#43: You Are Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

Felicia Day writes about her rocky road from her chaotic, homeschooled upbringing to becoming an actress and "contextually famous" internet personality in You Are Never Weird On The Internet (Almost).

Day's book is bright and funny, but there are darker undertones to her writing, especially when she talks about her towering insecurities and crippling self-doubt.  But those struggling in trying to make it in the performing arts in any fashion will find a lot of takeaways in her story.

I listened to this on audiobook, and that might be the best way to hear her story, as her delivery really helps engage the reader.

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#42: Innocence by Heda Margolius Kovály

In 1950s Prague, the death of a young boy at a movie theater reveals a series of shocking truths about the women who work there, resulting in more death and destruction, in Innocence by Heda Margolius Kovaly.

As well as being a fascinatingly bleak mystery, the story of the novel--lost to Communist oppression for a long while--is equally interesting.  Kovaly was inspired after translating the work of Raymond Chandler into Czech, and it shows.  Innocence is a tough, unrelenting noir with a shockingly downbeat ending.

But it paints a portrait, in grays and blacks, of a world few of us have been made privy to, and thus is rewarding on many levels.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.  Recommended.

#41: The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory by Stacy Wakefield

In the early 90s, a young woman comes to New York and finds drama and adventure in the squatting scene in Stacy Wakefield's The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory.

Wakefield was a squatter herself, previously writing a non-fiction account of that time period, and I would guess she based a lot of this novel on those experiences. 

At the foreground of this story is her relationship with two men, one who she gradually finds out is wrong for her and one she gradually finds out might be right for her, set against a background of zines, punk shows, and underground culture.

Although the storytelling is pretty straightforward, the setting is offbeat, so I would recommend this read to those of like-minded interests.

I checked this out from Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.

#40: EarthWorld by Jacqueline Rayner

The Doctor and his companions Fitz and Anji visit a future colony which has built an amusement park called EarthWorld, a Disney-like attraction that has a humorously skewed version of Earth history;  but when a murderous trio take over behind the scenes it becomes anything but funny in Jacqueline Rayner's Doctor Who novel EarthWorld.

This adventure features the Eighth Doctor, an unusual figure in the lengthy history of the original television series as he appeared in just one television adventure at the end of the original Doctor Who series and bridged the long gap before the start of the contemporary series, the lead character in countless novels, comics, and audio plays during that time.  Even at that, the casual Doctor Who fan probably doesn't know a lot about him.

This novel, re-released as part of the 50th Anniversary of the program, is some thirty-odd novels (!) into his adventures, and sent me to the internet to learn more about his companions and some of the backstory talked about.  Enjoyable, but probably mostly for hardcore Doctor Who fans.

I bought this at GenCon in Indianapolis and enjoyed learning more about this character.