Books like Cool for You

when i was a freshman in high school, i had this job answering phones for a few hours after school. the girl who worked the shift before me was a senior, and sometimes she'd hang around after her shift ended to share stories about all the crazy stuff her and her metalhead friends did. i was just starting high school; she was just about to leave it. on the whole, she was tough and cynical, but there was a generosity to these stories - a sense that life has a lot of absurd tricks up its sleeves. she recognized that my adolescent adventure was just beginning, and she was genuinely excited for me. as someone who never had an older sibling, these conversations took on a sage-like quality for me. nowadays i remember them with the same fondness i have for the first danzig album or for "teardrop" skaterat haircuts or for the dave kendall era of 120 minutes.i thought of these conversations while reading cool for you. it's not a book you read; it's a book you hang out with. and eileen myles would make an equally great pseudo-older sister, even though i'm way too old for one now.