Yeah, I read it. I love Chuck Klosterman. (Although, I admit that sometimes at the ends of my marathon reading sessions of his books I get a little Klosterman fatigue. There's only so much sparkling wit and well-written sentences you can take.)
This books is a collection of columns. A good portion of them fall into the profile/interview category, which is okay, because I've always liked Klosterman's SPIN work. SPIN is a poorer magazine for not having Klosterman on staff (and in fact, I am done with SPIN, and I recently purchased a subscription to Esquire, a magazine I have only a passing interest in but which happens to include a monthly Klosterman column. This is similar to the time I thought about acquiring a subscription to the Believer for Nick Hornby's monthly column, but didn't. I didn't because it was incredibly expensive. Too expensive to justify for just one little column. Now, Esquire, well, that was cheap. Less than $1 an issue, which is the perfect price to pay for Klosterman's short little pop culture essays.), and to be honest, it shows when you read the magazine. I am a little bit sad that none of Klosterman's ESPN columns are in this book, simply because those are the only Klosterman essays I frustratingly cannot get to. Oh, I can read a few sentences, a paragraph, but then ESPN wants me to pay, and I just can't see doing that. In fact, I don't even want to register for free at ESPN, because that seems a pesky nuisance for just a couple of pages of reading every few months.
Regardless, I've often recommended Sex, Drugs.. and Fargo Rock City to people, and I'm happy to recommend Klosterman IV, because it's actually very good. Even if the fiction at the very back of the book kind of sucks and that kind of makes me sad, since Klosterman is rumored to be writing a novel right at this very moment. Because, well, three of his books are sort of memoirs, and I think he's said he's running out of things to say about himself.
Anyway, I'm kinda sad it's over, but also relieved, because now I can get back to what I was reading before I had to finish the Klosterman book. Which is From Dawn to Decadence, with brief stopover at Mrs. Dalloway. For the Time 100.
Cross posted at Vox blog.
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