I'm Not Sorry at All

Public disclosure: I am in love with Diana Joseph. (I've never met her but I feel as if I have.)

I have just completed Diana Joseph's memoir I'm Sorry You Feel That Way --The astonishing but true story of a daughter, sister, slut, wife, mother, and friend to man and dog.

"Sorry" is an funny and bitingly honest look at Ms. Joseph's relationships with seemingly all the men she has ever come into contact with. I exaggerate but not by much.

We read of her father's admonition, "see, what happens is sometimes a girl will go with this one, and then she'll go with that one, and then she thinks what the hell, that one over there doesn't look so bad, why not go with that one, too." Apparently, she wanted to test dear ol' dad's theory. (I didn't put "slut" in the title!) In all seriousness, the "S word" is debated in hilarious detail by Joseph and her teenage son.

No male is safe from the sharpness of the wit. But the best moments are this mom's attempts to understand "the boy." Her son, despite her best attempts, develops political views 180 degrees from hers. This horrifies and intrigues her.

While reading this book, I imagined every mother and teenage son I've ever seen together. And then I imagined every one of those mother's having thoughts like Ms. Joseph. And then, strangely, I felt better about this planet.

I am in love with Diana Joseph. Read this book and you will be also.

http://dianajoseph.net

http://imsorryyoufeelthatway.blogspot.com

Positively Side-Splitting

I have read two of Augusten Burrough's books now and, despite myself, I am drawn to his achingly honest autobiographical style. When Burroughs is on his game, as he mostly is here, the reader is taken on a voyeuristic tour of an absurd life closely examined.

We all have strange things happen to us throughout our lives, but, if you're like me, most of them are filed away in our memories until some other event reminds us of them. Burroughs seems to remember every crazy thing that has ever happened to him and in vivid detail.

This book is funny and, at times, poignant. There were a few times I felt a little unsettled by the brutal honesty, but that is what you get with him. I enjoyed this book -- due in small part to the realization that no matter how weird my life gets, I could never top his.

http://augusten.com

http://us.macmillan.com/smp.aspx

New This Week

The only book on my radar this week is THE FORTY YEARS WAR: The Rise and Fall of the Neocons, from Nixon to Obama by Len Colodny and Tom Shachtman.

As a political junkie and a decided foe of the neocon belief system (the actual one not the stated one), I want to read this book. Published by Harper Collins, it'll be in stores on Tuesday.

Queen's Highway

Doreen Orion is the female Bill Bryson.

I have often stated that Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors. He is a writer who does what a professor should: he makes learning fun and hilarious. I advise never to read Bryson in a public place. Passersby will think you are insane due to the snickering and full-out laughing you will be doing. As it always is with authors we love (unless you like James Patterson -- I don't), it is always too long in between new books. So it is with pleasure that I found and read QUEEN OF THE ROAD by Ms. Orion.

If you like books that are funny and well-written, get yourself to a bookstore and get this book. You will be glad you did, and will quickly make a list of people you want to read small passages to. Doreen and her husband (Project Nerd -- just read the book...) are the perfect comedy pair.

Ms. Orion is the star of the book with credible performances by her husband (awesomely named Tim), the bus, the pets and a slew of new-found friends in RV parks throughout the U.S.A. and Canada. When first we meet Doreen she is addicted to only a few things: shopping, Oprah and the great indoors.

A self-proclaimed "Princess from the Island of Long", there is no way she herself or you the reader can believe she will be able to successfully complete the mission declared on the book cover: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 miles, 200 shoes, 2 cats, 1 Poodle, a husband and a bus with a will of its own.

Through mechanical mishaps, family visits, an armed robbery, mountain hiking and nudist parks, Doreen and Tim bring us along on the trip of a lifetime. You can measure this trip in laughs, not miles.

I won't ruin the ending, but suffice to say when the family arrives back in Boulder, Colorado, she is a changed woman....for the most part.

QUEEN OF THE ROAD is published by Broadway Books. http://www.broadwaybooks.com .

Please also visit http://www.queenoftheroadthebook.com .