DAMNED, by Chuck Palahniuk

People react variously to Chuck Palahniuk's novels. The author who became well-known for his novel Fight Club that was later made into a popular movie, is known for milking the shock value of a concept. The results are often disgusting and sometimes exciting (but sometimes not). Damned is a creative and very funny piece of social criticism and adventure told from the perspective of 13-year-old Madison, the child of Hollywood heavyweights immersed in the pop culture we all love to hate. Madison finds herself dead and damned to Hell, which she finds strangely "homey" and to which she adapts quite readily. There's lots of hilarious antics and adventures, if you can relate to the black/gallows humor that Palahniuk pulls off so well.

Click here for a review of the book by NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/books/damned-by-chuck-palahniuk-review.html

WHITE NOISE, by Don DeLillo

Fans of DeLillo enjoy his biting wit and clean style, with Postmodern elements that never interfere with readability. His mid-80's novel White Noise, winner of the National Book Award, has the added benefit of being very funny, despite its dark theme. The book is a snapshot (or maybe I should say a sound bite) of late 20th Century America, with all its innanities, oddities, fears, ironies, etc. The book is roughly split into two  parts - before and after an environmental catastrophe (airborne toxic event) that affects the lives of the people living in the small midwestern university town, in particular, the family of J.A.K Gladney, Professor of Hitler Studies at College-on-the-Hill. In my opinion, it will make a DeLillo fan of you if you have not yet discovered this great contemporary voice.

Click here for a review of the book from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/13/books/delillo-noise.html?pagewanted=all

THE YEAR OF THE DEATH OF RICARDO REIS, by Jose Saramago

Portuguese author Jose Saramago was discovered by many outside of his native land when one of his novels, Blindness, was made into a Hollywood film a couple of years ago. He actually has had a long and illustrious career, having also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis is a strange, quiet book that is almost plotless. It traces the return of Ricardo, a doctor, from years of "exile" in Brazil to Lisbon as he wanders the streets and has a random set of actions and thoughts. He muses on the realities of homeland, patriotism, the Spanish Civil War, and has immaginary conversations with the spirit of the dead great Portuguese Modernist poet Fernando Pessoa. The book ends, expectedly, with the death of Ricardo Reis. For readers who can enjoy the intropective and sometimes surreal style that Saramago does so well, it is a readable and interesting book.

Click here for a review of the book from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/book-review--death-in-lisbon-a-poet-disintegrates-the-year-of-the-death-of-ricardo-reis--jose-saramago-tr-giovanni-pontiero-harvill-799-pounds-1538909.html