Digressing from this topic to recommend a book for anyone in the market for a fun read, I'm suggesting this as the funniest piece of fiction I've ever read. The book is "Straight Man" by Richard Russo and while it isn't for everyone, if you're in the market for a middle-aged and crazy English professor with a flair for anarchist dramatics, then by all means it will keep you in stitches. Having spent far too many years on a college campus, I reread it recently and rarely did I finish a page when something didn't make me at least giggle. It is a fairly accurate portrayal of how English departments go from both a characterization and classroom perspective as I reflected back on my own experiences in the creative writing classes I took. Russo is such a good writer that it has a detrimental effect on my own writing, as each time I read one of his books, I know I'll never been in the same ocean with him and I ponder if its even worth suiting up for a dive. Regardless, I think this book may want to be avoided by women that really don't want to know how a man thinks, because Russo nails it from the first person perspective and maybe that in and of itself is what totally had me rolling at times.
I recently had a sit down with an old friend and coworker regarding relationships. We were discussing our past mistakes in relationships and discussing the melodrama that often plays out when you are in the impossible situation, but try to convince yourself that you're not. I off-handedly spouted off the comment, "been there, dumb that" when comparing myself to an old friend of hers who was probably following in the wake of my previous charted turbulent waters. It became such a laughable slogan for us afterwards that I began applying it to many moments in my past when I had "been there, done that" but in reality "dumb" was much more accurate assessment of my performance or judgment. It isn't meant to be a jab at someone else as it might seem. Instead, it is more of a self-deprecating reflection on my own bad judgment. While we tend to look at the past with the old cliché of "hindsight is 20/20," I often follow that up with maybe its time to go see my optometrist for a new prescription as I'm not seeing the past that clearly either.
Digressing from this topic to recommend a book for anyone in the market for a fun read, I'm suggesting this as the funniest piece of fiction I've ever read. The book is "Straight Man" by Richard Russo and while it isn't for everyone, if you're in the market for a middle-aged and crazy English professor with a flair for anarchist dramatics, then by all means it will keep you in stitches. Having spent far too many years on a college campus, I reread it recently and rarely did I finish a page when something didn't make me at least giggle. It is a fairly accurate portrayal of how English departments go from both a characterization and classroom perspective as I reflected back on my own experiences in the creative writing classes I took. Russo is such a good writer that it has a detrimental effect on my own writing, as each time I read one of his books, I know I'll never been in the same ocean with him and I ponder if its even worth suiting up for a dive. Regardless, I think this book may want to be avoided by women that really don't want to know how a man thinks, because Russo nails it from the first person perspective and maybe that in and of itself is what totally had me rolling at times.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
"Synchronicity""With one breath, with one flow, you will know - Archives
April 2022
Categories |