STIFF: THE CURIOUS LIVES OF HUMAN CADAVERS by Mary Roach

I picked up this book and was rewarded with two cold, dead feet in my face. It wasn’t pleasant. I have to say the juxtaposition of “Lives” and “Cadavers” is clever, though. Why someone would want to read about dead human bodies is mildly unsettling, and the author’s last name, Roach, in bold, bright red letters, doesn’t make the book any more enticing. In fact, the combination of the two only makes me think about roaches infesting a decaying body. A pleasant lunch read, I’m sure.



THEN WE CAME TO THE END by Joshua Ferris

I wanted to run as soon as I saw this book. Yellow post-it notes clutter the cover. Post-its mean reminders of things that need to be done. And for an obsessive-compulsive-checklist-maker like me, seeing this book cover was enough to make me hyperventilate. Death by post-its, anyone?



SHOPAHOLIC & BABY by Sophie Kinsella

I literally cringed when I saw this book. Haven’t we had enough “Shopaholic” books? The first one was good. The second one was okay. The third one was manageable. The fourth one—I couldn’t get myself to read the fourth one. Seriously, you know the author’s getting desperate when she has to pull out a long lost sister. And now a fifth? How many more times can we stand to read about Becky Bloomwood shopping herself into debt without wanting to strangle her? This is utterly depressing. I need to go on a major shopping spree to cheer myself up.