No one reads anymore. You're wasting your time with all those bookshelves, organizing schemes, and online wish lists. So just knock it off already. Stick to
Twitter and
Facebook like the rest of us. The only comfort to be found in the written word is what an old friend ate for lunch, that a co-worker is "super stoked" for some upcoming trip involving a BBQ, and that your ex is still a cheating slut and just "checked in with two others" to what used to be your favorite rock club.
So quit already.
You can hit CNN.com maybe, or one of those flippy eMags on your iBook if you must. But for real, stop reading, stop writing. If you're thinking, reading, contemplating, you're not buying! So please, stop reading and start buying shit! (But not books, of course. Those are stupid and soooo 2006.)
Yes, you're going to miss out on some things. You might not have a radical transformation in your life like I did when my friend let me borrow The Autobiography of Malcolm X. But all that did was make me righteous and angry, and what good are those emotions? All I did was start making stupid zines and selling them in parking lots. Try putting that on your résumé!
You won't need to waste your time on books by Ghandi and that Dalai Lama guy with the maroon bathrobe. You won't sit in the back of a rented U-Haul van, only to have most of your personal belongings stolen, and spend a sleepless night in a podunk town's holding cell all because you read Get in the Van and thought it would be fun to go on tour with a shitty punk band. Stick to the Internet and make a cheeky comment about that iPhone photo of your friend's sausage they just grilled up. And do it from the comfort of your couch! Much safer and better for the economy.
Anyway, reading sucks. And writing is just selfish (and unprofitable!), so don't waste your time. The only perk to writing a book like Invisible is picking up a few PowellsBooks.Blog groupies, and for real, they've got some hygiene and posture problems.
If you MUST continue to buy books, and read nonsense like Invisible, you should at least venture out and see some of these bands and artists perform live. You might just get laid, and that, of course, is what really matters. That and you can check in at the club on foursquare and really piss off your ex.