Off the shelf, on the shelf

There are some things that you should do that are good for you; floss, eat, see things outside your window, make funny, have a cocktail, ride the subway, get naked, read.


I put together a list of some books I've read recently and some recommendations.

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Three Nights in Havana by Robert Wright (non-f):

• pierre trudeau + fidel castro = margaret trudeau buys drugs in mexico avec su hijo
  
• fascinating character study of all three
  

Rebel Sell by Andrew Potter and Joseph Heath (non-f):

• snarky -take that i'm clever- non-conformity conformity critique
• best part is when they drag naomi klein through the corporate branded streets
  

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (non-f):

• ideas+connections+extensions. A+ on the ICE rubric.
  
• my students were right, who cares?

Let's Talk about Love (33 1/3) by Carl Wilson:

• schizophrenic celine dion oedipus complex culture critique
• calling his ex-wife would have been easier than crying to celine ballads for a year. ugh.
  

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill:

• critically acclaimed montreal drug fiction, yeah yeah..
  
• "canadian" references are fun, but tying up abuse, child prostitution, poverty, heroin addictions and rape with a bow is uh thin...?
  

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo:

• magical realism is birthed amongst tortillas and colour in mexico
• if you like the genre, read one of its points of origin.
  

Fall on Your Knees by Anne Marie McDonald:

• marni: "oh, I was going to read that." emma, eyes wide, hands up in hallelujah: "marni please. oh hell. marni. yes."
• read it.
  

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

• british butler road trips and ruminates ambivalently
  
• i've heard rave reviews, there was a movie, i'm lukewarm
  

The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas by Diana Taylor (non-f)

• what does argentina's dirty war, rumba in central park, princess diana's death, latin t.v. fortune tellers and peruvian collectives have in common?
• a must read (only) if your brain is tuned to (academic) performance analysis
  

The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso (memoir)

• girl develops offshoot of Guillain-Barré syndrome a.k.a neuro-auto-immune nightmare and flushes her plasma like coke during a bust
• clear-eyed, deals with the obvious metaphor early, not as theatrical as the publisher suggests on the jacket. read in one shot.
  

The Heart of the Matter by Grahame Green

• sad white guy deals with family and career woes while colonizing deep dark africa
• it's hard to separate "the times" from my here and now bias. you choose.
  

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On Tap:
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway