I think I'd read some of this before, at some point? I tend to have not much patience for big crossover events and I'm not that into the whole "but who would win IF Captain America and Iron Man fought?!" thing.

Also I can't help but be annoyed that everyone thinks Tony Stark is a fascist in this?? I think he is being VERY REASONABLE and I think if superheroes were real we would ABSOLUTELY want them to register with the government or SOME KIND OF AUTHORITY. (WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN AMIRIGHT)

Reed Richards, though, that guy's a dick.

This was fine. It honestly seemed more like a story about surviving bully newsies* than surviving the earthquake, but the earthquake also happened.

* by which I mean newsies who are bullies, not newsies who are "bully!" in Theodore Roosevelt's usage

Literally all I knew about Midnighter was that he's an openly gay superhero but I was like yes, I want to read that. It was fine. He's definitely an openly gay superhero. Kind of like a slightly less angsty Batman, but also with no memories of his past I guess? Maybe more of a slightly less angsty Wolverine.

I prob would have felt more invested in the story if I had ever read any other Midnighter story, but I liked this fine and followed the plot pretty well. if you read enough comics you can jump on board to a stolen Macguffin plotline pretty easily. I liked the crossover with Grayson, too. (I read the first volume of [b:Grayson, Vol 1: Agents of Spyral|23505378|Grayson, Vol 1 Agents of Spyral|Tom King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1440046679s/23505378.jpg|43109801] also based on it having been on some list of LGBTQ comics for what I think are weak reasons, but it was a fun book so w/e.)

I enjoyed this DESPITE my long-standing rivalry with Rob Lowe. I'm especially glad my pal Sophie lent me the audiobook, since Rob does some really funny celebrity impressions.

This is well-written for a celeb memoir (which is a low bar), although it is very reliant on Paul Harvey-style reveals. Which, honestly, are kind of earned because so many of his life stories apparently have wild twist endings.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-44-stories-i-only-tell-my-friends/

OK, I saw this billed as "Mean Girls meets the Exorcist" and I was like cool, I love Mean Girls. But like...I thought that meant it would be a satire or funny? But it's just like...a legit horror story about a teenage girl possessed by a demon. I felt tricked! I don't like to read scary stories! It was scary!

If you like scary stories maybe you would like this! I don't know! I guess I liked the characters! Or whatever!

Also BE ADVISED that when Gretchen is possessed, the demon makes her kill her dog! WTF DEMON

Also it's set in the 80s and I kind of feel like maybe the 80s setting was supposed to be funny or something but it's kind of just like, that's when it happened?! IDK IDK

Spoiler

I did like how in the end they vanquished the demon through the power of FRIENDSHIP??? I GUESS???

I'm not really into true crime/mysteries but I do love a lady with an axe, and also I was looking for high-interest nonfiction to booktalk, so I picked this up. I didn't know that much about Lizzie Borden so I definitely learned a lot from this, and I think tweens/teens/people who are more interested in crime procedurals in general will dig it. It does a good job of presenting all the evidence (and lack of evidence) in a way that's interesting but not sensationalized. The end is inconclusive, which might be unsatisfying for younger readers, but I appreciate that it's honest and thoughtful, that there's just not enough evidence to be certain either way! Could be a good discussion topic too.

A quibble: a lot of time is spent talking about how shocking the photos of the bodies/crime scene were...and then there's a section of photos included...that doesn't have those pictures!! C'mon you know that's what all the kids want. (One of them is included in a later photo section and it's really not that gory/bad...it's black and white & you can't really tell what's happening. And you can look at them all online anyway. BUT C'MON just put the murder photos in your murder book!!)

anyway, kids love murder, so this should be a great one to booktalk.

before I read this I read some GoodReads reviews b/c I was trying to figure out if it was a "sad" book (I had to read a "sad" book for our monthly Reading Wildly challenge at work), and all the reviews were like "ugh the twist ending is so predictable!" I was like whatever, I'll read it anyway, I can never guess twist endings. Also, I feel like the bar is different for YA literature--if you're an adult reading it and you guess the twist, good for you, but a lot of teens prob won't because they haven't already read a bunch of books with that same twist. Because they have fewer years on this earth.

Anywho: no, I did not ~guess the twist~ although it was obvious that something was afoot.

Spoiler

Also I gotta say: I sort of question if this twist is actually medically possible?! seems like a very plot-convenient mental illness to me.

I thought the ~found photo~ and diary entries were cool--kinda wished it had more photos, but okay.

I dunno--for me this doesn't compare to Lauren Oliver's earlier books, which I ADORE, but also I liked it more than I liked [b:Panic|17565845|Panic|Lauren Oliver|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1374066076s/17565845.jpg|24500875]. BUT I think this kinda thriller is very appealing to a lot of teens and they'll like it.

Also heads up that there is a subplot about underage girls being coerced into child pornography?? It's not very explicit exactly but...it's there...so maybe recommended for high school and up.

This is a great book for raising one's feminist hackles and instilling a sense of fondness toward serious nerd baby Hillary. Also, like a lot of YA nonfiction I've been reading lately, it fills in some gaps in my own historical knowledge (I was a tween when Whitewater etc was happening and never bothered to look it up on Wikipedia).

I've seen reviews about how this is propaganda secretly sponsored by the Clinton campaign, which, okay, maybe? But Hillary didn't grant Karen Blumenthal any interviews for it, and it's targeted at the YA market who... will not be able to vote in the 2016 election, so...if it is propaganda it's off the mark a bit. But it does humanize Hillary in a way that a lot of articles about her fail to do. That's like, the whole point of biographies, though, and it also highlights some of her failings and missteps. Overall though, at least for me, it just fueled my general ire at all the extra hoops Hillary has had to jump through to be perceived as a competent human being. (I'm not saying this entitles her to be president or makes her the most qualified candidate, but I am saying HULK SMASH THE PATRIARCHY.)

I'd recommend it to nerdy youths who are interested in the election/recent history. Also, adults who don't understand what Whitewater is and/or would like to know more about Hillary besides "she is an ambitious monster woman."

It also seems like this would be of high interest right now but will almost immediately become outdated since it ends with wondering whether or not Hillary will win the nomination this year.

The more I thought about this book, the less I liked it. I zipped along reading it, it was a fairly enjoyable fantasy whatever (but with random flashbacks to Two Monks Inventing Things) but then when I thought about it/tried to record a podcast about it, I realized that none of it really makes sense or holds together, like, at all?? Possibly some of these issues are resolved later in the trilogy, but I definitely don't care enough to read them.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-45-hollow-earth/

First off: I get why this is out of print and hard to come by. It's a little less polished than Ru likes to come off today, and there are some bits that haven't necessarily aged well, in terms of language? But whatever, I'm not here to tone police RuPaul, I'm just here to adore.

It's fascinating how much of RuPaul's TV persona/catchphrases/etc are here fully formed 20+ years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.