Thu, June 8, 2006
They sing without flunjers, capdabblers, and smendlers!—11:29 AM
I'm reading this ridiculously stupid book that my mom got me for Xmas, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. (It's okay; it's the thought – and the misclick on my Amazon wish list – that counts.)
The other day, I ran across a link to an interview with the author, George Saunders. I read it (as much as I could stomach), in case it might shed some light on what the hell he's trying to do in his book. Instead, it just confirmed my worst fears – not only is the book incredibly boring, it's also a failed allegory of the Bush administration. Be an obnoxious lefty if you want (I am), but don't get all artsy and "meta" about it. It really makes me want to punch people in the teeth. (Or worse, vote Republican.)
Anyway, Saunders mentions a book called Dead Souls that he enjoys, so I looked it up on Amazon to see what it's about, hoping to salvage something interesting out of the experience.
Dead Souls sounds kind of freaky. Not sure if I'll be adding it to my reading list any time soon, but the Amazon review did yield this enjoyable quote from the book: "However stupid a fool's words may be, they are sometimes enough to confound an intelligent man."
(Take your pick: Santorum, Bush, O'Reilly.)
