What I've Read: Sew Your Own

This book is all about my sister. She likes to pick on me for reading bizarre books about singular topics like Milk, Salt or obscure historical moments (like a whaling boat that sunk or how the radio was invented. Look, I'm a weird guy. But I love these books and I know I get more life enjoyment from them than, say, some Twilight crap.

Point of the story is that my sister decided to fuel the fire by buying this book at a discount bookstore, or maybe she found it next to a dead guy, there's really no telling. I make that joke because this book was not the bill of goods she probably thought it was when she bought it (I'm really hoping someone once used this book to support an off-kilter table, because it's got about that much usefulness to it).

Actually, I shouldn't be so cruel, it's certainly not the worst book I've read. It's mainly about a British guy who decides that his way to fight global warming is to learn to make his own clothes. Sadly, about half the book has little to do with his quest to make his own clothes and fight global warming. Instead, it's his journey to find a religion or faith that works for him. It was a little bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing kind of tale. No surprise, he doesn't have much luck in the religion department, though he comes awfully damn close taking solace in the open arms of buddhism.

In the end the book made me doubt my abilities to sew and survive if acquiring proper clothing became and issue. I might have to rely on the old loin cloth/caveman look. Or when the zombie apocalypse comes, I'll just be going for the 9-layer Cormac McCarthy ensemble.

This doesn't doubt my sister's abilities to choose a good book for me, since I have to credit her for trying in the first place and over time I'm betting she can hit a home run. At least she didn't try to convince me to read some fiction-romance crap. The biggest benefit this book gave me was the belief that I could actually write a book of my own. I've had three books in my head for a couple years but the lack of confidence/time/skill/whatnot to follow through. But damn if this guy can make it happen, there's nothing to say I couldn't. Let's just call that the Backhanded Compliment of the Month to Flintoff for his book.