Sucking Sherbet Lemons by Michael Carson

A coming-of-age novel, this is how I'd describe this book. This one has heart and if you are gay or bi, you will probably find yourself in some of the characters. As a chubby gay kid, I know what Benson was going through: the torment from the peers and the conflicting feelings about my sexuality. Lucky for me, I was never a believer in the Christian dogma, so I guess that my angst was not influenced by the Church.

 

Benson is a chubby kid who finds out that he's gay after playing with a couple of boys in the garage. He turns to religion, hoping that he'll be able to find help and a cure. You can probably guess what a Catholic school might be like, but the depiction seems genuine and you can relate to the main character in many levels. 

Would I call it "The Great British Novel"?  Probably not, but as a novel about growing up I can definitely compare it with "The Catcher in the Rye". I can honestly say that, I my opinion, "Sucking Sherbet Lemons" trumps the hell out of the latter. But, since it is a gay novel, it will never get its well deserved recognition. 

I am glad I found this little gem. I usually am weary about gay novels, because they turn lewd at one point or another. This book has some sexy moments, but leaves out the raunchy details. I think this is a serious book from which everyone can learn something about himself and about the world. Moral of the book: accept who you are and be happy with it.

Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole by Stephen Law

Do you want to nail your theist friends to the cross? Read this book and start destroying their belief system, one argument after another. Everybody believes in something: from ghosts to aliens, from the almighty God to the Loch Ness monster; but this doesn't mean it's not complete and utter bullshit.

I am going to state from the beginning that in a way this book is very offensive because it attacks the belief in the supernatural. "Believing bullshit" is a hard book due to the fact that it does require a certain amount of intellect, education and open-mindedness to be understood at its true value. It is very entertaining and gives some pertinent arguments in the fight with the bullshitters.

Law seems to be an atheist and in this book you get the feeling that he preaches exactly that. At the beginning of the book he mentions the fact that he doesn't dismiss the existence of a higher power and that he only wants to make you aware of the theists' tactics of forcing their beliefs on you. The so-called "intellectual black holes" are ways of explaining something completely ludicrous by claiming it to be a mystery of the supernatural, hence no matter how many scientific arguments you throw at the believer, he will always find an counterargument.

The moral of this book? Keep an open mind, think for yourself and don't follow James 1:6 - "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt." In my first review I had mentioned the next book that I was going to read simply because I had my mind set on it. Afterwards I had realized that I'd rather not mention the next title because I might change my mind  after the post.  Who knows what interesting book might drop into my clutches?!