Damned

I read Chuck Palahniuk's Diary before starting this blog and couldn't tell you a thing about it, except that I remember an appealing trenchancy. Damned is likely to stick in the memory longer, being an account of 13-year-old Madison Spencer's trip to Hell. The story begins as a Breakfast Club, with Madison in "detention" with a jock, cheerleader, geek, and punk. She is the daughter of a Hollywood power couple who jet off to Bhutan or Burundi every few weeks to adopt another sibling. Palahniuk is mordant and funny throughout: The English Patient plays endlessly in Hell, and Madison believes she's there because of a "marijuana overdose." The girl possesses both great wisdom and the limitations of a 13-year-old, a combination that can be jarring at times, but most readers will want to roll with it. Just think Joan of Arc.

One for the Books

Joe Queenan's One for the Books contains few, if any, bad sentences, a wealth of judgments (some questionable, like his decision to not read Manhattan Transfer), humor, and something worthwhile on virtually every one of its 244 pages. Opening at random to page 82, you find this about the novels of Anita Brookner: "They are a bit like Chieftains records: Unless you're a hard-core fan, you probably don't need more than one of them in your collection."

Johnny Carson

Henry Bushkin's portrait of Johnny Carson during the 18 years that he was the TV star's lawyer reveals a darker side audiences never saw. Carson's mother, Ruth, comes in for much of the blame for her son being unable to return love, care for his sons properly, or maintain a marriage. She was a cold, selfish woman by many accounts. Bushkin's fly-on-the-wall biography is both frank and affectionate.

The Plague

At once a work of philosophy, theology, and psychology, The Plague is above all an examination of the human heart. People become their true selves in extreme situations that peel back the accretions of convention and delusion. Camus is ultimately an optimist on the subject of human nature, making this work a provoking, affirming flame.