1. Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? – I read half this book on a Saturday morning when I only intended to read the first essay. She’s just so delightful! Kaling’s most endearing literary quality is her ability to mock herself without tipping over the edge into self-deprecation. She also writes with conviction that there’s still hope and humor left for America and television, and even American television. I wish I’d read this book when I was a young woman, even though I was never a young woman.
2. Portia de Rossi’s Unbearable Lightness – Confession: I finished de Rossi’s book while administering my last final exam, and I had to fight back tears in front of a dozen college-aged test-takers reading those last twenty pages. And I totally own the total uncoolness of such a confession. Unbearable Lightness is not a fun, summery beach read, but it’s beautiful and timely and profound. The majority of the book deals with de Rossi’s battles with eating disorders, followed by that 20 page epilogue exploring de Rossi’s healing, her family restoration, and her marriage to Ellen Degeneres.
3. Edward O. Wilson’s The Creation – I like bugs (just look at my left arm), which is how I stumbled on E.O. Wilson, the famed biologist and ant-writer. The Creation is Wilson’s invitation to the Christian faith community (particularly Wilson’s denounced Southern Baptist faith) to drop the debate of origin and join forces with the science community to preserve Nature. He makes the excellent point that the Christian church has become far more concerned with moral issues (homosexuality, abortion, even war) than environmental issues and education. Wilson sees this as strange since Christians believe their God created Nature and bestows children as a blessing. (As a Christian, I couldn’t agree with Wilson more.) The Creation is a short, fast, challenging read that asks hard questions, offers accessible suggestions, and somehow addresses the unnecessary chasm between faith and science without accusation or ridicule. I may have even felt a few warm fuzzies along the way.
4. Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends – Chabon’s collection of literary essays serves as my long-overdue introduction to Chabon. As a booknerd and would-be fiction writer, I like seeing great literary minds interact with literature. And I also like knowing what good writers read. Chabon’s essays cover a huge span of literature from modern genre fiction to classic fan fiction, from comics and graphic novels to mythology and even (get this) cartography. Michael Chabon is so smart and literate that I want to believe he’s a total jerk, although I have no evidence for this accusation except my own inferiority while reading his essays. He’s, like, Pulitzer good. (You can also Google a free copy of his story “The God of Dark Laughter” from the New Yorker. It’s a story about a brutally murdered circus clown. That’s all you need to know.)
5. Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door – Ketchum is one of my new favorite writers. He’s fantastic. The man somehow brings a literary feel to pulp fiction, keeping the pages turning while still dropping in nuggets of pure gold. I’ve mentioned Ketchum several times in 979, and I’ll do so again in the future. His stories are gruesome and raw, usually involving the total obliteration of a single human or an entire family, but his themes always rest heavily on heroism, sacrificial love, family commitments, authority, innate goodness over original sin, the burden of secrecy, justice, and communal responsibility. The Girl Next Door is an emotionally devastating story, but it addresses nearly every one of the themes listed above. I recommend TGND openly in 979 because I can’t fathom to whom I’d recommend it personally.
6. Kelly Riad’s Always Me – I’m pimping my good and lovely friend here. Always Me explores the 400 year repetitive history between Nicky and Xander, a relationship that always ends with one murdering the other so their cycle can begin again. I had the pleasure of editing early editions of Always Me, but Kelly made better changes that I could suggest and now her books blowing-up on Amazon. Get it for 99 cents. Support my friend so she can write more books and afford to feed all her damn dogs.
7. Sympathy for the Devil – Great short story anthology from Night Shade Books featuring stories about Satan. I’m no Satanist, but I did grow up Southern Baptist, so I probably know more about the devil than most Satanists. And this book is hella fun. I particularly recommend the stories by Gaiman, Chabon, and Meiville.
8. Chuck Palahniuk’s Invisible Monsters – Anything you read by Palahniuk is gonna be fun. Invisible Monsters is Palahniuk’s meditation on beauty and prescription medication. (Aren’t all of his books somehow a meditation on prescription medication?) The story follows a girl without a face and a guy who wants to not be a guy and another girl who deserves a shotgun blast to the wherever. I loved it!
9. Flannery O’Connor’s The Complete Short Stories – I’m from South Arkansas, and Flannery O’Connor’s stories feel overly familiar, especially in the summer. Church summer camp was our place to battle sin and Satan while still relishing Shannon Carpenter in a bikini and Marlboro Reds behind our cabin. You don’t find such delicious religious tension except in the pages of Flannery O’Connor. Praise God, pass the lighter, and crank the DC Talk.
10. Chris Hardwicke’s The Nerdist – Okay, so this isn’t exactly a book. It’s a podcast. But it’s awesome. Last week’s interview with Ana Gasteyer was a little slice of lemon meringue heaven for SNL buffs like me. Each podcast is an hour (plus or minus) conversation between comedian-host Chris Hardwicke and somebody who’s interesting and funny enough to make even Michael Chabon feel inferior. Like Ana Gasteyer.
11. John Irving’s In One Person – Putting this one on the list for Kelly Minnis. After reading Irving’s essay on Amazon.com about his newest title, I immediately put it on my summer read. I normally steer clear of books over 400 pages, but I might have to make an exception for this one. A bisexual boy falls in love with a transgendered librarian? Yes, please!
12. Stephen King and Joe Hill’s Throttle – King and Hill are nearly as beautiful a duo as Mike Ness and Bruce Springsteen sharing an LA stage in ‘09, or Robyn and Katy Perry tearing down the Frank Erwin Center last August. Great story. Very gory. Fast paced and brutal. Interesting exploration – by a father-son authorial team – of a father-son relationship gone sour. Worth every bit of the 99 cents it’ll run you on Amazon.
