Claudia’s job sucks. Instead of being a cool, edgy, famous writer, she’s an assistant to an old, fussy, famous writer (think Danielle Steel at 105) who makes her dig through trash when she loses stuff. Claudia also tends to drink too much, think too much, and mis-manage her over-drawn bank account on a regular basis. Her only solace is hanging out with her best friend William, but even that is beginning to go sour since Claudia thinks she may be in love with him. How much longer will Claudia be able to put off her landlord, lie to her boss and hide her attraction to William? This late 20’s chick is full of slacker angst and that makes gooooood readin’.
Month: May 2007
Stripping and other stories by Pagan Kennedy
This author was suggested to me by very cool Young Adult book editor Sharyn November and I’m oh-so-glad she did because Stripping is super slacker fiction. In these short, short stories, you’ll meet Spike, a punker princess who’s obsessed with seeing Elvis’s bathroom, and Helen, a college freshman who falls hard in her philosophy class for a guy named Nietzsche. Too bad he’s too dead to appreciate it…all in all, this is an eclectic collection of strange stories, each one more weird and wonderful than the last.
The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta
Dave is yet another thirty-something guy who’s not ready to turn in his badge of boyhood for the dreaded threads of adult-dom. He’s a member of the Wishbones, a wedding band that rocks the greater New Jersey area. But Dave can’t rock and roll all night anymore since his long-time girlfriend Julie starts making noises that sound suspiciously like wedding bells. Suddenly Dave’s either got to go with the music and follow his dream of being a REAL rock star or marry Julie–neither of which sounds too appealing. So, he puts off his decision by having a steamy affair with this hip NYC poet Gretchen. Heads are gonna roll and guitar strings and hearts are gonna break before the end of this modern slacker classic. Don’t miss a rock-n-roll minute of it! Also, please note Perrotta is the man behind the steamy movie and novel Little Children
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
After a sudden attack by a stranger, Jody gets a nasty sunburn every time she goes outside and feels a need to drink something warm and red instead of the usual Evian. What’s going on?? Could Jody be(gasp!) a VAMPIRE??? She needs a guy fast, and not just because she’s hungry. After all, SOMEONE has to go to the bank for her during the day! You’ll enjoy every odd-ball minute of this hip take on love, death, and undeath in California. And don’t forget to read the funny follow-up sequel, You Suck: A Love Story
Going Down by Jennifer Belle
Bennington Bloom isn’t your ordinary college co-ed. After all, most girls don’t pay their tuition turning tricks. But for Bennington, it’s the only way to pay her way and make the grade. A down and dirty, although not altogether unfunny portrait of a girl on the rocks in New York City. A sad, but touching novel of personal redemption.
Exile by Blake Nelson
At 31, it’s time for Mark, a poet performance artist, to grow-up, but he’s kicking and screaming all the way to adulthood. There’s always someone bigger and better and Mark’s tired of trying to stay on the top of the heap. So he takes a teaching sabbatical to a quiet Oregon college, only to realize that he hasn’t left his bad habits behind, but that they have hopped on the plane and come with him. If you liked the Gen-X reads of Douglas Coupland, you’ll love Exile.
Bongwater by Michael Hornburg
David, Courtney, Jennifer and Mary all just want to get a life. But something always gets in the way, whether its a burned-out apartment or a car-trunk full of the best weed that can be grown north of Portland. Shuttling between Portland and New York, Bongwater examines the slacker lifestyle with a microscope and finds more than you’d expect.
Smack by Melvin Burgess
Smack, a brilliant druggie novel out of England, chronicles the lives of Tar and Gemma, two teens who run away from home in search of freedom from their parents and authority. What they find is a squatter’s paradise and an addiction to heroin that ends up being stronger than their love for each other. Burgess slowly develops his characters, showing the gradual but devastating effect that regular drug use can have on a human being’s personality and mind. Gemma and Tar became so real to me that I had a hard time leaving them to their fate at the end of the book. No, they don’t die. But sometimes, learning to live after addiction is worse.
