KILLING YOURSELF TO LIVE

I should have learned my lesson by now, but I haven't. 

The lesson, of course, is to stop loaning out my favorite books because I never get them back.

I've purchased Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs four times and this is my third copy of Killing Yourself to Live. I keep loaning them out because I want people to appreciate them the way I do, but it never quite works out that way. It usually just ends up like this:

"How did you like that book?"

"What book?"

"*Insert book title here*? You asked if you could borrow it a while ago?"

"Ohhhh, yeah! I haven't gotten to it yet. I still have it though. I'm excited to read it."

Usually the phrase 'I still have it, though' is code for 'Oh shit. I lost that book like two days after you loaned it to me, forgot the title and haven't thought about it since.'

The bottom line is that I found this book for dirt cheap, so I didn't feel too bad shelling out a few more bucks to read again.

It's a road trip story in which Chuck Klosterman (a guy you'll either love like I do or wholeheartedly despise) drives cross country and visits the site where significant rock stars died. He then examines what it meant to their career, and in a lot of cases, them dying was probably the best thing to happen to their fame.

It starts at the Chelsea Hotel where Sid and Nancy died and ends in Seattle at the home of Kurt Cobain. And through the trip, all he has is time to reflect and over analyze hundreds of songs, their meanings and how they relate to his life.

It's a great read if you're a fan of music, rock stars, fame and the whole 'only the good die young' mantra.

Pick it up and hold on to it.

Definitely don't loan it out. You'll never see it again.