Philadelphia Weekly

X Saves the World

People who read chick lit are placed permanently across the aisle from folks who relax with the Russians. There's a nasty divide between high art and low entertainment.

But there's a sort of hip bipartisan hope-and-change feel that takes away your cynicism and wants you to be able to say: "Yes, I can read The Devil Wears Prada one day and Pale Fire the next."

For starters, nothing beats the Gossip Girl series. The lovely ladies of Riverside Prep dominated the CW before the writers' strike, and it turned out the original novel was so good it inspired a gushing essay in The New Yorker. Want to know why Serena went to boarding school, the back-story between her and Nate's illicit relationship, and why Blair is so mad all the time? I know I do.

All the Sad Young Literary Men is like Gossip Girl if instead of being immensely social, GG were insanely internal. I guess it's mostly the name. But Keith Gessen is a Brooklyn-based Russian expat who's pals with the Brooklyn-based Russian expat Gary Shteyngart of Absurdistan fame, and they're in turn part of a clique of young New York writers that everyone just loves to read.

Joining their ranks is Sloan Crosley. Her I Was Told There'd Be Cake ratchets up the mid-20s angst-as- humor essay to new heights. She writes about her love ofMy Little Pony and The Oregon Trail, and the sorrow of being from the suburbs. She's good for fans of Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris, who also have books out later this year. Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates is a history of the Puritans, while Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed in Flames will be the book to read on park benches this summer.

Adding to the joy of introspection are Jeffrey Brown and Ariel Scragg, whose comics Little Things and Awkward and Definition show that cartoonists might just be the least relaxed people on the planet.

They aren't the only ones ruling the personal essay, though. Michael Chabon is releasing his first collection Maps and Legends through McSweeney's to benefit the nonprofit 826. This guy oozes talent, and his nonfiction is sure to be amazing. Meanwhile, Chabon's award-winning novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union will be out in paperback next month. Carrying around the hardcover was a flashback to high school bookbags stuffed with textbooks, so having the fantastic novel in lighter form should be impetus enough for everyone daunted by its enormous size.

Little Things

Also out in paperback is the surprise hit of last fall And Then We Came to the End. This story of a group of advertising people in Chicago during the stock-market bust of the early naughts is hilarious and profoundly unsettling, like Office Space without the heist and with more disturbing intercube relations.

All these young writers might bother the hell out of you, but Jeff Gordinier's X Saves the World makes a pretty good argument why this generation, now heading into its fourth decade, is a lot more important than just the grunge rock and Starbucks it produced. Gordinier argues that the YouTubers and the baby boomers have nothing on the hard-work ethic of the ultimate slacker generation, and he lists the tons of things we have to thank them for (the Internet being fun and Obama, for example).

If you're not worn out by politics, there's some interesting stuff out. Want a clever insight into the politico game? So You Want to Be President by John Warner shows just what you have to do to win the highest office in the land. Are you a donkey, an elephant or some kind of eledonkey? Are you morally flexible enough to win?

Prefer your politics fictionalized? Windy City by NPR's Scott Simon shows just how screwed up politics can be. Although it's set in Chicago, the sheer corruption of it all will make you feel like it could be Philly.

But if America is wearing you out, India and its expats have a lot to offer. Animal's People by Indra Sinha is a novel that blasts globalization (not to mention Union Carbide) without being preachy. Jhumpa Lahiri has a new short-story collection Unaccustomed Earth, and her border-hopping ways make for a compelling read. Meanwhile Salman Rushdie, the world's most ego-inflated author, is releasing The Enchantress of Florence, a convoluted historical yarn that, as usual, will either be the best book ever or completely unreadable.

Finally, sit down with The Best of Stuntology by Sam Bartlett. It's full of pranks, tricks and other irritating things you can do to people. Trying out stuff like "What the Hell Is That Noise," and "Sideways Spitting" will cause all your friends to abandon you, giving you plenty of time to read.