65 Books in a Year: Book #14 Barney's Version

So, I read this in one day, it was that good. I really didn't want to put it down, and I didn't want it to be over.

So, confession...I read this book because I was on a quest to find the movie. I was on a quest to find the movie because it stars Scott Speedman. I've yet to see the movie, but this book is a wild ride the likes I've only seen in books by John Irving.

Barney has lost everything, the woman of his dreams, the esteem of colleagues and friends and he's murdered his best friend. And, as he falls further into dementia we learn how Barney got into the mess that is his life.

Barney's life is just as funny as it is tragic. In his life he tells the truth only twice and both times to shattering results. Boogie, his drug-addled best friend, is everything that he desires to be and Boogie rewards him by sleeping with his wife (Mrs. Panofsky #2) and leaving him holding the gun, literally, as Boogie is nowhere to be found and, even Barney doesn't know if he shot him or not.

Barney's version begins at the end and throughout we learn that while Barney may be a philandering, greedy little man he also loves passionately and gives everything he has. He has feelings and regrets nothing...well, except for maybe those two times he didn't rely on his own version of things.

I found myself laughing at the truthful absurdity of Barney's life and I found myself hoping that my life has so many gorgeous stories to tell.

I appreciate all that I learned about Jewish and Canadian culture from Barney and his three lovely wives and I look forward to reading more books by Richler.

65 Books in a Year: Book #13 The Silver Linings Playbook

You know how it is...Bradley Cooper, with his perfect curls and dancing blue eyes, entices you to watch a movie about a man suffering a mental breakdown. You find out that said movie is actually a book and before you know it, instead of watching a movie with the chick from "The Hunger Games" and Robert DeNiro and dancing you've found the book and read it amid the chaos of the busiest time of the year.

And, even though the book isn't really about dancing and the guy doesn't really remind you of Bradley Cooper at all, you love every minute of it.

Pat Peoples is a guy who loves silver lining and he believes the world is full of them. Strangely, Pat isn't wrong about this; even when you are beaten down and someone steals your shoes there's a friend to help you. He's so sure that everything will turn out perfectly that he has blocked out any and everything that is horrible in his life. This includes how long he's been 'sent away' and it definitely includes the horrible reason that he's been sent to a mental institution in the first place.

His unorthodox psychologist keeps him grounded through their mutual love of football. His mother gives him all the love and attention he needs to help him along the way. His brother helps ease him into the present. And, Tiffany? Tiffany takes him all the biggest roller-coaster ride of his life. This includes lessons about what it means to love someone, a dance contest for the clinically depressed and a silent date at a diner.

There's never been a more romantic bowl of cereal.

I've yet to see the movie, not really sure I need to. I'm not sure that even Bradley Cooper could improve it--yes, it's just that good.

55 Books in a Year: Book #25 I Just Want My Pants Back

For my birthday we, a bunch of my friends and I, went out to eat in Springfield, and because it was my birthday we ended our lovely dinner of various fondues with a trip to the bookstore; Barnes and Noble to be exact. The husband took the kiddo to the play area (sometimes he can be nice and thoughtful) and I spent some quality time amongst the shelves. Of all the books that caught my eye that evening I Just Want My Pants Back caught my attention the most. I found a comfy seat and started reading it on my Nook, immediately I was entertained by the male voice (a character who reminded me a little of the guy in Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State and a little like the guy in The F***-Up with a hint of the chick in Diary of an Emotional Idiot) and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I read about 70 pages before my friends and my husband and my kid found me.

This, of course, left me no choice, but to download the book (BN knew what they were doing when they allow people to start reading books for free...) and finish it, which I did the next day.

This book is chock full of pop culture references. There are so many that I could relate to that I had to look up the year the book was published, 2007, and, noted that David was definitely Millennial and all those books that said people born during 1976 were tail-end Gen X or old-ish Gen Y were closer to being right than I thought. That's all I could think about as I read this book...that, while I definitely didn't booze it up or do drugs or sleep with strangers at all, I totally knew this guy. I totally got how he was feeling and remembered when I felt behind everyone else my age. Actually, if I allow myself to think about it, I still do. He was reminiscing about the same lost youth/opportunities/friends et cetera...it was pretty sobering.

And, who knew that a book about a guy who gives away his favorite pair of pants during a hook-up, a book about a guy who goes out of his way to figure out ways to avoid talking to his good Mid-Western parents, a book about a guy who loses his temp job, almost messes up his friends' wedding (by the way I know people who definitely took their wedding a wee-bit too serious, much like this faux-yuppie couple), cusses, pops pills and gets so drunk and strung out that he throws up in a taxi could be sobering?

Anyway, I digress. This book was a lot of fun.While it is definitely not as well-written as Generation X: Tales for an Acclerated Culture and definitely won't define a whole generation of lost souls, I can totally see how it has described an era and a time that, whether I want to believe it or not, is long gone.

I guess there's a show on MTV, but I probably don't have to tell you hipcats that...maybe I'll watch it (just read that MTV canceled it so that means it must be good!), maybe I'll just revel in the fact that this book is a little bit like me and those I have known and leave it at that.