What I’m Reading…

Book Review: Honey by Isabel Banta

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Honey by Isabel Banta

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Isabel Banta’s HONEY brings us back to those covers of YM and Seventeen when the age of teen pop stars sold us the music of Britney, Christina, and all the rest. In the story of her lead character Amber Young, Banta synthesizes so much about that era. The way adolescents were commodified and marketed. The way their sexuality was simultaneously manufactured, policed, begged for, and ruthlessly criticized. The ravenous fans, paparazzi, and executives all looking for their piece of the star. As her characters messily find their way into adulthood backstage, Banta affirms a message we never got to hear at the turn of the millennium: a woman’s body and all its expressions of desire are not the moral property of anyone but herself.



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Book Review: Playground by Richard Powers

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Playground by Richard Powers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The blurb on the center of the paperback cover for Richard Powers’ novel PLAYGROUND says “Prepare to be awed.” And all I have to say is… PREPARE TO BE AWED.

Language to ease into like the warm waves of a tropical sea. Hurt that stings like Chicago sleet on a chapped face. Astonishing storytelling that had me holding back tears, rocketing through the final hundred pages completely unaware of what was happening around me. Makes the monstrous triumphs of technology very personal–Powers has put us all on a clock. I was awed.



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Book Review: Fahrenheit-182 by Mark Hoppus (with Dan Ozzi)

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Fahrenheit-182: A Memoir by Mark Hoppus

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a book about a guy named Mark. He’s in a band. I love Mark and I love his band. So naturally, I loved this book, which is nothing more and nothing less than Mark being Mark, telling us stories the same way he tells them in his songwriting–flippant and dead serious, obnoxious and breathtaking, fast, fun, and honest.



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Book Review: The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell

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The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Playful, surreal, and piercing, these stories each experiment with fairy tales. Campbell’s voice unifies the collection with a mastery of juxtaposition. There’s a theme of disperate parts. Things that are removed or rearranged or from different times or interpreted in multiple ways are drawn back together in these stories. You can almost feel these knots tightening, exacting both pain and whimsy. A great read to begin the year: a little curious, a little cutting, a little spellbound.



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Book Review: Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

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Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Louise Erdrich’s storytelling talent is simply massive. The concept of FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD is not a new one. (Preceded by THE HANDMAID’S TALE and other dystopian visions of a future state where childbearing is a tool of terror and the stakes on which social control rest, this novel takes its place among that company.) But here, that concept is merely the frame around a brilliant story that storms through the explosive tension between parents and children, the roles of faith and science during catastrophe, the ingenuity of communities to both protect and persecute. Above all, I think it’s an argument that both heaven and hell can manifest here on earth, through our bodies, our natural surroundings, our relationships, our social fabric, the very lowly ephemera of our lives… and that transitioning between them can happen as quickly and commonly as falling through thin ice to the water below. Moving forward, moving back: where are we going?



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Book Review: Wake, Siren by Nina MacLaughlin

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Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


WAKE, SIREN: Gripping, fearless, violent, and uncompromising. Ovid’s Metamorphoses are ancient stories of mythological transformation, and the cost of those transformations (as anyone familiar with this work will know) is paid with the bodies and hearts of mortal women. These are not happy tales, but they never were. Nina MacLaughlin frees the victims of mythology to scream and rage in the context of our current time, released from their silence, come back to let us know they haven’t forgotten their much-sung fates, or who, in the end, was to blame. One of the most challenging and strong collections I’ve ever read.



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Book Review: In Other Worlds – SF and the Human Imagination

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In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I will listen to Margaret Atwood pontificate on anything and enjoy it thoroughly. This book is a lot of loosely related, widely meandering odds and ends, but:
A. I adore Atwood and it’s a pleasure just to hear her humor and insight, even in fragments, and
B. I still found plenty of thought-provoking snippets to highlight and return to.



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Book Review: Room to Dream by David Lynch with Kristine McKenna

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Room to Dream by David Lynch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is akin to being trapped at a diner booth with David as he tells you a thousand extremely random anecdotes about his life for hours on end, while a kindly friend interjects occassionally with clarifying facts. And that diner booth is exactly where I want to be. The uncompromising way Lynch devoted his life to art made him half madman and half patron saint. He was both and neither, but unquestionably a bright light mourned by many who understand the call to keep making things, however they might be received, because… we just have to. Also, the many photographs included from David’s personal collection are absolutely fantastic.



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Book Review: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

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The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


THE DEVILS is my first foray into Joe Abercrombie’s work, and I may be hooked. This novel is a genuine adventure, with a strong ensemble cast, an ever-morphing plot, gorgeous worldbuilding, and no easy solutions. It succeeds in delivering big fun while still letting darkness be darkness–a playground for the morally gray. The characters are all richly realized, deliciously despicable and endearing.



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