Matt Waldman’s Reads Listens Views is back in a slightly new form. This post is devoted to recommended reads of the week. 

Welcome

If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome.  For years, I used to post links to pieces that I’ve found personally compelling or to content I hope will eventually scratch that itch when I get around to reading it.

After a two-year break, Reads Listens Views returns. You may not like everything listed here, but you’re bound to like something.

Black Hole by Charles Burns

My daughter reads Manga and my buddy Mike MacGregor of Draft Buddy recommended Sandman to me. He even let me borrow his copy but with three jobs at the time of him sending it for me to read,  I never got around to it and had to send it back.

Last year, I checked out a list of recommended graphic novels and came upon Black Hole, a story of STDs and adolescence written for adults — or teens if you’re the kind of parent who lets your kid read just about anything as long as you’ve read it and can carry on a conversation about it. Winner of the 2006 Harvey Award for “Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work.” The illustrations are gorgeous and disturbing — the way many of us experienced adolescence.

Paris Trout by Pete Dexter

There’s a Dennis Hopper, Ed Harris, and Barbara Hershey film adaption of this novel about the Old South mentality embodied by the eponymous character, a murderous shopkeeper. Published in 1991, Paris Trout remains a disturbing read that will keep you up at night in a similar way that a Flannery O’Connor story will leave your mind reeling.

Wool by Hugh Howey

Footballguys.com staffer Matt Bitonti sent this copy to me 3-4 years ago. Set in a giant underground silo during the post-apocalyptic future, Howey self-published this book that has become a sci-fi classic. Howey’s book is worth a couple of reads — if I had a little more time, I might be tempted to give it another look this month.