I'm feeling too tired to write a description so here's the one from amazon.com:
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year? That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from Jacobs (The Know-It-All). He didn't just keep the Bible's better-known moral laws (being honest, tithing to charity and trying to curb his lust), but also the obscure and unfathomable ones: not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard; eating crickets; and paying the babysitter in cash at the end of each work day. (He considered some rules, such as killing magicians, too legally questionable to uphold.) In his attempts at living the Bible to the letter, Jacobs hits the road in highly entertaining fashion to meet other literalists, including Samaritans in Israel, snake handlers in Appalachia, Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and biblical creationists in Kentucky. Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer, lacing his story with absurdly funny cultural commentary as well as nuanced insights into the impossible task of biblical literalism. (Oct.)
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In short-- I thought it was a hell of a book. And though I've always made a habit of thanking God (or just being thankful in general) when I find my keys or I don't miss an exit (as I did a thousand times this last week), it just made it seem that much more important. We gotta appreciate the shit we have. And that's just a portion of what our hero learns.
I liked it. A lot. And I laughed quite a few times. And I'm going to have to read The Know-it-All eventually.
I'm home. Work will start tomorrow, as I decided not to go in today at all.
The trip went well, and I was treated well by my wonderful hosts, among them bringherheart and LadyKatharine.
I ate like a monster and smoked more cigarettes than ever before, I think.
I need to work some of this down.
I saw Coalesce twice. Once in Worcester (Wuhstuh), and once in Baltimore.
They were amazing in Baltimore. Religious. I could have cried.
When I arrived in boston and went to the Alamo rent-a-car office the girl at the counter and I chatted it up for a few minutes and she said "wicked awesome" a bunch of times. She then gave me a free upgrade on my rental and I wound up with a brand new Volvo with fucking 8 miles on the meter.
I got lost in Boston's italian north end looking for a restaurant called Pagliuca's that was recommended to me by the girl at the car rental center because her mother works there.
I found Pagliuca's, I loved it, the waitress was hot and barely spoke english.
I just kind of... happened on the restaurant. I was wandering around on foot and I just happened to look up at the awning and there it was-- Pagliuca's.
There were so many awesome bostonian stereotypes, too. Lots of signs that said "no yankee fans" and shit like that. I got a haircut in Wuhstuh and there was a trash can marked "yankee paraphanelia."
I've also never seen so much local pride. Everywhere everything said Boston or North End or Sox or whatever. I kind of loved it. What little I saw of Boston was huge and beautiful.
I ate at a place called Trani in Boston, which is ironic because of how much I love the trannies. It was delicious and disgusting. they inject cupcakes with ice cream. and don't think that the symbolism of the injection of milky substances into the fudgey is lost on me, even for a second.
That's the first picture of the trip.
more tomorrow
