The Writer's Life 8/24 - Feeling Good

I’ve never been a fan of stand up. Five minutes of it is more than enough for me. I wonder if it’s because of my hatred of school, of sitting bored in a classroom listening to a teacher. Despite this, I read the memoir of a “comedienne,” who goes ballistic at the use of that term, as to her it implies not being a true peer of male comedians. The book has an irresistible title: Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy. Ophira Eisenberg has been on the fringe of success. I’d never heard of her. She has nine acting credits listed at IMDb in fare I’ve not seen, and seven in writing for TV shows with which I’m unfamiliar. She has made hundreds of appearances in comedy clubs in the U.S. and her native Canada. Despite the title, the sexual aspects of the book are fairly tame, almost all of the encounters disappointing. Anyone seeking titillation should look elsewhere. This is not porn. It is serious work filled with wisecracks one would expect from a comic struggling to get to the big time. On page nine she states: “I wanted to have a good time and enjoy my freedom with guys I consciously didn’t want to get to know… I was sold on the idea that letting the same someone in, year after year, would stagnate my personality.” I watched a short clip of her at youtube. Typically, I had a hard time concentrating on it. My mind faded the same way it does after a couple of minutes of standup. One thing I was unable to determine from reading the book is whether I would like the author if we met. Although the writing and dialogue are solid, I wasn’t absorbed. On a scale of five, I rate Screw... 2.5. Most of the 38 readers who have rated it at Amazon disagree, forging to a consensus of four. Released in 2013, it is still selling reasonably well, its ranking 163,323 at last look. There are at least ten million books listed.

On Sunday the NY Post runs capsule summaries of new books. One stood out this week, as I do not recall having ever heard about the subject or seen it on film. Raghu Karnard’s Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War led me to Wiki for information. The following was edited by yours truly. “The Indian Army began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men. By the end it had become the largest volunteer army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945. Serving in divisions of infantry, armor and a fledgling airborne force, they fought on three continents -- Africa, Europe and Asia. They fought in Ethiopia against the Italians, in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia against both the Italian and Germans, and against the Germans in Italy. However, the bulk of the Indian Army was committed to fighting the Japanese.” Who knew? I guess it's time to go to the PBS site to see if they've done a documentary about it.

My only sale of the day was two children books to a lady wearing a peekaboo burka. My thanks, and also to the gentleman who swapped three CDs, two Tony Bennett and one Michael Buble, for three books on dogs. I found a Buble song, Feeling Good, whose title had been unknown to me, and downloaded it.

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/