I put this one off for a long time.
I didn’t feel I had enough books to explore the Marvel Universe.
After a massive cheat, I feel more than ready.
You’ll see in a second.
Katie over at Never Not Reading did this tag and her excellent answers convinced me to do it.
Iron Man + Captain America + Thor
A book that made you laugh out loud
A book that sends a positive message
A book with a character’s strength you admire
Even though City of Girls wasn’t my favorite of Liz Gilbert’s books, it did all of the above and more.
Gilbert’s narrator Vivian slyly comments on an actor’s lack of talent and poor conversational skills. Her insults are quick and casual, so quick I almost missed them.
Though Vivian nearly lets a personal controversy derail her life, she finds the strength to pursue a life that works for her.
I really admired the life Vivian made for herself.
It comforted me to know I have options.
Black Widow
A book with a kick-ass female protagonist
Kady Grant fulfilled my sassy alt-girl hacker dreams.
Personally, I wouldn’t risk the Phobos virus to save my ex-boyfriend.
I also would NOT open escape pods looking for my mom’s corpse.
Furthermore, I COULD NOT hack into an Artificial Intelligence program and teach it to love if I tried.
Kady is so much cooler than anyone I know.
AND she has pink hair? I am so jealous.
Hulk
A book that made you incredibly angry
Steps for adapting a stage musical into a young adult novel:
- Remove any and all character sympathy
- Lean heavily on gay jokes
- Make some out-of-touch cultural observations that would make more sense coming from a Boomer than from a Gen Z-er
I hated Dear Evan Hansen completely and utterly.
And I HATED how they folded in the songs.
LEAVE THE SONGS OUT OF IT.
Oh, and I still hate Evan’s mom.
Hawkeye
An underrated book that you think more people should pay attention to
I really liked Temper!
I am NOT one for thrillers and I still liked this one!
It’s got that added #MeToo relevance.
I don’t see enough people talking about this book.
It’s good, I promise.
Black Panther
A book that showcases another culture
Hungry Hearts included a bunch of different cultures in one anthology.
My favorite story featured a struggling Native restaurant.
In another, a girl working at her family’s Mexican bakery reconnected with an old friend.
This book was delicious.
Spider-Man
Favorite new book of the year
This year’s witchy feminist books have yet to disappoint me.
I recently finished Waking the Witch by Pam Grossman, which led me to another promising witch book AND a witchy cultural criticism/art podcast.
Memoir AND cultural analysis? You’re JOKING.
I loved it so much.
So far, this is my favorite Powell’s find.
Loki
A book with a twist or surprise that tricked you
I considered Tiny Pretty Things a guilty pleasure read.
It’s a Mean Girls-esque ballerina thriller. How was I supposed to take it seriously?
Then the book dropped a casual plot twist about 3/4 of the way in before I was ready for it.
Well, WELL done.
That was fun.
I’m behind the curve on this one, but what else is new?
MARVEL AT MY ANSWERS…and take part if you please.
Narrative Paradise 
You’re the first person I’ve seen hate on Dear Evan Hanson, but it’s amazing how poorly musicals seem to adapt into ANY medium. I think that the obvious answer is that musicals are objectively the best way to tell a story, which is why (even when the book came first) the musical is pretty much always better.
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I seem to be alone in my hatred. And I agree – I don’t see how the characters’ emotions could have been portrayed outside of musical theater. Also…the Carrie musical is…decent.
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Oh dear, I didn’t know about a Carrie musical! I was mostly thinking of like, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked where the books are both okay at best. I’m not sure how I feel about a horror musical…. Is it meant to be ironic?
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Oh, true, I didn’t even think of those books. They’re both suuuper different from the musical versions.
Carrie the musical is played really straight and it actually works. I listened to the soundtrack at work and parts of it are legitimately terrifying. And the mom gets humanized, even!
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Sounds interesting! I think I’ll pass though, horror is not for me. No need to add musicals to the list of things I can’t do after dark!
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