viewNeko Case – The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir (2025)
Most will start this expecting Neko's tales of Rock & Roll, only to read a memoir about poverty, family pain, and generational trauma. Case presents a stark look at growing up poor and neglected in the U.S.A.
There are music business bits, but they feel like addenda to her rich story. Music helped save her, but it's only part of her narrative. Her quest to find her Slavic heritage resonated with me, from horse-riding women warriors to lady wrestlers to The Muffs.
Her writing crackles with verve. She dashes off analogies, deploying wordplay with a songwriter's touch. Read it.
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viewAlex Johnson – Brooklyn Motto (2025)
My fave thing about this crime novel's self-discovery ride? How funny it is. Madcap, smart-aleck, wry-wit humor keeps you invested in protagonist Nico and his predicament. Chuckles and snorts aside, it's a damn fine gumshoe yarn that tweaks expectations, updates archetypes, and features an evolved masculinity that detoxifies the genre.
Johnson's knowledge of place shines. South Brooklyn, East Village, Sunnyside, Williamsburg. Even if you don't know O'Connors from the Blue and Gold, you sense the interiors of these bars.
Like Jim Gavin, Johnson delivers scathing observations on life's absurdities while churning through clever, fast-moving plot.
Fun, poignant, memorable. Read it.
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