Jenni's Reading

Ego and Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, Harvey Pekar

Michael Malice is a real jerk.

Smarter than most, Malice likes to remind those around him how stupid they are and how superior he is. Detailing his life from infancy to adulthood, we watch Malice as he stumbles his way through life, not trying to succeed at anything--other than being a gadfly. Though smart and secure in his intellect, Malice has no close bonds with anyone else; he successfully alienates most people right away.

What makes Malice repellant also makes him fascinating. There is something just so awful about Malice and his actions that you can't help but find him intriguing. If you like the comedy of Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm, you'll appreciate Malice's story and how terrible, strange and mesmerizing one man can be.

The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan

WARNING! If you haven't read The Lightning Thief by the same author, the following review may spoil it for you!

In this second book in the series, Percy Jackson is back, one year after he decided to leave Camp Half-Blood and attend Meriwether Prep. At year's end, he has successfully been expelled from another school, but now has a new friend named Tyson.

Upon Percy's arrival back at Camp Half-Blood, he finds that someone has poisoned Thalia's tree. And he keeps having strange dreams about Grover in a wedding dress. And Chiron has been fired! What's left for a young demigod to do? That's right...Percy sets out on another quest to save the camp, himself, and his friends.

If Percy Jackson and Harry Potter were in a fight, I'd put my money on Percy, hands down. Percy Jackson is totally smart and though he's only half-human, everyone can relate to Percy's problems (like getting bullied at school and standing up for what you believe). Undoubtedly my new favorite fantasy series, The Sea of Monsters, is a great sequel that leaves the reader wanting more! [And the next book isn't due out until 2007!]

Strangers in Paradise: High School!, Terry Moore

If you're familiar with the totally excellent Strangers in Paradise series, you know all about Francine and Katchoo. If you're not, Francine and Katchoo are best friends; Katchoo is a wild tough-as-nails girl with a mysterious past and Francine is a softer girl, and unlucky in love.

This volume recounts how Francine and Katchoo meet in high school and how the bond between the two girls is formed. Taking place ten years before the first volume of SiP, High School! helps the reader understand Francine and Katchoo's relationship.

Fans of the series will love the detailed backstory of Francine and Katchoo's meeting, and for those new to the series, this volume provides the perfect introduction to allow the reader to grow with the characters.

Uglies, Scott Westerfeld

Why, oh why did I wait so long to read this book?

Tally Youngblood is totally excited about her sixteenth birthday. Why? At sixteen, one goes from being an "Ugly" to being a "Pretty," by undergoing a surgery to fix all of your "flaws." Pretties have the life; they go to the best parties, hang out all day, and wear the best clothes. What could be better than that?

Two weeks before Tally is supposed have her surgery and become a Pretty, she meets Shay. Though Shay, Tally comes to learn that becoming a Pretty isn't all it's cracked up to be, and underneath the beautiful exterior lies a rather ugly little secret. When Tally runs away with Shay, she must make the ultimate choice: whether or not to become Pretty and whether or not to betray her new friends.

Uglies is a very quick read, and the first of a trilogy. If you're a fan of sci-fi (or of Scott Westerfeld in general), you should pick up a copy of this book. And when you do, you'll be asking yourself the same question I asked myself above.

Scott Pilgrim: Precious Little Life, Brian Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim has the life; he's a twenty-three year old slacker who's in a band, has no job, and is dating a high school girl named Knives. Things couldn't be better.

Scott starts having strange dreams, and when the girl he's been dreaming about shows up at a party, Scott becomes obsessed with finding out about her. He learns her name is Ramona Flowers and that she's a delivery girl for Amazon. Scott then orders a bunch of CDs (on his roommate's credit card, of course) to be delivered so he can meet her.

When she shows up, they hit it off, only for Scott to learn if he wants to date her, he must fight her seven evil exes...now what's a boy to do? Should he stay with Knives? Or should he battle all of Ramona's exes?

Totally outrageous and hilarious, everyone should read Scott Pilgrim. A clever mix of indie comics combines with manga-style art to make a snappy, fast-paced story that will enchant and enthrall its reader.

Possible Side Effects, Augusten Burroughs

Fans of Augusten Burroughs will delight at his new collection of essays!

Similar to the 2004 bestseller Magical Thinking, Possible Side Effects recounts many of his experiences with his dog, his partner, his battle with alcoholism, his previous job as an advertising executive, and his childhood. Starting out the volume, was a mediocre retelling of his experiences with the tooth fairy as a child. Not quite setting the pace for the volume, the reader must stick with it and continue further to find such darkly hilarious gmes like "Moving Violations" and "Julia's Child."

