Friday, October 24, 2014

Six new memorable and thought-provoking novels

Susan K. Perry, Ph.D., is a social psychologist and author. At Psychology Today she tagged six new memorable and thought-provoking novels, including:
The Festival of Earthly Delights, by Matt Dojny, is a very funny coming-of-age story set in a fictional Southeast Asian country, where our hero Boyd has recently moved with his unfaithful girlfriend to try to repair their relationship. In a series of letters he describes his experiences, many of them hilarious, some surprisingly moving. I’m a sucker for a fresh dark comedy, and this debut novel of Dojny’s is written with great flair. A random example, after Boyd has accidentally killed a turtle, a curse-worthy offense:
"Oh! There are many different curse.” Mr. Horse began to count them on his fingers. “One curse is call ‘Great-Pretender.’ This is when you see and hear things that no others can see and hear—baby insects made from metal, or the bird with no face. One curse is ‘Brown-Eye-Girl,’ that is, a need to use toilet when no toilet is near. ‘Splish-Splash’ is the curse that is to have a small vomit come up into your mouth. For the turtle-killer-man, ‘Ninety-Six-Tears’ is a curse to have lack when being with any woman, not have enough excitement. The ‘Taste-of-Honey’ is when man is fast to have over-much excitement with the woman—if you understand. And one of the most feared curse is: ‘Final-Countdown.’ When the turtle-killer plays a lottery, he will get all number perfect, but for final number is wrong. Every time.” Mr. Horse widened his eyes. “It will make you to be crazy.”
Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue