Vox 

by by Nicholson Baker

After the first 20 pages I almost stopped reading this book. I guess I thought it would be more of a narrative, and once I realized the entire book was just one phone conversation I was hesitant. I got over that pretty quickly though and was sucked into the world of these two lonely people who dialed each other thru an anonymous phone sex hotline and unfolded a most intimate, vulnerable and erotic conversation. The conversation (the book) itself gets steamier and more flushed as it crashes to the sweaty end. This is a great look into loneliness, sexual fantasy, and the comfort of strangers.

 Coffee, Tea, Or Me? 

by Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones

The memoirs of 2 stewardesses from the late 60's, early 70's pretends to be a tell-all account of nefarious goings on up there in the sky. However, it's really just a poorly written semi autobiography wherein the first half of the book they're piously worried that they might be construed as "loose women" and by the end of the book they're practically bragging about how many kinds of men they've bedded between flights. They back stab everyone they've worked with, and they find most of their collegues' behavior appalling until they're doing it themselves. A good beach read, but a snoozer anywhere else.

 Cock and Bull 

by Will Self

Two stories in one book. Hysterically funny writing. The synopsis is this: In "Cock", a young married woman grows a penis and all hell breaks loose. In "Bull", a young atheletic fellow grows a vagina on the back of his leg and all sorts of craziness ensues. Perfect way to start the Year of the Cock.

 Music For Torching 

by A. M. Homes

Okay, so I guess this book came out almost 10 years ago...but I only recently even HEARD of it. It was an ordinary Thursday night, I was making a couple pork chops for a friend of mine and casually asking if she had any books I could borrow...and she pulled this gem off of the bookshelf saying, "Oh, this one's really good, you should read this first" Boy was she right. I couldn't put it down, the depth and detail the author uses to describe these seemingly ordinary suburbanites as they trudge their way thru a mutual nervous breakdown is astounding. She makes ordinary emotions seem extraordinarily visceral, and extraordinary events seem commonplace. A must read. I'm looking forward to reading more of A.M.Homes' stories.

 Pamela Anderson Versus Traci Lords 

These are books my friends, books.."Star" and "Underneath It All"

I must be truthful here....I was browsing thru the Hudson News bookstore at the Airport looking for some kind of pulpy smut to take on the plane with me, and I saw these two gems. Almost the same book really, though Pamela Anderson's, "Star" is supposedly fiction...I read about three pages of each...and it was sort of like reading a 7th grade slut's diary...very entertaining and spicey, and if I'd had more than 10 bucks on me I would have bought one of them for sure. Instead I settled for some mindless Elmore Leonard novel about an high diver who gets himself involved in all sorts of trouble.....including......MURDER.

 Under A Hoodoo Moon 

by Dr.John

I've never really been a huge Dr. John fan, I mean, I like New Orleans soul music and blues as much as the next guy...I guess the head band always throws me off with him...In any case I didn't really know all that much about him and my friend talked me into buying this claiming it was a GREAT read. (I sort of think he wanted the clerk to believe that we weren't JUST buying porn, we can read too....) anyhow I bought it, and read it and it's true, it's a great read. It doesn't really make you any more of a Dr. John FAN per sae, but it's a great history lesson of the music scene in New Orleans from the 1950s on. It's pretty outstanding too the amount of records Dr John himself was involved with. (it seems like he's involved somehow with almost ALL the tracks on Saturday Nite Fish Fry) The first half of the book when he's a big ol' junky is probably the better half. At least the more interesting half. If I were you, I wouldn't be a sucker and pay full price for this book like me, but get it used (90 cents on Amazon) and dig in, it's a fun read.

 Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim 

by David Sedaris

I'm as big a David Sedaris fan as the next guy. And this book is full of wonderfully engaging and hysterical stories, all of which in some way expose one or all of his family members to the public in all their humanness and frailty. If this is a creepy, exploitative thing to do on his part, you don't really notice or care because the stories are so fucking funny. The only thing I was dismayed by with this book is that a good portion of the stories have already been published in the New Yorker over the past year, and it doesn't say anything about that on the cover. So even though I enjoyed reading them for a second time, I still think my friends, that that is misleading.

 Sweet Action Magazine 

(porn for girls)

Well, always late-to-the-party Haas didn't tune into this dirty little magazine until the 2nd issue was already out, but alas, better late than never. Essentially it's a Brooklyn based, indie rock, porn magazine (for girls) and when I first heard about it, I was intrigued and spent many hours I trolling thru many many magazine stores in search of this holy grail (you know, stepping around the guys in the porn section who have the new copy of 'Fat and Sassy' tucked covertly inside a 'Popular Mechanics' or something.) Anyway, I finally got my grubby little hands on a copy, and my verdict you ask? Well, honestly, I think it's a little milquetoast. Though I must say they do some excellent work with pie charts.