Longtime followers of Burroughs's work will enjoy the deeper insights into his life--especially if they're familiar with Running With Scissors and Dry. New fans will also revel in his dry, sardonic wit, and his signature eclectic mix of dysfunction and humor.

Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, Joss Whedon

After the death of legendary X-Man Jean Gray, Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Emma Frost (the White Queen) decide to rebuild Xavier Mansion and the X-Men Empire. Their vision is simple: they want to reconfigure the public's perception of the X-Men and portray them as heroes, like the Avengers, and not just as mutants.

But, to throw a monkey wrench in their plans, a doctor comes along with a miracle drug called "Hope," that promises to eliminate the mutant gene, and make all of the mutants "normal." Highly skeptical, this issue divides the X-Men, though they all agree that something seems not quite right about this...

Anyone can relate to the X-Men--we've all been made to feel different in one way or another, and this book definitely gives the reader something to think about--what would YOU do if someone offered you a pill to make you "normal?" No previous knowledge of the (extensive) X-Men history is needed to enjoy this volume, and if you enjoy this, check out its sequel Dangerous or Marvel's short-lived (but excellent) Emma Frost series by Karl Bollers.

King Dork, Frank Portman

Tom Henderson (aka King Dork, Chi-Mo) has many mysteries to solve in his life: will being in a band get you semi-hot girls? How will he escape the cult of The Catcher in the Rye? What happened to his father?

With his best friend Sam Hellerman (who can make his nose bleed on cue) they try and solve some, if not most of these mysteries. Through a series of bands (some containing a drummer who can't count past four) they try to get through the daily life at Hillmont High School and not get beaten to a pulp.

One of my favorite books of this year, King Dork is funny, smart and sarcastic. Fans of books like Perks of Being a Wallflower or Heavy Metal and You will totally love this hysterical and brutally honest story.

The Resonator/The Making of a Graphic Novel, Prentis Rollins

Now, at first glance this book didn't really excite me. But, when I started reading it, I found it is just totally awesome.

This book is actually two books in one. One side is a dark science fiction story called "The Resonator." Set in a distant future, in a faraway galaxy, we find that humans have evolved to no longer need sleep. Sleep has become something both illegal and recreational, like alcohol or drugs. After a recommendation, a man named Bronsen tries a resonator--a device that will lull humans to sleep. They are totally illegal and very rare, and once Bronsen tries sleep, he wants to visit the resonator again and again, to spend more time sleeping and dreaming. News of his exploits with the resonator get out, and people set out to destroy the resonator. Bronsen decides he will stop at nothing to save his resonator.

A sharp, swift sci-fi treasure, "The Resonator" alone would make this book worthwhile. Though when you're done, flip the book over, and Rollins offers an in-depth look at how he make this story, where he pulled influences and inspiration from, how he constructed it, and what steps he needed to take to complete the entire process.

If you are ever interested in what goes into making comics, or you're just into a good story, you should check out this excellent futuristic graphic novel.

Burned, Ellen Hopkins

Pattyn Von Stratten's life seems very normal to an outsider. She comes from a large Mormon family, and strictly adheres to her religion's teachings. Away from the public eye, her life is a mess; her mother expects Pattyn to take care of all of her siblings, and her father is an alcoholic and physically abusive to her, her sisters and her mother. Pattyn only finds solace in target shooting out in the desert.

It's out in the desert that she meets Derek. They start a tumultuous relationship, which ends as suddenly as it starts, leading Pattyn to go crazy with hurt and jealousy and get into a fight.

Pattyn's family decides to send her away for the summer to stay with an estranged aunt she's never met before. At her aunt's she meets Ethan, an older boy (who's not Mormon), who genuinely cares for Pattyn. What will happen when the summer ends and Pattyn must return home to her family?

Burned, like Hopkins' other book Crank, is written as a series of poems. It's a bit melodramatic at times, and it definitely qualifies as a "problem novel." I definitely liked Crank better of the two, but if you're a fan of these types of stories written as poems, check out What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones, or You Remind Me of You by Eireann Corrigan for stronger reads in this format.

Invincible: Family Matters, Robert Kirkman

Unlike most normal families, senior Mark Grayson's family is a little different. His father is Omni-Man, an alien superhero who is constantly saving the world from imminent destruction. As Mark gets older, he starts to develop his own super powers, and decides to carry on the "family business." With his ability to fly and super-strength, he calls himself Invincible.

Mark meets up with a group of teens who also have superpowers (with really great names like Dupli-Kate and Atom Eve) and together they begin to investigate the mystery of mall bombings and how or if they're related to a rash of students missing from their senior class.

Funny, well drawn and written with a good dose of pop culture references thrown in to boot, Invincible is a truly excellent indie superhero read that everyone should acquaint themselves with.

