David Sedaris, “Me Talk Pretty One Day”

Reread this—it appeared in my list from the first year I started keeping track.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2000, 272 pp.
Obtained via: My bookshelf
Date started: 7.26.08
Date finished: 8.1.08
What I liked: Pretty much everything! It’s also a lot funnier if you imagine him reading it in his nasally voice.
What I didn’t like: Pretty much nothing!
What I learned: Never yell “Good luck beating that rape charge!” to a friend when you get off the bus or train.

Jeanette Winterson, “Oranges are not the Only Fruit”

I’ve had this book on my bookshelf for nearly two years, and couldn’t remember for the life of me who gave it to me. I never read it, because I didn’t know what it was about. Finally, after hanging out with Jessica M. recently, she brought it up and asked if I’d read it yet. Mystery solved!

“Oranges are not the Only Fruit” is, like “Tipping the Velvet,” a bildungsroman about a young woman discovering her sexuality and learning about the world.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1987, 176 pp.
Obtained via: Jessica M.
Date started: 7.27.08
Date finished: 7.28.08
What I liked: The prose is absolutely beautiful, and Jeanette Winterson’s got a sense of humor that led me to refer to her as a lesbian Douglas Adams.
What I didn’t like: “Oranges” is a lot more ethereal and philosophical than “Tipping the Velvet” was. I don’t mind that, but I wish I’d learned more about the characters.
What I learned: People see what they want to see.

“Before the Mortgage,” edited by Christina Amini and Rachel Hutton

This collection of essays by people about post-college-pre-babies life struck an even stronger chord with me than the first time I read it back in 2006. (But I apparently didn’t note it in my master book list.)

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2006, 228 pp.
Obtained via: My bookshelf
Date started: 7.18.08
Date finished: 7.26.08
What I liked: The essays by Meghan Daum and Christina Amini.
What I didn’t like: The essay by Pagan Kennedy; the badly formatted faux-sidebars of random quotes.
What I learned: I’m not alone, and this quarter-life crisis might last a few more years yet.