Superman on the Couch

Hey everyone!

So this book, Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Societies by Danny Fingeroth, was a request.

Why are so many of the superhero myths tied up with loss, often violent, of parents or parental figures? What is the significance of the dual identity? What makes some superhuman figures "good" and others "evil"? Why are so many of the prime superheroes white and male? How has the superhero evolved over the course of the 20th and early 21st centuries? And how might the myths be changing? Why is it that the key superhero archetypes - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the X-Men - touch primal needs and experiences in everyone? Why has the superhero moved beyond the pages of comics into other media? All these topics, and more, are covered in this lively and original exploration of the reasons why the superhero - in comic books, films, and TV - is such a potent myth for our times and culture.

Angels and Demons

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Doctor Sleep

I Am Legend

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Once Upon a Prince

Superman on the Couch

This book was very interesting. I'm a big superhero fan and so it was interesting to see what this book told me about myself. There was a lot of information in this book and it was all very interesting. The book was organized very nicely and it covered most of the superheroes....HOWEVER they did not talk about Thor (who is my absolute favorite) they only mentioned him. The reason being that he was not created by a comic book person but an already existing Norse mythological God. There isn't much to say about this book, other than I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in superheroes. It is a non-fiction. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Keep reading!

Mackenzie

Sarah's Diary

Hello, hello, hello!

Bonus book review! This next book, Sarah's Diary by Tshombe Amen, is under 100 pages. As a rule, I don't count any book under 100 pages towards my challenge, so you get a bonus review!

"Sarah's Diary" is a compilation of diary entries of a 14 year old girl as she searches for her missing parents and as her life goes in a downward spiral.

This book reminds me of the movie The Strangers. This is obviously in diary form and it's from the point of view a 14 year old girl who has just moved to California. I can't tell if this a true story or not. (If you have any information on this, please, please, PLEASE let me know!) Because it's in diary form it is the bare bones of a story, but it's enough to make you go crazy. It truly captures the personality of a 14-year old. She's a totally normal 14 year-old and then bam it goes CRAZY! She has normal teenage mood swings. But she's on drugs and what not and she's out of the house a lot. Why were her parents not concerned? There's a lot in this book that could make it seem unreal but then again when you're on drugs and crazy and hallucinating a lot can happen. There has not been a book in a long time that has had me so paranoid. This book was so creepy my skin was crawling for DAYS! I was tempted to give it 5 out of 5 stars. But there were some details that I could not look past if it is a fictitious story. I went with the safer review of 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

Gone Girl

Hello, hello, hello!

My next book was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?  As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet

Gone Girl

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This wasn't as great as everyone made it out to be. It started out a little bit slow. I hated the characters. There were no character that I was drawn to in the slightest and I think that was why it was so hard to read. The characters were all very blunt. Flynn described the characters in an unflattering light, which I liked because most main characters are made out to be beautiful and flawless in appearance. This book took me longer than it should have to read even though each chapter ended with the correct cliffhangers that makes a reader want to continue...but I didn't. The book was very, very twisted and the main characters were very thorough. The change of the characters of opinion didn't seem realistic, although desperate times called for desperate measures, as the saying goes. And the end just made me mad. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars. 

Keep reading!

Mackenzie

Where She Went

Hey there!

The next book I read was Where She Went by Gayle Forman which was the sequel to If I Stay. If you missed my review for If I Stay feel free to follow the link below:

If I Stay Review

It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life. And three years he's spent wondering why. When their paths cross again in New York City, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night. Adam finally has the opportunity to ask Mia the questions that have been haunting him. But will a few hours in this magical city be enough to lay their past to rest, for good - or can you really have a second chance at first love?

Where She Went

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I didn't like this book. I was content with the ending of the first book and was quite sad that there was a second book...but I knew I had to read it to find out. This book was very cliched and Gayle Forman even said at points during books that the things she was writing was cliched. There were also a lot of flashbacks and unlike the first book the flashbacks were unclear and the story got muddled and fuzzy. I wasn't sure where I was. This book was very repetitious of the first book, which is good if you haven't read the first book but if you have read the first book (which I'm sure most people who go on to the second book has) it's redundant. My other complaint is that in the book Adam holds back tears because he has a Y-chromosome and if you have a Y-chromosome you're not allowed to cry. I strongly dislike gender stereotypes and the worst thing you can tell a young boy is that they're not supposed to cry. That was just one little detail that bothered me a whole lot. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars because it was nice to know that happened after although it didn't leave much to the imagination.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

Censoring

Hey there!

So this week's review was on Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The question this week is somewhat similar to the topic of the book. And the question is:

Do you think schools should ban books, or should we teach our children to self censor?

As usual please comment your answer below or email it to me: mackenzie.roy@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Keep reading!
Mackenzie

Fahrenheit 451

Greetings!

My next book on review is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book does not fit into my challenge but it was a recommendation for me to read.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear, and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide, and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

Right into the review. This was closest to 1984 by George Orwell. Another dystopian society where books aren't allowed (how awful!). It was also very similar to Wall-E because of the amount people rely on technology and I feel like this parallels our world (similarly to all dystopian books). The title in itself is so clever. Fahrenheit 451- the temperature at which paper burns. Also, Bradbury uses literary devices extremely well. This book is so simple it's good, no real twist or anything drastic in the book but it's good. There were a few parts were I was confused. Some things just weren't explained enough. There was also a lot of disconnect between the characters and there was a lot of babbling and repetition. This was overall a really good book and it's a classic. It was also quick and easy to read. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

The Book of Lost Things

Hello, hello, hello!

The next book on my list was The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populatedby heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

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This book has the feel of a children's book as well as a fairy tale feel. This book is in the point of view of a child who has read every fairy tale there is. It takes place during World War II and it makes sense that David, the protagonist, would want to escape. He accidentally escapes into a fairy tale world. These fairy tales though defy stereotypes that we grow up with, which was so interesting. I really liked this book. This book defied stereotypes and there was such an interesting story behind it. When everything comes together in the end, it's incredible. I kind of predicted pieces of it but seriously it was so good. There was a confusing switch between reality and fairy tale. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie