Bros Before Love

Happy belated Valentine's Day, folks. If you're like me, then you don't really care one way or the other about Valentine's Day. After all, it's a holiday marketed by card companies for the sole purpose of making money between the winter holidays and spring holidays. Someone gives you flowers and you get to watch them slowly shrivel up until they finally die and you get to throw them away while you think they probably would have had a fulfilling flower life had they not been cut in their prime. Or someone gives you a themed stuffed animal, which is cute at first -- until you realize you're stuck with a grinning bear holding an I Heart You sign all year long.

The way to my heart on Valentine's Day? Cheap burgers, normal looking baked goods, and -- in this year's case -- a mug with a ridiculous but cute cartoon otter wearing a suit on it. In previous years I've gotten cupcakes that spell out I Hate You and a live Led Zeppelin record (like, on vinyl). Now that's what I'm talking about.

So what's my point? I'm not going to post about some sappy love romance. I'll leave that to the thousands of other websites and blogs. Instead, let's take a look at something completely different -- brotherhood. Screw sappy love. I'd rather read about friendships and misunderstood delinquents.

I first read this book by S.E. Hinton in middle school. We read it in class along with an audio tape. I didn't like the narrator's voice and thought he sounded ridiculous when he read the girl parts. After a week or so of reading, the class got to watch the 1983 movie version. I didn't get to watch the last part because I was sick, so over winter break, I had my mom rent it. And that's when I fell in love. I watched the movie over and over again multiple times a day until I was forced to return the movie to the now deceased Hollywood Video.

Though my love for The Outsiders stemmed from my love of the movie and Ponyboy, I've read this book numerous times. Though Ponyboy's life is filled with tragedy, I still envied him for living in the 60s and being able to experience things I could never understand. It's hard to be disappointed by Ponyboy's romantic views of society and friendship. And who couldn't love his gang of greaser friends who loved fun and rumbles? Dallas Winston, you're the epitome of bad boy allure.

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How can you not love a movie that has young versions of Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Matt Damon?



I wish C. Thomas Howell (aka Ponyboy) had aged better

Personal Narrative

When it comes to my blogging career, I try and get around to posting 3 new posts a month. Sometimes that's hard. Especially when I haven't gotten around to reading any new fiction. At least not for pleasure. I could talk a lot about Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales . . .

. . . but I'm sure there's more people out there who can do a better job at it. Though "The Knight's Tale" has given me ideas for an epic story. But that's for another time.

So, I might as well take a short break from fiction. Due to my personal narrative class, I've been reading and writing a lot of -- you guessed it -- personal narrative (or what some folks like to call creative nonfiction). My favorite book I've read so far is A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell (For mature audiences. This is an adult book).

This isn't your run-of-the-mill-memoir. What I liked so much was how the book was put together. It doesn't start off from the beginning and end near the present. Sampsell's life is presented in little snippets. The memoir is made up of little stories that range from one page long to a couple of pages long. They don't necessarily fit together and they aren't necessarily told in order, but still, I couldn't seem to put it down. Sampsell's voice is natural and to the point. He doesn't use fluffy language and adjectives, but it works. And I was constantly laughing or snickering. That's always a good sign -- at least for me it is. His collection of vignettes also had a way of making me reminiscence on my own life and childhood. I love it when authors can do that. Maybe you will, too.

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Stories from boyhood and about growing up made me think of this movie. It's the beginning of one of my favorite scenes (Note: swearing).




Check back soon for reviews for the new River of Time novella, Bourne. It's due out later this month.