Welcome to August - the hottest month of the year and the time when my reading malaise often kicks in. We thought we’d jump start the lazy days of summer with a fast paced techno-thriller from one of the brightest minds of our generation - Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow.

Here’s the review from Booklist:

Seventeen-year-old techno-geek w1n5t0n (aka Marcus) bypasses the school’s gait-recognition system by placing pebbles in his shoes, chats secretly with friends on his IMParanoid messaging program, and routinely evades school security with his laptop, cell, WifFnder, and ingenuity; cialis online pharmacy.While skipping school, Markus is caught near the site of a terrorist attack on San Francisco and held by the Department of Homeland Security for six days of intensive interrogation.After his release, he vows to use his skills to fight back against an increasingly frightening system of surveillance. Cialis online pharmacy: set in the near future, Doctorow’s novel blurs the lines between current and potential technologies, and readers will delight in the details of how Markus attempts to stage a techno-revolution.Obvious parallels to Orwellian warnings and post-9/11 policies, such as the Patriot Act, will provide opportunity for classroom discussion and raise questions about our enthusiasm for technology, who monitors our school library collections, and how we contribute to our own lack of privacy.An extensive Web and print bibliography will build knowledge and make adults nervous.

Please come join us in discussing this interesting title on Tuesday, August 25th at 8pm at Molly Malone’s (The Snug) in Forest Park; cialis online pharmacy.If you need to pick up a copy of Little Brother, please stop by the Oak Park Public Library’s Main Library second floor Adult and Teen Services desk with your OPPL library card and we’ll set you up with one!; cialis online pharmacy

Before Katherine Dunn charmed the world with Geek Love twenty years ago,  she had begun establishing a career writing about a different subset of society - the world of boxing; accessrx.com.Last month she released an anthology of essays entitled One Ring Circus about this subculture she has come to know and love; accessrx.com.Guernica magazine caught up with Dunn this month to discuss both works.

Get yourself into discussion mode by pondering some of these Geek Love questions and then come on out to Molly Malone’s (The Snug) this evening at 8pm to share your thoughts on the freaks and geeks!

This June online cialis, genre X is taking a plunge into the world of geeks with Katherine Dunn’s cult classic, Geek Love. Keep in mind, however, that these are not the same geeks lovingly portrayed in Judd Apatow’s darling television series, Freaks and Geeks - online cialis. Online cialis: instead, Dunn dreams up a family of carnies who’re at times hard to empathize with but entirely impossible to ignore. A synopsis online cialis, from Library Journal:

“Guiding us into the world of the grotesque, Dunn produces a novel of compassion, insight, and macabre humor.At its center are Al and Lil Binewski, carnival owners who breed freak offspring through drug use so that they can perform in the show.Over the years, this ghoulish process becomes the norm; indeed, as we share the experiences of the children, we find that for this close-knit family, a child’s signs of normalcy are seen as a real threat - online cialis.What elevates this work is Dunn’s controlled online cialis, matter-of-fact narrative, her skillful character development, and her relentless insistence that we address these people and their concerns in human terms.”

Please join us on our journey into the horrifying and engrossing world of the Binewski family. And if you’re in the Chicagoland area online cialis, we’d love to see you at our discussion of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love at 8pm on Tuesday, June 23 at Molly Malone’s in Forest Park.

drawing of Kundera by Adolf Hoffmeister

We hope to see both new and old faces at Molly Malone’s this evening at 8pm for what is bound to be a hearty discussion of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. Cialis: if you’re looking for some points to ponder before then, you might want to check out Philip Roth’s 1980 interview with Kundera in which the author offers up his perspectives on many of the more discussable aspects of the book.Numerous critics and fans have also ruminated over some of Kundera’s favorite concepts and conventions like the emigre experience and bending the definition of the novel, but I want to know what underlying theme resonated most with you? ; cialis

This May, genre X will be making a foray back into World Literature with Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - cialis buy online. Cialis buy online: written by Czech-born Kundera in 1979, the novel was the first written after his exile to France in 1975, remains one of the most important of his career, and exemplifies his philosophical style. From Harper Collins Publishers:

“Rich in its stories cialis buy online, characters, and imaginative range, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the novel that brought Milan Kundera his first big international success in the late 1970s.Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than its historical implications.In seven wonderfully integrated parts cialis buy online, different aspects of human existence are magnified and reduced, reordered and emphasized, newly examined, analyzed, and experienced.”

