don’t know if you heard , but this is the year of reading. I think. maybe it’s the year of financial insecurity. regardless, here’s a few you should put on your list.

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good books I’ve read recently

emergency! [this book will save your life] by neil strauss- why wouldn’t you need to know how to break out of handcuffs, obtain a second passport, kill your own food, start a fire, move your money out of the country and much, much more? fantastic read and you’ll end up replaying the overall theme of it.

killing yourself to live by chuck klosterman – this is my new favorite writer. I’m sure I’m not the first to say that. read this and then go ahead and order his entire catalog in bulk; you’re going to do it anyway. pop-culture essayist/profiler looks into if suicide makes a better rockstar.

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good book I’m reading

me talk pretty one day by david sedaris – this was given to me by a friend when I told her I liked chuck klosterman. I’m only a few chapters in, but it’s smart satire. and how many people can claim that?

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bad book I put down after a chapter

everything bad is good for you by steven johnson- if a book doesn’t grab me, or confuses me, then I won’t finish it out of guilt. life’s too short to force a read. good premise though, but what kind of asshole writes designates his first chapter to confusing you, only to make a point of telling you it’s for a point? no thanks.

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book I’ve been skimming though

black music by leroi jones – I bought this as there are a few essays on thelonious monk. I found out after that a lot of people think the writer is a bigot who approves of rape in certain cases? [debatable] that being said, I like his insight on the beginnings of ‘bebop’.

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…so take a note from brother Scott who, at a very early age, threw his television out and told himself that every moment he would spend watching could be spent reading, listening to music and playing his bass – he produced kylie’s opening tracks when she was in shanghai a few years back and now is receiving worldwide praise for his video game scores…so he might be onto something.