What Some Would Call Lies

I thought that I wasn’t going to read anything during NaNoWriMo, but it’s just too hard to resist.  What do non-readers do on the toilet?!?  And what do they do during the thirty frustrating minutes after you’ve tucked yourself into bed but can’t fall asleep?!?

Seriously.

So I read Band Fags by Frank Anthony Polito.  I first heard of this book when Kenneth in the (212) took a vacation and Frank Anthony Polito was a guest blogger.  I added the book to my Amazon Wish List (which has reccently been updated for Xmas, bitches), and there it sat for close to a year.

When I finally got around to reading it, I was pleasantly surprised.  At first I was a little put off by the strong 80s references and jokes…I was born in 1981, so some of jokes were lost on me.  This book, however, turned out to be a pretty good

And I was a band fag in high school, too.  Even though I crossed over and was a part-time drama queer too.  And I honestly identified with the main character’s best friend Brad more than I did the main character Jack.

If you were a band nerd, and you enjoyed/endured the stigma that went along with being in band, you’ll enjoy this book.

If I were to criticize anything in Band Fags, I’d say that it’s too lengthy with no strong theme or sense of urgency.  I felt like I was going to have to see every GD day in Jack Paterno’s high school life.  The story did bring back memories of high school, some painful and some happy.  But the book didn’t have to mimic the “will this ever end?” theme of h.s. so accurately.

I’ve already started on Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris.  It was a random find at a used book store.  I know nothing really about the book, and can’t even tell you why I bought it.  Let’s see how that works out.