What a strange story, but I found myself entranced by it. A flight attendant who is scared of heights, a super-secret spy who constantly changing identities, flying serpents, Aztec artifacts, and a bunch of other craziness.
Book 1, G. Willow Wilson, writer; M.K. Perker, artist; Chris Chuckry, colorist; Jared K. Fletcher, letterer.
Availability: SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Matthew “That guy who works in the library, right?” Lachkovic
Rating: Highly Recommended
Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of newer comics, however given that it was X-Men, I gave it a shot. It’s about par-for-the-course for standard Marvel comics. The storyline was somewhat original, and the characters were quite familiar. The only things that irked me were the portrayal of Beast and Emma Frost. Still, as it was, I still enjoyed it quite a bit, as it was fairly well written and kept my interest for about an hour and half.
Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection, Book 1 includes issues #1-12.
Availability: SMCM Library and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Matthew “Juggernaut” Lachkovic
Rating: Recommended with Reservations
I simply must break the first rule of Fight Club to talk about what a great book it was. A novel filled with anarchy and psychological disturbances written in a choppy style, Fight Club never failed to engage me and intrigue me. The narrator, who remains nameless, chronicles the story of himself, his friend Tyler Durden, and Tyler’s lover Marla Singer. The narrator, who suffers from insomnia and will do anything for a good night’s sleep, meets Marla at a support group for cancer that neither of them have, and their complicated relationship develops throughout the novel from sheer hate to some kind of messed up affection.
When the narrator meets Tyler, however, is when things heat up: one drunken night in a bar the two promise to hit each other as hard as they can, thus engaging in the first fight of the Fight Club that they will famously found. Fight Club escalates faster than the narrator could imagine as he finds himself in the midst of a web of anarchy and conspiracy that soon becomes too powerful to stop. With Fight Club expanding beyond control, the narrator’s turmoil and unease grows until a surprising twist at the end reveals the truth behind the founding of Fight Club.
A captivating read with surprises in every chapter, I would recommend Fight Club to anyone looking for a fast-paced thriller or a book laden with fascinating psychological unrest.
Availability: SMCM Library, USMAI and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Brianna Glase
Rating: Must Read
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) has made for a refreshing read this summer. Mindy’s voice rings with humor, energy, and just the right mix of snarky sarcasm and romanticism. She tackles and triumphs the insecurities that plague so many of us throughout this coming of age memoir of a girl who made it BIG but still has room to grow.
Availability: COSMOS and USMAI
Review Submitted by: Ronelle Cannon
Rating: Highly Recommended
My gosh. Absolutely great, addictive book, but it is looong. Usually I can read a book in a few days, but this took me two weeks. I still highly recommend it as now I’m reading the second one in the series.
The book starts off with Diana, a witch who basically tries to avoid magic as much as she can, and yet it keeps coming back to her. Soon, she’s following by a family of vampires, a haven of witches, and the occasional daemon. Find out what these “creatures” (as the book called them) are up to in this very hooking initiative to a series.
“Witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her. ” (Publisher’s Weekly)
Availability: SMCM Library and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Matthew “Him again?!” Lachkovic
Rating: Highly Recommended with Reservations
In Every Day is for the Thief, Teju Cole explores the past decade of rapid change in his native Nigeria. After 15 years in the United States, the book’s nameless narrator returns to visit family in Lagos. He is shocked by his country’s rampant corruption, embodied by everyone he meets, beginning with the bureaucrats renewing his passport (for a bribe) in New York’s Nigerian consulate. In Lagos, the narrator navigates a home that feels alien after living in the United States. Living in America has changed him – he now has “some of the assumptions of life in a Western democracy.” Wandering the city, he is disappointed in the poor quality of the National Museum, thrilled when he spies a woman on a bus reading a Michael Ondaatje book, and generally uncomfortable with what the city has become.
Beautifully illustrated with the author’s own photos, Every Day is for the Thief is a meditation on belonging and estrangement. The photographs are a haunting representation of a Lagos that is at once global and uniquely Nigerian.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Recommended
This book, Lone Survivor: The eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 has of course been recently released as a movie, which sparked my interest to pick it up and see how the two would compare. I have not yet seen the movie, but if you are interested in a gripping, honest, and sometimes heartbreakingly real account of what transpired, this is a definite read. Marcus’ storytelling is very well done, and you get an insider’s view of some of what it takes to become a U.S. Navy SEAL, as well as his recounting of the events that left him the last surviving member of his team. The loss of his team was a devastating blow, to their families, himself, their fellow war fighters and our nation, but he honors by keeping their story alive in these pages.
Availability: USMAI and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Tammy Cannon
Rating: Must Read
Although this book is in the young adult fiction section, and I am a bit beyond this age group, I have found this final installment of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series to be enjoyable. It continues to chronicle the happenings to the Septembers, four friends who have been together since birth. This was both a nice wrap-up for the books, but was also open ended enough that it could be continued in the future, that would be a fun twist, to follow them further. I would recommend the entire series as great summer reading, young adults on up!
Availability: COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Tammy Cannon
Rating: Recommended
Most Americans have read John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which chronicles the plight of the “Exo-dusters,” those who left the southern Great Plains for California during the Dust Bowl. Less well known are the stories of those who remained, weathering the Black Blizzards that lasted throughout much of the 1930s. In The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan builds on the personal narratives of farming families who struggled to survive these conditions in the epicenter of the Dust Bowl – including the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, southwestern Nebraska, and southeastern Colorado.
The Worst Hard Time is standard historical nonfiction, but the inclusion of detailed personal narratives enlivens the book and provides a human face to one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. Egan’s descriptive and lyrical writing helps readers visualize the humbling of the once independent Plains farmer, who dug up the sod and subsequently in his poverty, became reliant on the programs of the New Deal.
These stories may be familiar to readers who have watched Ken Burn’s The Dust Bowl on PBS, which relies heavily on Egan’s interviews and research to tell a broader story about the families who stayed on the Plains and those who left for California.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Recommended
Kaitlyn Grigsby and Matthew Lachkovich won the monthly prize drawing for June. Matthew is also our leader in number of reviews, six posted in 2014.
Submit a review in July to be eligible for the our next drawing. Don’t forget prizes are available for all participants who submit a review between June 2 and August 15.
