Self Help

So last week I went to a book signing for the brilliant Augusten Burroughs, author of the heart-wrenchingly hilarious "Running with Scissors" (which, by the way, is coming out as a movie soon!!), and was cackling like a maniac while he read from his new book of short stories "Possible Side Effects." He read the piece "Moving Violations" in which he recounts his friendship with the bizarre yet endearing "Druggy Debbie." They would toil down the highway to nowhere destinations within a 100 mile radius of the dead-end Massachussetts town where they lived and search for drivers who failed to obey the rules of the road (no blinker, cutting off fellow drivers, tailgaiting, etc.) When encountering these violators, they would pass by slowly & flash blown-up cardboard cutouts of people in various deviant sexual positions (my favorite mental image: the gal with a pound of frankfurters shoved up her bunghole.)

Anyway, during the Q&A he mentioned that in one of his memoirs, "Dry," his friend Greer, who plays an integral role in the book (haven't read it yet), read "Dry" despite the fact that her only exposure to literature was perusing cheesy self-help books like "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway." Was a funny little quip that brought forth a few giggles. But what I found funnier is that I attended an evening "networking tea" (complete with scones & clotted cream!) directly after--a totally different vibe and audience--and the speaker was a professional "networking coach" who earnestly suggested reading "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" to aid in building personal character. Tee hee. I've never heard of the book, yet I heard it referred to twice in a two hour period (albeit in two contrasting contexts.) Coincky-dink-ical. Apparently its popularity rivals "What color is your parachute?" (Mine is mauve, by the way.)