At few weeks ago, I hit another Monday night reading at ACWLP. Chuck Klosterman was in town on August 22nd to read a section from the recently released Killing Yourself To Live: 85% of a true story.
I expected him to be arrogant and narcissistic, but he was funny and narcissistic. I can deal with that.
I finished reading the book earlier this week.
Killing Yourself To Live started out as an "epic" article for Spin magazine about the geographical locations where rock-n-roll personas died. The book is really about Chuck. On the long road trip from NYC to Seattle, Chuck becomes self-reflective and interweaves his past and present with the people and places he encounters along the way.
The end of the book is disappointing only because it leaves us without closure on Chuck's relationship. (If I had read the book before attending the reading, I would have been able to inquire about the outcome.) It is, however, a reminder that life doesn't come with closure built in to the program. Sometimes it just ends. Thankfully, the book ends with an in-depth Index allowing me to easily find my favorite little anecdote to quote for you:
Thomas Jefferson is history's coolest president because of the advice he gave Meriwether Lewis and William Clark before they explored the northwest Territory in 1804. One of the many things that Jefferson warned Lewis and Clark about was mastodons. "You dudes need to watch out for potential mastodon herds," he told them (I'm paraphrasing). "If you see any mastodons, make sure you tell me about them, because I need to know."
My second favorite part was his in-depth analysis of Radiohead's Kid A. (Kid A is without a doubt my favorite album--ever.) Chuck describes Kid A as the soundtrack to the events of 9/11 even though the album was released almost a year prior. Spooky? Or coincidental? I'll go with the latter. If not Radiohead, some other music writer would have declared a different album by another band as a portent of the tragedy.
Since he actually compares his book to Elizabeth Wurtzel's books, I feel okay in agreeing with him.
I'm currently finishing up Chuck's earlier pop-culture book: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.
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