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Home, buffalo, roam, etc.

I have not washed my hair in days

We took a beautiful drive yesterday to see a natural bridge, stopping at the Roadkill Cafe along the way, where I watched tv for the first time in two weeks. (An episode of "Charmed". Jenny McCarthy guest starred. She looked scary. She is starting to look like the devil. I hadn't noticed that before.) Everything was green and lush and cows blocked our path occasionally and the buffalo were cute, though we had been frightened earlier in the week by warnings of gorings so we stayed far, far away.

Later we played cards again. I am kicking Sarah's ass. I'm not trying to crow about it or anything, but I pulled ahead one night and have never looked back. I think when you're that far ahead you're more likely to take risks, and then it's like you're playing two totally different games. I have offered to start over - we have been keeping the same running tab for over a week - but she thinks she can come back, and I would like her to. I am due for some ass-kicking.

In book news: I read James Frey's latest, My Friend Leonard, and I cried like twenty times, which I think is more than with A Million Little Pieces, so I think that means this book is better, yes? I saw a negative review in the Observer and I guess my response would be if you don't like the voice (and I can respect that, lots of folks don't like my voice one bit), you're going to hate this book, but if it speaks to you, as it does to me, you will love it. As for the story - it's a memoir about his relationship post-rehab with two people he met there, one of whom was a mobster - it was completely unrelatable (Frey becomes a bag man for a while, for example.), while, completely relatable at the same time (People love, people hurt, people snap the fuck out of depression.), which means, of course, it's a great story. Solid. Emotional. Contemporary. A fresh, fresh voice. I read it in a day, couldn't put it down. I loved it. I'm certain you will too.

And finally, a member of the fine Pruzan family has a book out: The Clumsiest People in Europe : Or, Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World.

Says Todd:

The book is a cranky, caustic, funny and unsettling collection of nasty writing about geography for Victorian children, written by Mrs. Favell Lee Mortimer and originally published between 1849 and 1854. I've written a brief introduction about Mrs. Mortimer and her writing, and supplied some interstitial information for this country-by-country screed. Otherwise, it's all Mrs. Mortimer, offering the perfect primer on why every country in the world really, really sucks (or did in the 1850s, at any rate).

It's destined to be a cult classic, get in on the madness now. Also see Todd read next Wednesday, June 15, 7 pm at the Barnes and Noble in Chelsea.

All right, that's it for now. I need to get back to the writing. (Yes, I have been writing, believe it or not, though not as much as I anticipated.) Tomorrow we leave, heading through Yellowstone toward Mt. Rushmore. If you don't hear from me in a week, please send help. (6/09/05)