A Book to Buy (and Read, Of Course)

This is how being a book editor works, as far as I can tell after five years: First, publishing systematically destroys your love of reading, and you resent this. Then, you come to understand it as the evolutionary strategy that it is. See, once you feel like you couldn't be more tired of reading manuscripts, you really know when you've got something good. If, in your jaded state, you come across a set of loose pages that actually make you laugh out loud or marvel at sentences or get choked up (if you're a sissy), you've got a winner.

I'm happy to say that a winner goes on sale today -- Grab On to Me Tightly As If I Knew the Way by Bryan Charles. If you're the lazy type who needs a ton of references to get a feel for something, all of these things are either mentioned in the book or give (in my humble opinion) some indication of whether or not it's for you: Holden Caulfield, Pavement, Nick Hornby, The Simpsons, Dinosaur Jr., Chuck Klosterman. (Such references are broad and silly by nature, and the author might kill me for making them without his input, but there you have it.) Basically, if you have ever enjoyed pop culture on a spiritual level, ever started (or thought about starting) a band, ever lost your virginity, ever worked a dead-end job, ever tried to figure out your parents, or ever felt clenched with frustration and doubt about what comes next in life, I think you'll enjoy this.

Plus, it has an incredibly cool cover, if I do say so myself, and it's only a little more than $10, which is what most of you spend on, say, bottled water in a week or vodka in an hour. Buy it here.

Thus ends the latest promotional moment on the blog.