Spellbinders: Signs and Wonders, Mike Carey

Kim Vesco, a young sculptress, moves from the big city of Chicago to Salem, Massachusetts. Like any normal high school there is the traditional social strata and cliques, but something about John Hathorne High School (named after a famous Salem resident who sought out and interrogated witches during the Salem Witch Trials) seems just a little off. Instead of a rivalry between jocks and geeks, their rivalry lies between Wicks (witches) and Blanks (non-witches).

Both groups want Kim in their clique...but is she a Wick or a Blank? Kim goes about her life, trying to be as normal as possible, but then strange things start happening--getting attacked by demons, talking ghosts, a mysterious science lab explosion-- and Kim is left to learn about her past, who she is now and who she wants to be in the future.

This book is reminiscent of the movie The Craft, only with a co-ed coven. While the art is only so-so, the writing in this is excellent. I have high hopes for the second volume!

Mom's Cancer, Brian Fies

This small, unassuming graphic novel is one of the most heart-wrenching I have read in a while.

Originally beginning as a webcomic, Fies tells the story of his mother, who after decades of smoking is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, which has spread to her brain. She opts for a highly aggressive course of chemo and radiation and her side effects are awful. Fies depicts his mother's experience, as well as what is was like for him and his family to go through this and fight this disease.

Showing all of the horrors or cancer, chemo and radiation, Mom's Cancer is a book of hope and courage, and is ultimately a highly rewarding read.

Death Note, Volume 1, Tsugumi Ohba -Jenni
	What do you get when you cross a bored teenager with a bored Death God? A captivating and innovative new manga series. Light Yagami is an accomplished student, excelling at his classes. But, Light's bored. Coincidentally, a Shinigami Death God, named Ryuk is also bored. Ryuk ventured to the human world and "accidentally" drops his Death Note, a notebook that holds a vicious power--whoever's name is written in the death note will die. Light finds Ryuk's notebook. It has a long litany of rules and as Light reads through it, he begins to understand the power it wields. In accordance with the rules of the Death Note, the human that picks it up becomes bound to the previous Death God owner; now Light and Ryuk are bound together, though Light is the only one who can see him. Light decides to test the Death Note's true power. He begins killing criminals, and what starts as a few tests, snowballs into a mass murder of thousands of criminals. This does not escape the attention of police, and soon, notorious detective L is searching for this mysterious killer, who the press have dubbed Kira. Death Note is a complex and well-paced story that will keep its reader glued to the pages.
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The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Wow.

In the shadow of emerging World War II Germany, young Liesel Meminger is sent to live with a foster family. At the tender age of nine, she's already had a tough life and has seen her fair share of misery - including having her young brother die in her arms. At his funeral, Liesel steals her first book: The Grave Diggers Handbook. The book thief is born.

Her kindly foster father, Hans Hubermann teaches her to read the stolen book. After they finish it, she starts seeking out new titles. Aided by her friend, the yellow haired Rudy Steiner, her life of thievery begins.

Liesel doesn't just steal books - books come into her life and play pivotal roles. When the Hubermanns hide a Jewish man named Max Vanderberg in their basement, he brings a book--Mein Kampf--that had saved his life by keeping the Nazis from questioning him. He whitewashes the pages and uses them to tell this own story, which he shares with Liesel.

Everyone has a story, and ultimately it is Liesel's story that saves her.

Narrated by Death, this book describes the horror of war and the power of words. An excellent and gripping read that is destined to be a classic.

Teen Titans: the Future is Now, Geoff Johns
	In this fourth volume of the Teen Titans series, time travel and super-villains abound! The Teen Titans team up with the Legion of Superheroes (which if you haven't read Mark Waid's Legion of Superheroes: Teenage Revolution, you should!), at 31st century group of crime fighting teenagers to help them fight the Fatal Five Hundred. When they transport back to the present, they don't quite make it all the way back and end up ten years into the future. They encounter their future adult selves, and what they find is a total shock. The Teen Titans have split into West Coast and East Coast warring factions (Batman is now a bad guy!). A new member, Speedy (aka Mia Darden, a young girl in the care of the Green Arrow) joins up to help the old and new Titans face off against Dr. Light, who fresh from Identity Crisis is super ticked about being mindwiped (having all of his memories erased). The Titans learn what they must to do make sure that this version of the future never happens and keep the group unified in troubling times. Full of action, this is an exciting volume of Teen Titans. That said, this volume is also staying in line with DC's much publicized Infinite Crisis. If you find yourself confused while reading this (and are looking to fill in some of the holes in the backstory), check out the pivotal Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer and excellent Legion of Superheroes: Teenage Revolution by Mark Waid for some additional help.
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