In college I was required to read “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I’m sure it was a commentary on something, but no one in my class could figure out, even my professor. I then showed the story to several other people, yelling ‘Tell me what this means”.

Shirley Jackson can write, she can really write. She reminds me of Dorothy Parker, but her stories are even darker. It just left me with a very eerie feeling & is why I don’t usually like short stories, or scary movies. Monsters, aliens, I can handle, but I hate seeing the darker sides of humanity without some kind of hero. If anyone knows what “The Lottery” means, please tell me

Let this be a lesson to writers everywhere. When you became super famous, you can write whatever you want after awhile. If you’re Nick Hornby you can write a book about songs that you like. Yes, you can write a book about music. That doesn’t sound like it would work since books usually have words, & music usually has you know, music.

For some reason this book just works. Especially since some copies come with a CD. My book didn’t have a CD so I had to track down each song to understand what he was talking about. This book introduced me to Ani Difranco & Aimmee Mann. This book even got me to listen to “Thunderroad” by Springsteen, so I’m eternally grateful. I’m definitely not Lane Kim, but this book got me a little closer to becoming Lane.