Book Reviews

Since I spent several ours in line and flying over the weekend, I started and finished three books.

Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth by Jenny McCarthy

I loved this book. I have been reading very clinical writings from the Mayo Clinic for the past three months and this book rocked my world. Besides, it was fun catching people reading over my shoulder with chapter titles like, "Honey, Your Sperm Really Do Work" and "Niagara in My Pants (Vagainal Discharge)". I've had a secret crush on McCarthy since Singled Out.

Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

This book came highly recommended to me from two sources. "You have to read it, it's SO funny!" Yes, amusing circumstances at times but I'm still trying to figure out what's so damn funny about pedophilia, abandonment and rape. Burroughs grew up in Hampshire County, that's where I spent three of the worst years of my life at UMass. That might have darkened my view of the whole thing.

The Fermata by Nicholson Baker

I picked up a copy of Vox at the small library in my art school in Italy. I enjoyed it. It was surprisingly erotic without seeming dirty. Later a friend recommended The Everlasting Story of Nory. This was not erotica and is by far my favorite book by Baker. I loved it. Flying back from DC, I found The Fermata in the airport book store. I immediately picked it up and started reading. It's dirty. It's really dirty. I couldn't summarize it for The Husband without feeling guilty for liking it. The truth is that I like Baker's writing so much that I can find the graphic description of dildos amusing and only secondary to what's happening in the passage.