Book Review: *I Remember* by Joe Brainard

• I Remember by Joe Brainard
• Paperback (184 pages)
• Publisher: Granary Books, 2001
• ISBN-13:  978-1887123488

Back-of-the-book blurb: (from “The Village Voice”): Joe Brainard’s memories of growing up in the ’40s and ’50s have universal appeal.  He catalogues his past in terms of fashion and fads, public events and private fantasies, with such honesty and accuracy and in such abundance that, sooner or later, his history collides with ours and we are hooked.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:

• I remember visiting McNally Jackson Booksellers with BethFish when we were in New York for BookExpo America (2010), and picking up I Remember from the Staff Recommendations display
• I remember flipping through it, and laughing in recognition at some of the entries (p. 25):

I remember ringworms.  And name tags

I remember always losing one glove.

I remember loafers with pennies in them.

I remember Dr. Pepper.  And Royal Crown Cola.

I remember those little brown fur pieces with little feet and little heads and little tails.

I remember house shoes, plaid flannel bath robes, and “Casper” the Friendly Ghost.

I remember pop beads.

I remember “come as you are” parties.  Everybody cheated.

I remember game rooms in basements.

I remember driftwood lamps.

• I remember thinking that the style of the book (short entries beginning with “I remember …” — also the style of the Staff Recommendation card, and this review … we weren’t the first and won’t be the last) and the period in which Joe Brainard grew up might make this a fun book for my parents.
• I remember stacking the book on the towering TBR pile when I returned from New York, and kind of forgetting about it for a while.
• I remember that I remembered the book when I was looking for a book that would keep my interest (without a lot of heavy thinking!) during the busyness of the holiday season.
• I remember that I Remember did keep my interest one weekend afternoon, and that I was surprised by the amount of material packed into 167 pages of bulleted reminiscences.
• I remember that there were several no-holds-barred reminiscences about homosexual pick-ups and, um, self-pleasuring, and thinking that perhaps I Remember isn’t the best fit for my parents to read.
• I remember wondering (briefly) if I’d be called on writing “self-pleasuring” instead of “masturbation” in this review.
• I remember hating the prompts “I remember” and “I forget” in a class based on the Natalie Goldberg style of memoir writing, but learning that writing in bullet points can be quite satisfying.
• I remember reading the Afterword and About the Author sections in the back of the book, and learning that Joe Brainard was, in fact, an accomplished artist and prolific writer.
• I remember discovering Granary Books through I Remember.
• I remember that I am glad I purchased and read I Remember, and hope that some readers of this blog are interested enough to read more about Joe Brainard, I Remember, and Granary Books.