My thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company Back Bay books for this advanced copy of an appreciation and collection of works by an author whose writing style is even all these years, and even though the real and literary world has much changed, stands out for both its freshness, its bravery, and well sheer lunacy.

In college I was working full-time in a bookstore chain that took up lots of spots in malls and plazas, but has fallen out of memory. We had the big books, the popular books, the bestsellers and the books that network television, all three channels would make mini-series out of. My father was a subscriber to a lot of newspapers, and saved all the book information for me so I could keep up. One day I read a review for a book that seemed so odd, different, weird. I ordered a copy for the store, and borrowed it the day it came in. Taking my break i started reading, and by the end of my break knew I was buying this book, and ordering everything else. The book was Et Tu, Babe and it blew my mind. The ideas, the words, the images. Stealing the halitosis of Abraham Lincoln, a crime whose punishment was that one object would be taken from you, one that you didn't need often, but when needed was gone. There was so much and it was here I saw that literature could be so much more. I quoted that book endlessly, bought everything that followed, and pushed the writings of Mark Leyner on everyone I could. I am so glad that there are others who love his writing too. A Shimmering, Serrated Monster!:The Mark Leyner Reader by Mark Leyner edited by Rick Kisonak is a collection of selected works from all of Leyner's novels, with hymns of praise, critical appreciation, and a time line of events following the path of the author.

The book collects the fiction writing of Mark Leyner, mentioning but not including his nonfiction articles and his two books on the medical field, which also should be read. There is a forward of appreciation, followed by a brief introduction on what the author has meant to the editor, and why this book needed to be made. From there we follow the publishing life of the author. Each book has a timeline, describing events from the author's life, publishing history, meetings with Martha Stewart, marriages, accidents, and outside works. There is an essay about the book or an interview with the author. And of course the writing. I like this as one can see an author develope, the evolution of style and sustaining the story from very short stories to longer novels. I won't go into the books, as really one can't. One can only really experience them, flipping pages and going what, how, what again, and ohh.

One of the authors who has never left my top ten. I think of his books at least once a week. Reading Mark Leyner was like Superman getting hit with red kryptonite, which has different effects on Superman. One is changed, but in the ways that might take years to notice. I think that after Leyner I wanted more from writing, to think and be challenged, something that might explain much of my art appreciation since then. To think that Leyner wrote what he did, without the Internet still stuns my. Sentences about biology, science, pseudoscience, art, fashion, all in one paragraph. That is some reading library Leyner had. I would love to know more.

This is not for everyone, and maybe the world has gone on too fast, and in many ways too wrong to appreciate this kind of writing. Things that would have been science fiction, like adding Arnold Schwarzenegger to every movie, can be done on a cell phone now. I still remember reading that book, one I still have, along with all of Leyner's others. I hope someone gets the same charge I got, the same thinking about art. This is a great introduction to a great writer, one who continues to create, and continues to amaze.

This isn't for everyone, because it's really a kind of love letter to the work of Mark Leyner. Leyner's work is unique, and you can really tell with this book. It's arranged in a fun way, because there are multiple topics interspersed with important events. I would recommend this to serious Leyner fans and to people who are just starting to get into his work, because this book coves so much. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.