Herzog’s Top Five Books (+5)

(Dec. 22, 2011) Zazen by Vanessa Veselka

Set in an America on the precipice of collapse, this novel follows Della, a waitress who becomes increasingly obsessed with the bombs going off throughout the industrial northwestern city she lives in. On a whim she calls in a bomb threat, which sparks a fiery plot beyond her control. Della’s inner turmoil is echoed in the fractured dislocation of Veselka’s descriptive prose, and the novel, like its main character, walks an ambiguous line between destructive alienation and redemptive community.

Zazen BY VANESSA VESELKA

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Nested Scrolls by Rudy Rucker

Rucker grew up wanting to be a beat writer, but got waylaid into an academic career in math and computer science, writing popular works on infinity and the fourth dimension. He never denies his gonzo creative side though, and eventually develops his own autobiographical brand of science fiction he calls Transrealism. Rucker’s led a life that’s artfully balanced the domestic and the adventurous, the rational and the transcendent, and this hilariously honest, big-hearted memoir makes you happy you came along for the ride.

Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta

Over the span of several decades, Denise Kranis serves as audience and witness to her brother Nik and his private musical mythology, a fantastic discography than includes his own invented criticism of the several bands he’s created. Spiotta writes with the razor precision of Don DeLillo, but is more attuned to the frailties of the human heart. A sad and haunting novel about memory, mortality and how the dreams of youth drift and fade into middle age.

The Love Bunglers by Jaime Hernandez

A tale of connections missed and made, paths not taken, and how the force of childhood trauma takes its toll through time. Jaime Hernandez brings his character Maggie back in touch with her old flame Ray, and in the process tells a subtle story that gains resonance by flashing back and forth chronologically. The story told in this graphic novel is the culmination and the pinnacle of his three decades of work, and is as emotionally affecting as it is visually stunning.

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