This Podcast Will Change Your Life - The AWP 2014 Edition Part II - Scorched Earth, starring the Justin Daugherty.

Truth. We are so Daugherty. And podcast. We are also Sundog Lit, AWP, VIDA, Cormac McCarthy, and much, much, more yo. So do hit it. It just might change your life.

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Lists are coming. Here. Now. Books.

We will be Top Ten lists for the rest of the week, because really when you think about it, its time, like now, has to be, and today will be books. To be clear, well, straight up, we do not limit ourselves to books published in the year we are covering, just anything we read, we also readily embrace the fact that we are not objective, we virulently, even violently tilt towards indie releases, and to be honest, and we do believe in that, honesty that is, we are often influenced by the fact that the authors we dig may be acquaintances, or people we would like to be acquainted with, and/or based in Chicago the home of TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters. With that in mind, here you go, though please note, that despite all we just said, we are opening with a non-indie, non-Chicago author, and no, we can't totally explain that, but to say, this first one really knocked us out, big time.

(1) The Road/Cormac McCarthy

(2) Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt/Ken Sparling

(3) Stories II/Scott McClanahan

(4) Beautiful Piece/Joseph G. Peterson

(5) Grease Stains, Kismet, and Maternal Wisdom/Mel Bosworth

(6) Slut Lullabies/Gina Frangello

(7) Working on a Dream - The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen/David Masciotra

(8) Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake/Cori Crooks

(9) Chasing Pigeons Make Me Feel More Powerful/Kendra Grant Malone

(10) Tales of Woe/John Reed

Some additional 2010 literary love sure to change your life (albeit in no particular order): One Damn Thing After Another/Tim Hall; When We Make Our Dinosaur/J.A. Tyler; We Know What We Are/Mary Hamilton; Old Men, Gods, And Monsters/Peter Schwartz; Twenty Stories/Kristin Fouquet; El Vocho: Love at the Twilight of Oil/Steve Lafler; Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago/Mike Royko, Charactered Pieces/Caleb J. Ross; Ryan Seacrest is Famous/Dave Housley; Red Ivy Afternoon/Mark Brand; Lambs of Men/Charles Dodd White; Some Identity Problems/Corey Mesler; The Sagging: Spirits & Skin/Jason Fisk.

Also, the two books we never quite got our hands on, but plan to, because not doing so is a terrible oversight and pains us to no end: Daddy's/Lindsay Hunter and Baby & Other Stories/Paula Bomer.

And, how about a 2011 sneak preview of sorts? A number of books have come in over the last few months just as our ability to make time for reading has slowed dramatically, so books we are geeked for as the new year is upon us (and again in no particular order): Cardboard Gods/Josh Wilker; Sophomoric Philosophy/Victor David Giron; Fight For Your Long Day/Alex Kudera; Cloud and Other Stories/Jason Jordan; Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners/Ken Wohlrob; Chasing the Runner's High/Ray Charbonneau; Mont-Saint-Michele and Chartres/Spencer Dew.

Finally, for your retro viewing pleasure:

TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2009 Top Ten Books List

TBWCL, Inc.'s 2008 Top Ten Books List

TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2007 Top Ten Books List

This Book Will Change Your Life - The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

We know that it is merely coincidental that there was a bomb scare and a police lock down in our neighborhood this morning that we had to wade through to get one of the kids to camp just hours after finishing The Road. We also know that you can't compare the father-son journey in the post-Apocalyptic world of The Road to our walk this morning, and yet that doesn't mean this morning's journey wasn't scary, and it doesn't mean you can feel all that safe dropping your kid off anywhere near potential violence no matter how safe it seems. Neither does it mean that it wasn't sort of eerie watching droves of people being re-directed out of the neighborhood, and away from public transportation, forcing them to walk to who knows where exactly, because at least initially you weren't quite sure where to go or how to get there. Further, we know that it is coincidental that we read The Road so shortly after reading Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling, that there was no conscious plan in terms of themes, and yet we did. We also know that comparing the somewhat quotidian horrors, frustrations and intermittent bursts of joy and awesomeness of parenting on a day-to-day basis in a non-post Apocalyptic world are not ever going to be truly comparable to that of The Road, and yet, both novels are written in sparse, at times electrifying prose, both involve anger, fear and small doses of happiness, and both possess a level of dread, you sort of know what's coming, but aren't quite sure, and maybe don't know want to know anyway. Which is not so different than parenting in any world, post-Apocalyptic or not. The Road makes you hope you never have to face any of the things captured in this story because you know that you cannot and will not be able to do so, and yet, again, it seems so possible and so real, you almost wish you didn't have to read it. But you do, because as we wrote about Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt, we read, we don't have choice, and we want to feel something when we read, we have to, and The Road ensures that we do.