I Am Not Myself These Days...

Now, it's common knowledge that I pick up completely random books, right? Well, I'm pretty sure that I Am Not Myself These Days... by Josh Kilmer-Purcell takes the cake.

I promise, you'll never believe the premise. And, mind you, this is NONFICTION!! It's the guy's memoirs. Josh is a gay, alcoholic, drag queen (his drag persona is Aqua) who meets and falls in love with Jack, a gay S&M hooker.

I kid you not.

It is by far the most random series of events I have ever read. They fall in love because Jack takes care of Josh, something Josh despairingly needs. But eventually, Jack begins to fall apart (he gets addicted to crack). It all comes crashing down in just 7 months, and Josh finally realizes that the complete party life may not be for him. Not that he's going to stop, but the last thing he needs is a lover who can't get his crap together.

It was absolutely stellar. Not for the feint of heart by any means, but if you want a laugh, a rip-roaring good time, and a look at a life that most of us will never live, read this.

I mean...Josh kept goldfish in his fake breasts. It was so great!!

We're Just Like You, Only Prettier

Okay, so who isn't surprised that I picked up a book called We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle? Because it really didn't surprise me. It's got all the things I love in a non-fiction book. Southern-ness, confessions, and sarcasm.

Anyway, it's by Celia Rivenbark, and it's 270 pages of hilarity.

Want to know about how to become white trash, "the change", and which kind of plumber you really want? Ask Celia. She'll tell you all about, then make you laugh with her Southern stories. And yes, you can literally hear her accent when it comes to the whole tone of the book. I love it.

Anyway, hilarious. Read it. Oh, and since it has the word "confession" in the title, and is a non-fiction book, I'm totally counting it as a memoir. So there.

Angry Conversations With God

I just finished Angry Conversations With God: A Snarky by Authentic Spiritual Memoir by Susan Isaacs. I've decided that it does fit in the biography section of the 9909 challenge, even if it is shelved in the 200's (religion).

Okay, so this is the third time I've blogged about it tonight (this morning? Whatever). Anyway, I probably wouldn't have blogged about it if it wasn't amazing, but it was.

Susan is your typical artsy Southern California native. She wants to be an actor, or a writer. She grew up in SoCal, then at one point moved to New York. She was also raised in the church.

For those of you who don't know what that can do to you, let me tell you. Being raised in the church tends to mean 1 of 3 things. (1) You forever have this cookie cutter image of God where you never mature, (2) you at some point decide God isn't real, and jump off the religion train, or (3) you decide that life is tough, but God is tougher. And you deal with life, and keep God. It's hard, but people do it.

Anyway, Susan had a nice mix of all 3 (so I guess there are 4 choices?), and she turned out okay. Of course, she took God (in her mind) to couple's therapy (for real). Which is weird, but pretty freaking amazing, when you think about it.

And the memoir? Well written, snarky (and you know how I love snarky things), and potent. I was on an emotional rollercoaster all night. I loved it.

If you're curious about religion, have religion, or have ever had religion, you should read this. It's great. 4 snowflakes. Now, excuse me while I go contemplate the state of my soul (sad truth...)

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love

I found this book at work, and it was intriguing. Especially because the Sweet Potato Queens have a whole bunch of books out, and this is the very first. It's written by Jill Conner Browne, the creator of the Sweet Potato Queens.

Did I mention this is nonfiction?

Okay, here's where it get fun. The Sweet Potato Queens are a group of women who live in Mississippi. They are true Southern Women. One day, Jill decided she wanted to be a queen. It didn't matter of what, she just wanted to be one. She knew a guy who owned a sweet potato farm, so she offered to be the Queen every year. He never got back to her, but she (and some friends) decided to declare themselves Sweet Potato Queens. They also decided to throw their town's very first Saint Patrick's Day Parade. The entire parade consisted of the Queens riding around in the back of a truck, wear green ball gowns and waving. Well, it somehow caught on.

And now, in Jackson, Mississippi, they do this every year. It's actually turned into a pretty big thing, I guess (maybe I'll do that next year...).

But in the book, Jill talks about all the things you need to know to be a Sweet Potato Queen (though you can't actually become one...you have to be a Wannabe first, and then a Queen has to die or move away).

Things like The Promise (which I can't talk about, because this is a family-friendly blog, but if you want to know, let me know and I'll totally tell you... lindy [at] anovelbeat [dot] com), the Best Advice Ever Given ("Be particular"), the 5 kinds of men you need in your life (and 4 of them can be gay), recipes for the most fattening food on the planet, and why trashy lingere is actually a good thing.

No kidding, I laughed out loud reading this. And now I pine to be a Sweet Potato Queen (though, I'm probably too young, and have no desire to move to Jackson, Mississippi anytime soon, even if I can spell Mississippi without have to look it up).

4 snowflakes for rocking my world.

Out of Sync

Okay, so I have two confessions to make before I review this book. (1) I love biographies, I just never sit down and read them. I always want to, but if I put them down for any length of time, I rarely want to pick them back up. (2) About 8-10 years ago, when *N SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees and the like became famous...I was one of those teeny-boppers who loved them. With a heart filled passion. In every boy band, I had the one that I wanted to sweep me off my feet. With Backstreet Boys, I was a die hard Nick Carter fan.

When it came to *N SYNC, though, I was a little more subtle. I was Lance Bass fan. So when his biography, Out of Sync, came out, I have to admit that I was intrigued. Once I decided to do biographies for my 9909 Challenge, I decided it would be the perfect excuse to read it. So I did today.

It was interesting. It's about his life, a little before *N SYNC, about 1/2 during, a few chapters on the almost-astronaut months, then the breakup of the band and Lance's eventual coming out as gay (of course I liked the gay one...it just makes sense).

Anyway, it was short (under 200 pages). I get the feeling he wrote it himself, and you can tell he's not a writer. I feel a little bit bad about critiquing his work (he is telling his life story, and how would I feel if someone told me it was lacking?), but I wasn't as interested as I could have been. It mostly centered around his feeling of just not being in tune with the rest of the world (though the fact that he had an irregular heart beat would have been a very good metaphor...too bad he had that fixed).

Anyway, I enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't recommend it. Not unless you're a die hard *N SYNC fan, or curious about famous people who have come out as homosexual.

The USA Patriot Act Reader

Get ready for a bunch of these types of posts, I still have 4 more books to get through, and if they're this interesting, you'll be hearing about them. This one was edited by Alphonse B. Ewing.

This one goes over the Patriot Act (oh so long), then talks about libraries. But not in defense of libraries, but in defense of the Patriot Act. It was weird.

But really good. He addresses what the libraries were saying, and actually made me look at it a different way. The fact that libraries are never specifically addressed, for one thing. The wording is a little questionable too.

Something new to think about.

Anyway, I have to give it a 3 because there is a lot of boring for just a little insight. But what insight it is.

The Intellectual Freedom Manual

Okay, so the book I just finished up is a huge book on the policies and statements of the ALA on intellectual freedom, including the ALA Code of Ethics, the Library Bill of Rights, and a huge chunk of information on the ALA's views of patron privacy.

I'm researching for class. Give me a break.

Okay, it was actually interesting, if you're interested in politics, laws, ethics...oh my gosh, I'm into boring things.

I found a lot of good information, and a lot of things I would have never thought of. Bravo, ALA!

Oh, and I can't rate it, because it's not that kind of book. It's a manual.