going back to cali

Less Than Zero
by Bret Easton Ellis

Set in the hills of L.A. in the 1980s, it follows a bunch of rich kids who spend their time getting fucked up and wondering why they feel nothing. And yet it makes me pine for California. I think it's funnier if you're not from there; most of it doesn't seem terribly shocking to me, though I'm sure to others it's outrageous.

Sixpence House
by Paul Collins

His previous book, Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the Earth focused on failure and yet was compelling. This book is another unexpected success: he writes about quitting San Francisco and moving his family to a tiny Welsh village overrun with bookstores. They end up failing in their attempt to buy a home—and to feel at home. Yet he spins the mundane details of life and the quirky hundred-year-old books he collects into a fluffy and satisfying cotton candy ball of a book.