BOOKS N. 2

New skeleton hair clips from Cyber Shop. Love them.

And more of my favourite books:

''The story is narrated by a man in his mid-twenties who suddenly becomes disillusioned and confused by life and therefore quits university. The narrator becomes fascinated by both modern scientific theories of time and relativity (by reading a book by Paul Davies) and also by repetitive childish activities such as playing with wooden BRIO children's toys and repeatedly throwing a ball against a wall. In the end, the narrator visits his brother in New York City and returns to Norway with a renewed sense of meaning in life.''

''Allison Burnett's novel reads as both a searing glimpse into a tortured teenage psyche, and a skillful meditation on the cruel excesses of the Internet Age. Katie Kampenfelt's voice feels utterly authentic, disturbingly so, making for a protagonist who is as riveting as she is infuriating.''

''At the starting point of Tom's narration, which looks back from five years or so in the future, she is three months pregnant. She has just been involved in a tube train derailment, forced to stumble down the tunnel breathing years' worth of dust: "soft, felt-like layers of human hair and skin cells". Things are never quite the same for Ann after that. She has - in more ways than one - gone off the rails.''

''Esther Greenwood, a young woman from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, gains a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City under editor Jay Cee. At the time of the Rosenbergs' execution, Esther is neither stimulated nor excited by the big city and glamorous culture and lifestyle that girls her age are expected to idolize and emulate. Instead her experiences frighten and disorient her. She appreciates the witty sarcasm and adventurousness of her friend Doreen, but also identifies with the piety of Betsy (dubbed "Pollyanna Cowgirl" by Doreen, because she's from Kansas), a 'goody-goody' sorority girl who always does the right thing. She has a benefactress in Philomena Guinea, a formerly successful fiction writer (based on Olive Higgins Prouty), who will, later during Esther's hospitalization, pay for some of her treatments.''