Read it if……: Dear Everybody

Evenin’ all! It’s that time again – those few moments that you devote to discovering a new reading opportunity. Today’s offering is Dear Everybody by Michael Kimball, which is a complicated but quick read that tracks a fictional series of letters written by the main character, Jonathan Bender, to seemingly everybody in his life (including his old high school….no, not the students, the actual building) just prior to his suicide.  So not really a beach or holiday read, but certainly one that delivers in the high-emotions department.

I nearly didn’t pick this one up because while reading the blurb for one of the author’s other books, I came across the bizarre line “possibly the saddest book ever written”……I’m not quite sure who the publishers thought would be excited enough by that line to purchase the book (“Oh I can’t wait to get this home and start vicariously experiencing agonising despair!!”), but enticing as the suggestion was, I thought I’d begin my relationship with Kimball in a less dramatic, though still fairly sombre, reading experience.

It’s clear from the introduction by the main character’s brother (he who has compiled the letters and other documents into the form presented to the reader) that Jonathan always experienced life a little differently from the common herd.   However, the nature of his mental illness or personality issue is never made explicit.  I think this helps the overall reading experience because the reader isn’t restricted to thinking of Jonathan in terms of a label.  But in short…..

READ IT IF:…..

* you are looking for something with a bit of depth and substance

* you enjoy books in letter-format

* you are prepared to experience a bit of sadness, empathy or reflection on negative experiences

Once again, I feel the need to put up a bit of a flag to warn the unwary, so…..

DON’T READ IT IF:

* you are in a state of great emotional imbalance

* you have any kind of issue with reading about suicide or its aftermath

* you are looking for something light, fluffy, and preferably containing jolly conversations between charming spinsters who knit woollen coats for teacup poodles

I can’t pretend that I enjoyed this one – I don’t feel it’s the kind of book that one should enjoy….but it was definitely worth picking up.  I’m not sure whether I want to progress to Kimball’s other tome – that saddest one ever written – but I’d love to hear opinions of any other readers who have read Kimball’s work and how they found it.

Until next time,

Bruce

The Gargoyle’s Gift Guide: For List-makers, Diary-keepers and General Book-wreckers…

Evenin’ all! Today I present to you some ideas for those most insidious people on your  list…you know the ones…they’ve already finished their Christmas shopping by August at the latest, they’ve printed out all those digital family snaps and arranged them artistically in some sort of scrapbook, and they use words like “reflecting” and “goal setting” and “making dreams a reality”.

And then there’s some suggestions for that other lot – the ones who spill tea on that brand new first edition hardback you bought them for their birthday; the ones who write phone messages in crayon on the wall because they couldn’t find pen and paper, the ones who tear out pages and use them to wrap gifts because it’s more eco-friendly than buying wrapping paper….

Honestly, it makes one shudder to think about it. Yet still, gifts must be exchanged….so I have made your job easy.  You can thank me with appreciative glances and quiet murmurs of praise.

For List-Makers:

Look no further than The A-Z Book of Curious Lists: A Journal for the Impossibliy Imaginative.  This cracker of a book provides fresh fodder for those obsessive little munchkins who cannot make it through a day without making a list.  With a list idea for every occasion, this will keep them so busy that their “To-do” List will remain untouched for days.  Some of my favourites are:

• Other Names Besides Harold for an Elephant
• Indecent Attire in Which to Attend the Opera
• and Unpromising Haiku Beginnings (in response to which, my fleshling owner has written “There once was a man from Nantucket”)

For Diary-Keepers:

For a twist on the run-of-the-mill diary experience or for those who are time- and imagination-poor, Q&A a Day: A 5 Year Journal is just the ticket.  This pocket-sized memory-protector provides enough space to write a single answer to a given question five times over, to cover the same date over five consecutive years.  The advantage of this is that you only have to write one sentence a day and you can cheat off last year’s answer if you can’t think of an original one.  My favourite questions from this one so far are:

• What is your Achille’s Heel?
• What can you smell right now?
• and What new word have you learned? (to which my fleshling owner has responded: “Moral turpitude”….which is quite obviously two words, not one.  It really is a wonder I’m not presiding over piles of books that begin with “See Dick Run”…)

For Book-Wreckers:

For this most difficult group, one cannot go past Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith.

This licence to spill, mess up and generally destroy is perfect for anyone who wants to break free from the shackles of conformity…and anyone who’s just a bit bored in work-related meetings.  While I am yet to become guardian of this tome on my personal shelf (my fleshling owner obviously being more kindred with the precocious group of list-makers and diary-keepers), I have searched for some examples of work completed in this book to give you an idea of what you may be in for.  Such as this:

and this fluffly little gem:

So once again dear readers, I hope these suggestions aid you in your neverending and ultimately unsatisfying search for that perfect gift.  And if Santa happens to be reading, Mad Martha would love a copy of Wreck this Journal (being a firm encumbent of the book-wrecking population).

Until next time,

Bruce