26
Oct
2010
The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter
I was quite disappointed when I discovered that this book is titled The Financial Lives of the Poets (emphasis mine, obvs) rather than just The Financial Lives of Poets. So that’s my first objection.
17
Aug
2010
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet was one of Martin Millar’s first books. It came out something like 20 years ago (indeed, a blurb from Neil Gaiman says that he’s been reading Millar for 20 years) in the U.K., but was only just published earlier this year in the U.S. by Soft Skull Press.
6
Aug
2010
The Last War by Ana Menéndez
I really wanted to love this book, but it’s over-narration killed it for me. Never in recent memory has it taken me so long to get through a book so short (just over 200 pages).
13
Jun
2010
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
This is…an unhappy book with an unhappy ending, full of laugh out loud moments. Oh how fun it is to see ourselves in others’ ennui, however over-the-top it may be.
29
Apr
2010
Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey
I really enjoyed this book. Falling somewhere in the space between literary fiction and chick lit, it had the direction of the one genre and the emotion of the other.
30
Aug
2009
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
There’s a Facebook Group called Zadie Smith Snubbed My Short Story and I will Have My Revenge. The description is “…On that pretentious E.M. Forster plot-stealing whore.” Recent news reports that she is still freckly, wearing head scarves, and smugly in love with Nick Laird. Evidently this group is a joke, as the founder posts, “look you douche, its a joke alright, Zadie Smith never has and never will reject any of my (frankly hilarious) short stories. I find it odd and strange that six other people have joined this total non-event of a group, especially someone called Rusty Trombone.” You can check it out but I pretty much just included the funny bits here.
3
Aug
2009
Drama Queers! by Frank Anthony Polito
Have you ever lived in Metro Detroit? Were you ever in Marching Band or Drama Club? Were a teenager in the ’80’s? Did you ever struggle with your sexual identity in high school? Did you know anyone that did? Did you, ever in your life, use the word “bogue”? No? That’s O.K. You should still read this book.
22
Jun
2009
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Are you Gen X? IF the answer is yes, then you will love this book, and find it hilarious, see yourself mirrored in its image, and pass it on to all of your contemporaries. If the answer is no, because you were born BEFORE Gen Xers, you might giggle at the humor of the book, but more likely, you will wonder about the future of the country and which of your children have done what drugs. If you were born AFTER Gen Xers, you will LOL, see the occasional similarity between your own life and culture and theirs, but mostly wonder what the hell Klosterman is talking about and why anyone should care.
5
May
2009
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
I just finished this book the other day. While you might think that this would leave it fresh in my mind, and I would have already planned out what to say about it, you couldn’t be more wrong. I mean, I know what happened. It’s not one of those books that makes you wonder what went on when you finish it.
16
Apr
2009
Girl by Blake Nelson
Because there are so many books out there, it is rare for me to ever read a book more than once. Girl, however, is an exception. Starting when I was about 14, to sometime in college, I read it once every year or two, because when you are a teenager, a year goes by, and suddenly you look around and you are at a different point in your life. You are a different person. The 15 year old Andrea Marr we meet at the beginning of this book is not the Andrea Marr we send off to college, hoping we’ll keep in touch, but knowing we won’t.
