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I surfed as a kid in California and then stopped for many years before resuming in adulthood.
Within that range, theres a narrow band that you might call Mollys Optimal Fear Zone (MOFZ).
My senses are heightened, but not fried.
My nostrils are aflare, but I am receiving adequate oxygen.
To quote the English philosopher Chumbawamba, I get knocked down, but I get up again.
Reaching your OFZ is something that can only happen electively.
Theres nothing optimizable about uninvited fear.
Entering the OFZ requires putting your own skin in the metaphorical game; you cant read yourself into it.
But theres a whole genre of books aboutotherpeople entering it.
Just ask Jon Krakauer!
Maybe we can start a new bookstore section called VOFZR, or Vicarious Optimal Fear Zone Reading.
The Alison Bechdel book below will be entry No.
Bechdel wroteFun Home, which is a terrific book that became aterrific Broadway musical.
The graphic memoirtomusical pipeline was (I think?)
unprecedented but also appropriate, because both are divisive formats.
You have to buy into their ground rules from the start: Musicals are excessive and memoirs are self-involved.
The Secret to Superhuman Strengthis Alison Bechdelsthirdgraphic memoir and, amazingly, her third triumph.
She really milks her life for all its worth.
(What better compliment can you pay a memoirist?)
The topic here is exercise, which Bechdel has used for various purposes throughout her life.
(This story will turn out to be false.)
This one included a cover blurb of such force that I practically steepled my fingers and cackled.
Vivek Shanbhag is an Indian Chekhov, it said.
Prosperity brings a mixture of chaos and listlessness.
We must conclude that the Chekhov blurb was accurate.
Perform aFACTORY RESETon your shatteredattention span?
Tunnel into asnippetofWEIRD ANTHROPOLOGY(the best kind!)?
Disregard the marketing copy that describesthisas a haunting fable (BORING!)
and find, instead, a riveting and ice-cold tale of art, narcissism, andMARSHES?
InaugurateBEACH READING SEASONwith a Silicon Valleyescapade?
ScamperamongLondons construction sites,BROTHELS, elite clubs, and townhouses?
SUGGESTED PAIRING
Get the taste of the Oscars out of your mouth with THE iconic 1980sHollywood novel!
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