Text Book

When indie rapper Mac Lethal launched a Tumblr page to share the profanity-laced, English-challenged, semi-delusional text messages that his cousin Bennett sent him, he had no idea it would become such a phenomenon. “This was never a thing that I intended on doing. It just fell into my lap,” he says. “I wish that I could take credit and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve got a vision for this and I’m a genius.’ But it was really nothing like that at all.”

Now, three years later, the site has evolved into Texts From Bennett, a semi-autobiographical novel that chronicles the year Lethal’s dysfunctional extended family moved in with him and changed his life forever. The book uses the grammatically nightmarish and hilariously off-the-wall texts as a launching point and framing device to tell a down-to-earth story about family, friendship and falling in love. And like Bennett and the texts that launched it all, Lethal insists it’s all drawn from real life. “Here’s the thing: I’m a funny person, but I couldn’t make this shit up,” he says.

Mac Lethal will read from and sign Texts From Bennett at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street. The book costs $15; for more info, visit tatteredcover.com.

Tue., Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m., 2013