Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording with Wilco, Etc. by Jeff Tweedy

In an honest, funny look at his life, indy musician Jeff Tweedy opens up about his family, his career, and how his brain works. It's fascinating!

It's no secret I love a good music bio, and what separates the good from bad is honesty and introspection. Tweedy owns it here, with a self-deprecating humor that certainly entertains. He's thoughtful about his creative process without being precious about it, and he reminisces about former friendships, band breakups and makeups, and even how his marriage works.

Confession: I will read this book again, on audiobook, because Tweedy narrates it himself! (I couldn't wait, so I read it on paper first.)

Cherry by Nico Walker

If you're curious about the throes of drug addiction, this one's right in the middle of it. It's an ugly book - but that's not to say anything about its quality. It's just that the book deals with a terrible situation, a terrible addiction, and a terrible life.

The book's a sort of run-on rambling journal of a druggie kid who joins the Army, goes to Iraq, lives long enough to come home, then robs banks to support his heroin addiction. It's raw, bloody, and horrific. He doesn't blame anybody else (but neither does he take any blame himself). You really don't want to think that this shit happens, and is happening. But I'm sure it is.

It's a novel. Fiction. But 30 seconds with Google tells you Walker's a veteran in prison and apparently has written about what he knows. It reminds me a great deal of James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," which was originally touted as nonfiction then revealed to be a fabrication.

Pretend I'm Dead by Jen Beagin

Mona is 24, slightly unstable, bored, depressed, and adrift. Cleaning houses is the only thing she really knows how to do, but she doesn't mind the work because it offers lots of time to dream, imagine and think. Plus, she loves to vacuum.

After a brief affair with a man she meets volunteering at the needle exchange, she pulls a "geographic" and moves in search of a fresh start. Her transcendental neighbors try to help, and she finds diversion in the homes and lives of her customers.

I loved this book. Mona's hilarious, and she's got a rich, twisted inner life. You're rooting for her to get ahead, while also hoping she doesn't change because she's awesome (if a little fucked up).

A wonderful piece of contemporary fiction for those who don't have to have everything tied up in a bow at the end.

Dodgers by William Beverly

Four LA gang kids set off to kill a judge in Wisconsin, but that task is just the setup for a complex personal drama about gangs and personal growth. You can take the kid out of LA, but can you take the gang out of the kid?

East is a 15-year-old on a path to redeem himself to the kingpin after a raid and shootout at the drug house where he oversaw security. Making sure this hit goes perfectly would be proof of loyalty and trust, if only he could keep the rest of the team on task. The fact that the "gun" on this job is his estranged 13-year-old brother complicates things.

And complicate it does. I loved that there's no guessing what's going to happen next with this story - there's a twist at every turn. It's not a tough, violent gangsta story; it's more an internal story of East's evolving state of mind. He's got some decisions to make, and this roadtrip gives him some wide-open spaces to think.

Catalina by Liska Jacobs

Elsa's life is a slow-speed trainwreck. She got fired after an affair with her NYC boss, so she's returned to California to spend every severance penny while popping pills, swilling drinks, and dragging everyone along for the shitshow.

I enjoyed the tension created by the band of walking disasters that includes Elsa, her ex-husband and his girlfriend, best friend Charly and her husband, and a rich asshole friend Tom who owns a boat. The gang decides to sail to Catalina for the jazz fest.

You know Elsa's going down in flames ... or can she be saved? She'll probably take somebody down with her - but who? There are several likely candidates.

It was a quick read, and highly enjoyable: A flit from drunk to stoned, from smash to crash to bellyflop.

Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark

Two teenagers connected only by a tragic car accident that took the lives of their philandering parents.

Juliette is addicted to Adderall, a passed-down legacy from her glamorous, over-achieving mother. Juliette knew about the affair and chose to shelter her wanna-be-author father's fragile ego. On the other hand, Abram was blindsided when his tennis-loving, uber coach father died; he and his mother had no idea there was another woman. Abram's depression means he's snacking and sleeping his days away in a Paxil fog.

They meet in the CVS and tentative politeness turns into an actual friendship. Maybe the only way to get past this grief, anger, and embarrassment is with someone who truly understands.

I loved these broken, real characters and their life-raft friendship. They each recognize a way to help the other heal, even though they feel helpless to do the same for themselves. And the budding romance is sweet and also very realistic.

