A Few Recommendations

Just a quick list of books I've recently finished that I would recommend to all of you:

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya. This is a paranoid freak fest. The guy doesn't care for periods too much, which adds to the main character's (often) seemingly delusional state. And while this stylistic choice is good for the voice of the story telling, it can wear on you as you near the end. However, the last few lines make it all worthwhile.

Superpowers by David J. Schwartz. The way in which David Schwartz uses the events of 9/11 in this book are, to me, stunning. A lesser writer could have easily, in a book that stars five superheroes, sensationalized and exploited those events for the purpose of his story. The way Schwartz writes about it makes the characters all the more real.

The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider. Read this one in the next couple of weeks because it is set in the Twin Cities in the months leading up to the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The private eye is a pothead and the St. Paul Police detective quotes poetry throughout.

Next on the list is Drama City by George Pelecanos, who also wrote for The Wire, and Graceland by Chris Abani, an author whom I've never read, but saw reading his poetry twice last summer in New York. One of the times he played the sax, too. This guy was locked up for his first novel, which he wrote at the age of 16 (I should check that, but I think it's right). He probably should be more widely read, which is why I'm going to start reading him.