Tom Robbins

After the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, an ambitious but ineffectual young stockbroker faces a mind-blowing, destiny-altering weekend scheming to escape blame and coping with a mysterious stranger out to forever alter one's fate--and cosmic consciousness.

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

Bailee Strong

Patrick Book

I always enjoy Robbins' flights of fancy in at least a few ways. Writing about the ails of the stock market in the midst of a recession might be low-hanging fruit for a social satirist but Robbins' penchant for the absurd and out-there ensure the story around the market upheaval is far from a run-of-the-mill "Wall Street" rip-off. 

While the second-person narration wasn't necessarily my cup of tea the cast of characters helped get me over that particular hurdle. I could really have done with more Q-Jo Huffington, though. 

Central in every Robbins book is the love story and this one is definitely one of his more unusual pairings. There's little to love on either side of the Gwen/Diamond pairing but their intense flaws mean they're an ideal, albeit more than a little alien, pair. 

I wouldn't put this at the top of the list when it comes to Tom Robbins' work but his skewed take on relationships is always refreshing. I have yet to read any of his latter works that fail to inflame one's romantic sensibilities.

Half asleep in frog pajamas

Laura Mauler

The only book I've ever read that was written in the second person. For that alone it is worth reading.