hmmm I LOVED [b:Sal and Gabi Break the Universe|36595887|Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (Sal and Gabi, #1)|Carlos Hernandez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536087897l/36595887._SY75_.jpg|58346652] so I was stoked to get an ARC of the sequel on NetGalley. I get books on NetGalley regularly and I know these advance copies aren't yet ready for publication etc so I don't hold it against the final copy, but I have to note that this ARC was WILD in terms of capitalization, or lack thereof? Like almost no character's name was ever capitalized, which was distracting and made me wonder....does Carlos Hernadez just write his drafts entirely in lower case?? Are the characters all devotees of ee cummings and/or bell hooks??? Anyway presumably the final version will not have that but I just wanted to mention it.

ok anyway something that IS probably in the final version is just like a distracting gender issue, which is that their teacher Srx. Cosquillas makes a big deal about how he's using the gender neutral title "Srx" and in the future everyone will use "Srx" (instead of "Sr." or "Sra/Srta"). Fine, great, I'm on board BUT he also calls all of his students "dude" and "dudes" all the time? I would accept this if he made a mention of "I also believe dude is gender neutral" or something like that, an argument I've heard from others and would be fine with, but...he never mentions it and his self-described smart-aleck students never call out the contradiction.

ALSO Gabi has 7 dads, fine, this was lightly mentioned in the last book but in this book we spent more time with the dads and I just want to know why one of the dads is a woman? She has a mom and then 7 dads and one dad is a woman who does not seem to be gender non-conforming or anything along those lines. Is "Dad" a gender neutral term? Why can't she have 2 moms and 6 dads. Again, if "Cari-Dad" (the female dad) would give like a 1-sentence explanation of why she prefers to be a dad I would be fine with it but SHE NEVER DOES AND NO ONE DOES AND I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING A MOM???

anyway these are minor points that occupied a disproportionate amount of my thoughts while reading this. Is this why I liked it less than I liked the first one or is it genuinely also a weaker story? hard to say, hard to say. I still like these characters; I personally think this got a little carried away with an ambitious multiverse plot + literal talking toilet humor + a very large cast of characters? But still I think there's a lot to like here and most tween readers will probably be more into the toilet humor and less distracted by my above issues.

Ross Mathews seems like he should be annoying but somehow I constantly find him very charming? This book was just like a super frothy delicious cocktail, went down super fast and left me feeling pleasantly warmed. If you like celeb gossip and Ross Mathews' whole shtick, you will probably like this book. If you think Ross is annoying or celeb gossip is dumb, well, move along, this isn't the droid you're looking for.

There is some mildly cringey/problematic content here along the lines of Ross body shaming himself and also occasional stuff like referring to an anonymous date simply as "Hot Asian" but that probably won't surprise you if you're at all familiar with Ross's humor/persona. And if you're not familiar with him, again, probably don't read this.

This book was challenging to read, but very compelling--I was so invested in Cora's story that I found it hard to put down. The challenges were: of course it's hard to read about the brutal (fictionalized) realities of slavery, but I'd already read several slave narratives and the like, so I mean...horrible to read but not shocking, I guess? But I really struggled to understand what was going on with the alternate history and I really struggled to understand what the point of it was. Would Cora's story have been any less effective in a work of more realistic historical fiction? Like I just don't think I GOT it on some level. But I mean it won like 500 awards so what do I know?

I went and read a bunch of reviews/interviews to try to unpack this; for me, this was the most interesting/helpful one, if anyone else is curious:

https://www.npr.org/2016/11/18/502558001/colson-whiteheads-underground-railroad-is-a-literal-train-to-freedom

I enjoyed this SO much. It read like a conversation I might have with a very funny and insightful friend about the movies I like (featuring amazing illustrations).

first of all, this is the most ambitious book title I've ever experienced.

second of all, I cannot believe what a huge percentage of this is spent talking about Walter Sickert's (allegedly) deformed penis!!!!!!!!!! so much!!!!!!!!

finally, I simply do not care who was Jack the Ripper, not even if he had a normal penis

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-143-portrait-of-a-killer-jack-the-ripper/

I'd heard OF this and knew it's sort of considered the first superhero/secret identity story, but I didn't really know what it was. It was weird to read something so anti-French revolution. (I mean, sure, the Reign of Terror maybe went too far but also, eat the rich.) Anyway, it's a bit...much, but overall I had fun with it. Now I need to check out the Scarlet Pimpernel musical obv.

I feel like Daniel Ortberg (now Lavery)'s stuff can be pretty hit or miss with me, and that's fine--I think his ideal audience is probably people who, like. him were raised Christian and/or are trans. There are tons of references that I just don't get, and that's fine, I'm sure they're making a lot of other readers feel seen.

That said, this book is very Christianity-heavy up front, in a way that almost made me put it down. It's not preachy, but I'm just not equipped to enjoy those deep dives into Pilgrim's Progress etc. After some skimming I found myself in more familiar and enjoyable (to me) territory with references to pop culture and/or classical mythology.

Danny is a great writer with a real ability to analyze media and turn witty phrases, and this book can get by pretty far with that, whether or not you're interested in/familiar with the topics he's writing about.

There are some bits and pieces of good, non-body-shaming advice in here, and I could see this being particularly helpful for what seems to be Hollis's target audience of conservative stay-at-home moms who maybe aren't getting sex-positive advice from other sources? But most of the parts I thought were good were kind of basic for someone with my general background/sphere.

But I think its biggest flaw is refusal to acknowledge how helpful her rich husband has been in her "success story"?

For much more on this...

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-144-girl-wash-your-face/

Loved this! A great teen mystery with an #OwnVoices disabled character.

Cassandra Cain's backstory is fuckin WILD but this is a fun spin on it, and again, great to see #OwnVoices super books for teens! I loved how it's about the inspirational power of role models and stories. YOU KNOW I LOVE STORIES ABOUT THE INSPIRATIONAL POWER OF STORIES!!