GOD do I hate “chick lit.”

I am filled with quiet despair, walking along the beach and seeing titles like “Mr. Wrong Now” or “Beauty and the Shoe” or some other horrible “beach reading.”

If you want disposable literature, read a magazine. If you want quirky, alternative summer reads, try one of these:

World War Z
by Max Brooks

This is an “oral history of the zombie wars.” The premise is that, after the recent zombie crisis, the author traveled all over the world and took down lots of different people’s stories.

It sounds like a dumb premise, but the book is ridiculously good. Brooks has a real ear for dialogue, so the accounts seem realistic. This is alarming to those of us who are highly suggestible. *coughmecough*

Plus, the neat thingy on the website said I have a 36% chance of survival in the event of a zombie war. Sweet!

Absurdistan
by Gary Shteyngart Read More »