Summer Reading, pt. 6

Editorial Intern Kelly Gehringer

Naked
David Sedaris

Sometimes you just have to do crazy things in life. According to David Sedaris, that includes going to a nudist colony. Experience the joy ride of this man’s unbelievably eclectic life through this entertaining memoir. As you travel through his wacky childhood, complete with a dysfunctional family crafting his eccentricity, you will laugh along with him. Every moment he is undoubtedly hilarious, witty and charismatic, especially when he hitchhikes with a quadriplegic. Throughout each essay in Naked, Sedaris strips down to his true self: revealing the good, the bad and the just plain crazy. A perfect start to your summer excursions.

Charlie is a freshman, but he is much more than that. He is smack-dab in the middle of his adolescence and caught up in all of the heartbreak that comes with it. Although Charlie is wise beyond his years, he can’t seem to figure out certain aspects of relationships in his life – family, friends or crushes – and all the complications in between. As Charlie divulges his inner thoughts in extremely personal letters to an unknown person without a name, age or gender, we learn from his existential perspective. In these intimate letters addressed to “friend,” Charlie expresses his everyday feelings and his ultimate dream of “being infinite.” The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a quick 213 page read that will warm your heart and engage your senses this summer!

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Chuck Klosterman

While driving across the country on assignment for Spin magazine, Chuck Klosterman was on a mission to find out why so many rock stars are glorified after death. However, he found out a great deal more than that. As Klosterman contemplates Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Buddy Holly’s crashed plane and Sid Vicious’ toxic relationship with Nancy, he confesses brutal truths about his own tangled relationships. There aren’t  just 600 CDs in his car along the way – some hypothetical conversations with his three girlfriends ensue. Klosterman’s snarky attitude and convincingly articulate commentary on music is utterly engaging. Everything he does you want to do with him. Go ahead, take him on a road trip with you this summer!

Contributor Nick Schurk

Scott Pilgrim Series
Bryan Lee O’Malley

At first blush, Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series seems like nothing more than hipster fluff. The five (soon to be six) volumes of this graphic novel follow the titular Scott Pilgrim, a twenty-something, Toronto-based musician trying to win the heart of the mysterious Ramona Flowers. The series starts off a bit shaky, seemingly more interested in alternative rock name dropping and references to 90s pop culture than in creating a compelling story.

But as the series progresses O’Mally’s tongue-in-cheek (yet respectful) analysis of mid-2000s youth culture slowly reveals itself. Character depth and surreal, action-packed brawls between Scott and Ramona’s seven “evil exes” manage to keep the reader enthralled and emotionally attached throughout the more than 1,200 page saga. With volume six’s release this month and a major motion picture adaptation slated for August, there has never been a better time to read (or revisit) the Scott Pilgrim Hexalogy.