Good Reading...

Dear Readers,

In this post I will tell you about two very good books that I think you should read. If you are illiterate, you may just want to skip over this part.

Both of these "very good books" are by Australian author Max Barry. Max's debut novel, Syrup, was released in 1999 but was not read by me until 2004, just after I finished reading his second novel, Jennifer Government, which came out in 2003.

Syrup's dust jacket reads as follows: Scat wants to be rich, shallow, and famous, so when he gets a million-dollar idea for a new soda, he realizes it's his ticket to movie premieres and vacuous, drink-slurred lunches with celebrities. But first he has to deal with 6, a street-smart, miniskirt-wearing corporate assassin, who is possibly the love of Scat's life or possibly just ripping him off. Then there's Sneaky Pete, marketing genius, refugee from Tokyo, and Scat's best friend, —at least as far as Scat knows.

I thought this book kicked a whole load of ass. It was jam-packed with corporate espionage with many hilarious twists. I love it when books makeunapologeticc fun of big corporations (Coca-Cola in the case of this book).

Syrup was, and is to this day, the only book in excess of 200 pages that I have successfully read in one sitting. Whether this means the book was good, or my ADD is going away, I'm not sure. Definitely worth the read.

Jennifer Government also kicked a whole load of ass. Its dust-jacket is as follows: Welcome to paradise! The world is run by American corporations (except for a few deluded holdouts like the French); taxes are illegal; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; the Police and the NRA are publicly-traded security firms; and the U.S. government only investigates crimes it can bill for. Hack Nike is a Merchandising Officer who discovers an all-new way to sell sneakers. Buy Mitsui is a stockbroker with a death-wish. Billy NRA is finding out that life in a private army isn't all snappy uniforms and code names. And Jennifer Government, a legendary agent with a barcode tattoo, is the consumer watchdog from hell.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It was crazy to imagine living in a world where you have to pay the Police up-front before they'll investigate a crime. Which are better, McDonald's-run schools, or Burger King-run schools? Crazy, I tell ya.

Max Barry, the authour, has a pretty sweet website at http://www.maxbarry.com. His bio reads like this: Max Barry is an Australian, for which he apologizes. He is the authour of the cult hit Syrup, although he spelled his name "Maxx" for that novel, "because it seemed like a funny joke about marketing, and I failed to realize everyone would assume I was a pretentious asshole." He was born on March 18, 1973, and lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he writes full-time, the advantage being that he can do it while wearing boxer shorts.

Max's latest novel, Company, is due out on January 17, 2006. If you've never read his work, please do.

Peace & Love,
J. S. Buchanan