Why am I passionate about this?

I have long been an ardent admirer and student of works that transgress boundaries and extend the frontiers of literature. A blurring and subversion of genres, or fusion of forms and modalities, arouses my imagination and inspires me to see differently, to read differently, to travel to places within myself that otherwise might remain undiscovered and uncharted. To me, writing is an ongoing experiment, a series of progressions and adventures which ask me to stay open, supple, and curious. There is no set formulaā€”each book demands its own form, and both as writer and reader, I most desire to be engaged in what is a solitary ritual of interaction.  


I wrote

Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale

By John Biscello,

Book cover of Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale

What is my book about?

A spectral, existential noir set against the aging irons of Coney Island and old guard lions of hip hop andā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Kafka on the Shore

John Biscello Why did I love this book?

There are some labyrinths you enter, in which you want to remain lost. While simultaneously longing for a way out. Haruki Murakamiā€™s beguiling masterpiece, Kafka on the Shore, qualifies as that sort of labyrinth-as-novel. A coming-of-age odyssey with a metaphysical slant, the journey which the teen protagonist, Kafka, undertakes, lures the reader through a kaleidoscopic realm steeped in pop culture, romance, shadow-play, family trauma, and ultimately, salvation. When I finished this novel, or found myself ejected from the labyrinth back into the ā€œrealā€ world, echoes of wonder and intrigue continued to haunt and inspire me for a long time afterward. 

By Haruki Murakami,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Kafka on the Shore as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A stunning work of art that bears no comparisons" the New York Observer wrote of Haruki Murakami's masterpiece, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. In its playful stretching of the limits of the real world, his magnificent new novel, Kafka on the Shore is every bit as bewitching and ambitious. The narrative follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his highly simplified life suddenly overturned. Their parallel odysseys - asā€¦


Book cover of Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

John Biscello Why did I love this book?

One of the most riveting story collections that Iā€™ve read in the past decade is Carmen Maria Machadoā€™s Her Body and Other Parties. A virtuoso feat of new wave gothic and totemic feminism, Machadoā€™s collection casts a lantern light on the female-body-as-haunted-house; chambers of secrets that play unsettled host to a litany of dreams and nightmares. ā€œThe Husband Stitchā€ is a psychologically taut remix of the classic horror tale, ā€œThe Green Ribbon,ā€ while my favorite story in the collection, ā€œReal Women Have Bodies,ā€ is a dystopic gem in which women, prey to an epidemic of dematerialization, have begun to fade from existence. The book, as a whole, possesses the feel of a multi-part Black Mirror episode, written and directed by the gothic stepchild of Shirley Jackson and Camille Paglia. 

By Carmen Maria Machado,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Her Body and Other Parties as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FICTION PRIZE 2017
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2018

'Brilliantly inventive and blazingly smart' Garth Greenwell

'Impossible, imperfect, unforgettable' Roxane Gay

'A wild thing ... covered in sequins and scales, blazing with the influence of fabulists from Angela Carter to Kelly Link and Helen Oyeyemi' New York Times

In her provocative debut, Carmen Maria Machado demolishes the borders between magical realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. Startling narratives map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited on their bodies, both in myth and in practice.

Aā€¦


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Book cover of Evil Alice and the Borzoi

Evil Alice and the Borzoi by DK Coutant,

Cleo Cooper is living the dream with ocean-dipping weekends, a good job, good friends, fair boyfriend, and a good dog. But, paradise is shaken when the body of a young woman is dragged onto a university research vessel during a class outing in Hilo Bay.

Cleo is shocked to findā€¦

Book cover of The Natashas

John Biscello Why did I love this book?

Ukrainian-born, Yelena Moskovich, is one of the most daring and radical stylists working in contemporary literature, and I was ā€œbewitched, bothered and bewildered,ā€ in the best possible ways, by her debut novel, The Natashas. Set in contemporary Paris, it is through the mirrored introversion of two protagonistsā€”Beatrice, a jazz singer, and Cesar, an actorā€”that the dramatic tensions between self and other, silence and voice, are played out, with ā€œthe Natashas,ā€ women resigned to a void, functioning as the novelā€™s haunted, nesting doll chorus. Moskovichā€™s book is an experiment that closes in on itself, and with claustrophobic intimacy produces a strange, brooding, and salacious form of music. 

