Course Correction
I suppose that I’m a lucky one. My job affords me the opportunity to take university classes for free. I’ve been using this opportunity to get the degree that I should have in the first place. It’s not that I don’t like design, but about a year before the end I started to realize that it was not right for me. This is not an uncommon thing, as I understand it, by my hands were tied. I’d invested too much time and money into graphic design to bail out.
Graduation came and I was cast out into the workforce. As any recent graduate knows, this was a horrible time to get out especially with an art degree. Ten months of unemployment later, I was brought back to the job I had as a student but full time. Working for a university doesn’t pay well, there are no illusions there, but I am given the chance to take free classes. So I am studying English, now, and on course to enter grad school in a year. With the chance to read for credit, how could I turn that down?
With reading comes writing, and boy have I written. For fun, I kept a running count of the number of words that I wrote this semester and it weighs in at just over 100K between papers and my own work. Now that this semester has wound down and I can get my bearings, I am looking at my focus. Unfortunately my university doesn’t offer fiction writing as a focus, but does offer American literature which is fine by me.
So there is my big update. I’m also giving serious consideration to bringing over some of my work back to ThePowerNine from my Tumblr.
Where Things Sit
Hey guys, it’s been a while. I suppose I owe some sort of explanation but there is really no excuse. The truth of it is that I moved on to Tumblr over two years ago and really lost the need for this blog. So, it’s time for minor updates.
- I have gone back to school for a second degree. I’m studying English, now.
- I am, and have been, working on my first novel for a few months now.
- I write and post short stories regularly and post them on the new Tumblr (Sorry, I’m not going to give out the link).
- The book reviews are not gone, more on that very soon.
I will post news here about the shape of things to come when I have more information on it.
A Thief Ripples
Review: Bossypants – Tina Fey
Format – Audible Audio
Narrator – Tina Fey
Score: 3.5/5
“If you’re looking for a spiritual allegory in the style of C.S. Lewis, I guess you could piece something together with Lorne Michaels as a symbol for God and my struggles with hair removal as a metaphor for virtue”
— Tina Fey (Bossypants)
Almost immediately Tina Fey establishes herself as being a socially awkward yet wisecracking TV writer turned aspiring author. It doesn’t hurt that Fey reads her own material and is able to add the appropriate comedic timing, which I see as this book’s real strength. The problem, however, is the writing is perhaps too similar to Fey’s show 30 Rock. Bossypants feels like a five-and-a-half hour episode of 30 Rock which, like the show, is more or less 15% hilarious, 10% brilliant, and 75% “did she really just spend 20 minutes talking about her first period?”
I’m not entirely sure of the point of Bossypants honestly, it sits somewhere between a David Sedaris style book of life stories and a conversation with the semi-intoxicated hobo down in the park. That said, it is endlessly entertaining if consumed in small doses.
Quotability: High
There are a lot of really funny quotes that can be pulled from this book and generally reflect the overall personality quite well:
“It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn’t exist.”
— Tina Fey (Bossypants)
“To say I’m an overrated troll, when you have never even seen me guard a bridge, is patently unfair”
— Tina Fey (Bossypants)
Likelihood of a second read: very low
Unlike David Sedaris’ works, Fey’s stories are kind of a one shot deal. Maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t care to hear about her stint as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live more than once. In short, her humor has limited replay value.
Final thoughts:
The trouble I find with this book is the fact that it can be extremely funny if the jokes catch you off guard, but you have to sit through a lot of mostly uncomfortable, or just plain boring, storytelling.
Focus Change
There comes a time when we need to change directions. Now is that time for this blog. Starting this week, I’m going to shift it in favor of my passion: books.
I’ll be doing reviews, mostly, of books of various formats including eBooks (for Kindle), audio books (from Audbile), and classic paper. Stay tuned.
