What We’re Reading

MICHAEL

The Best American Short Stories 2012
“2012’s Best American Short Stories are fantastic, it’s a great sampling of some of the best short fiction being produced today. My two favorites are Beautiful Monsters and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. And if you ever don’t like a short story, just go to the next one.”

CASSIE

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
“Cheryl is the once anonymous advice columnist for The Rumpus. Each chapter of Tiny Beautiful Things begins with a letter sent to Cheryl and her response, which always brilliant and hilarious also contain highly personal anecdotes. The result is a book that borders memoir. She has been through a lot of really rough things, including being molested by a family member throughout childhood but she is able to talk about all of it in a really healthy way. I want to give this book to all of my girlfriends.”

JESSICA

And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman
“Heloise lives in the suburbs with her son, she is a madam running her own business. The story alternates between Heloise’s childhood spent with her verbally and physically abusive father who she eventually escaped when she found a pimp, and her present day situation. Lucky for her, Heloise has the Police Chief on her side. He gives her tips where the girls should stay away from, and when they can’t do business. But he is about to retire and his replacement is stern and looking to promote. This book sucked me in from the first page. I love a good prostitution story.”

TOMMY

Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines
“This is a book about the magic of books. You know when you were a kid and you fantasized about the ability to fly, or what it could be like if you could go to Hogwarts- Isaac can do just that. He can pull from any book- it’s the fantasy we’ve all had. Now he has to defend the real world against the book villains. 10 pages into the book Isaac must fight 3 Stephanie Meyer’s glittering vampires, he defeats them with a pulp scifi ray gun. This book has that same sense of wonder you felt when you were 9 years old reading Lord of the rings for the first time. And there is some fun history thrown in, Gutenberg was the one who founded all this and created the printing press so Libriomancers could pull from books what they need.”

JOE

Cthulhu 2000 edited by Jim Turner
“Cthulhu 2000 is the December book club book for Nightmare Factory. While the title I know is horrible, it’s a great collection of stories influenced by the work of H.P. Lovecraft. It was selected because it is the last book in print that contains The Last Feast of the Harlequin by Thomas Ligotti. The story is set during winter solstice/yule time and it is an unsettling story perfect for celebrating Christmas time by the author whose work gave our book club its name. the Book also contains stories by Poppy Z. Brite, as well as Ramsey Campbell, two previous writers for the book club. It’s a great compilation of a great group of writers. I highly recommend it, five breakfast tacos!”