I respect Christopher Hitchens. He doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything or anybody; god or man, etc. I don’t always agree with everything he has to say, but usually if I see one of his articles on Slate or in The Atlantic, I’ll probably read it due to the fact that the guy is at least engaging and interesting.
Now he has published his memoir, Hitch-22. It’s 435 pages of Hitchens talking about a subject I assume is his favorite one of all: Christopher Hitchens.
While I would love read about the life and times of the famous atheist, I really don’t have time, so I’m going to give you my top 3 favorite reviews of Hitch-22 instead.
The New York Times acts as sort of a Cliffsnotes for the life story of the famous atheist, and it also leads me to believe that Hitch-22 is the only book ever published to name drop both historian/philosopher Isaiah Berlin and restaurateur Keith McNally
The SF Gate seems to be a little bit more interested in the details of the authors sex life:
"Hitchens also claims to have been spanked by Margaret Thatcher with a parliamentary order-paper, and to have had sex with two young men who would become members of her government – and surely no sane person would lie about such things."
If you haven’t thrown up yet envisioning Thatcher spanking Hitch, then you should read Aaron Lake Smith’s review of the book at The Rumpus, because frankly, it’s the best one:
"Hitch-22 is a sprawling self-portrait of a name-dropper and a hanger-on. Whether he’s tracking down blind old Borges in Buenos Aires or getting drunk with little Martin Amis, throughout the book Hitch makes sure that you know who he’s friends with."
While stalking blind mystics and getting trashed with Amis actually sound right up my alley, from what I’ve gathered Hitch-22 sounds a lot like 435 pages of a blowhard (a blowhard that I like) talking about all the famous people he’s met, and all the famous people he’s pissed off.