"early bird: a memoir of early retirement" by rodney rothman

i don’t know about memoirs. some are masturbatory (“a heartbreaking work…”), some unbelievable (“running with scissors”), some just plain untrue (“a million little pieces”). (note: i haven’t actually read “a million little pieces”) i don’t know if i’ve ever read one i’ve really enjoyed, but the cover of this book really appealed to me, plus there was a jon stewart quote on the front and if jon stewart endorses it, how can it possibly be bad?

rodney rothman was a writer for the david letterman show when he got fed up with his 70 hour work weeks and decided to retire at the age of 28. he moved into a senior’s residence in florida where he takes up shuffleboard and eats supper at 5pm.

it is books like these that give me hope of one day writing a novel. not that it’s bad, but just very simple and, in a word, cute. it’s funny, but not the laugh-out-loud david sedaris funny that rothman was going for. it’s not going to make any best-of list’s, but it’s well-written and i enjoyed reading it.