I read some books recently,

And one of them was “Super Extra Grande” by Yoss.

Yoss is apparently one of the best sci fi authors from Cuba. It was interesting reading this book because to be honest, most of the stuff I read comes from white european or Americans, mostly male. It was important to look at things from a less eurocentric view.

The book itself had strengths and weaknesses. The author gets a plus on the world building. Can tell he has a sense of the world he created and the science and the history of the world.

There is a minus in the pure story-telling aspect. The narrative voice is past first person, which takes away a lot of the urgency. There is also issues with the plotting - not giving much away, but the main character is a vet to giant creatures, and he has had two assistants who fell in love with him, then he had to dismiss them, and then he has to go rescue him. But there are some very victorian coincidence to wrap the plot up.

Overall, it was ok, but not great.

I recently read Hot Dog Taste Test, by Lisa Hanawalt.

I’m not sure what was going on with this book. It had no real structure, it was more like peering into a workbook that needed editing. I picked it up because the blurbs in back, mainly my beloved Amy Sedaris. Amy, you let me down this time. The book did have some funny parts, but it wasn’t that good overall. On the bright side, I didn’t have many expectations going in, so I wasn’t really let down.

I recently read Fight Club 2, the graphic novel by Chuck Palahniuk and Cameron Stewart.

I’m not sure what to say about this book. I thought it was joke when I first heard of it, then mocked it on twitter, and only read it because my library had it. I say this as a one time very passionate fan of the author. In my late teens and early 20s, I read everything he had, and then Lullaby came out and then Diary and I was like “This guy does only one thing”. He’s the M. Night Shyamalan of authors. There is a grotesque conceit and he writes a book around it. I’ve heard a half dozen or more of his books and Fight Club is the only one I could describe the conceit.

So, basically, liking fight club in both the movie, book, and social club versions, this book to me seemed the least necessary book ever written, or at least up there with the book of mormon. It takes the interesting thing about Tyler from the first book and cheapens it and then he even writes himself in the book towards the end, expecting criticism like this one. Fight club 2: Yeah, It’s a thing.

I recently read Maximilian Uriarte’s “White Donkey”.

It is a well done, if forgettable book about the recent war(s) in the middle east. It just reminds me that I should be glad that I never had to fight those wars, but I can just read about them.

I recently read Cousin Joseph by Jules Feiffer.

This is a pretty well-done noirish book that is the second part of a trilogy by the author. I didn’t know it had a introductory book, but it worked pretty well by itself until the end, where there was a bit of a cliffhanger. I might look for the other books in this series.