Reading Is Fun(damental)

 

So my reading kick continues -- you'd be surprised how many books you can tackle when you stop watching five hours of "Dateline NBC," "48 Hours," "Snapped" et al. a day week.

Recently I polished off Truman Capote's "Answered Prayers," which I'd actually purchased at that darling bookstore in the Marais when I was in Paris months before 9/11. Turns out I was wise to not bother all these years -- it’s a long-winded and tedious mess, and the graphic gay material sounds as embarrassing today as I'm sure it did when it was first published. To wash the taste out of my mouth, I finally read "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which I knew was very different from the film -- an all-time favorite -- and enjoyed finding out how. (Now that's good writing.) Damian and I are keeping our Valentine's Day classic movie tradition alive, going to see Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly on the 14th at the Metrograph. 

I also devoured my friend Ellen Jovin's "Rebel With a Clause," which it turns out is largely a print version of the hilarious documentary I've seen a couple times, only with additional local color. I informed her that I especially liked the discussion of the use of possessive pronouns before a gerund, which besides tennis is probably the thing that bonds Damian and me the most. 

And then I read a friend's memoir that he is trying to shop around. Whether anybody who is not famous can sell one of these in a post-"Housewives" era is anyone's guess. But he's about a decade older than I am, which is enough for him to have experienced some things that need to be documented as part of the LGBTQ canon, so I hope it finds an audience. 

Since I still seem to be in the zone, I'm now about to attempt to knock off a couple books from friends that I'm embarrassed to say I never got around to reading -- Jeff Copeland's "I Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn" and Tim Anderson's "Tune In Tokyo" (his "Sweet Tooth" is a fave!) -- plus one that was a gift (Betty Hutton's "Backstage, You Can Have").

But right now I'm knee-deep in "Cybil Disobedience," which I ordered just after we finished watching Ms. Shepherd's titular CBS sitcom and heard that she'd trashed all her co-stars in it -- she does!!!

Let me know what you're reading in the comments.