I like you!

I miss, miss the library so much when I go a long while without a visit. Things have been so hectic with school and learning to BE a librarian, that I've scarcely entered a real library (but plenty of virtual ones...ahhh the Internet). However, I needed tax forms, so I went to the library the other day looking for a tax sheet to claim my grad school expenditures. They did not have the said sheet, but I was able to download it, so all is well.

While I was there (I can't not look through the graphic novels), I picked up two books: Persepolis and I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. while I was there. I have not yet read Persepolis, but expect a short review soon (or an Ugh...I really couldn't finish this one).

First off, I'm a big Amy Sedaris fan. I love, love, love the Strangers with Candy series. And by love, I mean I really insanely like it (although I don't own it). The movie version, not so much. It's hard not to hear Amy take on her Jerri Blank persona and voice as you read through her "tips" on first dates and entertaining everyone from the elderly to rabbits (yes, rabbits).

It's an easy coffee table read, or as Amy puts it "This book is so visual, a monkey could enjoy it," and is full of recipes, crafts, photographs, and sketches of party scenes.

The photography in this book is, of course, humorous in the style of innocent tackiness that only Amy can deliver with such sincerity and wide-eyed seriousness that makes you wonder a bit if she is simply being ridiculously ironic and sarcastic or if she truly believes her "advice."
Items such as on a first date: "Don't assume: Don't ask him where he went to high school (Maybe he didn't go), and Don't ask him about his mother (Maybe she's dead)."

The dark humor of SWC is immensely present, but does not magnify or echo the series, which is nice. The picture of Amy dressed as a 60s socialite holding a bong and looking peacefully morose is especially funny.

The last piece is the recipes. While the food is photographed in an unflattering way reminiscent of Lilek's, some of the recipes actually sound good! While some are humorous, such as a recipe for a hot dog that involves step-by-step instructions of how to throw hot dogs into a pot of boiling water, remove, and insert into bun (the first instruction is "wake up, get out of bed"), her cake recipes are homemade and something that I might actually try at some point.