Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Book review: Bernadette Peters Hates Me.

If you're anything like me, you have real problems with Broadway legends hating your guts. And you just wish this was an experience that was represented in literature and, dare I say, the cultural zeitgeist.

I know. I know! Patti LuPone hasn't spoken to me in years. Or ever. But still.

Thankfully, there's a new book that addresses all of this and more. In Bernadette Peters Hates Me: True Tales From A Delusional Man, Keith Stewart shares his difficult journey as the target of Ms. Peters' disdain.

Actually, that's only one essay. But it's a doozy. And isn't the cover cool?

This slim volume is like a bar of rich dark chocolate. You just need a little bite at a time because it's so good. Now, you can totally gorge yourself and that's cool. But I found this was a book to be savored.

And maybe that makes it sound high brow. But ... nooooo. Keith covers such universal topics as:
  • When your family gets in a rumble with another faction of the family at a funeral.
  • Going to the post office in your underwear.
  • That time granny hid her handbag in the washing machine, forgot about it, and then did a load of wash, which set off the loaded pistol in said pocketbook.
  • When your family breaks a church window during a funeral and then can't stop laughing but COME ON, they were playing "Freebird" on a cassette boom box.
Also, there's an essay entitled, "Hot Yoga, or How to Self-Administer Your Own Stroke."

I want to be his best friend.

You can check out Keith's writing over at his blog, A Strong Man's Cup of Tea. But be sure to support this first-time author by picking up his book, too. Here, we give it 5 out of 5 slightly unhinged dachshunds.
What have you been reading lately?

4 comments:

smalltownme said...

Patti LuPone flirted with my husband. True story.

I am working my way through a stack of mysteries from the library, and I just bought Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. Then there are the stacks and stacks and stacks of unread books waiting for me. I seem to be a book hoarder.

Becky Brown said...

No way! I guess you've got good taste, huh?

As for the stacks and stacks of books ... me too. I have to live forever because otherwise, I will never catch up. There are worse things. I'm interested to hear what you think of Eligible!

Becky said...

I have no issues with Broadway stars that I know of, but that could change.

I've got stacks of books too, but nothing is appealing at the current moment, so I guess I'll hit the library today. I just finished another Benjamin Black book, "Even the Dead". It's also getting to be canning season, so I've been reading a few cookbooks, plotting my upcoming adventures.

Anonymous said...

This sounds BIZARRE, but in a good way. I may have to sub it in for the yuck I'm reading right now.