I just realized that I am a big fan of gay male authors, at least the Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris's, David Rakoffs, and now Josh Kilmer-Purcells of the world. I don't know how they do it but these guys put together some of the funniest, most touching, sad and ironic memoirs I've ever come across. Their writing is so clear and tangible that I am absorbed for hours in their stories, laughing, groaning, cringing, and then laughing again. My favorite passage from Josh Kilmer-Purcell's I Am Not Myself These Days in on page 115 when he is anticipating his mother's arrival:
"Even though we had prepared for weeks, the morning of my mother's arrival in New York City registers an eight on my personal anxiety Richter scale. Like a death-row inmate, I could deal with impending doom in the abstract. But getting strapped down to the chair while knowing the executioner was on a plane speeding toward me this very instant is nearly enough to make me call for a priest."
Ha! Okay, no issues there.
2 comments:
That quotation really hit a nerve. Although the circumstances are different, I visited my mom in the nursing home today – was anxious before the visit and had a mini- anxiety attack afterward. These visits are rough.
I should read the book. I need some humour – and I like those other authors, too.
Oh Beth, that does sound rough. I'm so sorry.
Authors like these shed a smidge of humor on an otherwise not-so-funny subject.
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