In the interest of being frustating, I’ve given each book a letter grade…sans explanation for that grade.

* Junkmail by Will Self - grade B

* Find Fish, Anywhere, Anytime by Joseph D. Bates - grade B

* 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets Behind Them by Toby Creswell - grade: B+

* The Best American Crime Writing of 2006 by Mark Bowden and Otto Penzler - grade: B+

* Nature Noir: A Park Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra by Jordan Fisher Smith - grade C

* Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time by Martin Popoff - grade B+

* Perfect Sound Forever: The Story of Pavement by Rob Jovanonic - grade F+

* The New York City Cab Driver’s Book of Dirty Jokes by Jim Pietsch - grade C

* The Ultimate Good Luck by Richard Ford - grade B+

* Hard as Nails by Dan Simmons  - grade D+ for legit crime fiction, grade A+ for entertainment value

* Mr. Mike by Dennis Perrin - grade A

* Off Season by Jack Ketchum - grade B

* The Rock Snob’s Dictionary by Mark Kemp and Stevan Daly - grade A-

* The Film Snob’s Dictionary by Mark Kemp and Stevan Daly - grade B+

* The Other Hollywood: An Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film History by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne - grade A-

* Bloody Sam: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah by Marshall Fine - grade A

* The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos - grade B

* Coronado by Dennis Lehane - grade A-

* Queens Reigns Supreme by Ethan Brown - grade A+

* Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, + God by Russell Simmons - grade D-

* Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston - grade B+

* A Dangerous Man by Charlie Huston - grade B

* Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston - grade B

* Little Children by Tom Perrotta - grade B+

* Drugs are Nice by Lisa Carver - grade C-

* The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys by Alan Light - grade D-

* Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock by Andrew Beaujon - grade A-

* A respectable section of On Film by John Simon - grade B

* Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman - grade F

* Autumn Rhythm by Richard Meltzer - grade B+

* The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - grade B

* The Road by Cormac McCarthy - grade A