Booksmeller Sunday, Invisible Monsters

Invisible Monsters caught me off guard, like any good novel does. It seeps into your pores and taints your thoughts. It stays with you forever.



Palahniuk's plots are strange and twisted, but I don't keep reading because they're "weird" or "gimmicky". The protagonists are usually really compelling. You don't understand why they are the way they are until the end of the novel. So I hop along for the ride to see more.

Invisible Monsters is my favorite so far, even only having read four of his novels. It's more or less about a model whose face gets blown off with a shotgun. There's a lot more fun in her life post-shotgun trauma. Her poor career ruined. But the adventure is just beginning. In the hospital she meets an in-transition transgender named Brandy Alexander, and this is where the fun happens.



Saying i'm a bit of a book nerd would be a bit of an understatement. I took a book arts class to learn how to construct a book, and also how to take advantage of it's format to produce content. When I pick up a book, I don't just take note of the cover design and illustration. (Although these colors are so peachy keen, pop, and monochromatic). I also look at the weight of the paper, the smell, the font chosen, the formatting and pacing of chapters, the size of the book, etc. Above all, I get super happy when I get a hardcover book, rip off that dust jacket, and see that there is a well thought out design there.

Books don't need dust covers, they need fancy designs on the hardcover cloth itself. And perhaps more illustration, like in the Victorian era.

Don't let me forget the whole purpose of these posts, besides to nerd out about the novels themselves. This borrowed novel smells sweet like powdered sugar, but at the same time it's sour like lemons or pickles. On second smelling, there is almost a hint of bacon. Which makes me giggle if i think about the content.

I say you go pick up this novel and read it! And smell it! It's highly entertaining. It amuses me how much people either love his work or hate it. I'm afraid to read his most current works, I hear they aren't as great as his older ones. We'll see...

So anyone else smelling books lately? Have a favorite book in your collection to smell? Do you walk into libraries and used book stores swooning to the smell of old books?

I do.