HTstt Sytre Ittewnm hh77FFdc 0

IN another lifeetme, I was a voracious reader. I guess those were the days before cable tv/internet/reality tv/horny midgets under the bridge et al. Since 1992, the last year I read a book, my brain has been on a long, slow death march off the cliff and into oblivion; it's bad enuff I can't read Finnigan's Wake, but nowadays I find myself getting confused about which girl is which on "Rock Of Love." Yes, they're all vaguely alike, but they do actually list their names under their faces everytime they speak and I'm still lost. So.

So before my brain offically turns to mush, I'm demanding a policy upon myself of actually getting my fat ass across the river, into Barnes & Noble and buying one book a week to read. Alongside this book, I will also read a book that has been collecting dust on my shelves for 15 years. Anyone with any suggestions, feel free to shout them out to me here.

BUT. Know this: I have no use for contemporary fiction. I don't care. 90% of the themes has been recycled 1000 times; surely I would rather read such a theme in a book time-tested through a hundred years and taught in universities. Less diluted. I have a million classic works of fiction I am behind on, so I don't need anybody excitingly passing along whatever flaver of the week you're passing around with your friends. Blech. This also includes memoirs of "whacky characters" a la Confederancy of Dunces, Running with Scissors et al. Reading people marveling about their own neuroses bores me.

And the fact is, truth nowadays really is stranger than fiction. I'm much more interested in reading, say, The Tipping Point than fiction out there. But anyways, the point is I need to get my brain functioning again. Reading Gordon's auto-bio yesterday is a toe-dip in the pool of course; it's not exactly Finnigan's Wake*, but hey it's a start. Greasing the wheels.

On a side note, I've been reading and re-reading Assault on Reason over the past year. I'm fasiniated by Gore's losing his home state; how often has this happened in presidential elections? To say nothing wherein winning his home state would've secured the election for him. Hell, didn't Mondale even win Minnesota during that fucking bloodbath? Is there a book out there detailing how different the shit would be today if Gore had merely won his home state? How do Tenneseeans feel about this? Anything? fucking christ.

* see what I mean? I had forgotten I had referenced the same book 3 paragraphs earlier!! arrrgggh!!!