Tonight's post will be a quick one, as I am pretty tired tonight. I just want to point everyone (you know, all 3 of you) in the direction of a great nonfiction author who writes humorous memoirs after messing with his life. AJ Jacobs is an editor/writer at Esquire, and quite the quirky dude. Now, this is not literature, it's just fun, nonfiction journalism/memoir/humor writing.
Jacob's first hit, The Know-It-All, is all about his year reading the entire 32 volume set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It sounds like this is about all he did for the entire year, just read the entire Encyclopedia cover to cover. He points out tons of facts that he picks up as he reads and that will stick with him long after he has finished his reading. Now, I'm a trivia guy, so this is a lot of fun for me, but even better than this, he includes moments in his life that parallel what he is reading, which brings even more meaning to his writing. It's great fun.
Jacob's most recent book, The Year of Living Biblically, is not quite as satisfying from a trivia standpoint, but it is great as a memoir piece focused on a spiritual search. He spent one entire year trying to live life following the rules of the Bible as literally as possible. Jacobs is an admitted agnostic and is open about his biases, which make this book quite intriguing. He is, however, fairly good at keeping an open mind to his experiences. This book has much more heart than The Know-It-All, as Jacobs shares much more about his personal life and how his grand experiment affects his family and life. Throughout both of these books Jacobs uses a light touch of humor, so the reads are quick, fun and light, the perfect books for reading in short bursts. Check him out!
Tomorrow: Who know, it's a Misc. Day!
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