Books

Read This Book.

By Maegan Carberry ⋅ July 20, 2008 ⋅   Email this post ⋅  Digg This ⋅  Share on Facebook ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

There’s a book store I love on Franklin (near the creepy Scientology building) called Counterpoint Records & Books, where I like to sneak off to discover random reads and because it makes me feel like I’m a real-life character in “High Fidelity.” A recent discovery included Mike Gayle’s, “My Legendary Girlfriend,” which is a ten-year-old novel about an English guy who can’t get over the ex-girlfriend who dumped him three years ago. I just Google-stalked the author and have no idea how I missed him over the last decade, given my affinity for Tom Perrotta, et al; but I like the idea that you can make up for lost time at any juncture and I’m sticking with it. At least until I make it through “The OC: Season Four” on DVD.

Since I’ve become obsessed with Twitter feeds and RSS readers, I’ve had to make a concerted effort to get my hold-it-in-your-hands smut fiction fix and it took me a few weeks to read it, but the book was well worth sticking it out. I am immediately suspicious of all writers with an unhealthy penchant for Holden Caufield, but coming-of-age angst is inherently compelling and I vaguely recall writing a horrific short story in a creative writing class at UCLA that was a little more wanna be Salinger than “Portrait of the Artist.” 

As great as blogs and Facebook updates are, there’s still nothing quite as satisfying as curling up in bed with a good novel.