The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, 105 pages

I became interested in reading anything by Tennessee Williams after visiting Calvary Cemetery in north St. Louis where Tennessee Williams is buried.  I had not known he was buried in St. Louis, nor that he had grown up in St. Louis.  Tennessee Williams grew up to become one of the most famous playwrights of all time. The Glass Menagerie was an interesting choice to read because the story parallels with his own life. The Glass Menagerie is a five character play that takes place in a gloomy apartment in St. Louis.  It is told from Tom Wingfield's prospective who lives with his mother, Amanda, and his mentally handicapped sister, Laura (whose most prized possession is her glass menagerie).  Tom finds himself not wanting to spend much time at home, between his job and going to the movies.  But, his mother is constantly harping on him to bring home a suitable suitor for his sister.  When he does finally bring home a suitor for her, fate does not work out in their favor.

Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted by Faye Resnick with Michael Walker

Nicole Brown Simpson:  The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted by Faye Resnick with Michael Walker, 244 pages

It is hard to believe that Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were murdered almost 20 years ago.  This book was more of a diary of Faye Resnick's life than Nicole's, but I guess that is understandable considering the circumstances.  Faye's claim to fame is most recently being on the television show, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, being in Playboy, and being a socialite.  What she writes in her book is what we all know but were waiting for someone to write a book to find out what actually happened between OJ and Nicole.  One interesting incident was how he beat her and locked her out of a hotel room in Las Vegas.  OJ seemed to sweet talk his way out of being the abuser because of his status as an athlete and superstar.  Faye tells how OJ "discovered" Nicole at the age of 17 and molded her into the person she was.  Nicole tells Faye she feared OJ and knew someday he would harm her.  Just makes one wonder why she kept running back to him and why their friends did not step in to stop the abuse.

Junky, by William S. Burroughs

Junky, by William S. Burroughs, 208 pages

Junky is William S. Burroughs' semi-autobiographical story of his years being addicted to heroin.  For someone who led such a fascinating life (fun fact: he accidentally killed his wife by drunkenly playing a William Tell-style game), his drug-addicted years related in this book really seem to be the least interesting.  Every day of addiction is one of finding money to buy drugs, hanging around with people he can't stand because they have access to drugs, feeling miserable when he stops taking them, and never being able to quit. And that's about it- very much a downer. The book was not much of a story- more of just him relating how he got hooked, and how he never got un-hooked. There are occasional glimmers of the man who would one day write Naked Lunch, but those are rare. Burroughs' fans will want to read this in order to form a more rounded image of the author, but I would not recommend this to the average reader.