A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny & Gahan Wilson. Avon Books, 1993Roger Zelazny- a favorite author of mine for his ‘Amber’ series and ‘Lord of Light’- has written a marvelous romp of a horror story. The large cast of characters includes figures from horror stories, Victorian mysteries, and vintage monster movies. You figure out who ( Read more... )

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, by Jenny Lawson. Flatiron Books, 2015 I think Jenny Lawson is probably the funniest woman on earth, so I was delighted when she announced that she had a new book coming out. I was on the library’s ‘hold’ list for it before it was even published ( Read more... )

The Rest of Us Just Live Here, by Patrick Ness. HarperTeen, 2015 Think of an episode of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ taking place, with creatures blowing up the high school, people being killed, and strange things happening. Now think about the people who are living with these events, but aren’t part of the Scooby Gang, people who aren’t in on the ( Read more... )

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir, by Jenny Lawson. Amy Einhorn Books, 2012 Jenny Lawson is known on the internet as The Bloggess, and she has quite a following. It’s easy to see why; she’s extremely funny, her life seems to have been made for comedy, and she’s open about all her problems. She grew up with the strangest father ( Read more... )

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, by Allie Brosh. Touchstone, 2013 I first discovered Allie Brosh when someone sent me a link to her Improved Pain Chart (which I feel needs to be in every doctor’s office and emergency room) and spent the rest of that evening going through ( Read more... )

Amphigorey Too, by Edward Gorey. Perigee, 1975 Edward Gorey had a style all his own; black and white line drawings that seem simple but sometimes have an immense amount of detail in them- wallpaper, draperies, carpets all meticulously drawn in. The pieces all seem to be set in the Edwardian era and are frequently grim and bleak. But there is also ( Read more... )

Jeneration X, by Jen Lancaster. New American Library, 2012 I picked this book up off the library ‘new books’ shelf on a whim. I don’t often read humor books, but the description sounded fun- a late coming of age story. I figured I’d read the book a little at a time, in between bouts with a history of China book. Instead, I found myself addicted, ( Read more... )

Blood Lite II: Overbite, ed. By Kevin J. Anderson. Gallery Books, 2010 This is an anthology of never before published stories in the unusual genre of ‘humorous horror”. Zombies, vampires, werewolves, demons, ghouls, and assorted monsters- some original- populate the book. As in any collection, the stories are uneven. Some are ironic, some made me ( Read more... )