THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF JOE BRAINARD is packaged in a very handsome edition by The Library of America. But it can get a bit tedious if you try to read his stuff all at once. The I REMEMBER section is unquestionably the best part of this nearly 600-page tome, just because it is so childlike, simple and enjoyable to read. And Brainard's "I remember" ramblings offer something for nearly everyone who grew up in the 50s and 60s -

"I rmember Davy Crockett hats. And Davy Crockett just about everything else ...

I remember 'Love Me Tender' ...

I remember that Eskimos kiss with their noses. (?) ...

I remember the $64,000 Question scandal ...

I remember how good wet dreams were ..." etc., etc.

But that's only about 130 pages of the book. The rest of it? Well, it's a book with writing that sometimes reminds you of Gertrude Stein, or, like SEINFELD was a TV show about 'nothing,' this is a book about the same thing. Disjointed journals, very short nonsensical stories and scrawled drawings and cartoons, a few of them obscene. Brainard was a multimedia artist and writer who never seemed to quite focus, ya know? He had a lot of friends, some straight, some gay, and he often laments the predicament that being gay was back in those unliberated 70s. And he admits his own feelings of awkwardness and other-ness, and even gets specific enough (although he seems embarrassed to be writing about it) to admit that he dislikes anal sex.

Joe Brainard seemed like a kind of pathetic hanger-on in the art world to me, and the book - once you got past I REMEMBER - was only mildly interesting and often downright boring. Maybe if you knew Brainard, it would be a lot more interesting. But I didn't, so ... ( )

This could be my book of the year. I've read 'I remember' loads of times and there's always something new that crops up. This collection brings together many more pieces of writing, all so simple but so clear. They make you stop and think. ( )