I remember breathlessly telling my twelve-year-old niece, Jaycie, that if Amy Bloom’s name were on the cover of a phone book I’d read it and enjoy every line. I’m a bit of a Bloom fan, and still remember buying her first novel Love Invents Us in hardcover at the B. Dalton in the Eden Prairie [...]
Posts Tagged: Fiction
27
Dec 09
Everything Matters!
Even before he’s born, Junior is told exactly when the world is gonna end. He’s told, in utero that the world will end June 15, 2010 when he is just 36 years old after a giant comet smashes into Earth and obliterates life on the planet.
Heavy.
That’s how Everything Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr. opens and [...]
21
Dec 09
Quintessential dicklit
Nick Hornby is at his best when he writes about music. He has that inexplicable ability to convey what music means in a way that seems incredibly personal to him and yet universal at the same time. He’s so good when he writes about music that it often seems like he’s the first one to [...]
12
Dec 09
Totally Killer almost killed me
Note: If you want to see some discussion with the author of Totally Killer, head on over to this post on MN Reads
I picked up Totally Killer by Greg Olear because of the cassette on the cover, which I spied on his Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay. There’s something in my genetic makeup that makes [...]
25
Nov 09
Await Your Reply wrecked me
I finished reading Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply two weeks ago, and it wrecked me. I haven’t been able to read more than ten pages in any book since, which kind of makes sense considering Chaon’s novel is so fucking good it blew my mind.
This is the kind of novel that when I sit back [...]
4
Nov 09
Andromeda Klein
Andromeda Klein is a skinny, goofy-haired seventeen-year-old girl with disorganized collagen which causes her to have fragile bones and bad hearing. Because that’s not enough to make her a high school misfit, she’s also got a couple of wacky parents (Mom’s addicted to online role-playing games and Dad’s a conspiracy theorist) and is dealing with [...]
24
Sep 09
We really do need to talk about Kevin
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! You need to read We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It’s the kind of book that the minute you finish it, all you want to do is talk about it with someone.
I have to admit this novel languished on my bookshelf for years. I remember [...]
1
Aug 09
Dag.
Dear @colsonwhitehead,
I’m sorry for doubting you. I was going to write this apology/review in a series of 140 character paragraphs (ala tweet) but that’s too much of a pain in the ass and would do your beautiful book, Sag Harbor, a great disservice. It deserves better.
I’m sorry for wondering about the story-ness of your [...]
7
Jun 09
Gushing
This might be stating the obvious, but I love reading. It’s my favorite pastime and something I do every single day. That being said, not many books are fun to read. It’s not like reading is a buzzkill or painful, it’s just not, you know, fun. It’s kind of hard to explain. Norah Labiner’s German [...]
1
Jun 09
Rock & Roll June Book 1: The Emo Family Robinson
Since The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite was written by Gerard Way of the band My Chemical Romance (whose music I am not familiar with at all), I decided it totally counts as part of the Rock & Roll June project. For the uninitiated, Rock & Roll June is where I spend the month [...]
