Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs

Chuck Klosterman is a man with his finger on the pulse of Pop Culture. He shows this in his collection of essays Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. This collection shows how he is able to write intelligently on just about anything that takes his fancy, especially if it relates to his understanding of culture, which is pretty much everything.

In this book you will read essays on Billy Joel, Luke Skywalker as a Gen Xer, Soccer, a Guns 'n' Roses tribute band, TV programs, The Sims, Pamela Anderson and many other things. All the essays are written in Klosterman's witty style, and his intelligence leaps of the page. What is also amazing is his depth of Pop Culture knowledge and his ability to link it to all aspects of his life.

This collection is well worth reading. Klosterman can make you laugh, and he can make you think and sometimes both at the same time. But best of all Klosterman can entertain, and that is the best attribute an essayist can have.

Book of the Year

I know it's early to declare my book of the year, but after reading Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon I know nothing else is going to live up to it.

This is Chabon's first book of essays, and what a marvelous collection it is. Chabon has an amazing mind, and the eclectic nature of his interests comes through in the wide ranging essays. From comic books to Arthur Conan Doyle, by way of Phillip Pullman and genre fiction, Chabon has written about many things.

This is a great book to dip into, or like me read cover to cover in a couple of sittings, either way you will find yourself being awed by Chabon's easy writing style and his enthusiasm for whatever he happens to be writing about.

Grab a copy and enjoy.

Essays

I like reading collections of essays from time to time. Like short stories they are a particular art form that goes through peaks and troughs. Recently I just finished reading A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace. Some people might know him as the author of Infinite Jest amongst other works.

Wallace tackles a wide range of subjects which include junior tennis, television and fiction, literary criticism and going on a cruise through the Caribbean (this is where the title comes from). Wallace approaches each subject with his trademark wit, but as the essay on literary criticism shows there is a fierce intellect behind it.

A good read which made me laugh, and a book you can dip into slowly and take your time with.