That was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton
Another oldie but a goodie, TWTTIN is a story about two guys who are closer than brothers, and the drug dealing that finally pushes them apart. Bryon is the thinker–at 16 he’s beginning to contemplate the meaning of his hard street existence. Mark is the doer–seeing his actions as part of the big picture over which he ultimately has no control. There’s a lot of lingo in this book that seriously dates it–like references to hippies and hoods, but it creates a great picture of the times–and boy, were they a’changin’ back in 1971 when this book was first published. There’s an excellent scene where Bryon’s friend M&M has a bad acid trip, and the results are enough to turn you off to the idea of drugs forever. Even though it’s dated, this read is deep. Give it a go-go.
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
The mother-drug-novel of them all, GAA made quite a splash when it was first published back in the early seventies, and has regularly made the banned book list ever since. It was published as a true diary account of a girl who goes from goody-goody to homeless addict due to her introduction to LSD at a party. Since then, it has come out that Alice was actually written by a real author and wasn’t some anonymous girl’s diary after all. Having said that, I don’t think it minimizes the power of this book one iota. If you want to know what its like to take an acid trip, run away from home, or spend a little time in a mental institution, read this book or watch Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Either way, you’ll be wearing a “Drugs Suck!” t-shirt before you can say “This is your brain…”
A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich by Alice Childress
Benjie likes to do a little heroin, but it’s no big deal, he can stop anytime. He’s not a junkie, he’s not a stoner. But if you listen to the voices of those around him–his long-suffering mother, the grandmother from who’s purse he steals, his old best friend, even his drug dealer, you’ll see that they all agree–Benjie is hooked. Benjie may think he can save himself, but he’s really going to need all the help he can get from his family and friends if he wants to dump the junk before it dumps him. A thin book that makes you think.
The White Horse by Cynthia D. Grant
The white horse is what Raina calls her mother’s drug habit–first a small, pretty pony that makes you happy, but later on, a huge ravenging stallion that demands attention at any cost. Because of her mother’s addiction, Raina usually stays away from home and instead runs the streets with her boyfriend Sonny, who’s also a junkie. When she discovers she’s preganant, the only person she can turn to is her sympathetic teacher, Ms. Johnson. Can Raina rein in her own white horse? Or will she get taken for a ride?
Angel Dust Blues by Todd Strasser
Strasser’s first book takes a look at drugs from the other end of the spectrum. Instead of focusing on the drug user, Strasser introduces you to the drug pusher, in this case, spoiled rich kid Alex Lazar. Alex is bored with his comfy life in his big house and his chronically absent parents. So, he decides to deal drugs for the fun of it, and loves the immediate popularity it brings him. But when he becomes involved with a traditional girl who’s straighter than straight, and his best friend and co-dealer starts using way too much of their product on the side, Alex has to make some hard decisions that will rock his rich boy world.
A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence by Patricia Hersch
What if an adult – a normal, mom-type person – asked to follow you and your family for 3 years, watching everything you did and said – even the stuff your parents knew nothing about? That’s exactly what journalist Patricia Hersch did. She wanted to know what made teens tick, so she set out on this huge research journey with six teens that took three years to complete. Hersch’s whole deal is that today’s normal (as in, not super high risk) teens are rebelling more than ever, because between the working parents and neighborhoods that are empty until 6:00 PM, they have no one to turn to except other teens – thus the title. Teens are like a tribe apart from the rest of society, a culture and group unto themselves. It’s a pretty interesting book, because the people she hangs with are just like the people you know, and Hersch herself is totally non-judgmental. When she finds out that one of the kids that she’s working with is having her first sexual experience, and another is dealing drugs, she doesn’t freak, she just records the info and lets the facts tell the story, This is a hefty book (391 pages), but totally worth your while. If and when you read this book, let me know what you think-–it’s sparking a lot of debate among parent, teacher, and librarian tribes…
Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America by Rebecca Carroll
