Sock



I love just browsing for books, and rarely leave the Library without five or more books and a giant grin on my face. I judge books by their cover. Who doesn't? If the words in the title or the cover art interest me, I look at the book. I read the blurb and if I'm still interested, I usually read the first sentence. This is how I choose books.

I see a book called "Sock." It has some slick graphic design on the spine, and a little picture of a sock monkey. I'm sort of fascinated by the sock monkey culture, so I'm interested. I read the blurb on the back cover, and find that it is more or less a 'detective story' (yuck) but is told from the perspective of a sock monkey (hmm...). I notice that it's compared to 'A Confederacy of Dunces' which, I admit I haven't read, but have heard about, and know it's smart fiction. So I open it up. The first sentence is, "Bad monkey wammerjammer." I'm hooked, especially since the second sentence is "Sewn in a crossfire hurricane of needles and pins." Those are good words; the book comes home with me.

I've been reading it. I'll finish it on my lunch break today. It's been a very interesting book, but I don't like it because it exposes my snobbery. You see, about halfway through reading it, I realized that the author, Penn Jillette, is Penn from Penn and Teller. And that makes me embarrassed to say I'm reading it. Never mind that it's a very interesting book--one of the more thought provoking books I've read recently. It's written in a self-aware/stream of consciousness style a la Dave Eggers with a little Chuck Palahniuk thrown into the mix for content (take that into consideration if you want to read it--it's very gritty, in-your-face, disturbing content). I feel like I'm missing my point. Here's the point: Penn Jillette has written a good book. I should go read some reviews of it and see what smarter people think...