Join us for a discussion of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting on Tuesday, May 26 at 8pm at Molly Malone’s in Forest Park. Stop by the Oak Park Public Library’s Adult & Teen Services with your OPPL library card to pick up a copy (or just to say hi); cialis buy online.

photo courtesy of C-Trick

As it turns out, Mr - buy viagra online no prescription.JT isn’t the only one who knows where its at - buy viagra online no prescription.From Anais Nin to Zane, books have been bringing sexyback for centuries.And now you too can star in your very own romance novel; buy viagra online no prescription.Simply fill out a couple facts about yourself (and the target of your affection) and for just under $40 UStar Novels will send you your very own personalized erotic tale!

If you’re not quite ready to write yourself into fictional steamy scenarios, you may want to get a head start on next month’s genre X selection, Bonk: The Curious Couple of Science and Sex by Mary Roach - buy viagra online no prescription. Its our attempt to bring sexyback, genre X style.

If you’re enjoying February’s selection as much as I am, you may want to head out to Unity Temple in Oak Park on Monday, February 16 at 7 pm to listen to T.C.Boyle read and discuss his latest book buying viagra online without prescription, The Women. Buying viagra online without prescription: the Women is a fictional biography about Frank Lloyd Wright and the many women in his life.Boyle will be signing books and refreshments will be served following his talk - buying viagra online without prescription. Buying viagra online without prescription: this event is free and co-sponsored by the Oak Park Public Library.

Cheap viagra online without prescription: once again thanks to everyone who at least attempted to take on the behemoth that is House of Leaves and subsequently came out to talk about it last night.We could’ve never predicted that Danielewski would draw an unprecendented 23 genre Xers - and on a snowy night too! Clearly everyone has something to say about postmodernism (and it isn’t always pretty)!

Since many of you referred to the act of reading House of Leaves as work, February’s selection should come as refreshing change.Drop City by T.C - cheap viagra online without prescription.Boyle serves up an entertaining look into a hippie commune.Here is the Amazon.com review:

With Drop City, T; cheap viagra online without prescription. Cheap viagra online without prescription: coraghessan Boyle offers proof that he has become one of America’s most prolific, gifted storytellers.Set in the 1970s, Boyle entertains readers with the denizens of “Drop City,” a counterculture California commune that welcomes anyone wanting to live off the grid, use drugs, and practice free love.Boyle sublimely captures the sociology of its rebellious members cheap viagra online without prescription, who doubt the sincerity or beliefs of newcomers, express some insecurity about nonconformity, and chastise outsiders while remaining oblivious to their own hypocrisy.Marco cheap viagra online without prescription, Pan, Star, and other “cats” and “chicks” live hassle-free until dissention and cries of racism mount amid increasing run-ins with the local government (a young girl is raped, installation of a sewage system is mandated, a mother lets her toddlers drink LSD-laced juice).Seeking refuge, the citizens move north, to Alaska, to reinvent their utopia, but soon learn the natural environment is more unforgiving of a lackadaisical lifestyle.

Drop City is funny, evocative, and well-paced, shifting between the hippies and the Alaskan locals–primarily Sess and his new bride Pamela (a city dweller who arranged stays with several trappers over a few weeks to determine whom she would marry)–until the two cultures collide.Balanced between plot and character, Boyle excels at describing the physical world and his characters’ interaction with it, whether portraying the harshness (or sheer beauty) of the Alaskan wilderness, the simple survival routines of its grizzled inhabitants, or the sounds wafting through Drop City: “the goats bleating to be milked or fed, the single sharp ringing note of a dog surprised by its own hunger, the regular slap of the screen door at the back of the house–and underneath it all, like the soundtrack to a movie, the dull hum of rock and roll leaking out the kitchen windows.” Truly American in spirit, Drop City is a strong novel of freedom and those in pursuit of lives of liberty.–Michael Ferch

I hope we see just as many of you at our next discussion on Tuesday, February 24 at 8pm at Molly Malone’s (The Snug) in Forest Park! Remember, if you haven’t picked up your copy yet, stop by the Oak Park Public Library’s Main Library second floor Adult and Teen Services desk with your OPPL library card to grab one - cheap viagra online without prescription.

photo courtesy of spotrick

Although it is the third week of January, it still isn’t too late to set some reading resolutions for 2009.Inspired by a variety of similar lists on other blogs cialis levitra viagra, the genre X crew came up with their top 3-5 reading resolutions for 2009.If you have set any reading related goals for yourself this year, please share them with us!

Mandy’s Resolutions:

• Read at least 5 books from my “To Read” list.
• Read at least 5 books from one of my bookshelves at home.
• Read a true cult classic.
• Learn a new skill from a book(s) (this excludes anything involving crafting or cooking).
• Pick up a book that I have attempted to read in the past and failed.

