Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I pretty much grab up the newest Stephen King books right as they hit the shelves. http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/07/under-dome-by-stephen-king.html

I got a copy of Sumner Island by Michael Cormier as an early reviewer's copy. It's a first novel, and honestly, it wasn't too bad.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/05/sumner-island-by-michael-cormier.html

Mmmm, mmm. I love me some serial killer fiction. I read Chelsea Cain's debut novel, Heartsick, pretty much right after it came out but then left Sweetheart on the shelf for forever until the 3rd in the series, Evil at Heart, showed up.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/05/sweetheart-evil-at-heart-by-chelsea.ht...

Mmmm, mmm. I love me some serial killer fiction. I read Chelsea Cain's debut novel, Heartsick, pretty much right after it came out but then left Sweetheart on the shelf for forever until the 3rd in the series, Evil at Heart, showed up.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/05/sweetheart-evil-at-heart-by-chelsea.ht...

I have had this book on my shelf for a long while, kept looking at it, picking it up, and then putting it back. I wish I had read it earlier because it was a very fun, witty, surprising read.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/05/bad-monkeys-by-matt-ruff.html

I have to say right off that I am a huge fan of the movie Audition by Miike, and when I saw that I won a free early reviewers copy of the novel I literally clapped my hands.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/04/audition-by-ryu-murakami.html

I was very intrigued by the idea of the six word memoir. How do you tell the story of your life in six words or less? http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/03/it-all-changed-in-instant-not-quite.ht...

I never would have picked up Charles Bukowski on my own if it weren't for 3 different people waxing poetic about him, so I threw in the towel and tried him out. Wow. I wasn't sure about him because although I understood the significance of On the Road, I just didn't fall in love with it, so more Beats, well, I wasn't interested. But damn if Mr. Bukowski didn't blow me away. Technically, he's not a Beat, but he has a similar style. So far I have read Post Office and Ham on Rye this year, and I have several more queued up in the library to read. I am parsing them out so I don't run through everything too quickly; that's how much I like Bukowski. He is reaching Vonnegut proportions for me.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/04/ham-on-rye-by-charles-bukowski.html

To be honest, I didn't think Just After Sunset was nearly as good as Everything's Eventual, Stephen King's previous short story collection, but I do love how King writes those short stories.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/05/just-after-sunset-by-stephen-king.html

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski (besides having the hardest name ever in the world to type) is another one of those Quality Paperback Book club books that I bought on a whim, and after losing my job a couple of months ago, found even funnier and more full of black comedy than maybe if I were still working. It was truly an enjoyable book - dark, bloody, funny, and so, so satirical it almost burns like razor burn.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/08/severance-package-by-duane-swierczynsk...

I had a friend recommend Ubik to me, saying it's one of those books that leaves you saying, "what the hell just happened?" Well, he was right, because that's the exact reaction I had when I read the last paragraph. I can't get this book out of my head.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/04/ubik-by-philip-k-dick.html

I never read a lot of PDK before this year. I read some of his short stories, which I liked well enough, but I didn't like them enough to really pick up a full book and give it a whirl. That was until my friend John recommended Ubik. Then I fell into serious lust. I believe I went right out and bought another 5 PKD books the very next day after finishing that one. I was told to pick up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? next. I have to admit, I loved it, but not as much as Ubik. Not that Androids wasn't exceptional, trust me. It was. But Ubik was such a mind fuck, I don't know that anything will top it.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/09/do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep-by...

I will admit to finding Patricia Highsmith only after The Talented Mr. Ripley became a movie, but I have been slowly but steadily buying her books used very since. Strangers on a Train is her first novel, and it is a remarkable one. Most first novels you read end up being iffy, with promise but that certain tinge of not quite polished prose. Strangers on a Train had so little of that feel that I struggle to even remember it. Mr. Hitchcock liked it so much he felt compelled to make a movie out of it and we know Hitch knows his suspense.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/10/strangers-on-train-by-patricia.html

I think I found this book via my QPB membership. It's more than likely. I seem to find the best books there. Love Is a Mix Tape is probably one of the sweetest, saddest books I have read in a long while.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2009/10/love-is-mix-tape-by-rob-sheffield.html

“Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs.”

This review should probably start with if you haven’t read Gillian Flynn, then shame on you. Now after saying that, I must put in a caveat. If dark, moody, borderline icky plots disturb you, maybe you should avoid reading her. Because Dark Places is pretty much what this book is. It’s a dark place, alright.

http://hisshisspurrr.blogspot.com/2010/03/dark-places-by-gillian-flynn.html