Once in awhile I like to check out Powell’s for some new reads. It’s not like I need more to read because I have plenty of piles of my own to go through, but sometimes you want something new and different.

I came across this little gem, Pretty Monsters: Stories, by Kelly Link. I’ve not had the pleasure of reading anything by Link but the blurb for this collection of short stories caught my eye. Additionally it’s a YA novel which is not something I normally reach for.

Publisher Comments:

Through the lens of Link’s vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award-winning “The Faery Handbag,” in which a teenager’s grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of “The Surfer,” whose narrator (a soccer-playing skeptic) waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link’s stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world.

Initially I thought this might be a good book for my son but after reading a few of the pages online, I see that it’s really geared towards those 12 years and older. Has anyone read it? I may have to pick this one up.