Monica’s Resolutions:

• Read 100 books (including graphic novels and YA) in 2009
• Read at least 18 books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list
• Read my husband’s favorite book of 2007 (and 2009)
• Let nothing sit on my GoodReads ‘To Read’ list for longer than one year (read or weed)

Jennifer’s Resolutions:

• Begin using GoodReads to organize my reading life & log in weekly to update - cialis levitra viagra.
• Read at least 10 non-fiction books, excluding craft and home decor.
• Read at least 10 books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.
• Read 10 books published in 2009.
  

The background and stories surrounding the makings and marketing of Mark Danielewski’s unique first novel are as wondrously convoluted as the book itself.If you haven’t already looked into the history of the house, here are some links detailing how this cult classic was built.

Instead of printing out the tome and sending it off to potentially uninterested publishers, Danielewski offered the entire book online and directed friends and publishers to the URL.After Pantheon picked up House of Leaves, they were smart to build off of Danielewski’s growing internet fan base by launching an extensive online marketing campaign.And it paid off big time - turning a title originally intended for a small 8,000 copy print release into something that has reached its 20th edition and recently made it onto the list of 1,001 books to read before you die, which was compiled by over 100 literary critics worldwide.

Not only did Danielewski generate interest through the internet, he also inevitably gathered readers by coupling with his sister, famous rock musician Poe, on an album entitled Haunted.The songs on Haunted are intricately tied to the book and Poe goes so far as to direct listeners to certain pages of House of Leaves when listening to various tracks.(Audio and video taken from the collaboration can be found at Danielewski’s web site under Gallery.) The two toured the country together cross promoting their works, which was another wildly successful endeavor.

If you’d like to read more on how the house was built straight from the architect’s mouth, check out this extensive Flak interview with Danielewski.Those of you who still cannot get enough info on this enigmatic book, check out Exploration Z and this index to the threads that can be found on the constantly evolving House of Leaves web site.

Since the group heartily responded to last January’s lengthy discount viagra online, postmodern selection, we decided on yet another hefty title to kick off 2009.Here’s a review of Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves from Publisher’s Weekly:

Danielewski’s eccentric and sometimes brilliant debut novel is really two novels, hooked together by the Nabokovian trick of running one narrative in footnotes to the other - discount viagra online.One-the horror story-is a tour-de-force - discount viagra online. Discount viagra online: zampano, a blind Angelino recluse, dies, leaving behind the notes to a manuscript that’s an account of a film called The Navidson Report.In the Report, Pulitzer Prize-winning news photographer Will Navidson and his girlfriend move with their two children to a house in an unnamed Virginia town in an attempt to save their relationship; discount viagra online.One day discount viagra online, Will discovers that the interior of the house measures more than its exterior. Discount viagra online: more ominously, a closet appears, then a hallway.Out of this intellectual paradox, Danielewski constructs a viscerally frightening experience - discount viagra online.Will contacts a number of people, including explorer Holloway Roberts, who mounts an expedition with his two-man crew; discount viagra online.They discover a vast stairway and countless halls.The whole structure occasionally groans, and the space reconfigures, driving Holloway into a murderous frenzy; discount viagra online. Discount viagra online: the story of the house is stitched together from disparate accounts, until the experience becomes somewhat like stumbling into Borges’s Library of Babel.This potentially cumbersome device actually enhances the horror of the tale, rather than distracting from it; discount viagra online. Discount viagra online: less successful, however, is the second story unfolding in footnotes, that of the manuscript’s editor, (and the novel’s narrator), Johnny Truant.Johnny discount viagra online, who discovered Zampano’s body and took his papers, works in a tattoo parlor.He tracks down and beds most of the women who assisted Zampano in preparing his manuscript - discount viagra online. Discount viagra online: but soon Johnny is crippled by panic attacks, bringing him close to psychosis.In the Truant sections discount viagra online, Danielewski attempts an Infinite Jest-like feat of ventriloquism, but where Wallace is a master of voices, Danielewski is not.His strength is parodying a certain academic tone and harnessing that to pop culture tropes - discount viagra online.Nevertheless, the novel is a surreal palimpsest of terror and erudition, surely destined for cult status.

If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, stop by the Oak Park Public Library’s Main Library second floor Adult and Teen Services desk with your OPPL library card to grab one - discount viagra online.Or if you’ve already begun reading it and are anxious to share your thoughts, take a look at the discussion thats been sparked amongst our Goodreads group - discount viagra online.Then come and join us for what is bound to be a lively discussion on Tuesday, January 27 at 8 pm at Molly Malone’s (the Snug) in Forest Park; discount viagra online.

