Books By Theme: Secret Lives of Superheroes

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

by Sean Howe

Marvel Comics originated in 1939, when publisher Marvin Goodman reluctantly expanded his pulp magazine business into the new field of comic books. But the brand didn't really take off until 1961, when writer Stan Lee and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko helped create Marvel's most well-known characters. In this in-depth, meticulously researched, and "scintillating history" (Publishers Weekly), Entertainment Weekly editor Sean Howe delves into the tangled and contentious personal relationships among Marvel's talented stable of editors, writers, and artists; also taking center stage are their creations, like golden-boy Captain America and lovable (if nerdy) Spider-Man.

Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir 

by Stan Lee, Peter David, and Colleen Doran

Unsurprisingly, when comic book legend Stan Lee writes a memoir, he does it in graphic novel format in his "inimitably jaunty style" (Kirkus Reviews). Here, he shares his role in creating some of the most iconic comic book creations -- Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, and many more. But he also writes of his childhood, his early years in a comic book industry dominated not by superheroes but by cowboys, and his co-creators. Fun and quirky, this is a great read for fans. 

The Secret History of Wonder Woman

by Jill Lepore

Deeply researched and offering an engaging story, this cultural history of enduring icon Wonder Woman deviates from standard comic book history by concentrating on the rather unusual circumstances of her creation -- especially the unorthodox living situation of her creator, and the controversy that Wonder Woman's appearance inspired. Drawing on both interviews and archival research to unveil the role of feminism in shaping Wonder Woman's existence, historian Jill Lepore's study offers a different yet tantalizing perspective that readers of Tim Hanley's Wonder Woman Unbound (or comic book history in general) may appreciate. 

Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster...

by Brad Ricca

This comprehensive biography of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster draws on a decade of research and new discoveries to provide the complete story behind the creation of Superman. It details a friendship that evolved into a working partnership, the inspiration for the Man of Steel, and the pair's premature sale of the character to Action Comics. Check it out if you've an interest in the comic book industry or in Superman himself; the collaboration between Siegel and Shuster also inspired Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. 

Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero

by Larry Tye

As with Brad Ricca's superb biography of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (Super Boys), this history begins with two nerdy teenagers who (after six years of false starts and rejections) gave life to a superhero who was everything they were not. But though they deserve the credit for creating the invincible Superman, they sold him to Action Comics for $130 and soon lost artistic rights over him. Over the intervening eight decades, many others have helped influence the changing characteristics of the Man of Steel to better fit the changing times and to let him live on in popular culture. Comprehensive and accessible, this is a wide-ranging history of an American hero.

Books By Theme: What to read after Small Great Things

Jodi Picoult’s new book Small Great Things explores racial prejudice through three perspectives: Ruth, a black nurse charged with the murder of a white supremacist’s baby; Turk, the white supremacist; and Kennedy, Ruth’s white public defender who, while well-intentioned, harbors racial biases of her own.

After last week's fiction and nonfiction pairing post, I couldn't stop thinking about how relevant this book is right now to our country and what nonfiction books would follow Picoult's book nicely. 

Here are my picks:

Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me speaks to issues of race at a time when young black men continue to die at the hands of police officers with disturbing regularity. In this sense, Coates's book is quite timely. Moreover, his central thesis is deeply disturbing: "There is nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers or even in this moment. The destroyers are merely men enforcing the whims of our country, correctly interpreting its heritage and legacy." Some readers may shrink from such language, but his argument is as rhetorically sound as it is passionately delivered. "I cannot hide the world from you," Coates explains to his young son. Between the World and Me is an unrelentingly frank work expressed so perfectly that the truth of it resonates with every word.

Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
by Frank Meeink

Frank’s violent childhood in South Philadelphia primed him to hate, while addiction made him easy prey for a small group of skinhead gang recruiters. By 16 he had become one of the most notorious skinhead gang leaders on the East Coast and by 18 he was doing hard time. Teamed up with African-American players in a prison football league, Frank learned to question his hatred, and after being paroled he defected from the white supremacy movement and began speaking on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League. A story of fighting the demons of hatred and addiction, Frank's downfall and ultimate redemption has the power to open hearts and change lives.

