Freaky Dancin': Me and the Mondays

by Bez. Pan Books, 1998c., 335 pages. ISBN 978-0-330-48197-7

A story of a young man who spends his days in constant pursuit of drugs could turn out to be a sad and cautionary tale. This book by Bez, about his young adult years and his (in)famous time as the maraca-shaking/”freak dancin’” member of the Manchester band Happy Mondays, turns out to be a very funny and honest memoir. Though much of Bez’s antics are self-destructive, it is also obvious that he quite enjoyed himself. He is unapologetic but he seems to hide nothing. Freaky Dancin’ is a must for those readers interested in the Happy Mondays and notorious nightlife scene of Manchester in the late 80s and early 90s.

Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro. Knopf (2005), Hardcover, 304 pages.

A quiet yet potent tale about three young people who are fated to brief lives because of their role in a society now free of disease. This story unfolds in an alternate version of the near past and much of it takes place in the remembrances of an idyllic (and disturbing) boarding school in a scenic English countryside. This novel is a heartbreak and the questions it leaves a reader with is why I highly recommended this book.

Rebel Angels

by Libba Bray. New York: Dleacorte Press, c. 2005, pbk. 548 pages. ISBN 978-0-385-73341-0

Second book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. It is near Christmastime and Gemma and her friends are looking forward to time away from Spence Academy. But their time of celebration is clouded by the dangers brought on by Gemma's recent actions in the Realms. Now the magic is loose and many are after its power. It is now up to Gemma to find the Temple and bind the magic to restore order to the Realms. But who can she trust when so many thirst for the power?

This book is a must read for fans of the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty. Not only is this book full of mystery and fantasy, but Bray also gives the reader an opportunity to ponder racism, classism and the roles of women in Victorian England.

My Booky Wook

A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up by Russell Brand. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. UK edition: Hodder & Stoughton, 2007. 353 pages.

My Booky Wook is a confessional full of embarrassing and oftentimes disturbing events and choices in Brand's life eventually leading him to rehab for drugs (and later sex addiction). While Brand constantly desires to become famous, he continually commits one self-destructive act after another. Everything is presented for you, the reader, in Brand's clever and (somewhat) literary voice. Brand is perceptive, irreverent and too funny.