What We’re Reading This Week

Steven

Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock by Jess Jarnow

“I love it! I want to be in the band Yo La Tengo so bad and this helps me live out that fantasy vicariously.”

___________________________________________

Flippo

Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace

“This is about a guy named Jason Priestley and his best friend Dave Patel (not the same guys you’re thinking of). This is the third British book I’ve read in a row. Unintentionally. It’s funny. Priestley is a layabout writer for a free newspaper. He writes reviews but he hates everything he has to review because he doesn’t know anything about books, art, culture, food. I’m forty pages in. His ex-girlfriend is now engaged and he’s in the process of stalking a new girl he just saw on Charlotte Street. Wallace also wrote Yes Man, which became the Jim Carrey movie. It’s very funny so far. It’s also hitting a little close to home. Priestley is thirty and going, “Uh, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

(On sale 10/1/12)

___________________________________________

Jessica

Vandal Love by Deni Y. Bechard

“This is about a man named Jude White. He’s a French-Canadian from a cursed family where the kids are all born either giants or runts, there’s no in between. He’s born a giant. He moves to America and takes up boxing. I picked it up because the publisher’s blurb said anyone who’s a fan of Geek Love would like it. So it’s another circus freak story. It’s so good! I like it!”

___________________________________________

Salvador

Finding Ultra by Rich Roll

“Roll is a tri-athlete. As a child he was a geeky, cross-eyed, shy kid who eveyrone picked on, but then it turned out he was a fantastic swimmer. It got him into Stanford. But during his first party there, someone put a drink in his hand and it was all downhill for the next twelve years. He became a horrible alcoholic, still very bright with a fantastic job, but he’d black-out. He was arrested. His parents told him they didn’t want to see him again unless he stopped drinking. He got himself into rehab for the tenth time and it finally worked. He met a girl, had a kid, was able to walk up stairs without losing his breath. He started running and now competes in incredible triathlons. At one point he was named one of Men’s Fitness Most Fit Guys. Google his picture and you’ll see, he’s forty-five years old and no body fat. Amazing.”

___________________________________________

Carolyn

Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healingby Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Kathryn Bowers

“Interesting subject matter. It’s about the disconnect between veterinary medicine and human medicine and posits that if the two branches communicated they could probably find some vaccines and make major advancements, things like that. It’s really well written and fun. The chapter I left off on is the sexuality chapter. The author really keeps it moving. It’s good for anyone, you don’t have to be interested in animals. The first chapter gets into Bird Flu, so it’s all relevant stuff and kind of spooky.”