 | | The Best Cure for a Broken Heart
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Rochester's Snore & Guzzle Press have published a collection of stories written by the broken hearted called The Best Cure for a Broken Heart. The book features over twenty stories of love turned sour for folks to read while they wallow in their misery. It runs with the "hair of the dog that bit you" theory and it's no joke. Sometimes misery really does love company.
Some funny, some just painfully depressing (dead neighbor anyone?), these stories are short, sweet and to the point. While a few are a tad over the top melodramatic, they all work in this context. In one tale of a first (and only) date, Jason Olshefsky admits to crying at the end of a "dark and sexless night" and asking if he could "at least" see his date naked just this once so he can masturbate on the thought later. At least he admits to being "graceless". But I think my favorite quote in the collection comes from contributor Abby McCarthy. After being dumped, she was told, "I always thought I'd end up with someone cooler". Her brilliant response was, "Who says, 'This is my wife, we have been married for 50 years, she is sooo cool,'? They are supposed to say, 'This is my wife, and I love her so much.'" It's such words of wisdom as that that make this book worth purchasing.
The collection includes original illustrations from Barbara Wilkinson and Shawn Creeden scattered throughout. The illustrations are sparse and often rudimentary but a very nice touch just the same. It also features recipes for hearty soups throughout. Using the old adage "the best cure for a broken heart is a good bowl of soup" the book offers additional therapy in the form of Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup, Kara's Tomato Dill Soup (which sounds awesome), Hungarian Goulash and more.
But just in case the soup doesn't cure what ails you, editor Michael Neault has included a mix CD to accompany the writings. And I mean it when I say that this is the best mix CD I have ever heard. Featuring songs by Bessie Smith, Daniel Johnston, Louis Armstrong, Roger Miller, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke and more (there's 26 tracks in all) this collection of songs follows the broken hearted theme and just begs for a glass of wine doused with tears on a lonely Saturday night.
The first pressing is limited to only 200 copies so, please, get yourself one while you can. I don't know what my favorite part is: the CD, the recipes, or the writings. All around, it's a brilliant idea.
- Stephanie Haselman | 2006-03-05
