BJ’s Standout Reads: April 2019

BJ Knapp author of Beside the Music enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje StageBaby Teeth by Zoje Stage  OK, this one was crazy. Suzette is being terrorized by her 7 year old daughter.  Absolutely terrorized.  Like this kid tries to kill her several times. But the problem is, she’s a perfect angel in front of her dad, to the point where she makes it look like Suzette is going crazy.  Will Dad catch on? And what will they do about it?  The reason why I liked this one so much is because it bounced back and forth between the perspective of the mom and the daughter.  Zoje Stage did a great job of making the kid creepy as hell, and the mom's level of frustration was illustrated very well.

 

 

BJ Knapp author of Beside the Music enjoyed People Skills 101 by Kerry O'HallaronPeople Skills 101 by Kerry O’Hallaron This should be required reading for all humans. I grabbed this one out of curiosity. See, I work from home full time and I am afraid I am getting weird and feral in my social interactions.  Kerry O’Hallaron lays out a skill in each chapter, and covers 21 social skills.  It sounds like a lot, but he makes it very accessible.  Then at the end he says “OK, pick out 2 skills and master those, and then pick out another one and master that one…” so he takes something that could potentially be overwhelming and makes it easy to attack.  Well done.

 



BJ Knapp author of Beside the Music enjoyed What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty  Alice fell down at the gym and hit her head.  When she comes to she tells everyone around her that she’s pregnant with her first child.  What she doesn’t realize is that she has 3 children at home.  Because she thinks it’s 1998, not 2008.  She gets released from the hospital with a huge lapse in her memory, and she’s shocked to learn how she’s changed in the last 10 years.  In 1998 she was in love with her husband, but in 2008 she’s divorcing him.  She has to figure out what has happened to her life and relationships in the last 10 years ago and come to grips with the idea that maybe she doesn’t like who she’s become.  I LOVED this one.  Very cool concept.

 

BJ Knapp is the author of Beside the Music, available for purchase here. Please sign up for the Backstage with BJ Knapp mailing list to get updates on events, signings, dog pictures and so much more.

added on 04.22.19

Back to main Blog page