Mini-book review: Johnny Weir's "Welcome to my World"

Perhaps the biggest shocker of Johnny Weir's new autobiography Welcome to my World (Gallery Books, 2011) isn't Weir's now public confirmation of his homosexuality (which as even he notes doesn't even really need to be mentioned, it's so obvious) but the fact that probably 95% of the book is actually devoted to the topic of figure skating as opposed to, say, fashion or hanging out with celebrities. Although it opens up on a slightly cringe-inducing note, with a prologue full of ass-kissing and celebrity name-dropping that reads like something from a Bret Easton Ellis novel (the scene where he fawns over Sarah Jessica Parker is a bit much), Weir flashes back to his childhood and takes us on a tour of his life, from his early ambition to be a horse rider to his initial forays into the world of ice skating to his sexual awakening (he didn't lose his virginity until he was 20), to the struggles he's had to endure from skating judges who thought his style was too feminine, to his two appearances at the Olympics (the book ends after his performance at the 2010 Winter Olympics, which was when I myself noticed Weir for the first time, and became more interested in figure skating in general). Welcome to my World reveals Weir as a complex, contradictory and multi-faceted individual (he acknowledges that his wild and crazy public life is kind of at odds with his more quiet and shy private life) with interesting and articulate thoughts on topics such as homosexuality. One thing stands out clear: Weir takes figure skating very seriously (he also loves Russia, a country that seems to appreciate his skating style much more than his native America). The book was also fairly humorous (though it didn't have me laughing out loud like Kathy Griffin's autobiography from 2009, Official Book Club Selection), and gives the reader a good introduction into the back scene world of competitive figure skating. I also found it kind of charming how he thanked Lady Gaga (among other divas) in the acknowledgments at the end. The book made me want to go onto Youtube immediately after I finished it and check out some of Weir's past performances.