Iconic L.A.: Stories of L.A.'s Most Memorable Buildings

I was given Surviving Suburbia by someone who knows just how much I love getting up on Thursday mornings to read Chris Erskine's column in the LA Times. Now, I have a whole pile of essays to savor; I'm not limited to one weekly morsel of his humor and I count myself as very lucky indeed. To those who don't live in Los Angeles, let me shatter the illusion for a moment, there are two LA's, and Erskine writes comical essays about the one that most of us live in: a white minivan, marriage, children, softball games, backyard barbecues, and a leaky faucet. In his world and for most of us here, there are no movie stars, just family and regular, messy kids. I give this book 5 stars and suggest it as the perfect Father's Day or Christmas gift to any good dad you know. For the dead beat dad, give it as kind of an instruction book of how meaningful being a father can be, seen through the right eyes.

Chris Erskine writes a column in the Los Angeles Times every Thursday which I look forward to reading. When I heard he wrote a book I knew I would enjoy reading it as well. I reccomend the book highly, it is filled with family anecdotes that anybody with children will find familiar and entertaining.

I always look forward to Thursdays, when Chris Erskine's column appears in the LA Times. He is very clever and very funny. For anyone with kids, his observations and insights ring true. I am thrilled that he has a book available, and I am going to give copies to various friends for the holidays. You will love this book.