Bit BooTY List #5 - Ablutions

#5 Ablutions Patrick DeWitt


The problem with contemporary fiction is there is JUST SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM! I mean, talk about a forest of stories just waiting for you in your local bookstore or library. I get overwhelmed when I see so many titles waiting for my selection and often seek out the tried and true.

Now this guy, he's probably one of the most current authors I ever read. I picked up a free copy of Sisters Brothers from the local Free Book Tree (if you don't have one of these, you need one). It was near mint condition and the winner of the Governor General's Literary Award. Anyways, that book, The Sisters Brothers was AMAZING and although the movie wasn't, I still went out of my way to find something else written by DeWitt and found this little gem about a bartender, written while DeWitt was apparently a bartender.

Ablutions is unique in that it tells a tale entirely in the second person. That is to say, he uses the word 'you' throughout. He commands 'you' to discuss 'your' wife and 'your' life as an alcoholic bartender on the fringes of Hollywood. He, through the second person, makes you experience a totally different life, full of bad choices, quick sexual flings, criminal activity and day-to-day interactions with coke addicts, machete-wielding drunks and androgynous con artists.

It's definitely not for everyone but I can see a few people I know liking it, particularly Jay F, who if he is reading this should know that just because the writer is tall and lanky and has a chin like Superman, doesn't mean I thought of him in the title role.

The Big BooTY list #2, #3, and #4

Books Ogled Over The Year #2, 3, and 4


I feel I should include the books I started in December in this as well. I tend to have two or three books on the go, strategically placed around the house. A couple in the bathroom, one in my car, another one or two on my dresser. I just never know when I feel it is time for me to put down my phone and actually read something of merit.

So some of these books read may come in spurts. I have three I recently completed and will check off here;  Cat's Cradle, Going Postal and Flowers for Algernon.


#2 Cat's Cradle, Kirk Vonnegut 

 I love me my Kirk. I love his unique style, his minimalist ability to create a scene without too much attention to detail. This was the 2nd time I read Cat's Cradle, a book which I recommended to my wife yet she was unable to finish and so sat on her bedside table for months, beckoning me to finish it. So I did. 

It's an Apocalyptic novel in which he also sets forward the theme we are all connected. There are certain members on our 'team' which creates amazing coincidences throughout our lives. For the author, this leads from him writing a story on a man who invented an atom bomb to the writer becoming the leader of a small Caribbean country which leads to the Apocalypse. It's a funny/not funny type of read, which I find of most of KV's novels.





#3 Going Postal, Terry Pratchett

I sped-red this (yes I know that's a typo but phonetically it makes my point) after picking it up at the local library because I had to have it back in three weeks. I have about 20 of Pratchett's earlier works but don't own many of the last 20 books he published but probably have read about another 10.

This man knows good story and it helps his stories are set on Discworld, a medieval-esque world where wizards run the university, an orangtuan is the local librarian, there is a werewolf on the police force and trolls, vampires, dwarves and humans live together and occasionally kill each other in the great metropolis of Ankh-Morpork. His stories are rife with philosophical moments, satirical comments and a from-the-hip comedic overtone which hides how brilliant a message he often puts in his stories.

In Going Postal, it is the story of a con man, Moist Von Lipwig, charged with bringing the Post Office back to it's former glory while competing against the 'Clacks', a rudimentary tower system symbolic of emails operated by money-hungry corporate men who care nothing of the power of technology only how much money they can make out of it.

What is interesting about Going Postal that this is also the book where GNU Terry Pratchett originates, a bit of Discworld lore. GNU Terry Pratchett is an insider homage to Sir Terry that some computer coders put into their programs and is taken from the clacks system of coding. It literally means that "a man is not dead if his name is still spoken" and by putting such a code prefix of GNU, they let Terry live on, in the nether of the internet. Loved it.


#4 Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes



This is one of those one-hit wonder books for authors; Keyes apparently only wrote one other novel aside from Flowers for Algernon but what a huge hit this book was. It was originally a short story, an Icarus flying too close to the sun thing. It is often cited on many 'must-read' books on reddit. I read the short story years ago but found this copy at a local 2nd hand shop and put it in the To Be Read pile.

Algernon is a mouse given super-intellectual abilities, Charlie is the human subject upon which the experiment is duplicated. It is often referred to as one of novels which brings tears to the eyes. Not so much for me but it is interesting to read of how science and society had looked at mental retardation over the decades.

Jay's Big BOoTy List (w intro) #1

The Big BOoty List - Books Ogled over The Year

Classic Ogling...

I'm noticing that as the years go by they are doing so with increasing speed. I can't say 2018 will go down in history as my favourite year, especially the last couple months. December was a rotating 'flu-enza' in our house with myself being the lone victor in staying healthy throughout. Career choices, conflicts, criticisms, children... 2018 had it all.

Of course, there was so much stuff I could get angry about outside of my own small life. It was embarrassing the lengths people went to on social media went to demean or debase whoever they didn't vote for, as if our leaders were somehow appointed for life while hundreds of miles up in the air, there is a small glimpse of what our future could be if we only focused on what is good about ourselves instead of what is bad about our neighbours.

I don't know how people can live surrounded by so much negativity in their lives and as such, I'm again trying to limit mine.

Gratefully, amidst that chaos and background of social-loathing, I did manage to finish my 3rd book called Karmageddon. Thanks to everyone who has supported me by purchasing a copy. If you haven't,you can find it here.

I'm fully aware it isn't for everyone and many people may not like it; many may take offense to it. That's okay I guess... everyone has a right to their opinion, despite what others might think. I guess it comes to how offended you are. It's not meant to offend, it's a book. Books are meant to distract you from the world, to provide an escape. Maybe if you learn something along the way, all the better.

Right now, I'm taking a break from writing, despite the voice of many writers who insist 'you have to write every day to succeed'. For those who do it for a living, sure. For those who (like me) do it for the pleasure, go at your own pace.

And as of January 1st, my new year's resolution is to keep track of ALL the books I read over the year. I'll provide a brief recap, mostly for my own amusement.

So without further adieu, welcome to Jay's Big BOoTY List.


Book 1

Emotions Explained With Buff Dudes by Andrew Tsyaston

Let's admit that there is a small type of satisfaction when the clerk behind the till at the book store praises your selection. Like somehow, this insider to the book industry has better taste than you and therefore their opinion is valued. That's what happened here. I bought it thanks to a Xmas gift card from some great people who believe in the dreams of book stores.

A brief skimming of the drawings led me to purchase it. This is a great, but short, easy read of cartoons that reflect and see the humour of depression, our definitions of success, coffee addiction and feeling like on some days life is physically waiting beside your bed for you to wake up so it can punch you in the face. Like, literally... that is one of the cartoons.

If you, or anyone you know tends to slide on occasion down Pessimism Mountains, tend to defeat themselves before entering, then this book might help them get back on track, or at least put a smile on their face long enough for them to fight another day.



*I'm not paid to endorse any of these books, the BOoTY(tm) awards are for my own amusement. If you're interested in any of the books I read, please search them out yourself. If you have any recommendations based on these books, please add them to the comments.*