By Yelena Moskovich,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Natashas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Beatrice, a solitary young jazz singer from a genteel Parisian suburb, meets a mysterious woman named Polina. Polina visits her at night and whispers in her ear: 'There are people who leave their bodies and their bodies go on living without them. These people are named Natasha.'

Cesar, a lonely Mexican actor working in a call centre, receives the opportunity of a lifetime: a role as a serial killer on a French TV series. But as he prepares for the audition, he starts falling in love with the psychopath he is to play.

Beatrice and Cesar are drawn deeper intoā€¦


Book cover of The New York Trilogy

John Biscello Why did I love this book?

Paul Austerā€™s New York Trilogyā€”comprising of City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Roomā€”originally published in 1985-86, carved out a niche all its own, what you might call existential noir. Here, the essence of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, is given a philosophical facelift, with Auster transforming the classic detective novel into a meditation on identity and self, as reflected in a house of fractured mirrors. As someone who grew up in Brooklynā€”a fan of noir in film and literature, and of works that are speculative and mind-bendingā€”my discovery of The New York Trilogy was like stumbling onto a literary oasis, which became a fixed source of delight and inspiration. 

By Paul Auster,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The New York Trilogy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Paul Auster's signature work, "The New York Trilogy," consists of three interlocking novels: "City of Glass," "Ghosts," and "The Locked Room" - haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller."City of Glass" - As a result of a strange phone call in the middle of the night, Quinn, a writer of detective stories, becomes enmeshed in a case more puzzling than any he might hace written"Ghosts"Blue, a student of Brown, has been hired to spy on Black. From a window of a rented house on Orange street, Blue stalks his subject, who is staring outā€¦


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Book cover of Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink

Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink by Ethan Chorin,

Benghazi: A New History is a look back at the enigmatic 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, its long-tail causes, and devastating (and largely unexamined) consequences for US domestic politics and foreign policy. It contains information not found elsewhere, and is backed up by 40 pages ofā€¦

Book cover of Room to Dream

John Biscello Why did I love this book?

While this book is a bio-memoir, I included it on my list as a correspondent homage to the cinematic shaman of twisted mysteries, David Lynch. For the past forty plus years, Lynch has dreamscaped a long dayā€™s journey into night, taking audiences on a hallucinated tour through the underworld of their own splintered psyche. Lynchā€™s oeuvre, a steam-punk Frankenstein of interchangeable parts, speaks to the savvy and glee of a mad scientist at play, while his blending of the eternal with American pop has given us a surrealistic soap opera with an eye toward the numinous. Written in alternating chapters, between Lynch and McKenna, this book is a must-read for fans of Lynch, but beyond that, if you are a fan and lover of cinema, creative process, and following your bliss, Room to Dream strikes those chords with a down-to-earth immediacy. It is, in essence, one manā€™s multi-layered valentine to his enduring flame: the art life.

By David Lynch, Kristine McKenna,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Room to Dream as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ā€¢ An unprecedented look into the personal and creative life of the visionary auteur David Lynch, through his own words and those of his closest colleagues, friends, and family

ā€œInsightful . . . an impressively industrious and comprehensive account of Lynchā€™s career.ā€ā€”The New York Times Book Review
 
In this unique hybrid of biography and memoir, David Lynch opens up for the first time about a life lived in pursuit of his singular vision, and the many heartaches and struggles heā€™s faced to bring his unorthodox projects to fruition. Lynchā€™s lyrical, intimate, and unfiltered personal reflections riffā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale

By John Biscello,

Book cover of Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale

What is my book about?

A spectral, existential noir set against the aging irons of Coney Island and old guard lions of hip hop and silent film, Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale tracks the singular odyssey of would-be sleuth and soon-to-be wordsmith, Salvatore Massimo Lunezzi. Prompted by an enigmatic phone call from a writer-friend claiming to be dead, Lunezzi launches an investigation that leads him to Ghostwriters, Inc., a company selling inspiration to struggling writers through the medium of ā€œghosting.ā€ From Buster Keaton to Arthur Rimbaud, a boozy and brilliant dwarf to an enchanting femme fatale, Lunezzi is drawn deeper and deeper into the soul of the story where fiction and reality inevitably converge.

Book cover of Kafka on the Shore
Book cover of Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Book cover of The Natashas

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