Recent Reading

I just finished My Lobotomy by Howard Dully. It is a true story that chronicles the life and struggles of the author who received a transorbital lobotomy (an ice pick driven through the eye socket and twirled around so as to scramble the frontal lobe) at the age of 12. He went on to spend a good portion of his life in mental institutions, jail, and homeless, all the while desperately trying to understand why he was forced to undergo this horrific procedure.
I was repeatedly tempted to stop reading the book because many early parts of it are very poorly written. Dully has an infuriating habit of jumping around in the time line and revisiting issues ad nauseam. Maybe it was meant to convey the chaos of his youth but I found it hard to endure. What kept me going back was the compelling story and the need to know how things turned out. It is very disturbing but ultimately uplifting.
Now I am reading God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens. I have only read a few pages but I can already tell it will be difficult. His writing style is rather hard to follow and lacks the silky smooth delivery and continuity of Dawkins. If you have ever seen Hitchens on TV (he has been on Real Time w/ Bill Maher several times) he writes exactly as he speaks. He never fails to have a point but takes a very roundabout path to reach it. I will post a review when I finish the book.