Tag: library

  • How Not to Kill Yourself by Clancy Martin

    Of course the expected content warnings apply: Martin has a history of substance abuse issues as well as suicidal thoughts and actions.  This book is him trying to understand himself and what drives these issues. It’s deeply researched and also deeply personal, digging into Buddhist teachings, ancient and modern philosophers, and contemporary figures like David…

  • Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

    The grimmest travelogue I have ever read. This blew me away. The author’s style is blunt, clear and succinct, which makes this very readable and fast. The subject matter is another story though. Kara structures his book carefully, taking the reader on a trip from Kinshasa to the deepest parts of the Congo, to site…

  • Mobility by Lydia Kiesling

    The protagonist of this book is an incurious, shallow and kind of vapid character, concerned by two things: what people look like, and how much she doesn’t know about the world around her. There’s a scene late in the book where the protagoist reconnects with someone she knew when she was a teenager. He doesn’t…

  • Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman

    I had an hour to kill at the library, figured I would burn the time by skimming this book until I got bored – a middling actor’s adventures in crypto didn’t sound like compelling reading.  Boy was I wrong. This is quite good, and will surely ride you over until the Michael Lewis/SBF book comes…

  • The Marriage Act by John Marrs

    This guy has so many interesting ideas. It’s a bit of a shame that he’s not writing short stories rather than full-length novels. His ‘20 minutes into the future‘ style dystopias are fascinating. My biggest criticism is that so many of them aren’t explored outside of set-dressing. The story itself is kind of fun —…

  • Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi

    An orphanage in the early 1900’s in Pennsylvania. It’s a pretty good twist on the standard demonic possession story. I couldn’t put it down.  It’s fun and fast. Will I remember it in a month? Probably not well, but that’s not the point. It was moody, effective, and full of dread. Fracassi does a great…

  • Counterweight by Djuna

    This book was all over the various places I read about books, to the point that I felt left out for not knowing about this mysterious Djuna character (only then to find out that this is their first book published in English). The Book Marks reviews are all ‘rave’s, but on clickthrough the praise is…

  • Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

    This was readable, and there was building tension that I was drawn in by, but I don’t imagine it’s going to stay with me (for obvious reasons). I’m not the target demographic, but I also felt that this book doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from other current MFA-lit. Style over substance in a big…