I’ve been reading a lot lately. Perhaps because I have more time? Perhaps because I’m trying to get a better feel for the format of book writing? I don’t know, but I’ve been reading reading reading non-stop, and now it’s time for reviews:

1. Drop City
Spaced out hippies from a California commune decide to move to Alaska to, like, get real. A plot with a lot of promise, and I loved the writing, but was disappointed by the end. Recommended to my father and a coworker.

2. Wicked
The life and times of the wicked witch of the west. What a great idea! And what a dense book. Much more literary than I was expecting, but quite good. The ending felt a bit rushed, though, and I like I probably needed to have read The Wizard of Oz to really get it all. Passed the book on to The Rinz.

3. Motherless Brooklyn
An amateur detective with Tourettes! Lordy, what a set-up. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t quite do it for me. Some of the plot points felt implausible (the protoganist’s affair with the yoga girl? whatever!), and the mystery didn’t feel all that mysterious to me. That said, I loved the protagonist’s wonderful word play. Recommended by self-aggrandizement.com and Douglas.

4. The Tipping Point
Oh my god: pop social psychology is candy for the atophied academic part of my brain. This certainly isn’t a business book (although it pretends to be) nor is it a science book (although it references many soc, psych, and social psych studies), but I certainly did enjoy it. For an old sociology junkie like myself, The Tipping Point is like an easy theory review class with a witty professor. Recommended by Harry.

5. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
I am deathly afraid of dead bodies, so I figured this would be a good book for me to read. Little did I know how engaging and funny it is! I read half the book in one sitting yesterday and learned about everything from the noises made by maggots as they eat a human body (”rice krispies”) to the thigh-flesh replicating material used by military types who want to test bullets (”ballistic gelatin“). Very very good. Recommended by mightygirl.com.