false<![CDATA[Screwed Up Life of Charlie The Second]]>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1211585474m/3181496.jpg31814961Being Charles James Stewart (AKA Charlie the Second) means never "fitting in."
Tall, gangly and big-eared, he could be the poster boy for teenage geeks. An embarrassment to his parents (he's not to crazy about them, either), Charlie is a virtual untouchable at his school, where humiliation is practically an extra curricular activity. Charlie has tried to fit in, but all of his efforts fall on a glorious, monumental scale. He plays soccer--mainly to escape his home life--but isn't accepted by his teammates who basically ignore him on the field. He still confuses the accelerator with the brake pedal and has failed his driving exam six times. He can't work on his college application essay without writing a searing tell-all. But what's freaking Charlie out the most is that while his hormones are raging and his peers are pairing off, he remains alone with his fantasies.
But all of this is about to change when a new guy at school begins to liven things up on the soccer team--and in Charlie's life. For the first time in his seventeen years, Charlie will learn how it feels to be a star, at least off the field. But Charlie discovers that even cool guys have problems as he embarks on an unforgettable, risk-filled journey from which there is no turning back....
Advanced Praise
"A terrific debut novel. Drew Ferguson is one of the most authentic new voices in contemporary fiction." --Steve Kluger, author of Almost Like Being in Love, Last Days of Summer and My Most Excellent Year
"Drew Ferguson's debut novel is equally funny and smart, and will strike eerily familiar chords in anyone who remembers the edgy, frustrating, sex-obsessed days and nights of high school. You'll love his narrator, Charlie, and you'll also love this book." --Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear
"Written in a fast-paced diary format Ferguson has created a beautiful and moving novel that literally has you laughing out loud one moment and shdding tears the next."
-- Arthur Wooten, author of On Picking Fruit and Fruit Cocktail
"Lots of blurbs in lots of books promise ’laugh-out-loud hilarity.’ This book delivers. With Charlie the Second, Drew Ferguson has created a memorable and original character undergoing the perils, confusion, and humiliation of adolescence. Between onanistic sexcapades that would make Alexander Portnoy blush, ’The Screwed Up Life of Charlie the Second’ is an engagingly accurate portrayal of the highs and lows of growing up and figuring out who you are."
--Brian Costello, author of The Enchanters vs. Sprawlburg Springs
"The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second is a funny, honest and engaging book, told with attitude and style. Drew Ferguson is a talented writer with great comic timing, and an eye for the absurd."
-- Bart Yates, author of Leave Myself Behind and The Brothers Bishop
"Look out Napoleon Dynamite, here comes Charlie the Second! In this page-turning laugh riot, Drew Ferguson captures the voice of today’s teen conquering the daily drudge that is life in the Midwest. Colorfully candid, unapologetically explicit, yet touchingly tender, The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second serves as a reminder to those who’ve escaped from small town USA as to the reasons why!"
-- Frank Anthony Polito, author of Band Fags!
From Publishers Weekly:
The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second
Drew Ferguson. Kensington, $15 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2708-9
A gay Lutheran teen, Charles James Stewart II (aka “Smart-ass”) chronicles a very memorable senior year at South High in Crystal Lake, Ill. Named after his aspiring state's attorney dad (whom he calls “First”), Charlie uses journal entries to chart his feelings with typical teen angst: griping about his parents, describing his unrequited passion for straight friend Bink Binkmeyer and skewering school. His less private tirades soon land him in trouble with Mrs. Bailey, a New Agey English teacher, and with icky fellow student Kyle Weir, a homophobic anti-Semite. The most hilariously heated entries depict falling in love for the first time with Rob Hunt (whose mother, Kathy, is in quite serious condition with ALS). Throughout the diary, Charlie keeps revising his college application essay, and it's not easy for him to watch his parents' marital troubles during First's campaign—or just to be a gay 17. Ferguson's exuberant portrait successfully re-creates coming-of-age's dizzy heat. (Sept.)
