recommended reading

Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem rules, and anyone who has read his books knows that he is a little kooky. Amnesia Moon is a bizarre sci-fi roadtrip adventure filled with memorable characters that you either love or hate. Wyoming is filled with hairy mutants and people can be injected like heroin. Lethem's world is a broadcasted dreamscape where love may be the only reality.

A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo

One of the most intense books I've ever read. A frightening, introspective look at an Officer's experience in Vietnam. Caputo gives a first hand account detailing the horrors of guerilla combat and moral ambiguities within the context of an unconventional war. Small firefights, foot patrols, and ambushes against an unseen enemy.

The Death Of Mister Sweet by Daniel Woodrell

This is an awesome novel. It's beautifully written and reads wonderfully. Plus, it's about hicks and we love hicks. The story takes place somewhere in the Ozarks. A thirteen-year-old boy and his alcoholic mother struggle to survive with an abusive, illegitimate, dead-beat father. The story builds quickly, and bulldozes to a violent finish. Highly recommended.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

OK, so there are these rose gardens in Portland where they genetically create wacky rose variants. In Dunn's world, an old carnival fellow visits said gardens and decides to genetically create a kooky carny family by giving his pregnant wife every drug from cocaine to insecticides. One kid has fins for limbs, and another girl is born an albino hairless midget with a hump. The rest of the book follows the family's adventures and only gets weirder. Trying to describe it can't do it justice, so just read the book and get sucked in by the imaginative story, wonderful prose, and overall wackiness.

Goats by Mark Jude Poirier

Poirier has a talent for turning the American landscape into the surreal and normal at the same time. He turns the generic coming of age novel into something unique- working in trekking with goats, original characters and lots of pot humor.