pseudolibrary
I'm an eclectic reader.
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: And Other True Stories of Trauma, Madness, Affliction, and Recovery That Reveal the Surprising History of the Human Brain
So first of all, let me brag: I solved all the rebuses at the beginning of the chapters. Woohoo! It's a fun, almost Dateline-like approach to the history of famously weird cases and neuroscientists. Kean takes delight in surprising the reader with the juicy details. I'd recommend this to readers of Oliver Sacks and Mary Roach.
The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives
Read it when you want to complain about taxes. Poverty is unjust and we have to be proactive as citizens and voters. A great introduction to a huge problem. Compelling and balanced.
The Son
Mysteries are waltzes, when they're good. And Nesbo spins and dips even without his fictional partner, Harry Hole. This novel is fantastic! Complex without being mind boggling.
I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl: Poems
There are nasty, dark and dreadful horrors seeping up through the cracks (line breaks) in these poems. After reading, I'm still wondering about trauma and it's immediacy. I liked "Oh, You Really Don't Want to Go into the Library" and the title poem. Really raw.
Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas
I was browsing the new books and thought the cover logo was cool. I flipped through the pages and fell in love with the maps. So many people collaborated to make the essays and interviews engaging and educational! Sometimes it feels a little like a guidebook, sometimes like pedantic activist. The chapters are so varied so it never bores the reader. Favorites: "Moves, Remains: Hiding and Seeking the Dead," "Snakes and Ladders: What Rose Up, What Fell Down During Hurricane Katrina" and "Bass Lines: Deep Sounds and Soils".
East of West #2
I think the mechanical horses are the coolest. The art is crisp, sharp and fantastic. Gore galore! Imagine if Tarantino remade Star Wars. Can't wait for #3!
Batman: The Long Halloween
There's a fascinating interview with Nolan inside the front cover. I agree with Nolan's sentiment that the creation of Two Face is inseparable from the evolution of Batman, who's constantly on the bleeding edge of justice. I like the brief cameos of Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter. Joker gets his bazillion gross teeth punched out - also a highlight. Awesome.
Real World
Japanese noir/horror. The four friends are figuring out what they're going to be in the real world, when someone takes them out of it. These aren't your typical teens, either. Love the character building that goes on. It's a very compressed, engaging thriller.
The Parthenon Enigma
An amazing exploration of Greek thought, culture and politics. I loved discovering the origins and meaning of the Parthenon.
Red Delicious
It's the Maltese Dildo. Just as hilarious and sarcastic as book one. It seems like Quinn isn't decomposing as much as she was in book one - but, I have to remind myself, this book is more about the funny side of supernatural life and isn't a treatise on how supernatural life could operate. Quick and light read.
Revolver
I keep trying to explain to myself how it's not like Inception, but I keep losing. I guess the journalism angle makes it different? Otherwise, love triangle, apocalypse and insanity - yep, it's like Inception. And I love it.
The Book of Flying
It's like The Neverending Story meets Neverwhere. It's creepy and eloquent. Pico's the new Odysseus.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
I'm more interested in Ripley's love for Greenleaf (love of being Greenleaf) than Ripley's crimes.
How to Dance as the Roof Caves In: Poems
Nick Lantz is the coroner of poetry. He's exhuming loneliness in the form of spam emails. He's reminding us of the pressure of being full of the act of forgiving. He's telling the horror story of the crack (we fall into) regulators. "The book's spine is broken / out of love." ("Hawk and Rabbit")
Reader, store these poems in your chest cavity. Lantz will come knocking to retrieve them with your still-beating heart.
Note: you may not learn origami, or how to dance, but you will learn how to name a raccoon and why telling a secession joke is awkward, among other things.
I felt like I should've been listening to the The Who while reading this collection, which I received for free through Goodreads First Reads program (the first give-away I've won on Goodreads!).
SPOILER ALERT!
Red Moon: A Novel
This book rocks. Nuclear wasteland in Portland? Werewolves? Government corruption? Sign me up. The fast pacing and subject matter bring to mind Stephen King, Dan Simmons and Justin Cronin's work. I like how Percy took the real story of the almost-bombing at Pioneer Courthouse Square and made it work for Balor's lupine revolution. Claire grows from a weak puppy to a strong wolf-woman. And Chase, you've got to love to hate Chase. I read the book mostly to find out what happened to Miriam.
Currently reading
Golden Son
Lumberjanes, Volume 1
Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, Fourth Edition
