David Given Schwarm

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was recommended to me by Julie as the best book on women’s friendship. She was wrong–though this book does have a lot of female friendship it is not what is best about this book. The backdrop of AIDS, the tragedy of beauty, abuse, mistakes,…

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis My rating: 5 of 5 stars I waited a long time to read this book because I KNEW it would turn me into a Scrabble Fanatic. And it Did. This book is worth all of the hype–an amazing…

Punk Rock Is Cool for the End of the World: Poems and Notebooks of Ed Smith by Ed Smith My rating: 5 of 5 stars Amazing. Absolutely amazing. The story of every Beyond Baroque Poet I meet 10 years after Ed. So good: Henry Rollins is a commercialversion of me the poems are great, the…