I finished Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself to Live a while back, actually. The book’s premise is this: “Hi, I’m Spin writer Chuck Klosterman, and I’m going to take a cross-country road trip and visit rock star death sites and also talk about all my ex-girlfriends.”
I picked the book up because I was really amused by Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. And amusement is really all I’m looking for when I pick up his material. I find his “pop-culture musings” eerily familiar, and it’s Klosterman that I turn to when I think my music neuroses are probably too much for a non-music-geek to bear. I began reading him and I thought, “Yeah, I get this guy.” But after you get halfway through Killing Yourself to Live, you realize that Chuckie’s really not saying anything and the book’s really not going anywhere. Sure, it’s a “memoir,” but it’s still a fucking book. A self-indulgent one, at that.
But I can get past all that! For some reason, I can’t get past the RESENTMENT! I resent Chuck Klosterman, because with the internet’s resources and a nice thesaurus, I could have fucking written this book. But I am not a rock journalist. I am not snorting cocaine with Interpol. All I can do is write in MY [also self-indulgent] blog.
Fuck you, Chuck Klosterman.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:29 am
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs is definately my FAVORITE book, however, I’ve found that outside of that book… he SUUUUCKS at life, and makes me mad that I actually took the time to READ a book. GRRRR
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February 21st, 2006 at 1:25 am
Glad I haven’t read anything of his.
another book to avoid:
Nickel and dimed (on not getting by in America) by Barbara Ehrenrich.
I unfortunately picked it up while I was waiting for my plane. Halfway through I was pissed that I gave her my hard-earned dollars to realize that she was just a yuppie who had no clue.
I have more to say about that– but it’s not terribly interesting. So yeah. love your posts and your artistry on the portrait =0)
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February 21st, 2006 at 1:26 am
but if you are interested in reading a fairly “light” book that’s a fun read (but happens to make you think) read My sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I also picked that up at the same time as the evil book mentioned earlier. Good thing at least one of them worked out.
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