Writers Read: Brendan Halpin

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Brendan Halpin

Brendan Halpin is the author of the novels Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Long Way Back and Donorboy, as well as the memoirs Losing My Faculties and It Takes a Worried Man.

He is also the author of How Ya Like Me Now and Forever Changes, both novels for young adults.

Late last month I asked him what he was reading. His reply:

I'm going to take a risk and tell you what I'm actually reading instead of what I think I should appear to be reading. So I'm uncharacteristically reading a bunch of stuff at once right now. I've just finished Lilith Saintcrow's Working for the Devil, which is about a badass woman who talks to the dead who gets hired by Satan to hunt down a rogue demon. It was action-packed and I really enjoyed it. It also has an incredibly cool cover.

I'm also reading the The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics, which is packed full of twisted tales of terror and is a ton of fun. Horror comics are comfort food for my brain; I suppose it's best we don't look too deeply into that.

Right now I'm reading Devil in the Details: Scenes From an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig, which is a hilarious account of the author's mental illness. No, really. I find myself laughing aloud a lot, which is occasionally embarrassing. It's very touching as well as funny, and in addition to being a first-hand account of living with OCD, it's also got a lot of interesting stuff in it about growing up in an interfaith family. Each chapter ends with a little mini-piece with stuff like "instructions for handwashing"--there are several steps that involve pondering whether or not water is clean.

I've also just started Snake Agent by Liz Williams, which is a science-fiction/police/fantasy/horror novel. Ten pages in, it's totally kickass.

Finally (whew!) I'm rereading my friend Dana Reinhardt's new YA novel How To Build a House. I read and liked an early draft, but she assures me it's very different and much improved since then. So far it doesn't seem all that different, but I guess most of the revisions are in the last third.