The book is very well written and completely consuming. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen, hoping the whole way that love might win over in the end.

Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

When a popular, sexy 18 year old gets wild at a party, even the national news media agree that whatever happened later, she was definitely asking for it.

The book doesn't really require any more plot synopsis than that, and it's certainly not a unique topic for a teen book. There are the usual parental recriminations, the viral internet pictures, the self-doubt and shame, the high school social gauntlet.

But two things set this book apart: it takes place in Ireland, and its ambiguous ending.

The legal process in Ireland is different than in the US, and that's an interesting twist to the story. Plus, of course, they try to blame this burgeoning problem on Americanization of kids.

Additionally, our main character Emma doesn't really know how she feels about everything. She's humiliated and embarrassed, but she's not sure it's worth wrecking the boys' reputations over. She doesn't remember anything from later at the party, but she did certainly go (and dress) for a hookup that night.

The book doesn't tie everything up in a bow. it ends with a decision by Emma, but before any action is taken upon the decision. A lot of readers will howl at Emma's thoughts and actions, but I think it's a fair look at the confusion and twisted logic of the teen mind.

Sophia by Michael Bible

This brief 120-page novella is a stream-of-counsciousness rant - the loves. lust, and life of a unlikely, intoxicated minister of dubious ethics.

Rev. Maloney has sex dreams about the female Holy Spirit and makes a killing hustling his friend Eli in chess games. He's likely to light up a spliff in the confessional, and he just might be sleeping with several female parishoners.

It's a quick read, and I think best if consumed all in one gulp to make the most of the rapid-fire delivery and wildly careening plot. It's profane, but also thought provoking in that Maloney may be the most truthful guy you're likely to meet.

John Dies @ The End by David Wong

Profane and hilarious, this book is like a mashup of "Ghostbusters" with "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Humanity is in peril as portals to another dimension open and spit through evil beings, and the only ones (maybe) able to save us are a pair of twenty-something slackers.

David works in a movie rental store, and John can't keep a job for more than a couple months. At a summer party where John's (horrible) band plays, a new drug gets passed around. Nearly everybody who takes the "soy sauce" dies in a dramatic and horrific way - except John, who goes comatose.

Turns out the drug turns your brain into a supercomputer able to do astronomical calculations of probability in a split second, and allows you to see horrific and fantastic things invisible to everyone else.

This book is incredibly smart - and also really, really dumb. It's twisty and unpredictable, funny and fun, but not the kind of thing that will last long in your memory. Sometimes you just need a good flight of fancy, and this one has certainly been entertaining for me.

There is a sequel, and I will be looking that one up too.

Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas

This is a STUNNING novel about a bad mother. And while you find yourself thinking "Josephine doesn't seem so bad ..." well, that's the thing!

Perfect eldest child Rose ran away. Middle child and hellraiser Violet tells us half the story. Protected, sheltered youngest, Will, tells the other half of the story. Between the lines, we may find the truth.

Years ago I read Zailckas' memoir, "Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood" (published in 2005) and I remember that I really enjoyed her terrifying but not wholly surprising story of alcohol abuse. I was curious about her transition into fiction writing - and then, I was utterly blown away when I read this.

As a reader you don't know what happened - and maybe you don't even know what you don't know. It's become so trite this year to compare everything to Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl", except in this case there are true similarities in the way the novel is written and the way the storyline is revealed.

This is a wonderful book, and I'll be talking about it a lot in the near future. Don't miss this one!

The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

Hugo Marston isn't your traditional investigator - he's not a cop, he's the chief of security for the US Embassy in Paris. But somehow, he just can't keep to himself when he sees wrong being done.

Here, the wrong is the abduction of a Paris bookseller, a man Hugo counts as a friend. The fact that everyone else on the street lied to police and said that Max went willingly means only Hugo is really investigating. Good thing he's on "vacation" this week.

I recently read the second in this series (The Crypt Thief) and enjoyed it enough I hunted down this first in the series, too. Unlike that book, in The Bookseller the reader doesn't know any more than Hugo does - we're piecing together the puzzle as he is.

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

What does the "typical" drug addict look like? Why would you ever try meth the first time, knowing what it does to people? How dumb do you have to be?

Through Laurel's eyes, you'll get a different look at crystal meth addiction. A cheerleader and good girl, she catches the eye of the basketball star. But there's something broken inside Laurel, and there's something broken inside T-Boom. Together, they'll try to fix those breaks - and break much, much more.

