- Killing Yourself to Live: 85 percent of a true story – Chuck Klosterman (Scribner)
Maybe I’m a bit biased, but Killing Yourself to Live feels like a book that was written just for me. Chuck Klosterman takes his sexy, druggy pop philosophy on the road in his newest work as he visits the infamous death sites of late and great rockstars. While driving in his rental car, Klosterman expounds on his feelings about life, death, sex, and rock’n’roll while underscoring the universality of those very things.
A perfect read, Killing Yourself to Live not only justifies the greatness of things like Olive Garden restaurants and Midwestern alt-rockers The Replacements, it also makes you think about the big realization that everyone you know is going to die and every relationship is going to end. Perhaps Klosterman is getting a little nihilistic, but his fresh, hilarious, and ultimately prolific take on being a 30-something rock critic is one of the most true and enjoyable reads since, well, I last read his other works.
- A Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion (Knopf)
Journalism icon Joan Didion’s memoir chronicles the year after her husband (and love of her life), fellow writer John Gregory Dunne, suddenly has a heart attack in her New York apartment a few weeks after daughter Quintata goes into a sudden coma. Her book is a personal recounting of grief and what it feels like to lose the people that make you whole.
As Didion identifies others’ experiences with sudden and irreplacable losses, we connect to her not only as an author, but also as a fellow human being. Incredibly moving, incredibly touching-in short, just incredible. The book also speaks to her writing process and interesting relationship with her husband. They worked as a team, writing together and editing works in such a collaborative way it is unfathomable to venture how Didion coped with such a loss.
She handles it the only way she knows how, by researching others that have managed to deal with great suffering, and ultimately comes to terms with her emotions. A powerful memoir from one of the greatest living American writers.
- The Girls – Lori Lansens (Knopf Canada)
Canadian fiction at its strangest, Lansens’ second novel chronicles the lives of small-town twin girls Ruby and Rose as they grow up into their 30s. The twist is that these twins are also connected by the head, a true-life condition known as craniopagus twins. Lansens writes an incredibly moving and realistic account of what it’s like to live with someone you can’t escape from, exploring the relationships the girls have with their guardians, and with one another. As we delve into the girls’ psychology, we discover who they really are and what they want from life, and the rich material yields some truly unforgettable moments. The Girls stick with you whether you like it or not.
- The Hungry Years: Confessions of a Food Addict – William Leith (Bond Street Books)
You’ll never look at buttered toast the same way again. At the beginning of his memoir, Leith weighs almost 300 pounds and hates himself. How did he get that way? William Leith, a writer for the London Observer, dictates his struggle with consumption-a life of too much empty sex, cocaine, and presumably, carbohydrates.
Along the way, he interviews diet guru Dr. Atkins of the infamous anti-carb diet and finds out why our society is obsessed with all things fat. Leith writes in a journalistic yet personal style that allows the reader to relate to what he’s going through and root for Leith to make it out alive, happy, and hopefully a little bit thinner to boot.
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling (Raincoast Books)
C’mon, you have to admit that you couldn’t wait to read the next Potter book in the series. Rowling does not disappoint, creating a work that is much stronger than some of the past installments by delving into Harry’s destiny and conflict with the villain Voldemort.
It’s another year at Hogwarts with all the expected drama, but Rowling takes a look into the fatalistic side of Harry’s life and sets the stage for the final novel, creating an undeniable sense of tension for the reader in the process.
I couldn’t put the latest Harry Potter down. It draws you in until you are totally absorbed into the mythic world of Hogwarts-as lame as you might feel reading it on the subway and missing your stop in the process.
