Like The Great Gatsby and Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State, Julian Barnes’ novel The Sense of an Ending can easily be read in one sitting. For that reason (bonus reason: it creeped me out so hard I immediately wanted read it again) I’m putting it at the top of the first annual Black Balloon Last-Minute Gift Guide.
Read MoreWhite Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race has something for everyone who's set his or her alienation to the accompaniment of screaming. I skipped straight to its excerpt of an 1983 Maximumrocknroll interview with Ian MacKaye, whose pre-Fugazi band Minor Threat had recently released the scene-shaking, name-says-it-all song "Guilty of Being White." And I was instantly reminded of someone who otherwise couldn...
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