American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis) and False Memory (Dean Koontz). I actually bought American Psycho when it first came out in print, because I wanted to know what all the brouhaha was about. As I recall, I got ten or fifteen pages in, yawned, and stuck it at the back of the bookcase. Now that the movie’s come out, and I’m sure I’ll want to see Christian Bale running around half-naked, I decided to give it another shot because I prefer to always read the book before I see the movie. I’m something like twenty pages in, and I can barely contain the constant stream of yawns. Fred checked ahead for some murder scenes and said that the one he came across was incredibly graphic, so I guess I’ll stick with it. Ih.
The Koontz book, on the other hand, is shaping up to be pretty good. I’m only about 1/4 of the way in, but it’s creepy as all get-out. I was actually creeped out before I started reading the book, because I read the cover, which said that one of the main characters suffers from autophobia – fear of one’s self. Could you imagine what it would be like to be afraid of yourself, scared to look in the mirror? The only way to get away from yourself is to commit suicide, and that only gets you away from your physical self. Well, as I read the book, I discovered that the main character isn’t afraid of herself in that way; rather, she’s afraid she’ll do harm to her loved ones. Last night I dreamed I was running through the house throwing anything with a sharp edge out the back door into the pool.
I went to Garden Cove this morning. Being that it’s Wednesday, it was far less crowded than last Tuesday, but there was also far less of a selection (their truck full of fresh produce comes in on Tuesday morning). I still managed to buy $18 worth of fruit and veggies, not to mention some organic shredded hash browns. I also managed to end up in line behind a woman who had bought 24 of something and was charged 79 cents each instead of 59 cents, and the cashier was having a hell of a time figuring out how to credit the woman’s account. I stood there for 10 minutes – no exaggeration – before it was my turn to be rung through. While I was patiently standing there waiting for it to be my turn, the lady in front of me said "I notice you’re buying a lot of vegetables." I smiled and nodded, resisting the Nothing gets by you, huh, Einstein? comeback (now, you know and I know that I’d never ever say such a thing to a stranger). "Are you following the Hallelujah eating plan?" she went on to ask. "Uh," I mumbled. "No." She smiled, looked me over, and went back to overseeing the cashier. I can only imagine what the Hallelujah eating plan must entail – a shouted "Hallelujah!" before each bite, perhaps?
So, I finally got around to watching last week’s ER. What a great damn show. When that little girl said "Sometimes Daddy likes to play a game" I teared right up. Ditto Mark waking up to see his father laying still. I repeat: DAMN good show.
Hm, have I covered everything? Food, books, TV – yep, that’s it. Y’all have a good day!
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05/10/2000