The Rad Librarian

Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang have always used their children as unwilling participants in their public pieces.  The siblings need each other to keep themselves sane, and try and move on with the lives.  Yet, when circumstances put them back home at the same time, they know their parents are up to another major piece that will disrupt their sense of family forever.  Insightful, funny, and cringeworthy, this is a great debut novel with very memorable characters.

The geektastic 80′s pop culture book of the summer!  Virtual gamers around the world try and find the Easter egg left in OASIS- a full immersive digital world to win billions in this near future tale.  Our teen hero must solve the puzzles by immersing himself in 80′s culture to look for clues to help him on his quest.  There was no name checking of my first computer the Commodore Vic-20, but remembering playing Joust as an arcade going boy was worth the whole great reading experience.  Good for YA and adult alike.

One of my favorite YA authors creates a unique novel for adults from an A to Z dictionary of words about love. What I liked the most was the absence of information that forces the reader to fill in the blanks.  I’m often suspicious about gimmicky novels, but this one works really well at telling an interesting story in a new way.

This is a Semi-Hard-Boiled Noir parody placed in a high school to maximum effect.  Great puns, inventive use of language,  and social hierarchy commentary make this a fun and engaging read.  Even though it’s marketed as a YA novel, much of the humor is more accessible to middle aged readers- so I would recomend it to teens and adult fans of noir. 

Another first novel that’s leaving a tremendous impression on me.  Mostly a walking tour of New York City and Brussels with flashbacks to Nigeria as our protagonist ruminates and interacts with the build environment.  This is W G Sebald territory, but I for one, welcome philosophical meanderings when done with real history and thoughtful reflections.  Lovely book club choice.

A fresh take on the slacker coming of age story, “I’m learning I’m a very powerful Necromancer, but my friend’s severed head in the bowling bag is really hard to stomach”, yet it remains delightfully tongue in cheek.  And I dare you not to sing the title out loud over and over again.  Fun, fun, fun. For teens and grownups.

Beautiful coming of age novel taking place in Wales and England in the 70s where Morwenna finds refuge in SF and fantasy novels as she tries and recover from her mother’s magical attack that killed her twin sister and crippled her leg.  The fairies and magic portrayed are mysterious and subtle while the majority of the action takes place in a boarding school where she learns to rely on herself most of all.  A true delight for teens and adults.

This is the greatest movie guide book of all time!!!!  Every pathetic Hollywood representation of punks as well as great documentaries of the scenes burst with life in the guide.  Along with interviews with punks and radical filmmakers, the guide reviews 1100 films in a highly personalized and hilarious style.  A must May Day or Hey it’s Thursday gift for the grown up punk in your life.

This “fashionpunk” novel was highly inventive and a lot of fun.  A near-future dystopia consumed with fashion, high pressure capitalism, and control it explored by a master tailor who is asked to design an illigal coat for a former revolutionary lover.  This  is book two of a planned trilogy, but stands on its own as a great read.  It’s one of my favorite covers also in resent months.  Check it out!

Her new book “City of Veils” is getting a lot of buzz, so I thought I would start with her first mystery set in modern Saudi Arabia.  A teen-aged girl is found drowned in the desert, and her family hires a guide to find out what really happened.  The US author was married intoa Palestinian/Bedouin family that lived in Saudi Arabia so it feels like a authentic insider/outsider experience of that culture.  Great character development and a important addition to the mystery landscape.