Rest of February books

I read the book The Internet Is a Playground by David Thorne throughout the month of February. It is the perfect bathroom book because it's a bunch of essays and email conversations, so you can pick up and put down the book at any point. You can read the synopsis here. I had heard of the blog/website, and I'm pretty sure my brother sent me some of the greatest hits from it (as well as seeing some on tumblr), so I was somewhat familiar with a few of the chapters. One of David Thorne's viral email conversations is credited with "inventing" NFTs (the spider). It is a very funny book, but the humor is mean and problematic. The tagline includes the blog's name, Evil Online Genius, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I couldn't help laughing anyway, although I did find it less funny than I would have/did ten+ years ago. I consider this a good time capsule of mid-2000s to mid-2010s online humor. 3.5 stars, giving to my brother since I know he'll find it funny. Source: BookOutlet. Trigger warnings for this book: fatphobia, sizeism, ableism, the r*tard slur is used multiple times, sexism, homophobia, homophobic slurs (directed by others towards author), child endangerment jokes, animal death & cruelty jokes, probably other stuff I can't think of

Continuing my TCON reread, I read Prince Caspian on the 27th. I had fewer problems reading this book vis-a-vis thinking of reading it out loud (I'd stick with the original vaguely Spanish accents for the Telmarines. It fits with the names). It's such a good book, and a good continuation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Having the kids go back when they do adds such a fascinating, mysterious element. Memorable characters, wilderness survival, and battle scenes, not to mention magical creatures and happenings. What more do you want? I'd also try to eat the chocolate-looking soil. The copy I read was from my trusty set with the Leo & Diane Dillon cover art, since I don't yet have a full-color illustrations edition of Prince Caspian. 5 stars, permanent collection. Source: gift. Trigger warnings for this book: war, death, murder, threats of the above (including to children), blood, children fighting duels and battles against adults, child soldiers, bear attack, children using weapons, animal death, children shot at with arrows, scary fantastical characters, evil magic, fatphobia, people turned into animals, magic referred to as dark or light when we now know that's racist, suspense (mostly kid-friendly)

Book review: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

I have owned Me Talk Pretty One Day (MTP1D) for several years, ever since my creative writing teacher in college made us read from it for class. I've since read two other of Sedaris's books, and while he's a talented writer, I no longer find him as funny as I used to. Like I said in a previous review, I just have less tolerance now for what older white cis men have to say about race, etc. His essays are generally rather amusing, but there is a lot there that would be considered cringy rather than funny, in my opinion. I think his essay about being addicted to drugs would be a useful one for teachers of college and possibly even high school students; reading about a detoxing and desperate Sedaris inhaling every particle on his floor in case he had dropped some drugs is enough to take away their glamour and danger.

My favorite essay has to be about how his father was obsessed with his daughters being thin and beautiful. It is of course horrifying and depressing, considering at least two Sedaris sisters became a drug addict and developed an eating disorder, respectively, but it's also kind of comical to read. Sedaris had this great, wry line about how he, the son, could have been eating mayonnaise out of the container with a serving spoon and his father didn't care, but if one of the girls gained a pound, the father acted like her life was ending and harassed her into dieting.  It sounds pretty depressing but it was hilarious to read how Amy, who today is a famous actor, got her own back.

The title, in case you are wondering, comes from an essay where Sedaris shares what it was like to learn French in a beginner's class with other expats from around the world. Anyway, MTP1D is worth a read, but check it out from the library.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: early September
From: thrift store? don't remember
Format: paperback
Status: giving away

Book review: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

The first book I read in January/this year was Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, which was his usual type of awkward and sometimes funny personal essays. The only really funny story in the collection was the one where he talks about the Swedish? version of Santa Claus and how weird it is (to Americans). There were other stories that had funny parts in them, but the secondhand embarrassment or shock I felt reading the stories outweighed any entertainment I got. For example, there was one story where as a child, David stuffed as much Halloween candy in his face as he could in order to not have to share it with the neighbor kids. That is kind of funny to picture, but it's sad because it was selfish. There was also a story where he talked about his experience working cleaning houses as a young man, and a client thought he was from a male maid escort service and sexually harassed him. Again, not funny to me.

Overall, I felt the same "...ok..." indifference that I felt with the last book of his that I read, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. I think the reason I'm no longer a big fan of his writing is mostly due to the vastly diminished amount of indulgence I feel towards white cisgender male authors, as well as the cavalier and unexplored racial views a Southern man of his generation has. David also seems to share a lot of embarrassing and personal stories about his family even though they specifically tell him not to, which I didn't like. It's one thing to exorcise your personal demons through highly personal essays, but it's another to air your family's dirty laundry. He even writes one essay where his sister shared a sad story with him, burst into tears, and then told him not to write about it! I would strangle him if he were my brother.

The cover is a close-up photo of a naked Barbie doll's torso. I don't know if it's a reference to an earlier book by David, Naked, but it doesn't have anything to do with any of the stories (that I remember). Because of this cover, I read this book at home and did not bring it to work.

Score: 3.4 out of 5 stars
Read in: early January
From: thrift store
Format: paperback
Status: giving away