70 Books

#5: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender

I have never read a short story or novel by Aimee Bender that I didn’t love. Each one is so unique, outlandish, hilarious but also extremely real and moving. If you haven’t read any of her books, you should start now.

Aimee Bender, Willful Creatures

#21: Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender

I’ve been a devoted fan of Aimee Bender ever since An Invisible Sign of My Own came out; her writing so wonderfully bizarre and touching. Even though she writes stories about people with pumpkins for heads, or a miniature man living in a bird cage or a man with keys for fingers, they’re still insanely honest and full of emotion. As Alice Sebold said, “Watching her imagination catch fire remains a sustaining joy in my readerly life.” Word, Sebold. Word.

#15: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Today is The Day Of Many Deadlines and I, being the responsible woman that I am, have decided to talk about this book instead of doing work. I read this book with little preface, having picked it up on the sole basis that it was by Aimee Bender and would obviously be great. And it was! I love the unique and untraditional-type narrative that Bender writes so incredibly. All of her characters are so rich and full and I loved their story progression down to the last line.

Based on other reviews I’ve read, it’s a pretty mixed bag of likes, loves, hates and annoyances. A lot of people seem to love the first half of the book and hate the second half, but I loved it all. Everything ended just as it should.

#14: McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales: Edited by Michael Chabon

Shockingly enough, I didn’t really enjoy this anthology of “thrilling” tales. They were not the least bit thrilling. I honestly don’t understand why I didn’t love this. The perfect recipe was there: published by McSweeney’s, incredible writers like Aimee Bender, Dave Eggers and Neil Gaiman, and kick ass artwork meant to look like a vintage comic book. But I literally did not enjoy a single story of the 20 included. Maybe I am dead inside.

#43: An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender

I’ve just recently begun to read Aimee Bender’s writing after reading her wonderful short story in This Is Not Chick Lit and she brings her talent far beyond that of the short story. It’s a book about compulsions, superstitions, teaching, obsessions…amputees. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Aimee Bender writes uniquely and poetically and deserves much more notoriety than she receives. 

I spent the time I should have been reading for a lecture in class tomorrow reading this book, so I must go attend to that whole “college” thing now. Poop.

P.S. Apparently this book is eventually being made into a movie with Jessica “I’m a terrible actress” Alba as the beloved main character, Mona Gray. That’s just insulting to Mona. 

Aimee Bender, An Invisible Sign of My Own

 Aimee Bender, An Invisible Sign of My Own

#35: This is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America’s Best Women Writers

Chick Lit: A genre of fiction that often recycles the following plot: Girl in big city desperately searches for Mr. Right in between dieting and shopping for shoes. Girl gets dumped (sometimes repeatedly). Girl finds Prince Charming.

This collection of short stories from writers such as Aimee Bender, Roxana Robinson, Curtis Sittenfeld and many amazing authors I had never even heard of is so wonderful I could throw tampons like confetti. As a possessor of a vagina, I found it reassuring and empowering that there are women writing these unique and intense stories that have nothing to do with dieting or Manolo Blahnik, but about real and tangible things that don’t follow the exact same plot that every Jennifer Wiener or Sophie Kinsella book seems to adhere to. It doesn’t put down or belittle that genre or those authors by any means, it just widens the extremely narrow view of the kind of work women can produce in literature. Every story is completely different from the one before it and I could not recommend this book enough. Go read it, even if it’s just for Elizabeth Merrick’s amazing introduction alone!