This book is both a small trip of New York and an intimate and skewed look of a man looking for himself and his place in the world. His somewhat shocking job, his transformation, his partying and his relationships. It is an interesting read, and you will often feel as if you were peeking trough a window and looking at something that you probably weren't meant to see.

Overall a good read.

This book is a fast read, it is harsh, fun, sad, crazy and amazing. the writer's ability to take you into a world of drag queens, gay male escorts, crack addiction, S&M -- all with a sense of humor and honesty. The characters go through a lot in a short time, not even a year in NY and Josh had experienced tons of things.. good and not so good! I read the book in less than a week, it is a fast read, partly because you dont want to put it down, you just want to know what happens to these very flawed people. this is a great book, and one i'm very glad i was able to read.

I guess it always amazes me when people write books about their lives and just lay it all out there for the world and their mothers to see. Mr. Kilmer-Purcell pulls a chunk of his life from when he first landed in New York and covers the good--meeting a rich guy with a nice apartment, the bad--drug and alcohol addiction, and the ugly--the crash and burn when it all crashes down, a drunk drag queen the morning after, etc. As a comparison you could say it's sort of like Augusten Burroughs book Magical Drinking as they are both advertising copy guys who drink and drug a whole lot. It's funny how that particular career seems to have generated a number of writers and also amazing how they continue to drink and drug yet never manage to be fired or lose their jobs. I did enjoy the book, he has a light breezy writing style that makes the funny and sad material compulsively readable. Being a 7 foot, in heels, drag queen named Aqua definitely portends itself to riotous happenings and there are quite a few related to good effect here. But it's his addictive compulsive relationship with his hustler crack addict boyfriend that drives the story along to it's ultimate ending. The fact that he has recovered himself enough now to be a writer and columnist for Out Magazine seems like it could be a story in itself. Somehow you want to know how he managed to clean himself up after the extreme highs and lows he went through all in years time, hopefully in the next non-fiction book he does he will cover it. I do recommend this book, not only as an enjoyable read but a handbook of what NOT to do when you first move to New York.

There is really not much to say about Kilmer-Purcell's 'I Am Not Myself These Days'. Simply put, it is my favorite book, a beautiful book, a book that I have read to pieces, scribbled thoughts in, and highlighted to smithereens. This book changed my life (how cliche) and I have since passed it on to no less than 10 of my friends, all of whom have written in the margins and underlined passages that scream out to them.

Read this book.

You will not want to put this book down. Look for Josh's next book which will be available in May.