 Teeny Tiny Stories From the Marinated Jungle Author, Lee Widener By Julie Carpenter Friend of the Chickens, Lee Widener, has published another book! And, as you might suspect, it’s weird. Bizarro, even. If you’ve never read Bizarro literature before, your brain is in for a treat. Besides, your synapses were probably due for rewiring anyway.
Bizarro literature is much like nonsense. It exists to defy expectations and break your mind out of any boxes where you might comfortably store your imagination. In a word, it’s a trip. If you’ve never heard of it before, read Widener’s guest post, What is Bizarro Literature and Am I Weird Enough to Read It.
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 Book Review: The Distance From Four Points Author Margo Orlando Littell By Julie Carpenter Robin Besher’s goal for her adult life has been to bury her time in Four Points, a poverty-stricken coal town in Appalachia, but she finds that the past doesn’t always stay put in this riveting story of a mother who finds her worst nightmare coming true. Robin, who has been living in a posh Pittsburgh suburb, is forced to return to the small town where she once escaped an abusive family situation through teenage prostitution. Worse yet, her own teenage daughter, Haley, must return with her. The Distance From Four Points was not as far as Robin led herself to believe.
 Book Review: Coney Island Siren Author, Theresa Varela By Julie Carpenter In one of the first few pages of the book you will read the sentence, “This book is dedicated to the women who have lost themselves in the search for love,” and the story within the pages lives up to the theme. Varela’s book explores domestic abuse and the ripple effect it can have, passed on from one family and relationship to another, causing damage throughout time, generation after generation. More than that, the book is an exploration of one woman’s relationship with herself, a study of how her choices were made, of choices that can never be undone.
 Book Review: The Flight of the Wren Author, Orla McAlinden by Julie Carpenter I read this book when it came out in 2018 and it’s one of the few books I’ve read over the last couple of years that still haunts me. I am just sitting down to do a review for various reasons, including two moves, renovation chaos, and a small family medical crisis. No one ever accused me of being organized. Still, I think this may be a very good time to read this book, with the heavy footsteps of a pandemic and other signs of the apocalypse trudging on in the background. (I’m only partly kidding.)
 Gods of Jade and Shadow Author, Silvie Moreno- Garcia by Jarad Johnson A blend of mythology, fairy tale and history, Gods of Jade and Shadow is captivating and original. There are many characters, events and places packed into three hundred pages, but essentially, a Mayan death god and a mortal girl embark on an adventure across Mexico, with the help of their demon friend. Yes, demon friend. We all have one of those. It’s epic in scope, and chock full of interesting mythological references. How could I resist? How could you resist?
Review: Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother And Other Botanical Atrocities5/29/2020  Wicked Plants Author Amy Stewart By Jarad Johnson Nature is something that the gardener must revere. In many ways, it is our greatest teacher. Nature can be beautiful, wondrous, fascinating and otherworldly. It can also be violent, dangerous, and mischievous. All of that encompasses the general term of nature, and it’s much more complex than many people make it out to be. When people go for a walk or a hike, they are generally seeking a peaceful retreat. Nature can be peaceful, but as Amy Stewart points out, you might not want to relax too much. On a walk through the woods (a favorite activity of mine to do) there are many mischievous plants, some that can harm you, some that can intoxicate you, and some that might even kill you given the chance.
 Wayward Women Author, Holly Wardlow by Jarad Johnson This is a book that I read for my Anthropology class this semester (when we were still in actual classrooms!) and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I don’t know about you but learning about different cultures has always fascinated me. It not only reveals how different from each other, but also the base humanity that we all share.
 Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Author, Caitlin Doughty by Roy Peak Caitlin Doughty is a mortician living in California, known for her charming YouTube videos in which she answers questions about death. In this, her third book, she tackles questions from kids about that same morbid subject. And you just know that kids are going to come up with the best questions—right? Questions such as "Can I keep my parents' skull after they die?" and "If I died making a stupid face, would it be stuck like that forever?" and of course the always fun to think about "Will I poop when I die?" These are the kind of questions that when kids ask their parents, the parents hardly ever have the real answer and just make something up: "Um, no Uncle Ken gets to keep daddy's skull. Your father did lose that bet to him all those years ago," and "Of course, it would. Now stick your tongue back in your mouth,, and eat your asparagus," and "Duh. Doesn't everyone?"
 Go Home Author, Sohrab Homi Fracis by Roy Peak The protagonist of Sohrab Fracis' novel, Go Home, is a young college student named Viraf, from India, in America during the time of the Iran hostage crisis. (Viraf, rhymes with giraffe, and if you're a regular of this website you know that we think highly of anything that reminds us of a giraffe.) Truly torn between wanting to stay in America and going back to India, Viraf loves rock music, has intense feelings for his neighbor's girlfriend, drives around in a Ford Pinto (Remember those? And why no one wanted one?). He works hard, and often has trouble telling the difference between his long-haired American friends and the dangerous rednecks in his town.  The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender Author, Leslye Walton by Jarad Johnson Sometimes, a book comes across my reading pile that has a striking title and nice cover, but doesn’t give any indication of the contents hidden within. This particular book cover featured a feather. (Please note the slight pathology of a person who buys books based on the cover without even knowing, based on the cover, what might be inside. I may have a problem. I buy a lot of books, okay?) I pondered the jacket, wondering if I had bought a book about birds. In a way I had, but I couldn’t glean that from the cover. Nothing to do but open the cover and stop puzzling over it in the middle of the Starbucks line. People might start to think I was weird. We can’t have that, can we?
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