With this, I was hoping for more horror than the bizarro thing I got. But it was fun. Carl Mellick III is, I guess famous for pushing forth this type of storytelling where our world and characters are too messed up and wrong(?) to make us fear for them. It's all pretty fun and clever, showing no lack of Culture in our writer. The details are fuzzy to me now, but I know Satan opens a burger shop where food is paid for with the consumer's soul. There are debaucherous noise/punk performances, terrible driving scenes, and appearances from both God and Jesus. It's worth checking out if you are a person of culture as well.
Wild at Heart by Barry Gifford
I was a big fan of the Nicolas Cage film Wild at Heart and when I found out it was based on a book, of course I had to read it. Most of the story beats are the same, without David Lynch's theatrical pizzazz. This story is part of a longer volume that I didn't finish and assume tells about our minor characters. Altogether it's a pretty good piece of writing for those who like crime, wild romance, and Big Tuna.
My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday
It took me a very long time to finish this book. It's a collection of letters from various women to the author, telling the secrets of their sexual fantasies, divided into topics and bookended with authorial essays. It's a very interesting topic, but a lot to get through.
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Here's another book which I did not yet know had been made into a movie. It tells the story of a young woman's blossoming career in the tech world of silicon valley where she works for the Circle. I think that's what it's called. Basically the company likes to track every place and every person because no information should be destroyed or forgotten, or private. Needless to say, not everyone is into this. Things go bad for some people. At the time of its advent I think this story was far more poignant. As of now, its concepts are old and not very scary.
Wool by Hugh Howey
Here we go. People had been talking about this awesome sci-fi tv show with the enchanting Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, and Steve Zahn. And I watched a few episodes, after reading this book which I think tells the story of both seasons of the tv show. It's good. Immersive, dark, makes you wonder. If you like modern science fiction, you'll like it.
It's about people who live in underground silos after some sort of catastrophic event on earth, and there's a lot of control in the amount of information people can have. There's also a lot of climbing and going down stairs, which the tv show doesn't emphasize enough.
Other People's Clothes by Calla Henkel
This book is kind of a murder mystery. Well, we have two friends who meet while studying abroad in Berlin. They rent a house from a famous writer for very cheap, and throw parties to supplement their rent.
No spoilers here, I promise. One girl kills herself and the other can't believe it is so, and ends up in an insane asylum after reading her old friends' diary and going out pretending to be the friend, in her clothes. I liked this book. Sure. Was it my thing? I don't know. I'm not super into mysteries above juicy thrills. Maybe you'd like it.
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
Cults. Is there a topic more juicy? Who doesn't want to adapt a completely regimented lifestyle to help them avoid all the crap they don't want to do? But cults are not just religions, of course not. Cults can be gyms, MLMs, and support groups.
And this book goes into some depth about the language many of these groups adapt to divide themselves from anyone who's not in the cult. It's all pretty interesting, but it's not as juicy as a tell-all from someone who sold their soul, castrated themselves, or went into human trafficing. So don't expect that here.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
As soon as I discovered the iconic film American Psycho was based on a book, I immediately added it to my reading list. I loved the long essays with fumbled facts about Genesis, Huey Louis, and Whitney Houston. Such deep feelings really might endear you to the twisted Patrick Batemen. But the book is so graphic. So much more graphic than the movie. So much more graphic than it needed to be. But hey. If you liked the movie and you like books, you should read it. And buy me a tie from Hugo Boss.
Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton
This is a really fun, dark, and immersive story about a working writer who is struggling to get by because she lives in New York. She becomes best friends with a creative wreck of a girl who wants to write but has no concept of work or self-discipline. But she has a house and money and very useful connections.
Wonderfully juicy drama ensues with betrayal and forged identities on social media. I will not let myself do more to spoil it. I had a very good time with this book. You should read it and we should talk about it.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
You've got me pegged. I'm a huge fan of William Gibson. Here is the first entry of a trilogy that takes place in modern times instead of a cyberpunk future. Our hero (again) is named Case with a strange allergy/aversion to branding. So her outfits are called CPUS (Cayce Pollock Units) that are all black, with the tags removed. She has a special attachment to a Buzz Rickson's Bomber Jacket, which somehow makes me want one even though there's never a proper season for it in central Florida. Cayce is on a mission to find the source of a mysterious photo blog.
This story is good fun, with lots of normal tech and KGB/Russian stuff that I don't entirely understand. There's a guy who's going to make an enlightening art project out of Sinclair ZX-81 Computers, which excites me. But it's been over a year and I haven't yet read the next entry in the series, which says something regarding my love for Gibson.
Severance by Ling Ma
For those who've seen the tv show Severance, this book is unrelated. It's an apocalyptic zombie type of story taking place in modern times with a narrating protagonist who doesn't like air conditioning. I think she's Korean, and lives in New York City. So maybe she's justified in that opinion.
