A VERY PUNCHABLE FACE (Colin Jost) - July 28/20

A typically erratic memoir. I was less-than-impressed by his childhood, but I definitely enjoyed his SNL stories and even some of his other tales (including a bite by a weird parasite). *** out of ****

YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT (Daniel Kehlmann) - July 24/20

This novel - well, novella, really - took a while to really grab my attention and Kehlmann doesn't help matters by initially focusing on the main character's screenplay (complete with excerpts!) But the book does get fairly creepy as it goes along, and the first-person perspective really adds to the unsettling atmosphere. *** out of ****

A KISS BEFORE DYING (Ira Levin) - July 12/20

Ira Levin knocks it out of the park again with this engrossing and impressively shocking/dark thriller. I will admit certain things didn't work for me - Levin's decision to hide Bud's identity during the Ellen stretch left me confused, and the overly descriptive stuff at the plant near the end was a bit much - but there were definitely stretches that were unexpectedly riveting and the ending is note perfect. Good stuff. ***1/2 out of ****