Hey gang,

I’ll be taking the next two weeks off while traveling. The newsletter will come out later this week, but other than that, I’m not planning on writing until Mid-June. I might get antsy and foil my own plans, but I hope not. I need fewer electronic screens in my life for a while.

See you soon.

The Bridges of Madison County

Okay, I have been formally challenged to prove that The Bridges of Madison County is not the worst book in existence.

The worst book ever!

I laughed when this challenge was issued. All I knew about Bridges was that Clint Eastwood was in the movie with Meryl Streep and there are never fewer than four copies of it in the thrift stores around here.

“Do you really hate it?” I asked. “Do you hate that it did so well?”

“Yes and yes,” came the reply. This was from a person who doesn’t waste much energy hating things. This was from a person whose judgement I usually trust. So I was intrigued. I got a copy at work and read it all yesterday. It’s short.

I had a great time but I have to say that I spent the entire book laughing. Really laughing, like listening-to-David Sedaris-laughing. But while Sedaris does intentional comedy, Robert James Waller does not. It was good for me. It was healthy. I feel revived and my stomach hurts from an intense, draining hilarity that I experience too seldom.

It was as funny as a book can be, particularly during the wild night when Francesca and Robert give in to their passion. Holy crap, I’m starting to laugh right now. You really have to read it to understand. I could not begin to describe it.

I followed Janette around all night reading her passages and saying “Why can’t you give me compliments like this?” and “How come you never say I’m like a star creature from the tail of a comet?” and “Do you think I might be one of the last cowboys too?” And then I’d read something and laugh some more and she’d groan and say “Please, just let me go to sleep.”

But! Is it truly the worst book ever? Not for me. If I can get through a book and it entertains me this much, it can’t be the “worst” by any standard I use. In fact, reading Bridges was such a party that it practically brought me back to life. I might actually love it.

But for perspective, if you really want to make this analysis, here are a few books I can take more seriously and that are better-written and that feel more realistic to me.

• Twilight–if you’ve followed this blog for long, you know what it means for me to say that. But it’s true.

• 50 Shades of Gray–I  read it so I would know what all the fuss was about. Turns out, the fuss was that people are fussing. The only things that are special about this book are the sales figures and the fact that it has generated so much controversy over such tame material, in my opinion.

• Any other romance in existence, even the ones with time traveling vikings.

Now then, over to you. Do you agree with the original assessment? Could Bridges possibly be the worst book? What would you nominate in its place?

Also: I love Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep and I imagine the movie is a perfectly serviceable romance.

Hey everyone, a question for you today:

How many of you are writing a book, want to write a book, or are seriously planning on writing one?

If you’re in progress on one, have there been any surprises? Anything harder than you’d expected? Easier?

If you ever started writing and then stopped, why? Will you go back to it?

Feel free to answer any, all, or none of these questions.

Happy Friday.

Somehow I made it through my English degree, and most of my adult reading life, without reading anything by John Updike. I’d hear his name spoken in hallowed and scornful tones, everywhere that readers gathered, and still I just never got around to reading anything by him.

Last week I read Rabbit, Run and In The Beauty of the Lilies. I loved Lilies and thought Rabbit was obnoxious in too many ways to count.

The man wrote a ton of books. Before I jump into another one, I’d love to know if any of you can recommend a good starting point. Any you’ve loved by Updike, or that you would recommend avoiding?

thanks!

Me, post-op

One week ago I went into the doctor to get a mole checked out. Right above my left eyebrow. “Our priority is to save as much of your face as possible.”

Today I just got done getting some of my face peeled off with a blade. Then the wound was set a cracklin’ with a cauterization tool that I can still smell.

I have the beginnings of what will be a fantastic black eye, due to the yanking and poking of the stitches right over my left eye. I will also have a good scar.

You know what the worst part was? Not the numbing, the surgery, the worry, the waiting, or the stitches. Nothing was worse than the stupid chair they sat me in, which was surely designed for Tyrion Lannister.

“Is that better?” they would ask after adjusting the footrest or headrest.

“No.”

“How about this?”

“It’s not going to get better unless the chair gets bigger. Please just chop me up so I can leave.”

And

But it’s behind me, unless it comes back. Turns out it was all benign. But my doctor was very good at phrasing it in ominous, vague terms, unless I was just overreacting and heard the wrong things.

Thanks to all of you who have listened to me worry and fret for a week leading up to this.

Off to see The Avengers and hide my hideous Pinhead face in the dark.

Hi everyone, I’m just testing to see if everything is working out on the new server. Will one of you please comment so I can see that this post went through?

Actually, let’s make this the comment, so everyone who wants to can jump in:

for you guitar players–do you have a good recommendation for an electric guitar between $100-$300?

Back to business as usual tomorrow.

Hey everyone, this week I’m going to be moving everything onto a dedicated server. This blog is now at the limits of what my shared hosting plan can handle and it’s starting to get taken offline more often than I’m happy with.

As these things rarely go smoothly, I wouldn’t expect seamless performance here this week, as I’ve no doubt that I’ll manage to wreck everything.

Cross your fingers!

You there!

I recently did an interview for the growing-like-crazy BlogcastFM, which is run by a friend of mine, Srinivas Rao. BlogcastFM is a radio-type show with bloggers.

If you’d like to hear what my voice sounds like when I’m very tired, here’s the interview.

Srinivas is a good interviewer. We talk about the book deal, blogging, a few tweaks to get more traffic, Tourette’s, public speaking, and more. And a good time was had by all.

Enjoy! Or if you want to stay here and you are wondering what I’ve been reading:

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

A Man in Full (also by Wolfe)

The Novel by James Michener

Waiting for Godot by Beckett.

Last week was a good reading week!

Josh

Okay everyone, I’ve started a biker club. We’re called The Yams.

As a reader, you’re already a member, but we need a motto. So far, the only suggestions I’ve heard are:

Yams forever, forever yams (YFFY)

and:

actually that’s the only one so far.

Who’s on it? Whoever comes up with the winning slogan gets to be my Vice President in charge of doing wheelies.