reading notes

by Chuck Palahniuk
ISBN: 0385720920
The first book I read by Palahniuk was Lullaby, and I knew then that despite an irritating repetitive tic in his writing, I’d be reading more. He’s outrageous and unpredictable enough that his story just makes me keep turning pages. Even when — or because– he’s disturbing, gross, and makes me feel [...]

by Abigail Thomas
ISBN: 9780156033237
A Three Dog Life is not a sentimental book, a near-miraculous feat considering Thomas writes about dealing with her husband’s traumatic brain injury. Emotional yet practical, she’s no saint and not more of sinner than any of the rest of us.
The book is a meditation on impossible things that are in fact [...]

by Aimee Bender
ISBN: 9780385720977
Part of my brain wants to fight with Bender’s stories. They are too fantastic, too naked, and I know I shouldn’t believe in things like children made from potatoes or with irons for heads, even for a few minutes.
She shouldn’t be able to get away with this, I tell myself. Her stories [...]

by Mary Doria Russell
ISBN: 139781400064717
A forty year old school teacher comes in to a bit of money after the rest of her family dies in the great flu epidemic, and decides to go abroad for the first time in her life, to the Middle East. That may sound unlikely, but what if I told you [...]

Complete Protection From the Living Dead
by Max Brooks
ISBN: 1400049628
I thought World War Z was absolutely brilliant. This book is good, but Z was much better — probably because the Guide is played for humor, and Z was serious. Yes, I know, zombies — but it was serious, and very well done.
The Guide is a very [...]

Reading, Writing, and Revolution
by Derrick Jensen
ISBN: 1931498784
I’d like to think this was the kind of book that would have given me hope had I read it when I was in high school (a crappy, rundown, stagnant place) afraid I’d be unable to get out and off to college. I’m not sure it would have made [...]

by John Twelve Hawks
ISBN: 030727859X
I tend not to read big fat mass market paperbacks, and I admit it is because I expect them to suck. Well, I expect I won’t be interested in them… because they suck. There are undoubtedly more exceptions (mass market books that really rock) than I’m willing grant — I know [...]

by Walter Moers
translated by John Littlebrown
ISBN: 9781585678990
This book was actually translated twice (Moers translated it from Zamonian) though the tale involves such clever wordplay, it is hard to believe it is translated at all. He also drew illustrations for it, which is good, because things like Booklings, Bookhunters, and Animatomes deserve to be seen and [...]