Book Report

Yesterday was another one of those "I'm spending so much time with Will that if he was anybody else we'd probably stop speaking to each other" days. Along with Jenks, we rode easy to Princeton and drank coffee on Nassau St.

We debated the merits of the various Rocky movies in the afternoon... you'll be pleased to know that Rocky V was never mentioned in this conversation.

Last night, Will and I went to Barnes and Noble to get books and coffee. He got a book titled "Why God is Wrong" or "Religion is teh Sux0rz" or something blatant like that.

I had more trouble finding a book. It seems like renting a movie is easy, because you know what's out there... you watch commercials, you hear about blockbusters on the news, your friends talk about what's good and what's not. Books, on the other hand, can't be so easily parsed through. Unless you go in with a plan - which I didn't - you're basically reduced to judging a book by its cover.

Everything that caught my eye seemed to be written from a "woman coming to terms with sexuality/divorce/friendship/feminism" perspective. Which doesn't exactly speak to me. I'm sure I would've been entertained, but I wanted to read something written for me - I wasn't even sure a book like that exists, but damnit I feel entitled to literature that elicits a response of familiarity from me.

Then I found it. The Average American Male. I read it cover to cover last night.

Imagine a diary (or blog, I suppose) written by a guy who doesn't restrict his language and subject matter, a guy who is brutally honest about the thoughts running through his head, about sex and relationships and the frequency with which he thinks about them... but whose honesty is restricted to the diary/blog and makes no appearance in his interpersonal interactions. Imagine a guy who is spineless and lazy, whose decisions and discourse are guided by two questions, "what is the path of least resistance?" and "will this get me laid?"

I can't speak to whether this guy is Average or not. I won't speak to the extent to which I associated with him. I will only say that if you don't mind a little (okay, a lot of) NC-17 language and content, you should read this book.

It has a webpage.