Chuck Klosterman is a Rockstar.

"Eating the Dinosaur" is his latest release and I recently procured a copy because I needed to buy a book that would make my updated to-read list a bit more eclectic than it already is.

Here's my non-work, non-school to-read list.

I was gifted with Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love from my Balikbayan sister, I asked for Rushdie's Satanic Verses but she said she felt the title sounded so off so she bought me a lighter, more pleasant book instead. I told her Rushdie isn't a bad man. She laughed at me as I tried to convince her not to judge a book by its cover, or in this case its title.

I bought a Tolstoy, because I figured I haven't finished reading a Russian's work might as well try one out. I tried a Dostoyevsky a couple of years back, but I was too confused with the proper nouns, they all sounded alike. The little bit that I got to read of "War and Peace" wasn't too bad, I figured I'm ready, I'm up for the challenge. Bring it on, the pages, the small font, the Royalty wars.

Then because I am attracted to books with a red cover, I had to buy one. My best bud, resident book geek Francis recommended Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I've been asking him to lend me his copy but alas, he keeps forgetting so I bought a copy of it. It really does help that the cover's red and it has an inverted dog on the cover, I'm intrigued. Plus I always rely on Francis to recommend for books to read because he's well-read and a book fan. Did I just contradict my belief of judging books by its covers?

Going back to Chuck Klosterman as a Rockstar, I'm a few chapters in and it's really good. Although I have to admit, I am not familiar with his choice of references in his writing half of the time. I am quite proud of myself that I know that Jeff Beck is a guitarist and that I've listened to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain belt out his misery. I can imagine Chuck as that guy people gravitate to during "inuman". He actually posited a quandary in his book, he said it was his favorite inuman question, he asked, if you had 15 seconds to go back in time to your 15 year old self, what exactly would you say? I really enjoyed reading his overthought, geeky answer to this. I won't do his work justice by putting it up here, so buy the book! Haha, I am such a crazed fan. I have yet to read the rest of this book and secure his other works, the only other piece I've read before was IV. His take on American pop culture is just fun to read, it's bordering geeky. He's an intelligent word user and deeply profound in a non-effacing way. This is probably why I enjoy reading blogs that are self-referential but not in a gag-inciting overly self-absorbed way.

I gotta stop writing and get back to my reading. It's so much fun to be a geek.