Jason Linden

This is a little tardy because the end of school was exhausting. Also, I put a new floor down in the kid area which is huge and it was exhausting.

As a side note, I’m going to be updating my top-100 list sometime this month. I missed last year amidst house buying. Prepare yourselves.

1. Pops by Michael Chabon (3.5/5) – This was solid. My primary issue was that I’d read all of it before as it was entirely a collection of previously published material. But the observations are good and interesting. A worthwhile read if you haven’t come across the material before.
2. Bride & Groom by Alisa Genieva (4/5) – A contemporary Russian novel that doesn’t feel like all the other Russian novels you’ve ever read. A good reminder that what usually makes it into translation from other cultures is not a complete representation of all different segments of that society. Russia is an enormous country and the people who populate this book aren’t characters from Tolstoy or even Nabokov
3. The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino (4/5) – I keep reading Calvino and keep not being disappointed. I didn’t like this as much as the first couple of things I’d read, but I think that’s mostly because it was several volumes packed together and thus not necessarily cohesive. Everything I read of his – and this book is no exception – takes fiction somewhere I haven’t seen it go before.
4. Best to Keep Moving by Jeff Worley (4/5) – Wherein I periodically dip into the Larkspur Press books I got hold of a while ago. Nice poetry with a few that really turned things on their head.
5. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse (5/5) – This book was fantastic. Hesse was a “should have but haven’t” read of mine and I’m glad I finally got to him at the strong urging of a friend. My favorite thing about this book was how it played with multiple voices in such a way that they all invalidate each other leaving, by the end, a core idea that hangs out in your head for what seems like it will be a long time.