Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)

Finished: 6/12/22

Grade: A+

In the not too distant future, young adults have almost no social interaction with their peers until they head off to college. In those lonely teen years, affluent children are given Artificial Friends, short-lived sentient robots, to live with them and keep them company. The novel follows the life of Klara, a particularly intuitive AF, as she does her best to be a good friend to her child, Jodie.

I got this book from the library, but because it is HOT OF THE PRESSES, I was only allowed to check it out for 7 days. I was worried that might make reading it feel like a chore, but I was very wrong. As soon as I started reading this book, I melted right in!

Beautifully sad, sadly beautiful, and Sadiful beutidad.

A really good book.

Comedy, Comedy, Comedy, Drama by Bob Odenkirk (2022)

Finished: 6/2/22

Grade: B+

Ye olde hollywood memoir. The kind of thing I used to read as a kid and get excited about. The glitz! The glamor! The promise of showbiz! I would track my own trajectory along the same lines and imagine myself failing and failing and then making it big. Now I read something like this and say: “Wow, he got hired to write for SNL when he was 24?! That lucky fuck!” and then I have to take a cold bath to freeze the jealousy out of my bitter old bones.

Anyway, this is a great airplane book, with some good insights about writing and how the business works. A fun read, if you can get past your own seething jealousy. Big ups to my friend Jack for giving me this bad boy!

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino (1979)

Finished: 5/29/22

Grade: A

This is a funny book! I don’t want to even tell you the premise because that might spoil the first chapter.

I’ll just say it’s a high-concept shaggy dog story, with some primo craftsmanship, and a pretty good punchline, and leave it at that.