Waking Up White
by Debby Irving

By sharing her sometimes cringe-worthy struggle to understand racism and racial tensions, she offers a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, manners, and tolerance. As Irving unpacks her own long-held beliefs about colorblindness, being a good person, and wanting to help people of color, she reveals how each of these well-intentioned mindsets actually perpetuated her ill-conceived ideas about race. She also explains why and how she's changed the way she talks about racism, works in racially mixed groups, and understands the antiracism movement as a whole. Exercises at the end of each chapter prompt readers to explore their own racialized ideas. Waking Up White's personal narrative is designed to work well as a rapid read, a book group book, or support reading for courses exploring racial and cultural issues.

The New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander

With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control—relegating millions to a permanent second-class status—even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a "call to action."

Mini Book Review: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential 
by Anthony Bourdain
Ecco/Harper Perennial, 2000
Nonfiction memoir

What's It All About?

A New York City chef who is also a novelist recounts his experiences in the restaurant business, and exposes abuses of power, sexual promiscuity, drug use, and other secrets of life behind kitchen doors.

Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.

Who Should Read It?

Read it if you love foodie nonfiction and don't mind some potty mouth talk. This book is truly a love letter to the dark underbelly of New York restaurant kitchens.

What Else Should I Read?

• Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
• Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
• Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn

What If I Don't Believe You?

Don't take my word for it! Check out these other reviews: 

Love, Laughter, Insanity | Steph & Tony Investigate | The Well-Read Redhead 

Books By Theme: Quit Your Job! Travel Instead!

The Lost Girls
by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner
Harper Perennial (2011)

If you're a 20-something working and living in New York City, you're living the dream -- right? Not if you're Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, or Amanda Pressner. The trio of friends -- wondering if the paths they were on were the right ones -- left their apartments, jobs, and boyfriends to embark on a year-long adventure around the world, visiting more than ten countries on four continents, including Peru, Vietnam, India, and Australia. Though there are difficulties (could you hang out with your two besties for a year without getting on each other's nerves?), there are also a lot of amazing experiences, such as traveling down the Amazon and volunteering at a girls' orphanage in Kenya.


Until I Say Goodbye
by Susan Spencer-Wendel with Bret Witter
Harper (2014)

This isn't your typical travelogue. Until I Say Good-Bye unsentimentally chronicles the final year of a 45-year-old journalist and mother with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, an irreversible condition that progressively destroys nerves that control muscles. Once she was diagnosed, it wasn't long before Spencer-Wendel decided to quit her job (though she loved it) and use some of her remaining days traveling to such places as the Yukon, Hungary, the Bahamas, and Cyprus with friends and family, including individual trips with each of her three children. Readers joining her on her poignant, powerful journey will be inspired to find joy in their own situations.

Educating Alice
by Alice Steinbach
Random House (2005)

In Without Reservations, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alice Steinbach chronicled taking a leave of absence from the Baltimore Sun to travel and learn about herself. Several years later, she completely quit her job and set off again. In Educating Alice, she enrolls in a French cooking class in Paris, attends border collie training in Scotland, learns traditional Japanese arts in Kyoto, studies art and architecture in Havana, and more, while meeting a wide range of interesting people along the way. With vividly depicted settings and keen observations and insights, this memoir is a charming delight.



 

What I'm Reading: A Fifty-Year Silence

A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined Year in France
by Miranda Richmond Mouillot
Broadway Books (Jan. 19, 2016)
Memoir

What it's about:

A memoir by a young woman who travels to France to uncover the truth about her grandparents' mysterious and irrevocable estrangement and pieces together the extraordinary story of their wartime experiences.


Why You'll Love It:

• Richmond Mouillot conjures the charms of the French countryside and the intimacy of small-town life precisely and elegantly.
• Amid the abundance of books from Holocaust survivors and the children of those affected by the war, few nonfiction accounts of the Holocaust and World War II have been written from the perspective of the grandchildren. A Fifty-Year Silence explores the afterlife of the past for young Jewish people today and provokes an important dialogue about the inheritance of historical memory.
• As a debut author and a young woman navigating the conflicting imperatives to remember the past and embrace her future, Richmond Mouillot writes with a warmth, directness, and honesty that will endear her to many readers.  

What Else You Should Read:

• The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah
• The Journal of Hélène Berr by Hélène Berr
• Behind Enemy Lines by Marthe Cohn