Thursday, February 19
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A fantastic read, I devoured this in two sittings over the course of two days. It's not so much an autobiography as it is sections of Hermitt's life, written by her. It could be described as a book about coming out, or a book about doing loads of drugs, or a book about how so many people try to 'figure it all out', but I don't think any of these generalizations do it justice. Yes, Hermitt talks a lot about being in the closet and towards the end finally coming out, and yes, she takes a helluva lot of drugs, and yes she tries to 'figure it all out', but the stuff between, and the thoughts she writes while doing these things, and dealing with all this, it's stuff we can all relate to. It's a book about being a real person, about not being fake and about being honest. It's just beautiful, and there are letters to the Hermitt between the chapters which serve as both comic relief and sometimes an opportunity to nod your head in unison with everyone else reading it. Available here for $8 |
The Flow Chronicles - Urban Hermitt
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Wednesday, February 18
Things are Meaning Less - Al Burian
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This is a story told in comic form and it's fantastic. It starts in Providence, Road Island with some blinking lights and takes us through a life of coffee drinking, friends, and other mostly average daily things. The book isn't really about that stuff, though. It's about a need to build a life, to build something. 'this is the panic that makes people have babies, throw themselves into grueling 40-hour a week jobs, becoming alcoholics or religious nuts. anything to fill the void, to construct something that means anything.' and isn't that the big dividing factor between 'us' and 'them'? That the masses are happy to fill the void with large families, suvs and debt, while the rest of us just try to find our heads and decide the best way to express ourselves and be happy. Truly happy. That's what this book is about. Available here for $7 |