{"id":16313,"date":"2026-09-05T16:51:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/?p=16313"},"modified":"2026-09-05T16:51:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:51:03","slug":"benjamins-mess-by-david-benjamin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/05\/benjamins-mess-by-david-benjamin\/","title":{"rendered":"“Benjamin’s Mess” by David Benjamin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Copyright 2025 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is the 14th David Benjamin book that I have reviewed. And while it is true that he is one of my oldest and best friends, I would not read 14 books by anyone if I didn’t enjoy them. He is a very good writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his specialties is the “screed” – a short (about 1,000 words) essay. He publishes one screed almost every week. You can find them all – over 600 of them – here<\/a>. This is his third book containing collections of his best screeds, the others being Almost Killed by a Train of Thought<\/a><\/em> (2019) and Christmas in a Jugular Vein<\/a><\/em> (2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading one of these collections of screeds is entertaining but makes me marvel at the breadth of Benjamin’s interests and the depth of his thoughts. He has a way of looking at something that makes me look at it differently (example: who is the “+” in “LGBTQ+”?). In this book he categorizes the topic. Here is the list of topic categories, most common category first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n