New Book: Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs

Last week, I finished reading Snow Blind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade by Robert Sabbag, and it was very good.  I expected it to be more of a straightforward historical account, but the narrative was almost Hunter S. Thompson-esque.  It detailed the life of Zachary Swan, a 40-something New Yorker in the late '60s and early '70s who became a big-time cocaine smuggler for a few years before getting arrested and then, more or less, beating the charges.  The parts that I liked best were his intricate and well-planned ways to get cocaine from Colombia to the U.S.  It was really amazing the level of detail and forethought that went into the plans.  Without revealing too much, I will just say that I will never look at a wooden rolling pin without assuming it is full of firmly packed cocaine.

 

I have moved on to Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs.  A couple years ago, I read his memoir Dry, which was an account of his alcoholism and rehab.  This book is a collection of autobiographical essays, and so far it's good and funny.

Books read in 2011:
Life by Keith Richards
Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Devil We Know: Dealing With the New Iranian Superpower by Robert Baer
Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors by John Densmore
The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath by Philip Carlo
Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision by Louis P. Masur
Clapton by Eric Clapton
Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman

My Billion Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist by Nancy Many

Snow Blind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade by Robert Sabbag