Read Dave Eggers: Feel Smarter, Help People, Look Cooler, Etc.

Alright, this will be my last post about Dave Eggers for a little while. I just finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius about a week ago (Thanks for the reading suggestion, Elizabeth!) In it, he writes about his childhood/young adult life. It's hilarious, a little meta-fiction and crazy. Mostly because he has some of the same thoughts I've had about myself, my writing, etc.

In his discussion about self-obsession, for example, he categorizes it two ways: inward obsession and outward obsession: "If you're not self-obsessed you're probably boring. The best sort of self-obsessed person isn't outwardly so. But they're doing something more public than not, making sure people know that they're doing it, or will know about it sooner or later."

I agree. I'm clearly self-obsessed, hello I have a blog to write about me, but a lot of times I disguise my obsession by talking about other more important things (while at the same time talking about myself).

Oh yeah, shout out to Mom: this is the book I told you to read when I was home for Easter.

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In his most recent book, Eggers writes the story of the Zeitoun family before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. Similar to What is the What (see previous post describing it here), Zeitoun is fiction and nonfiction at the same time. Another similarity: both books gave birth to their own foundations, the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation (builds schools in southern Sudan) and the Zeitoun Foundation (aids in the rebuilding of New Orleans and promotes respect for human rights) and proceeds from each book go to these foundations. Sweet.

[Proceeds from this blog go to the Help Rachel Pay Tuition Foundation. Dang. Hopefully someday my bank account and writing hobby with get along with each other and I can fund something other than Ramen and Bananas for Every Meal.]