I am WAAAYYY ahead of schedule and I easily see myself finishing the 26 books that I need to finish for my goal.
In fact, with my having a 10 hour trip to Palm Springs planned two weekends from now and then an 11 hour trip home, I plan on finishing quite a bit of my goal. My DVD player just simply won't play more than 4.5 hours. You do the math...
Alright... so Book 12 was by Dan Savage, an openly gay writer from the Seattle area. I enjoyed one of his other books entitled "The Kid" in which he writes about how he and his boyfriend went through the process of adopting a child. It provided a lot of insight into the world of adoption. The one comment -- among many -- that really resonated with me is that ... anyone can have a child if you have a functioning pair of reproductive systems. BUT, to adopt, you have to go through a rigorous set of restrictions essentially proving you are one step below Mother Teresa.
I know for a fact that some of my normal readers might not make it this far but I hope you have... as Dan Savage provides everyone with a pretty profound rationale as to what he views as his beliefs. What I like about the way Savage dispells other people's beliefs is not to summarily dismiss them. He offers logical and sometimes colorful support for his opinions intertwining the naysayers opinions into them. He is deliberate and concise, much to his credit and writing liability.
Book 12 was entitled The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family. The book is essentially a memoir of the summer and fall of 2004 where he and his boyfriend weighed an option of "marriage" to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. The novel weaves in and out of his chronological life while debating the merits and cons of gay marriage. I cannot do the book justice as to how delicately it balances fact and information with exposition and anecdotes.
Two important things still stick out to me. There was one person who was dead set against the marriage beside his boyfriend initially was ... their son. Upon revealing this information, Savage takes us into an interesting discussion of gender roles in society and how many are misunderstood.
By the way... Savage infuses a great deal of humor into the book...making it that much more enjoyable.
I really enjoyed this book and recommend that you read it... I also recommend that you read The Kid first though... so happy reading.
Next Up -- Stephen White's latest Alan Gregory novel... Kill Me. I have finished about 100 pages and it is a neat twist on his usual writing...
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