Get your read on

Summer’s half over, and chances are you’ve
barely made a dent in that ambitious reading list you made for
yourself in June, back when the thought of three glorious,
sun-filled months without classes, deadlines, or exams made you
drunk with good intentions. Or perhaps you never even made a list
this year, choosing instead to suffer through a vast wasteland of
reality-based television, “People” magazine, or other
indignities easily foisted upon the uninitiated. Whatever the
situation, dB Magazine is here to help. Whether you only read the
very latest books to hit the shelves, can’t imagine reading
anything too long or serious unless there’s a letter grade at
stake, or have been living in a makeshift bomb shelter for the past
ten years with a charismatic cult leader who convinced you the
world had actually come to an end only to have tunneled out in an
act of desperation when you ran out of canned goods to discover
that not only does life still exist on Earth, but that apparently
some series of novels about a young English magician had replaced
“The Chronicles of Narnia” as the most imaginative
series of children’s books of all time, we’ve got the
book list you’ll need. So get yourself to the nearest library
or bookstore and, armed with dB Magazine, make the most of
what’s left of those lazy days of summer. Top 10
Recommended Recent Releases 1. CANDY By Mian Mian Little,
Brown & Company, 304 pages, $13.95 Shanghai author Mian
Mian told the New York Times that she’s been labeled
“the poster child for spiritual pollution” by the
Chinese government because of this book. Here in California, we say
a little spiritual pollution never hurt anybody. -Sommer
Mathis

2. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX By J.K. Rowling
Scholastic, 870 pages, $29.99 Harry Potter is a drug. The
long-awaited fifth installment of the Harry Potter series has all
the excitement, adventure and magic of the last four books that
have readers hooked for life. Besides, how better can college
students prove their intelligence than by reading a book bigger
than the Bible in just a couple of days? -Menaka Fernando

3. LIFE OF PI By Yan Martel Harvest Books, 336 pages, $14.00

4. REEFER MADNESS: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American
Black Market By Eric Schlosser Houghton Mifflin Co., 320 pages,
$23.00

5. MONEYBALL: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Norton, W.W. & Company, 288 pages, $24.95
“Moneyball” will disprove everything you thought
you knew about baseball. Bunting and stealing hurts you, batting
averages are useless, and small market teams can win. -Gilbert
Qinonez

6. FEAR ITSELF By Walter Mosley Little, Brown & Company, 320
pages, $24.95

7. SUMMERHOUSE, LATER By Judith Hermann Ecco, 224 pages,
$12.95

8. ABSOLUTELY AMERICAN By David Lipsky Houghton Mifflin Co., 320
pages, $25.00

9. TRADING UP By Candace Bushnell Hyperion, 416 pages,
$24.95

10. DUE PREPARATIONS FOR THE PLAGUE By Janette Turner Hospital
Norton, W.W. & Company, 320 pages, $24.95

Top 10 Books To Read At The Beach

1. THE LOCKLEAR LETTERS By Michael Kun MacAdam/Cage Publishing,
341 pages, $19.95 Computer salesman Sid Straw went to UCLA. So
did Heather Locklear. One man’s obsession with his former
classmate makes for one of the funniest new books of the year.
-Sommer Mathis

2. SUMMERLAND By Michael Chabon Talk Miramax Books, 512 pages,
$22.95

3. PIECES OF INTELLIGENCE: The Existential Poetry of Donald H.
Rumsfeld By Hart Seely Free Press, 128 pages, $12.95

4. OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE: Scenes From the American Indie
Underground, 1981-1991 By Michael Azerrad Little, Brown &
Company, 528 pages, $25.95 It’s like Behind the Music you
can take to the beach, but without interviews with washed-out
Rolling Stone critics. And it sure beats Kurt Cobain’s
“Journals.” -Andrew Lee

5. BARREL FEVER By David Sedaris Little, Brown & Company,
196 pages, $12.95

6. THE NANNY DIARIES By Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus St.
Martin’s Press, 352 pages, $13.95

7. NOTES FROM A DEFEATIST By Joe Sacco Fantagraphics, 216 pages,
$19.95

8. WICKED: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West By
Gregory Maguire Harper Collins, 406 pages, $15.00

9. THE INTERPRETER OF MALADIES By Jhumpa Lahiri Houghton Mifflin
Co., 160 pages, $13.00 Lahiri’s short stories give the
reader an idea of what life is like for an Indian living in
America, but anyone can relate to the feelings of loneliness, love,
desire, family affiars, and poverty. -Katie Mitchell

10. SMOKESCREEN: A True Adventure By Robert Sabbag Canongate
Books, 406 pages, $15.00

Top 10 Achingly Hip Books That All Your Friends Have
Read By Now And If You Haven’t Yet You’re A Sad Excuse
For A College Student

1. THE CORRECTIONS By Jonathan Franzen Picador, 593 pages,
$15.00 Franzen’s behemoth of a book will make you want to
sleep with your professor, slip into a terrible depression, and
never, ever go home for Christmas again. Trust us, those are all
good things. -Sommer Mathis

2. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING By Milan Kundera Perennial
Press, 320 pages, $13.00 A wonderful read about two
dysfunctional couples galavanting around Europe and copulating a
lot. If you think you’re cool, you’ve probably already
lied and told people you love Kundera’s work ““ now you
should actually read it. -Daniel Miller

3. A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS By Dave Eggers
Vintage Books, 496 pages, $14.00

4. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES By John Kennedy Toole Grove Press,
416 pages, $14.00

5. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS By Arundhati Roy Harper Collins, 336
pages, $14.00

6. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY By Douglas Adams
Ballantine Books, 224 pages, $7.50

7. LOLITA By Vladimir Nabokov Vintage Books, 336 pages,
$13.00

8. NO LOGO By Naomi Klein Picador, 502 pages, $15.00

9. LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA By Gabriel Garcia Marquez Viking
Penguin, 368 pages, $14.95

10. WHITE TEETH By Zadie Smith Knopf, 464 pages, $14.00