot. It definitely did a good job of capturing certain aspects of the college experience. And by that I mean more about the kind of people who over-think everything and read a lot than, you know, partying and joining frats and whatnot.

Also an interesting glimpse into mental illness, both having it and living with someone who does.

#BillyZane

50 Books in 2012: So Silver Bright

Book #3 of 2012: So Silver Bright (Theatre Illuminata Act III) by Lisa Mantchev

I really loved the first book in this series and feel that the strongest parts of the series were the parts that took place at the theatre. Once the journey led outside the theatre walls, things got a little...out there. But, I guess that's just because I'm more knowledgeable about theatre characters than I am about...mythical bird-men and fire spirits...so the story was easier to follow within the theatre walls.

The main thing that I imagine most readers of the third book in this series are looking for is a resolution to the seemingly-ubiquitous-in-teen-literature love triangle. And, I guess that's what I got. Though not exactly to my liking, I can't deny that what Mantchev does to resolve it makes sense.

Basically, I highly recommend the first book. And you'll probably want to read the others. And you'll probably be okay with that decision at the end of it all. And even if you aren't, they're pretty short, so suck it up.

Also, mmmmmAriel.

50 Books in 2012: Deliriously Happy

Book #2 of 2012: Deliriously Happy and Other Thoughts by Larry Doyle

I sought out this book after seeing a generally positive review on the AV Club, though not so much because they liked it as because I wasn't aware of it until then and I enjoyed his previous book, I Love You, Beth Cooper, which was made into a pretty lackluster film a few years ago.

I think...that I am not really the target audience of the book. Some of it amused me, some of it didn't (which is to be expected), but mostly it just seemed like he's coming from a place that I am not familiar enough with to enjoy its mockery--a place of adulthood, parenthood, etc.

And, aside from that, some of the material just felt stale or as if the joke had been made a few sentences ago but was still continuing to go on for a few pages.

I don't really like giving things letter grades, but I should probably give some indication, so, I give it a "meh" on a scale of "I Regret Reading This" to "Love!".

50 Books in 2012: That is All

Book #1 of 2012: That is All by John Hodgman

This is the third (and final, supposedly) book in John Hodgman's series of...whatever these are ("complete world knowledge").

I think the second of the three was actually my favorite, but this one was still entertaining. The worst part of each of these is where he decides to put in a list of...things...that includes hundreds of entries. I usually laughed once every maybe 10 items on the list, which is just enough to still keep me thinking "When will this list END?"

Probably the best part of this was the small insets at the top of each page that made up a calendar from December 2011 until the end of the world. I don't want to ruin the plot, so I'll just say that parts of the story there were pretty awesome and some involved Jonathan Franzen and those two things are not mutually exclusive.

As expected, there's some weird, weird stuff in there and it doesn't always hit the mark for me, but if you like John Hodgman, weird stuff, and fairly frequent laughs (punctuated by the occasional annoying list), check it out.