How We Are Hungry

I'm currently reading How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers of McSweeney's fame. The book is a collection of his short stories, many of which have already appeared in some form or another in various publications. So far it's pretty good, although like most short story collections it's a bit hit or miss. If you're unfamiliar with Dave Eggers work, then I'd recommend starting out with his first novel A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius before delving into this one.

One cool thing about the book is that all of the proceeds from the hard-covered edition are going to 826 Valencia, which is a charity organization that provides free drop-in tutoring to kids in the San Francisco area. If you're ever in town, it's definitely worth swinging by their facilities to check out the pa-pa-pa-pirate store they've created to help fund the charity. A similar organization has already been set up in NYC, where they've set up their own Superhero themed store. We saw Dave Eggers at a reading at Elliott Bay Bookstore a couple of months ago, and he mentioned that plans are already in the works to open a similar operation in the Seattle area in the near future. I'm hoping that works out, as it would be a great addition to the community and a wonderful organization to volunteer at.