Book #79: "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed and Other Things I've Learned"

 

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was of course familiar with M*A*S*H; my parents certainly watched it and I'm sure I have seen quite a few episodes, though I was a very small child when it stopped airing. (I thought I remembered watching the finale; turns out I was way too young for that and my memories are all of reruns. That surprised me and I had to check a couple of times to make sure I wasn't crazy.) I don't remember a lot of specifics; mostly character names and a couple of bits (Frank and Margaret's affair; Klinger's penchant for dressing up as a woman in hopes of getting discharged, etc.) but it has seeped into my consciousness nonetheless, and I became a fan of Alan Alda's sort of accidentally, the way I sometimes do. (I'm sure I'll talk about that in depth at some point.)

Watching (and then becoming mildly obsessed with) The West Wing not long after it went off the air some 30 years later meant I was able to become a fan of his on purpose, but I didn't know much more about him or his body of work (the only other things I can recall seeing offhand are The Aviator, in which he weirded me out, and The Blacklist, in which I wanted to slap him.) As I read the first few chapters and noted his references to the events of his childhood, I guessed that he was about the same age as my maternal grandparents; turns out he was born the year between them and got married about a month before they did, so there was satisfaction in being right. But more than that, I was absorbed by his stories, his candor and his writing. I had to slog through the previous two books and was relieved when I finally finished them; this one I was a little sad to put down.

Author: Alan Alda

Potentially objectionable content: Some language (though it's used pretty sparingly); like the autobiography of Julie Andrews, there are "thematic elements".