Warning: this site is addictive

I think if this website had existed when I first started reading I would still be in my room reading untold volumes of authors and novels that I would not have discovered through normal means. There should be a warning on the registration page that your life will be changed forever.

In case you're wondering what this website is called, it's Goodreads. It is literary crack.

It integrates with all the big book stores, allows avid readers to recommend books to each other, it allows you to rate books and even interact with your favourite author. It determines which books might be up your alley from the books that you have read - tres bien. It is also a wonderful tool for telling other like-minded readers about your novel. I describe it as a literary social network.

Let me delve a little deeper and I'll post a summary of my discoveries. There will be more to follow ...

My dysfunctional hero

Mr Doug Stanhope: In my most coherent, eloquent, salient, antagonist-minded moment, I'd hope to be a tenth as capable as you.

He's a stand-up comedian, chronic drinker, drug user and a staunch believer in excess.  Or, as he calls it, excess in moderation.  He's also hilarious.

I find his mind amazing to follow.  He takes Zoloft and sleeping pills so he can sleep without his thoughts keeping him awake.  Sure, he's sensational (if you watch some of his stuff), but he is somehow able to twist this sensationalism in such a way that you can't help understanding his point.  He's like a current-day bene gesserit, able to use 'the voice' to sway your mind.

Even though the two of us don't appear very similar on the outside, I think we're almost the same.  His views are mine, his perspective is mine, his brain is mine.  The way we choose to handle the infliction caused by our thoughts is different, but the symptoms are the same.

Off topic ever so slightly:

Speaking of symptoms, watching TV in America is a depressing activity. I've seen this ad for a drug for depression called 'abilify' which, apart from hurting my brain at the double-speak-esque name, hurts my head in other ways.  This is an anti-depressant supplement. So if you are still depressed with your current anti-depressants, here's something that'll take you 'to eleven'.  But it's a small price to pay, as long as the symptoms are treated. Does anyone else see a problem with that previous sentence?


"Yeah you're fine - you got no symptoms!  You're great!  Now just repeat this treatment till you got no symptoms of life."


I'd like to think we're beyond the point of treating symptoms and actually looking at the cause, or is that being far too presumptuous? It then goes onto say that in some cases it can increase the chances of suicide, stroke, coma or death... I'm sorry.  Is this meant to help or just get you further along the path to your final demise?

Anyway, rant over - back to Doug.

I have a feeling that, despite his apparent excesses, he'll be another Keith Richards.  Where he, despite all probability, remains alive far beyond what should be clinically possible.  I think, ironically, he lives to spite himself.  It's a wonderful contradiction.

Here's a list of his 'cleaner' material:

Doug Stanhope on Media-generated Celebrity
Doug Stanhope on Fear in the US News Media
Doug Stanhope on Late Night US TV
Doug Stanhope on Saving the Planet

Anyway, Doug's an amazing comedian and he deserves at least a few minutes of your time.