TJ is a writer living in Portland, OR.

Have you read that?

Have you read that?

​A friend recently asked me for recommendations on 'longish'  books good for summer reading. I went back through my Goodreads profile to try to pick some out and I realized that there are quite a few books I really liked (4 - 5 stars) but I am forgetting important parts of them.

  1. ​The Unbearable Lightness of Being (read 2007) - I read this while I was working the graveyard shift at a hotel in Alaska. I liked... the way the narrator talked? It seemed very smart. I think it's about people in Europe in the 60's or 70's who sleep around. I'm going to reread this.
  2. The Modern Gentleman: A Guide to Essential Manners, Savy, and Vice (read 2005) - ​I remember one thing in Particular from this book: It is very gentleman-like to split a restaurant check down the middle with a friend without figuring out who paid more. My friend Nate and I spent a summer doing that at bars.
  3. White Noise (read 2003?) - I read this in a literature class. I remember feeling as if I had become a very 'mature' reader by finishing it. There's a toxic cloud and a pill that makes you not afraid to die. Why isn't that a thing yet?​
  4. Slaughterhouse 5 (read 2005?) - I can't believe it took me until late college to read this. What was up with all that time travel?​
  5. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (read 2007) - Wait, why is it called that? I remember the guy in the well, the strange neighbor girl, and a psychic lady. ​
  6. Middlesex (read 2006?) - I thought myself very smart realizing that this book was modeled after a Greek tragedy. Also, how the heck does it end?​
  7. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven (read 2011) - Apparently I finished this book on July 4th. That's the only note I left.​
  8. The Art of Racing in the Rain (read 2008)  - A dog is the narrator and he's owned by a dude who raced cars. There must have been some kind of arc to that but I have forgotten. I do remember thinking the last chapter was very unnecessary. ​
  9. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (read 2005?) - I vividly remember the story Hejira​, which was lovely, but nothing else.
  10. The Satanic Verses (read 2008) - One guy becomes and angel and one guy becomes a devil. It's real long.
  11. Mrs. Dalloway (read 2008) - It's a single day. Someone dies. Possibly Mrs. Dalloway.​
  12. Catch 22 (read 2006?) - All I have left is a sense of futility.
  13. To the Wedding (read 2006?) - I think that one is sad.
  14. Breakfast of Champions (read 2003?) - My first Vonnegut. I remember the picture of an asshole but not much else. I really need to read that again.
Here is a picture of an asshole

Here is a picture of an asshole

Man of Steel

Man of Steel

Forget

Forget