Behaving Badly and Behaving Well

A smorgasbord from Jeremy as spring break winds up and we spring back into comprehensive exam action. Wish me luck on the philosophy exam, friends.

1. Donald Barthelme, Sixty Stories. The master of the short story - and I do mean short, some of them three pages, ranging from the existential to the absurd. As I understand, Tamie and Buffy share a high school memory from one particular story: "I am not well, and Shotwell is not himself." Recommended, especially for future fiction writing graduate school students. 480 pgs.

2. Neil Labute, Seconds of Pleasure. The question I have to ask myself after reading a book of short stories like this is, Why do I continue to seek out misanthropic fiction? There is no answer, but I know I need to stop, for my own well-being if not Mr. Labute's. 224 pgs.

3. Tyler Knox, Kockroach. All right, so this one was misanthropic too, but in a good way. Knox inverts Kafka's famous story in which Gregor Samsa wakes up as a giant cockroach, and instead tells the story of a cockroach who wakes up as a tall and creepily attractive human. He is particularly successful in crime; given this fact, you can guess in what political office he ends up. Readable and grim. 368 pgs.

4. Larry Doyle, I Love You Beth Cooper. Kind of an American Pie in novel form; each chapter begins with a caricature of the nerdy hero's increasingly bedraggled face. Nice in concept, dull in realization. 272 pgs.

5. Marie Phillips, Gods Behaving Badly. Fun, light novel about the Greek gods barely hanging on in the 20th century; Artemis walks dogs, Apollo is a TV psychic, and Dionysius owns a night club. Refresh your mythology and read semi-chick-lit at the same time! 304 pgs.

6. In a complete reversal from the previous book, Immanuel Kant's Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. Final book for my comprehensives. Kant argues philosophically for the necessity of a religion based solely on obedient moral behavior. Yes, I know it's more complicated than that. 352 pgs.