savage for the sweep

in light of the impressive democratic sweep this week, i thought i'd dust off an old recommendation. dan savage's skipping towards gomorrah: the seven deadly sins and the pursuit of happiness in america. you can't help but wonder if this guy managed to bring down santorum in a way no democratic campaign would (if there's anything democrats can't do, it's sell themselves).

if you're even remotely left-winged in nature, this book is kind of preaching to the choir. but once you get past the "who are you trying to win over, dude?", it's pumped full of the smarm, sass and obscene/factual material you'd expect from his sex columns (if you read his columns. if you don't, you can/should/definitely should. right here. besides the sass, there's generally everything you could possibly want in a couple hundred pages of amusement:

greed gamblers reveal secrets behind outrageous fortune (dan learns/wins/loses)
lust "we're swingers!" –you won't believe who's doing it
gluttony dan meets gluttons with attitude at a pro-fat conference (a skinny white guy gorging himself in a group of doting, obese women)
sloth leave it to dan to find a way to celebrate the sin that will get him in trouble with his mother. (not to spoil the surprise but- recreational drugs)
envy meet the rich–and then be glad you're not one of them.
pride you'll never look at a gay pride parade the same way again.
anger texans shoot off some rounds and then listen to dan fire off on his own about guns, gun control, and the second amendment.

because he writes such amusing, but brief, columns, i was worried it couldn't carry over so well into a more verbose genre...well, it does. if anything, the extra space ups the smarminess, the snarkiness, and the kind of cute-as-a-dirty-slut-button attitude of the savage love breed.

"but don't take my word for it!"

{note: also finished reading/enjoying/getting little goosebumps over coraline by neil gaiman & started on everything is illuminated by jonathan safran foer. liking it? oh, yes.}