Piercing was super freakin’ weird. The main character Mr. Kawashima has this strange urge to kill his own baby, so he sets out to kill a prostitute to alleviate this urge. Yep, pretty f*cked up, I know.

The book had a really Dexter-y vibe to it; you know the main character is a psycho but you still like him. It’s super-suspenseful and one of those books where you want to keep reading to find out what happens. Overall it was pretty rad but the ending was kind of so-so.

Rating: 3/5

Hitcher’s Guide to the Galaxy is the funniest book I’ve ever read. It’s the first book that’s actually made me laugh out loud. I had to be careful reading this on the bus because it’d make me giggle like an idiot. The type of humour is so dry and quirky, something that’s new for me. It’s filled with gems like this:

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.”

If you haven’t read Hitchhiker, I highly recommend picking it up. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

Rating: 5/5

Dr. Futurity is a scifi story about Dr. Parsons, who mysteriously timeslips into a future society. Parsons learns the hard way that in this future society, healing and saving people’s lives is frowned upon and death is something that society looks forward to. He stirs a lot of shit when he instinctively saves a girl’s life, and the police decide to exile him to another planet (sucks for him haha).

I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if I read it 40 years ago. I’ve seen a bunch of movies about time travel so the plot in Dr. Futurity was a bit predictable. Pretty cool read nonetheless.

Rating: 3/5

The Chili Peppers will always have a special place in my heart because I grew up listening to them throughout elementary and high school. I remember my dad bought me and my brother a copy of By the Way in the summer of 2002, and we would jam out to it in the car all the time. Also, Flea’s basslines are what made me want to pick up the bass.

It was really cool to read about the ups and downs of Anthony Kiedis’ life, including drug addictions/relapses, relationships, conflicts with bandmates, etc. My favourite parts in the book were when he explained the meaning behind the lyrics to RHCP songs. For example, I had no idea Under the Bridge was about the bond between him and LA, and shooting speedballs under a bridge.

Rating: 4/5

I picked this book up because I’m a big fan of self-improvement books. I enjoyed reading How to Win Friends and Influence People a while back, so I decided to pick up another one of Carnegie’s books.

Now I know you may think it’s silly to read a book about how to stop worrying but I think it’s harder than most people think. We *know* that worrying is something we should stop doing, but we still do it anyway. How to Stop Worrying does an excellent job explaining why worrying is a big waste of time and energy. It’s also jam-packed with examples of how real people got over their worries (the book was written in the 40s so the examples are a little dated, but they arre definitely still relevant).

Rating: 4.5/5