Book excerpt: People tell you that real life is not like novels, no matter how great they might be. That's not really true though, is it? Because crazy stuff happens to you all the time, meaningless, but crazy stuff. Like how the taste of your cheap lunch changes when the smell of cleansing agent fills the fast food restaurant. Or how you thought the guy who sits by himself in the park is weird, until you notice he's the only one who feeds the ducks in the winter. Or how sometimes, there's so much you want to say, and then you end up saying nothing. Because everyone around you seems to get along with everyone else. You're the only one who asks the strange questions and notices the weird details about people and things, and no one else cares, and that's why no one understands you. Because you're the main character, and nothing you write about matters. Or maybe the words you scribble down are actually the only thing that matters. Maybe life's just a book after all.