The Classic Novel Files: Anything by Chuck Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman does not really fit into this category, as he is still quite young, yet I have no doubt in my mind that Klosterman will be a Hunter S. Thompson type when he is older. I first experienced Klosterman's writing when I read an interview he did with Britney Spears a number of years ago. His articles are not so much about the individuals he is interviewing, but what he is thinking, feeling, and doing WHILE he is interviewing them. What caught my attention about the Spears article was that the first paragragh contained numerous comments about the fact that she was not wearing any pants while the interview was being conducted. She was not wearing any pants. She was pantless. Yes, pantless.

Klosterman has published a number of books, and they range from an almost diary-like account of his travels, to a collection of articles he has published in various magazines. My personal favourite of all of his published works is the book "Killing Yourself to Live." In this book, Klosterman travels around the USA, to sites where rock stars or rock star related deaths have occurred. He visited the field where Buddy Holly's plane crashed; he visited the intersection where Duane Allman, from the Allman Brothers Band, died on his motorcycle.

But what I love the most about the book is that he also writes about what is happening to him in his life as he is on this trip. A few women are mentioned (and in a similar fashion to the way Anthony Kiedis talks about his various muses in "Scar Tissue") and i'm sure these women are less than thrilled that they are mentioned by first name. He also talks about what he DOES while at each of these locations, and how he feels. I know that I would not talk about personal drug use in a piece of writing I would later submit to an editor, but hey, that's why he's currently published, and i'm not. "Killing Yourself to Live" is really a must-read for everyone, and you will not be dissapointed!