Superheroes' Superpesonality

The title of my post is a lie. Superheroes do not have well-defined personalities, and that's part, or most, of their appeal. Their blankness allows them to be placed in any sort of situation-like how a Wonder Woman comic can be anything from a myth-themed epic to a "hip" '60s adventure set in Greenwich Village. They adapt. Wonder Woman's a particularly good example for this, because she isn't static (not even her origin story, unlike Batman or Spiderman).

God Help the Girl - Stuart Murdoch

God Help the Girl aims to be a complex reflection on the creation of music, mental illness and eating disorders. For the most part, I felt it succeeded. It's a twee little thing, but it works well (I do seem to have a fondness for twee, so take your tolerance for it into account).

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is ostensibly a book about one kid, born on the reservation, but now leaving it to go to a better school. However, it is also about how Indians fit into the wider world (in his school, "the only other Indian is the school mascot"), and life on the rez (alcoholism, casinos, education, pretty much anything). This was the first book I read where one story is in the middle of another, larger story, and it's probably the one that's done it best so far.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about Charlie, a boy who would rather fit in than stand out, and his friends. Well, it's not really fitting in either. Maybe blending in would be a better phrase. Charlie's friends range from Patrick (a flamboyantly gay guy with a closeted boyfriend) to Mary Elizabeth (a hipster who runs a Rocky Horror Picture Show 'zine).

God Save The Queen - Mike Carey & John Bolton

God Saves The Queen is a high concept story about fairy heroin, a mythic revolution and the 70s punk scene (well, it's supposed to be about the modern punk scene-but really, the author didn't have time for any research). Unfortunately, its concept falls flat on its face. This is partly due to Carey's writing, and partly due to Bolton's illustrations.

The Animals of Farthing Wood - Colin Dann

[This review is part of my 30 Day Book Challenge - a book that reminds me of someone]

The Animals of Farthing Wood is an epic. An honest-to-god lengthy-narrative epic poem, except without the poetry part. Which maybe defeats the entire purpose of calling it an epic poem. In any case, it feels like an epic. It's to do with a bunch of animals, foxes and badgers and mice, having to relocate from one park to another. That makes it sounds really simple, which it isn't. It's an epic.

Lyra's Oxford - Phillip Pullman

[This book is part of my 30 Day Book Challenge - a book that reminds you of somewhere]

I don't remember much of Lyra's Oxford no matter the different techniques I try (so far I've tried prenatal and tantric yoga, fasting and Ouija). I can't imagine I had a particularly high opinion of it, unless it laid off the religious stuff (I felt that it deteriorated in quality as it went along-much the same way I felt with The Chronicles of Narnia, though with Chronicles it was just that it became boring-too much seafaring-and with His Dark Materials it was its preachiness).