Megan's Picks

Anyone who has an even slightly dysfunctional family is going to be in tears from laughing so hard at this book. Anna, Portia, and Emery participate in an impromptu family reunion when their mother suffers a massive heart attack. Interspersed with each sibling's memories of growing up with a nudist mom and a pot-growing dad, this family proves over and over again that sometimes you just have to love your family, no matter how they behaved. I <3 this book!

A little button at the end of each range activated the fluorescent track above it.
A yellowing 5 x 7 index card
Scotch-taped below each button said EXTINGUISH LIGHT WHEN NOT IN USE.
Geryon went flickering
through the ranges like a bit of mercury flipping the switches on and off.
The librarians thought him
a talented boy with a shadow side.

Autobiography of Red is a novel in verse, Anne Carson's first. She recreates the fragmented myth of Herakles' trials in this modern take by writing from the perspective of Geryon--a red-skinned, winged demon that Herakles originally had to kill. By choosing Geryon as her central character, Carson can bring up the questions of existence as if they hadn't been asked before. We feel the pain of learning the most elementary things, and then the volcanic intensity that comes with that more advanced thing, love. Carson's Geryon is, among other things, a camera freak who doesn't understand that an observer must inevitably alter the nature of the thing observed.

Sid is going crazy... He's being haunted by his mother's ghost, which has taken up residence in a '67 bottle of Bordeaux, he's convinced he has a brain tumor, and he's pretty sure his postman is plotting to kill him... This debut novel by Kirk Farber is an unconventional depiction of grief and guilt. Through Sid, he's examined what it means to lose people you love, and people you think you love, and how to move on from the loss. Sid is an endearing narrator, and his staccato, postcard-esque chapters make this a rapid read. Quirky humor blends itself brilliantly with solitary moments of stark clarity, which makes Sid's grieving process relatable to everyone. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time!