Book Pick: Searching for John Hughes

Okay, so first off I will admit that this guy had a shitty childhood. But next I have to tell you right quick that this book is not nearly the fun romp through the 80's I expected. I thought....yeah.....a book about the great 80's teen flicks of John Hughes.....that will be cute.....probably some angst.....maybe bring up some bad memories, but overall it will be fun. Not so much. This book is a major downer. If you're an aging Gen Xer whose life has turned out okay, you can look at this book with some wry humor and feel good about surviving your teen years. You will roll your eyes a bit at this guy's inability to turn lose his bad feelings of his childhood classmates. If you are barely hanging on and have a gripe against the world, the book will become your new Catcher in the Rye. Which is probably exactly what the author was hoping for.

Again, I must insist that this guy's childhood was terrible: parental abuse, homelessness, insecurity, unmedicated attention and depression issues, you name it. But I also feel like as an adult at some point you have to put on your Birkenstocks and get to work on making yourself a good life. Jesus H knows a lot of us have managed to do it.

I must say, though, that if you have any sort of affinity for the city of Chicago, the suburbs of Chicago and "Chicagoland" in general you will get some kind of feels off this book. Not me. But you might.

As far as the John Hughes movies go, this book will take you back and make you want to go back and watch all those ones you loved and the ones you almost forgot. I was always a bigger fan of 16 Candles to The Breakfast Club because it was so much funnier and cute to me and always loved Some Kind of Wonderful because it spoke to me. But for any kid or teen in the 80's, he was definitely our modern bard so any book that speaks to that is definitely worth a look. But you may want to make sure you feel pretty good about your place with nostalgia before you pick this one up. As the Gallagher brothers warned, don't look back in anger. It's just not worth it.

Reclaiming Your Childhood: Priceless

This story might take a minute to tell. Bear with me. When my sister and I were little girls, my mother took us to a large baptist church in town. Even as a child, I never remember feeling welcome there. But I do remember the lovely older couple that kept my Sunday School class. They gave us saltines and kool-aid, and I remember thinking they would be nice grandparents to have. At Christmastime, the Sunday School class was set to have a random gift exchange. Every child was supposed to bring a gift that could be exchanged with any other child.....no specific gift designations. I received the gift of an Avon 7 bead necklace which was very popular at the time. I loved it so much and was thrilled to have it! I was somewhere between 5 and 7 at the time. (Back in the 1970's and 80's, Avon was a cosmetic company that was also known for it's inexpensive jewelry. I couldn't find a price on what this necklace would have cost back then, but apparently there is ...

My Week with Rumor

My dog Rumor was an experiment. A trial offer. And all parties knew that going in. Except for maybe Rumor. Rumor was an outdoor country dog. His given name was Ruger (named after a firearm if you don't know, I didn't) which made sense for a dog raised in hunting country. He was a stray that came to live with a loving family at about the age of 1. He lived outdoors, slept in a garage crate at night, frolicked with an older dog pack and had a lovely life. We think he was about 4 years old. He had been neutered, had vet care and was by no means a "rescue". His dad offered Ruger to me on a give-it-a-try basis. He knew I wanted a dog. He told me Ruger would be sweet to me and also be my protector. He was right on both counts. He told me if it didn't work out, I could bring Ruger back to him and his wife. I could tell they were a little sad when they dropped him off. It made me glad to see that Ruger came from such ...

NYE for $200, Alex

Can we all just agree that New Year's Eve is the worst of the string of winter holidays? I would even go so far as saying it's THE WORST of all the holidays. I loved when Stanford Blatch defined a party as feeling very "forced festive". To me, most NYE parties feel that way. The idea that this is a big year-end blow-out and we'd all damn well better make it awesome! The reason I hate NYE is because it combines two of things I most hate about celebrations: cold weather and crowds. Plus it's during a time of year when everyone has already spent all their money. AND you usually have to the leave the house. ADDITIONALLY, you have to stay up late. It's a big F.U. from me on all this. I would dare say that some of my happiest New Year's memories have been spent at home in my pajamas with either my child, an S.O. or happily alone. I remember one unforgettable year of moving into a 3rd floor apartment on NYE. I rememb...

Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

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