Everyone is familiar with the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” adage, but what about judging media by title? There are plenty of books, movies, albums, and even TV series that are often poorly represented by their unfortunate titles - atlas rx viagra.Many of the titles featured on the lists above still manage to succeed, so bad titling doesn’t necessarily ward people off; atlas rx viagra. Atlas rx viagra: it just makes them cringe.

Weigh in.What titles top your “Worst” lists?

Buy levitra viagra cialis cheap: many thanks to everybody who came out to last week’s discussion of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, and especially to author Stephanie Kuehnert for joining us.  We had a fabulous time reading Stephanie’s first novel and loved the chance to meet her and pick her brain.  Stephanie gave us so much insight into her experiences as a newly published author, including some “behind the scenes” tidbits about working with her editor and publisher, shopping the book, agreeing on a title, and seeing the book’s cover for the first time. 

As an avid blogger, Stephanie has also had the opportunity to share intimate details of her writing and publishing experience with her readers on her blog, Life, Words & Rock ‘n’ Roll.  Here you can learn more about her book tour throught the West Coast (she stopped in sunny California, as pictured above) and check out her new weekly feature, Women Who Rock Wednesdays.  You can also skip over to her website which covers all things IWBYJR, including the soundtrack she compiled to accompany the book - yes, we love the media tie-ins.

For anyone who wasn’t able to make it to our discussion, or just can’t get enough, head to the Oak Park Public Library at 7pm on Thursday, September 18 where Stephanie will reading from her book and signing copies, for sale courtesy of Barbara’s Bookstore.

I can hardly believe that genre X is one year old this month! Help us celebrate our anniversary by reading this month’s selection, Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno - buy cialis online without a prescription. Hairstyles is the last book in our Chicago series, and we think you’ll find a lot to recognize in this coming of age tale about growing up punk on Chicago’s south side.

Here’s a review from Publisher’s Weekly:

From Publishers Weekly
Meno (How the Hula Girl Sings) gives his proverbial coming-of-age tale a punk-rock edge, as 17-year-old Chicagoan Brian Oswald tries to land his first girlfriend and make it through high school; buy cialis online without a prescription.Brian loves video games, metal music and his best friend, Gretchen, an overweight, foul-mouthed, pink-haired badass famous for beating up other girls; buy cialis online without a prescription.Gretchen, meanwhile, loves the Ramones and the Clash and 26-year-old “white power thug” Tony Degan.Gretchen keeps Brian at bay even as their friendship starts to bloom into a romance, forcing him to find comfort with the fetching but slatternly Dorie - buy cialis online without a prescription.Typical adolescent drama reigns: Brian’s parents are having marital problems, he needs money to buy wheels (”I needed a van because, like Mike always said, guys with vans always got the most trim, after the guys who could grow mustaches”), he experiments with sex and vandalism; buy cialis online without a prescription.Meno ably explores Brian’s emotional uncertainty and his poignant youthful search for meaning buy cialis online without a prescription, both in music and in his on-again, off-again situation with Gretchen; his gabby, heartfelt and utterly believable take on adolescence strikes a winning chord.Meno also deals honestly with teenage violence—though Gretchen’s fights have a certain slapstick quality, Brian’s occasional bouts of anger and destruction seem very real. Buy cialis online without a prescription: he’s a sympathetic narrator and a prime example of awkward adolescence, even if he doesn’t have much of a plot crafted around him.

To check out a copy of the book come to the Oak Park Public Library’s Main Library second floor Fiction and Audiovisual Desk with your OPPL library card. Buy cialis online without a prescription: please join us for next discussion (and One Year Anniversary celebration!) on Tuesday, September 23rd at 8 pm at Molly Malone’s (the Snug) in Forest Park.

In honor of last week’s Comic Con in San Diego: 

With The Dark Knight breaking every box office record imaginable and comic book superheroes dominating all kinds of media buy viagra cheap online, it makes sense that these extra special heroes are making their way in to the literary world.Book Design Review shared two new titles with this common theme buy viagra cheap online, but there are so many more! Though I’m a big fan of comics in all its forms, I thought I’d share some new(ish) fiction titles are all about everybody’s favorite genetically modified/super-genius freaks.After the jump take a look at some of the books taking the literary world by storm.

PS - I’m not including our previous Genre X selections Fortress of Solitude and American Gods since we’ve chatted about them enough, but they certainly apply.

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