Today's Book: The View From A One-Man World, The Way I See It by J.S. Buckingham (+ interview!)

In a world with too much political correctness, or complete lack thereof, J.S. Buckingham delivers a spicy, witty written book about today’s society. He explores almost every aspect of the US inhabitants: not just your average middle-class man/woman, but the country’s old people, teenagers and southerners, to name a few. He explains why the US have become such a poor country, culturally speaking.

I had the honour of having been given this book by J.S. himself, but not because of that did I have to love it. J.S. makes excellent points, which he cleverly disguises as jokes, trying not to give them too much importance. Underneath all of the fun layers of this book, lay very important real issues, like obesity, unemployment, teenagers’ lifestyles, racism, materialism, teen pregnancy, the degradation of modern music and illegal immigration, among other things.

Funny, well written, you’ll even laugh out loud while reading!

So open your mind, and go and get a copy of this book now! You won’t regret it.

Monkey Rating: 3 Monkeys: Not that bad, but... it wasn’t what I’m used to read, so it kind of threw me off balance. WARNING: If you’re thinking about reading this book, you must have an open mind, and read it imagining that you’re in a theatre watching a comedic act. Do NOT take any of the contents of this book personally.

INTERVIEW WITH "THE VIEW FROM A ONE MAN WORLD"'S AUTHOR: J.S. BUCKINGHAM!

• Basic Inquiries:

Ella: What's the title of your book?
J.S.: The View from a One-Man World; The Way I See It.

E: When did you start writing it? How did the idea for it come to your mind?
J.S.: I started actually writing it in book-form late last Spring. A lot of the ideas I had been carrying around in my head for a long time. Others I had written on sticky notes and hung all over my apartment so I wouldn't forget them.

E: Which are the main characters?
J.S.: There really are no "main characters" in this book, which I guess could be called a social commentary, unless you want to consider self-righteous church goers, rednecks, Beckys, Kipps, old people, fat people, cell phone abusers and others as "characters".

E: How many chapters does it have?
J.S.: The book really isn't broken down into chapters per se, but it has 98 pages. I know that much.

E: How long did it take you to write it? When did you finish writing it?
J.S.: It took me about 3-4 months on and off to put it together in book form, but as I said I had most of the ideas down already; they just weren't organized at all. I finished writing the book late last summer.

E: Does it have a sequel?
J.S.: The View volume two is currently in the works.

• Ella's Q's:

E: Did you ever think you'd be writing this book, or did it just happen?
J.S.: I always knew that I wanted to write, but I didn't think this would be my first published work. It just seemed to work out that way.

E: When you'd finished writing it, what did you think would be the readers' reaction to it? Because many people may understand and even relate to the book, but others could find it offensive.
J.S.: Being what many consider to be "controversial", I knew that a lot of people would probably be offended or even pissed off by it. I also knew that there would be people who could appreciate the sarcasm and understand the humor in it. I know some people will be offended by it, but I didn't really write the book to befriend everybody. If people disagree with what I've written and want to get angry, that's their business.

E: What's your favourite chapter of the book, and why?
J.S.: I couldn't really pick a favorite section of the book because each and every one of them is so near and dear to me. I'm passionate about every one of them. If I had to single any out, I guess the sections on music, rednecks, dope-smokers, and the UAW would be some of my best, I think.

E: Are you planning to write another book, separate from this one?
J.S.: I do have other writings in the works which have nothing to do with The View from a One-Man World.

• Monkeyshines:

*How long did it take Ella to read the book?
-5 hours in total. Read it through the course of 3 days.

*Did she like or relate to any of the characters?
-There aren’t distinct characters in this book.

*What was her favourite line/part of the book?
-Her favourite chapter was definitely “Word Play”, that explains the subject of the wrong usage of the English language, especially by young people.
From “Word Play”:
‘“Jumping up and down” is a stupid term. A person jumps up, and
gravity does the rest by pulling the person down. No one who jumps up
has to jump back down.’ LOL ;P

*Was this a good read for Ella? Did she get stuck at some point?
-This was definitely something completely different from what Ella usually reads, therefore, she did get stuck a couple of times, but managed to read on; she’s glad she did.

*Author's Website?
http://www.jsbuckingham.vpweb.com/
J.S.'s site on Book Blogs.
J.S.'s site on FiledBy.

Book Statistics:
• Paperback: 98 pages
• Publisher: PublishAmerica, Incorporated
• ISBN-10: 1607030640
• ISBN-13: 9781607030645

Get It!
-AtFiledBy
-At Target
-At Amazon

I had a wonderful time chatting with J.S., and organizing the interview! Read my review of this book on FiledBy, B&N, and Amazon.
Oh, one more thing: this was my 1st interview to an author! How awesome is that?!
Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Trilogy author, Nadine Laman :) (another brilliant author).

Hope you enjoyed your visit!
Before I go, I want to give a very big hug to J.S. for having been amazingly cool! (we Argentinians tend to hug and kiss people a lot, even if we've just met them!) THANK YOU!