I'm a Jonathan Ames fan. I love his novels and his essays. The guy just flat-out cracks me up. I haven't read him in a while, so I really enjoyed this collection (Black Cat, Grove/Atlantic 2006). It was somehow comforting to know he is still obsessed with certain things about himself--his itchy ass, his baldness, his bathroom problems, his "cataloging of his ruination" as he moves into middle age. His self-deprecating humor is blunt, bawdy, outrageous, and hilarious. It appeals to my 12 year-old boy sense of humor. But mixed in with these funny essays are a few downright touching ones, like "Snowfall" which is about the death of a friend who Ames had lost touch with, and the two essays that discuss his close relationship with his great-aunt Doris. All in all a good, quick, engaging, satisfying read.
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