msjamgochian'sinfinitebooklist

A can't-put-it-down literate thriller for summer, Gillian Flynn's latest entry in her collection of disquieting tales tells the story of a picture-perfect marriage gone horribly wrong. Dark handsome midwestern transplant Nick and perfect blonde New Yorker Amy meet at a swank writers' soiree in Manhattan, exchanging the kind of repartee familiar to fans of Nick and Norah Charles. She thinks he's smitten, but in a heavy dose of foreshadowing, he doesn't call her for months; they reconnect after she accidentally runs into him at a local market. Their chemistry kicks in, they get married, and live fairly happily in a lovely flat owned by Amy's parents. When the recession hits their industry (they both write for print publications), they lose their jobs, and when Amy's parents inform her that they need to 'borrow back' her trust fund to avoid bankruptcy, things quickly head south. Or west. They pack up and retreat to Nick's hometown of Carthage, Mi...

At last! A superbly written, craftily woven, incredibly wonderful fantasy-adventure-techno tale that I can recommend to fans of Ready Player One (which sadly left me in the lurch back around December: I had no hope of finding anything quite like it and begrudgingly moved on to other genres), brought to you by award-winning graphic novelist G. Willow Wilson . Alif (his handle - the first letter in the Arabic alphabet) is a young hacker living in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. He spends most of his time providing his clients with secure connections and invisible digital footprints with enviable skill, diligently protecting them from state surveillance, run by the terrifying head of state, or, The Hand of God, as Alif and his gweek friends have nicknamed him. Alif is also in love with Intisar, a high-born girl who is out of his reach in the real world due to his mixed Indian-Arab background. The two sign a "stock marriage contract," but when Intisar becomes engaged to som...

Fifteen year-olds June and Day are from different worlds. Day, the country's most wanted and elusive criminal, lives in the slums under the radar, fighting for justice against the Republic, the elite government who periodically poisons its own people in the name of science. June, born into a high-ranking military family, lives in an exclusive neighborhood and is training to be the next big thing in the Republic's ongoing fight against the Colonies (North America is divided in half). Day becomes the prime suspect when June's beloved older brother Matias is killed, and their paths intertwine in a confusing mix of suspicion, lies, friendship, and illicit feelings. The action-packed story is told in alternating chapters in the completely credible voices of June and Day. The incredible Ms. Lu has an undeniable talent for writing prose that is easy to understand yet complex and poetic enough to entice even the most reluctant reader. Legend is a fantastic, fast-paced, fun, and...

A haunting look at what happens when a kid slips through the cracks (which happened to be gaping wide throughout the ubiquitous 'hands-off-I'm-too-busy-having-a-breakdown/affair/addiction/vision" parenting style of the 70s and 80s). Most of us remember Jeffrey Dahmer as the guy who ate people, but Derf Backderf knew him as the guy who entertained his classmates with an ongoing and entertaining schtick (imitating his mother's seizures), the guy who didn't quite fit in yet maintained a bizarre celebrity status (including his own club), and, eventually, the guy who could finish a six-pack in mere seconds and always had a bottle at the ready to drown out the darkness at home and in his head. Backderf masterfully crafts a thoroughly researched cautionary and poignant tale of a lost young man without glossing over details or over sympathizing. Don't miss it - and pair it with Jeff Jensen's Green River Killer for more graphic serial killer memoir. Click here fo...