 Buddha for your back pocket

I don't even know who wrote this one. I was sitting at LaGuardia airport waiting for my plane to board and this woman who looked a lot like an older Blair from Facts Of Life, wearing a pantsuit that was actually shorts instead of pants. Anyhow, she was pacing back and forth in front of me reading this giant size paperback book. like the size of the NYT Sunday magazine, but a book, and it was titled, Buddha For Your Back Pocket. Fucking genius.

 Straight From The Fridge, Dad

 dictionary of hipster slang, by Max Decharne

This should really be the companion book to Iceberg Slim's Pimp. Pretty self explanatory by its title, it's a dictionary of hipster slang from the turn of the century thru the early 1960s. A must read, if you're looking to add some pizzazz to your vocabulary this summer. Here are some of my favorite phrases that I'm hoping to work into my own vocabulary: "Ain't no sin to take off your clothes and dance around in your bones." (That is, enjoy yourself, get with it, relax.) Or the obvious, "Doing next week's drinking too soon. "Or then there's, "Give me an intro to this snake and I'll hitch up the reindeers for you." (That is, introduce me to this despicable person and I'll get the marijuana cigarettes for you to smoke.) And also, "I tried to carry a stuffed moose head thru a revolving door." (Somebody beat me up.) There you have it, pick up a copy and choose your own new phrases to work out.

 Pimp 

 by Iceberg Slim

Have I been living under a rock?? How come it's taken me this long to find out about Iceberg Slim??? So, I've been reading his own story, "Pimp" complete with a glossary of 1940s street slang in the back and it's thoroughly entertaining. The version of the book I borrowed has a forward written by Ice T, talking about what a huge influence Iceberg Slim has had on his life and career (the career that ultimately has him playing a tough detective on Law and Order's SVU series) Ice T blathers on about how usually you only hear that turning to drugs, violence, and pimpin' usually just leads you to your grave, but Iceberg Slim is this great example of how someone can turn to drugs, violence, and pimpin' and still end up a successful writer hmmm .Despite whatever influence Iceberg Slim has on Ice T. I still want to read the rest of his books

 Found 

 magazine, issue #1

A friend of mine gave me this Ann Arbor based fanzine when I was in Ohio last week. It turned out to be wonderful plane reading material. It's 80 pages of found notes, letters, lists, resumes, and drawings. Some with explanations as to where, when and under what circumstances the document was found, and others with no info what so ever. Although a bit voyeuristic, it is thoroughly entertaining reading. Here's an example found note, "Mario, I fucking hate you. You said you had to work then whys your car here at HER place? You're a fucking LIAR. I hate you. I fucking hate you. Amber. PS. Page me later." There's a website address on the front cover you could check out www.foundmagazine.com

 Brave New World 

by Aldous Huxley

It's been almost 20 years since I read this book the first time, so picking it up again feels like I've never read it at all in a world where Henry Ford is God, and there's an endless supply of Soma (how do I get my hands on some of that?). In a world where being an individual is suspect behavior and promiscuity is encouraged . hmmm I haven't gotten to the end yet, so I'm not sure how to conclude this refreshing though, after reading a slew of pulp fiction and pop culture books, to delve into this futuristic classic.

 Fargo Rock City

 by Chuck Klosterman

I'm actually only half way thru this book at this point, but I'm loving every word in it. I love the way the author writes, I love the crazy analogies and social commentaries he makes about heavy metal kids in the rural Midwest in the 1980s. Some sentences are so amusing I've read them over a few times in a row. Maybe that's why it's taking me so long to finish it. It's making me so nostalgic for the heavy metal days that I never had, I want to go out and buy Guns and Roses, "Appetite for Destruction," and watch Poison videos. If you ever needed to know the difference between Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, this is the book to read.

 LaBrava

by Elmore Leonard

Now that I've read every Elmore Leonard book they have at my tiny neighborhood library, I'm pretty sure I could get by without ever reading another. Since I only read his books when I'm on the subway or at the gym, (where I can never really get much reading done since I'm busy dying) all of his characters get mixed up and start to blend together and I start to forget whether our protagonist is from Miami, Detroit, or Los Angeles. The annoying thing about our hero, Joe LaBrava, is that he's described as such a plain Jane (so to speak), yet he gets all the girls, the bad guys respect him, and even the local police force automatically trusts and reveres him. WHAT?! Not in my neighborhood!

 Choke

by Chuck Palahniuk

Okay, first read the book, then look at the author's picture on the back cover. Can you imagine that kind of language coming out of that guy's mouth? I can't. It doesn't add up, and I think it's all a sneaky trick to take me for a fool... dammit this always happens when I'm not paying attention .