Jerome Charyn's 'Bitter Bronx'

I've had pretty good luck in terms of quality when going to the library and checking out random books that I otherwise know nothing about from the new releases shelf.

An excerpt from one of my latest happy finds:

"Whatever music I have had risen from the bedlam of the Bronx, all the staccato sounds, the syncopation of sadness and loss."

Holy $@(%. That's just from the author's note.

Seriously, that's from Jerome Charyn, and if you enjoy language like that that pares down sentences until only the right words are left, I really recommend checking out his story collection Bitter Bronx. "The Cat Lady's Kiss" reads like a fairy tale perfectly transposed to New York and rolled around in grit.

I mean, damn.

Subway Book Review

A very nifty idea for a blog. Uli Beutter Cohen asks people on the subway to tell her about the books they're reading.

Check it out here: Subway Book Review

Shut up and take my money!

I was going on about this delightful ad in the back of the May/June The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction to all of my co-workers earlier in the week, so I figured I should share it here as well.