10 of 30- McSweeney's 34

I'm definitely excited to be a third of the way through my pinkie swear with only mild mental trauma. My list of books to buy after I get through 30 is getting somewhat ridiculous but that's for a later time.

McSweeney's 34 was really 2 books, the main book was typical short story goodness;



The second book was a book by Nick McDonell called The End of Major Combat Operations




I love the selections of short stories and hated the pile of flaming propaganda filled bullshit that was the second book. Combat Operations was clearly anti war, showed American solders as mostly lazy, mean, racist, desensitized aholes. He wrote in short, choppy seemingly disconnected chapters that made me more and more frustrated as it went on. I would have quit the shitty book if it wasn't for the pinkie swear. I did however like the mural of Sadam that showed him getting hugged by a "handsy" kid.




Luckily the first book was amazing filled with another great set of short stories. It started with some hilarious letters involving a Thanksgiving letter where a prodigal uncle deflowered the turkey in the middle of the night.

One of my favorites was The Wreck of the Beverly B by TC Boyle. Set in the 40's this story is about a woman whose husband comes back from the war and they buy a commercial fishing boat. The boat runs into some bad weather and sinks. One of my favorite of Boyle's short stories.

Another of my favorites was 20 Questions by Bridget Clerkin. Without giving too much away this story was about a couple playing 20 questions with a little boy. Great twist at the end.

Anthony Doerr wrote Afterworld. A powerful story about an elderly woman who was an orphan in the war and on her death bed current day. Excellent ghost story involving the girls fellow orphans from the war.

In the middle of the book were a series of self portraits by random authors and actors. My favorite was Sarah Silverman;




Your Biggest Fan by Mona Awad was amazing. It's about a crappy musician who thinks he's amazing and when things aren't going well drunkenly goes over to a fat girls house who has a huge crush on him. It shows him as the huge loser her is and I particularly thought it great as we all know some local musicians just like him.

Letters from the Academy by Tom Barbash was amazing. It was a series of letters by a tennis instructor to a parent about a student who he is clearly in love with. Hilarious and well written as the story is completely one sided but done in a way that you understand everything.

The book ended on Tafi - An oral history recorded and edited by Annie Holmes and Peter Orner and unlike the other book I liked this story a lot. It was a story about a young reformer from Zimbabwe who tried to take part in a political party trying to bring about democracy. Scary to think that what he went through is pretty commonplace in other parts of the world.