Santa Barbara Public Library System Staff Picks: July 2018

Zazen - Vanessa Veselka

""Zazen" is brilliant and beautiful, a quasi-dystopian story of a revolutionary that subtly dismantles the romantic tropes of revolutions themselves. Fun fact: Zazen came out of a publishing experiment by Soft Skull Press founder Richard Nash. 'Red Lemonade' (sadly no longer around) was a test of collaborative/crowd-sourced editing that published the most favorably viewed works of its members. Vanessa has since scooped up a goodly number of awards, including the PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize."

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

"I'd be shocked if nobody's recommended this before now, but here 'tis, nonetheless. A layered meta-narrative that's as boldly experimental with its typography as the story, House of Leaves was the book that pushed me back to writing again after a long time away from my notebook."

Our Ecstatic Days - Steve Erickson

"I'd love to recommend "Rubicon Beach," his second novel, which literally left me with no air in my lungs when I closed the last page. Alas, neither it nor my second choice, "Tours of the Black Clock" are available through Black Gold. His most recent, "Shadowbahn" (on our New shelves) has been hailed by no less than Jonathan Lethem as the best book of 2017. As for what's available on in our system, "Our Ecstatic Days" is my favorite."