Holiday Reading
Since I've had some time to slay in airport departure lounges and between holiday cuppas I've finished a few books over the past couple days...
The Know-It-All : One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by AJ Jacobs is my first recommended book. This is often hilarious and always geeky. This writer (Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, NPR) shows off his true geekiness by spending 18 months reading the ENTIRE Encyclopaedia Britannica... all 44 million words of it. He chronicles his journey into higher learning, forgetfulness and search for the ultimate truth in this funny memoir. As silly as his quest sounds, just reading along made me feel like I'd accomplished his impossible task. I learned some hysterical facts along the way and turned the pages just as quickly as possible. In case you'd like a sample you can listen to him spout off on NPR as a monthly audio columnist along the way.
Jonathan Ames has quite a way of twisting sentences in Wake Up Sir!. Cute story, not very highbrow but a marvelous story teller. This short novel about an alcoholic writer made me laugh out loud in places. He hires himself a butler, for no discernable reason other than he's got money and can't manage his own life. As entertaining as the story is to read I still can't help but marvel at the way Jonathan switches up his vocabulary and writing style. It's not the story that got to me, it's the style. I will try to seek out a few of his other books to see if they're all this good. Recommended for light yet extremely creative reading.