Similar to the pandemic we've experienced, our heroine isolates herself properly and holds out at her job until everyone else is gone. Then she embarks on a journey to explore what's left while seeking a safer place, and joins a collective group. But what happens to them? There are some definite scary parts in this book. You'll like it if you like horror or zombies.
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
This is an interesting piece of literature. It's a personal narrative story written entirely in the form of tweets. So it feels like a book of poetry, almost. The 'posts' are definitely all profound in their own way. And I assume this is how most non-writers do their best writing these days. Very cool.
Our protagonist is an influencer type who hit it big with some viral tweets about important issues. She gets paid to travel and tweet about things which start our story. Then she veers away from 'relevant' cultural events to tell the story of her nephew's cancer. Deep stuff.
Square House of Gainesville Florida
Big Trouble by David Barry
Again, I didn't know there was a movie based on this book. I must have been looking for modern writers who are really funny in their work. And somebody somewhere on the internet said David Barry was the funniest thing ever.
So here we have a story that feels a lot like a movie, especially one starring Tim Allen. And it's pretty good. Based in Miami it has bums, criminals, and regular people in trouble. Decent stuff.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
I don't know how I ended up on this book, probably from a list of things that are highly rated. That was before I knew it was a movie, and that John Gren was such a famous writer of cutting Young Adult literature. That's okay, though. I guess I don't have young adult stuff. Part of me feels like a loser if I get into stuff for kids that was made after I became and adult. Maybe I've seen too many creeps trying to get in with the youngsters.
This book is about teenagers who go to a private boarding school in the south, where they smoke cigarettes and plan famous pranks. When tragedy befalls our little friends, they do what they can to dig deeper into the whole thing. That's about all I can say without spoiling it. Maybe you've already seen the movie. I'm going to have to see it too, but I probably won't be telling people how much better the book is. Not because the book is bad. It's actually really good. You understand.
Coach's Pizza of Tallahassee Florida
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
If you are literate and goth, you'd probably read this one. I didn't know at the time of reading that there was a movie based on this, or that there was a prequel tv series. Now I know and I've seen all of the first and part of the latter.
All of the gothic tropes are here. A spooky mansion, kids with a chilly aesthetic, an unloving mother, possible incest, attics, and horrific punishment on our poor, innocent Dollenganger children. They really go through it, and you get to be a fly on the wall for the whole show. Read it if you want some goth cred, or just like this kind of thing.
Rouge by Mona Awad
This is a pretty fun, gripping thing. Rouge is about a woman whose beautiful, glamorous mother dies in an accident. While settling the accounts of the passing, our hero discovers a skin care cult to answer the mysteries of our dearly departed and give our protagonist the skin she's always wanted. But at what price? I'm not sure you want to know. It's pretty scary.
Carmine's Pie House of Jacksonville, FL
The fact is, I've always been a fan of Carmine's, since I first visited them in 2012. Their deep dish isn't just a regular deep dish. It's a stuffed deep dish, with a layer of dough, a hefty layer of cheese, another layer of dough, and a lake of sauce. No joke, my 10" pie probably had 3 pounds of cheese on it, giving this pizza a ratio of 3cr/5ce/5ch.
Their dough gets a 4 out of 5. It's a little bready, but otherwise heavenly. There's nothing like a dough saturated in cheese melt. Speaking of which, look at the pull I got when dishing my first slice.
Carmine's sauce gets a 5 out of 5. It's delightful, with slow-roasted, quality tomatoes and fresh basil. All you need, really.
For style, I give Carmine's a 4 out of 5. I didn't get a picture of the front of the store, which isn't super important. The value was awesome and all that, but place was really trying to get me to buy one of their crafty beers. I understand. Beer sales have higher profit margins, yielding better tips for their servers (who do always have an easy job with me). My lady got $5 for bringing me a water and then bringing me a pizza. The extra hip vibe just didn't appeal to me, or make me feel especially Cozy with such a cozy, wonderful dish.
That being said, Carmine's get a 5/5 for quality. My pizza was wonderful and I will definitely be going back. With an overall score of 90%, I think you should definitely go too.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Between two Fires is kind of a dark, fairy tale adventure. You could call it fantasy, but its magic is more of the spiritual kind. Taking place in the plague years, a rough-and-tumble brigand goes on a quest to deliver an angelic little girl to a place of sanctuary.
The little girl turns out to be some kind of prophet, and our brigand has to become a hero of sorts because all kinds of dangerous evil stuff is around, between the fires of hell and the pyres of plague. I found it all kind of boring, but I've had my fill of the questing monomyths and chosen ones. So I guess I wasn't ready for this one.
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