24. Halfway to the Grave (364 pp.) by Jeaniene Frost (May 22). This is a dopey but entertaining "paranormal romance." I had no idea such a thing existed. It's about a Buffy-ish half vampire/half human vampire hunter who hooks up with a Spike-like vampire so they can kill bad vampires and have lots of hot vampire sex that you can read on the bus with a totally straight face.

23. The Road (287 pp.) by Cormac McCarthy (May 18). I've been a Cormac McCarthy fan for a long time. A couple of years ago I read Suttree (book #9) which I described as grim and joyless. When The Road came out the first review I read said it was probably McCarthy's grimmest book to date and I couldn't imagine what that would be and was in no big rush to read it. Meanwhile it won the Pulitzer and everyone's read it and I finally picked it up. Oh my. I knew it was grim. I had no idea it was harrowing. I could hardly put it down, yet I wanted to avert my eyes. Here it is all in one sentence from p. 274 of the paperback:

"Ten thousand dreams ensepulchered within their crozzled hearts."

Very highly recommended.

22. Rant (319 pp.) by Chuck Palahniuk (May 16). This is another instructor this summer. I read Fight Club but it was at least 10 years ago. This book surprised me because I was ambivalent about it until I got about 2/3rds of the way through and when I saw how it was all coming together, I could hardly put it down. This is a terrible review but I don't want to give out any spoilers. It's about a juvenile delinquent type kid who gets involved with this car crash culture. But it's way more than that. Highly recommended.

21. A Place So Foreign (243 pp.) by Cory Doctorow (May 11). This is by another one of my instructors for the workshop this summer. Fun collection of sci-fi flavored stories. My favorites were Craphound, the title story and Return to Pleasure Island. I started to explain what they were about but it's hard to give a simple explanation of a sci-fi story.

20. To Say Nothing of the Dog (493 pp.) by Connie Willis (May 3). I loved this book. I went to bed early last night because I didn't sleep well the night before. I could barely keep my eyes open but I couldn't stop reading wanting to finish it. I finally pooped out and had to finish the last chapter this morning. This is a time travel book set in Victorian times and it's hilarious. Recommended. Even if you think you don't like time travel books.