HEY guess what, when Toni Morrison says something is "required reading" you should listen to her.

This is so powerful and also beautifully-written. I knew this was an important book for me (for all Americans) to read but I thought it might be a bit of "homework" (just an unfortunate attitude I have sometimes about reading nonfiction even though I generally enjoy it), but the style is so lovely it kept me turning the page through material that was hard to read.

I truly enjoyed this book, not just on a "good for a Worst Bestseller" level but on a sincere level of appreciation.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-28-black-hills/

I LOVE reading about the bananas details of Scientology, and this is a great first-hand account. It's, um, workmanlike prose. But when you're telling a story as intriguing as this, there's no need to get all high-falutin' about it, right?

I really enjoyed this story of a girl working her way through trauma & grief & THE DANGERS OF THE SEA. The loose Little Mermaid retelling was fun without being too much. I loved the Caribbean flavor and all the great side characters, especially baby Sebastian and his love of mermaids :')

Also, as Kelly noted: an A+ lady masturbation scene.

So weird and funny, with some occasional great insights into ~the human condition~! I didn't realize this was originally a webcomic. That makes sense, given the single-page stories collected here, although there is a loose plot.

When I read the description I thought it might be a good one to booktalk to junior high classes, but there's a little too many f-bombs and sex jokes for me to feel comfortable sharing with whole classes. That said there are definitely a lot of kids in that age range who would enjoy this book, especially ones who like the anime and fantasy-type things that are... not exactly satirized, but built upon, here.

Eh, okay, I read all the controversy about whether or not Harper Lee actually wanted to publish this or not. I know a lot of my librarian friends opted not to read this at all because of their discomfort with the whole process, which I understand. But ultimately I was too curious to resist and I threw myself onto the library's long waitlist for this.

When it came in for me, I was pleasantly surprised, because it's like... not terrible. It's funny and has some great dialogue. But, I'm also definitely on board with the "feels like an unpolished draft of To Kill a Mockingbird that wasn't meant to be published in this form" crowd. There are weird vignettes that don't seem to go anywhere.. almost like a short story collection with a frame narrative, but not quite that. But those stories were very charming and full of Scout's strong narrative voice, which made TKAM so endearing. It also refers back to the events of TKAM but in a slightly different form.

Anyway, let's talk about the ~shocking reveal~ that Atticus is a racist. I... liked it? If you look back at Atticus in TKAM there is definitely a paternalistic quality there (um, I mean, not just because he's literally Scout's father). And his "oh I mean I don't think they should be LYNCHED anymore, no, but the NAACP is just taking things TOO FAR" attitude is pretty realistic for a 70-something white dude in the south in the 1950s.

Spoiler

What didn't sit well with me was the end when Uncle Jack is like "listen Jean-Louise, you're the bigot because you're being so rigid and not considering Atticus's racist beliefs" and she's like "oh god you're right, I'm horrible." like... what? really? I don't know. But I did like the parts about how she'd held Atticus up as a perfect godlike figure and in order for her to grow up she had to break free from his opinions and form her own.

anyway, no, this is not going to be the enduring classic that TKAM is, but there's some sharp character pieces here, and an interesting muddle of racial politics in the Jim Crow south. I would love for this to get the [b:Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography|22212838|Pioneer Girl The Annotated Autobiography|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1416178689s/22212838.jpg|16270434] treatment with annotations and whatnot, because I think it's most interesting as a weird artifact rather than a standalone novel.

I thought I read this before but maybe I only read single issues? Or more likely, just a lot of random panels from it on Tumblr.

Anyway, it's really cute and fun, hooray!

mmm... I feel like... this was good, but I didn't really care about it that much...? Like... I guess normally what I love about KSD's stuff is how character-driven it is, and since these characters are mostly Western/mythology/whatever archetypes, there wasn't a lot for me to grab onto. The art is beautiful, though, and there are also some beautiful turns of phrase, but ultimately not my cup of tea?

I think it would also benefit from re-reading, but I'm not sure I care enough to re-read it.

But if you like this kind of thing, this is probably a thing that you would like.

as a general rule, I don't really care about Wolverine's adventures in Japan. they tend to be kind of grossly Orientalist and sexist and really tied up in ~honor.~

But I saw this on the recently-returned cart and thought, "I like Jason Aaron, maaybe I'll check this out."

it's like, less offensive than Wolverine's old timey Japanese adventures but also I still don't really care about it at all.

also there is a scene where they are in a sushi restaurant and a ninja throws a live octopus on Wolverine's face, minus a million stars

I really am glad this book exists and I'm excited to booktalk it--the cover alone is really eyecatching (and NOT WHITE), and the premise is cool. I really liked the commentary on anthropology and living cultures, and the romance between Robbie and Sierra was really sweet (but nothing happened that made me feel uncomfy sharing it with 7th graders! yay)

It's cool worldbuilding--I can't tell if this is part of a series? It definitely feels like book 1 of a series. At least... I want to read more of it.