This is a very good book, with a quick pace that shifts back and forth through time. Sometimes it's very eloquent and thoughtful, sometimes scattered and choppy - a real look at Laurel's state of mind and thoughts.

It's So Easy (And Other Lies) by Duff McKagan

This is one of the best rock memoirs I've read, seriously. Duff tells it like it was, he owns it (good and bad), and he's found a way to be funny and eloquent about his own debauched life.

There's no reason he shouldn't be dead: his pancreas exploded from alcohol abuse, and tons of his friends died from addictions and AIDS. But somehow Duff McKagan skirted the edge of the abyss and lived to tell.

If you like Guns n' Roses, you'll enjoy the story. But it's actually his writing about post-pancreatitis recovery and his family that make this story such a gem. Additionally, it's amazing how many now-famous people Duff grew up with in Seattle and became friends with in Los Angeles; but he doesn't resort to name-dropping - he really just tells his own story, but with this amazing cast of characters and cameos.

(I'm putting this one near the top of my favorite rock books list - just behind Nikki Sixx's "The Heroin Diaries" and "I Am Ozzy" by Ozzy Osbourne)

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray

Cameron Smith is an average teen. As the narrator of this book, though, he wants the reader to believe he is below average. Cameron is willing to do whatever will get him through school, and life, with a minimum of effort. Then one day he sees fire giants while sitting in class. Soon he starts seeing other strange things and even reacting to what he sees. Parents, classmates and teachers accuse him of using drugs. Until the day someone witnesses how quickly an episode can change Cameron. It is then that he learns he is dying. Cameron has the human equivalent to mad cow disease, Crudzefelt-Jakob's disease. Join Cameron as he manages to find one last great adventure in his short life.

I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres

This book ROCKS! And I mean that - rock 'n' roll books are either good or terrible. This one is very, very good.

Telling his story, Ozzy's honest - unflinchingly, unapologetically honest - about his exploits and career. I wondered two things: how is he still alive, and how does his family put up with him? "Amazing dumb luck" might just be the answer to both of those questions.

He talks about his regrets: occasional abuse towards women, and general neglect of his duties as a father. He talks about his heartbreaks, and he discusses his personal struggles with dyslexia, ADD, illness, and an *obviously* addictive personality.

But he also talks about the rock: the guys he's played with, the albums they made, and the tours they took. Lollapalooza told him he was too washed up to play their gig - so Sharon started Ozzfest instead, to prove them wrong.

The really sweet part of this story is how clearly Ozzy loves his family; he shows a soft spot when discussing his children and grandchildren. But his real love is Sharon - they are truly a perfect pair.

I gained a lot of insight with this book, and highly recommend it for any metal fan.

Long Past Stopping by Oran Canfield

I picked up this book because I'm always interested in a good memoir - especially if there's a hook: here, the author offers a demented childhood and drug-addled youth. Oh, and his dad wrote all those "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books.

But it's a pretty common kind of drug tale, and honestly it's been told better in other places. The whole thing is so outrageous that it reads like bad fiction - you'd like to tell the author to edit out some of the stuff, or nobody will believe him ... Abandoned in a commune? Circus-trained children? Drug-addict noise musicians? Rehab? Too, too much.

Except he lived it.

Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand

Ex-punk and current waste-case Cassandra Neary had her time in the spotlight as an art-photographer: That time has passed. Cass may have been really talented, and she may have pissed it all away - but an unusual job request is bringing her closer to real inspiration than she's been in a long time.

This one's dark, moody and gritty. There's an element of mystery, but this is certainly NOT a mystery book. It's a bit disjointed in style, but that plays well with the way Cass thinks and views the world.

How close can an artist come to the edge - looking over the side, studying the shadows - before the darkness sucks them in? Cass is about to find out.

American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson

I wasn't sure what to expect out of Ferguson's memoir, but I knew it would be funny. And I was right - but it's also very poignant and serious at times too.

Ferguson's life story reads more like a rock 'n' roll memoir than comedian/talk show/actor's story. He's lived a life of extreme excess and adventure, and has come out on for the better anyway. He's not self-pitying or sentimental about his life - he takes an honest, even-handed look at the good and bad. And he doesn't blame anybody else. That ownership and cynical detachment is hard to achieve when dealing with your own life - his success in that endeavor makes it a much better memoir than most (cough*clapton*cough).