I own a lot of books about death. A lot. Either I buy them to see what they have to say or someone gives them to me because I have a blog called the "death writer." A few weeks ago, my pal Tex loaned me a copy of Roz Chast's graphic memoir, "
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
" Tex is a member of my
group and she was super excited to share this book. So, I do as I always do and I consumed it in a one night, Evelyn Wood's inspired, reading spree. Short review: Loved it, but it made me super sad. (Having parents in their 80's can do that to a person.) Anyway, I think that was the point of the book. In a perfect world, everyone would have a copy of it on their coffee table. "Oh look, a cartoon book!" Cartoons are funny and blah, blah, blah. Well, I challenge anyone to read this book and not get to the point of ugly crying face by the end of it.
The second book I read this past week was "
" by Chuck Palahniuk. I hate to admit this, but this is the first book I've read by Chuck. I saw "Fight Club" because Brad Pitt is so darn good looking, but I never read the book. My second admission of guilt is that I loved it (Damned), which is also kind of shameful to admit. Chuck "Pal-how-the-flock do I say your last name?" is way out there, but I found myself laughing out loud at several points. That doesn't happen very often when I'm reading. I'll usually smile or maybe giggle. But Chuck's words made me guffaw. There are some sparkling gems of funny in this tale of eternal damnation. Review: Maddy Spencer rocks!
Random non-death related reading story...Last week I was at a Teen Writer Workshop and I brought up a scene in "
," as an illustration of tension. This just shows how out of the teen pop culture loop I am, as no one in this room had seen the movie. Too young! Anyway, this film has lots of death. (So maybe teens shouldn't be watching this particular film.) The coin toss scene in this movie is seriously one of the most tense moments in cinematic history. You know you want to watch it. If anything, do it for Javier Bardem's hair!
I watched the dang movie again and I realized that it also has the biggest cinematic let down of all time. Llewelyn's death is like a little blip. A nothing. We've traveled with him and rooted for him and then when he's taken out, we don't even get to see it. Damn, you Coen Brothers!
What do you think of Chuck? I want to know.