One Year After Turning Thirty

Today is my 31st birthday. This means that I have been a member of the "3-0 Club" for one full year now. Reflecting back on my state of mind and how I'm not sure it has changed much, I decided to look up my old Myspace blogs from that time-period. And I stumbled upon my 7/9/07 review of a book that I had appropriately located that summer, entitled Turning Thirty. Because the book was written by a black Englishman, I entitled the original blog "Turns Out I'm a Black Englishman", as I had more in common with Mike Gayle's character Matt Beckford than I have with any other character in a very long time.

Reading through the thoughts that permeated a then-29 year-old's mind, I have to say that not much has changed. I still feel the same way about the topics adressed in the book. And I still recommend the book to anyone who is about to make the transition to the next decade. So without any futher ado.........

"Turns Out I'm a Black Englishman"

I came across Mike Gayle's novel purely by accident as I was browsing the used bookshelves at Barnes and Noble. I think I was actually doing a search for some familiar titles by favorites such as Kava, Vonnegut, Fitzgerald, etc. But then my eye was drawn to the title like a moth to the flame because it summed up my current state of being: Turning Thirty.

The actual purchase was made a couple of months ago in the middle of a "summer-reading buying-binge". I placed it on the designated bookshelf downstairs, not intending to read it until I was much closer to the impending date.

So, last week, with exactly two weeks left until my big day, I decided to give it a go. The first two pages in the first chapter made me simultaneously laugh and cry.