3214210192008Screwed Up Life of Charlie The Secondtotal:110|5:27|4:33|3:35|2:13|1:2|1104001944103falsefalseFri Sep 19 08:40:11 -0700 2008Fri Sep 19 08:42:00 -0700 200831falsefalseSat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008Tue Nov 11 11:32:09 -0800 2008Tue Nov 11 11:32:35 -0800 2008 Okay, so maybe getting my scrawny ass pushed into the back of a Crystal Lake cop car wasn't the smartest thing I've done, but Dana's party last night--it sucked. She should thank me. The only thing anyone'll remember about t...more...]]>
11falsefalseMon Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008Tue Aug 26 21:59:07 -0700 2008Mon Sep 29 12:37:09 -0700 20081, unfortunately
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30falsefalseTue Mar 31 15:31:57 -0700 2009Tue Mar 31 15:48:40 -0700 2009
This book is written like a personal essay for college entrance turned into explosive personal, tell-all memoir (when I say "like" I am not using a simile, that is a conceit of the book).
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30falsefalseSun Dec 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008Tue Dec 09 09:57:13 -0800 2008Tue Dec 09 10:11:46 -0800 2008
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40falsefalseSun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009Sat May 23 15:53:54 -0700 2009Sat May 23 16:09:26 -0700 2009 Wildly entertaining, with balanced amounts of truth and insight, it's a shame it's not marketed as a YA novel, because young adults could really get some great stuff out of this, both in knowledge and in entert...more...]]>
50falsefalseWed Apr 15 18:35:16 -0700 2009Wed Apr 15 18:35:40 -0700 2009
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40falsefalseFri Nov 28 13:48:04 -0800 2008Fri Nov 28 13:48:11 -0800 2008
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21falsefalseTue Nov 04 10:22:43 -0800 2008Tue Nov 04 10:34:10 -0800 2008 This book grabs you from the moment you start reading it, but at times it repulsed me. It's a great discussion book (q's at back of the book), but is definitely for high school students and up. Lots and lots of masturbating and some sex. ]]>
30falsefalseThu Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009Tue Feb 24 07:53:00 -0800 2009Tue Feb 24 08:07:58 -0800 2009
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31falsefalseThu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008Mon May 05 20:36:08 -0700 2008Fri Jun 20 21:41:56 -0700 200830falsefalseThu Mar 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009Tue Mar 24 15:28:33 -0700 2009Tue Mar 24 15:34:06 -0700 2009
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50falsefalseTue Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009Wed Jun 24 12:29:25 -0700 2009Wed Jul 22 07:13:20 -0700 2009 It's very crude. A lot of dick-humor, and explicit sex scenes. Personally, I love fi...more...]]>
41falsefalseSun Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008Wed Aug 27 20:06:21 -0700 2008Mon Sep 01 18:30:12 -0700 200830falsefalseSat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008Mon Nov 03 06:03:11 -0800 2008Tue Nov 11 18:22:52 -0800 2008
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40falsefalseMon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009Fri Oct 31 18:01:00 -0700 2008Sat Jun 13 13:11:25 -0700 2009 I finished reading the book last week, though this is my first opportunity to indicate my pleasure with having read it.
Ferguson is a good writer; I found hi...more...]]>
50falsefalseMon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009Sun May 10 10:51:34 -0700 2009Mon Jun 08 22:17:55 -0700 2009
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30falsefalseFri Jan 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009Tue Jan 06 15:15:48 -0800 2009Fri Jan 16 19:29:44 -0800 2009 ....I liked it. For a couple of biased reasons and at least one real reason:
1) I was always on the alert for a hometown reference. Even Pop's Popcorn Crib got a shout out!
2) It was nice to read ...more...]]>
30falsefalseThu Oct 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008Fri Sep 26 20:06:58 -0700 2008Sun Jan 11 16:23:57 -0800 2009 Anyway, I fo...more...]]>
50falsefalseSat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008Thu Aug 06 07:32:22 -0700 2009Thu Aug 06 07:47:38 -0700 2009
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