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Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction by Gabrielle Moss
kelswid's review against another edition
4.5
what a damn delight! adding so many of these titles to my TBR!
heatherbermingham's review against another edition
4.0
At one point, Mark looked at the cover of this book and said, "That looks like a book you would have read when you were 12." So design team? Nailed it!
Super fun, and I actually learned a few things. Moss pokes fun at most of these series but does it with clear affection and appreciation for how fun they were to read. Did I interlibrary loan a few Christoper Pike books at work today? Maybe!
Super fun, and I actually learned a few things. Moss pokes fun at most of these series but does it with clear affection and appreciation for how fun they were to read. Did I interlibrary loan a few Christoper Pike books at work today? Maybe!
trin's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't allowed to read "series" books when I was a kid; my mom (hi, Mom!) thought they were trashy. Of course, this only increased their allure for me, so I snuck reading them whenever I could: secretly buying them for a quarter at yard sales and hiding them behind my bed; tucking myself away with them in the padded bathtub in the basement children's department of our town library after school*; and at least once going for a sleepover at a friend's house and then completely ignoring said friend so I could devour Fear Street #37 or whatever.
Thus, I eventually picked up enough series trash piecemeal to realize that most of these books were not very good** and that my mom was right and I was better off reading other things. Like superhero comics and fanfic and anything with time travel in it. You know, all the classy stuff that I read today.
ANYWAY, Paperback Crush is an extremely funny and informative look back at this, to me, previously forbidden world. Gabrielle Moss is a delightful tour guide in all the ways Grady Hendrix unfortunately was not in his disappointing pulp horror exploration, Paperbacks From Hell; Paperback Crush, in contrast, feels well-researched, logically put together, socially aware, and--most importantly--full of jokes that actually land. My only complaint about this book is that there's not more of it: more analysis***, more ridiculous covers to look at, more than one cursory mention of Animorphs.****
But overall this book was so fun. Honestly, my mom was probably right that there were much better things for me and my growing mind to be reading as a kid. But now, as a totally stagnant adult, all bets are off!
*This was a fun idea but actually really quite uncomfortable.
**The exception, of course, being the Animorphs books, which were awesome.
***Seriously, why is there no concluding chapter? A middle school book report knows better!
****I really love Animorphs, okay?
Thus, I eventually picked up enough series trash piecemeal to realize that most of these books were not very good** and that my mom was right and I was better off reading other things. Like superhero comics and fanfic and anything with time travel in it. You know, all the classy stuff that I read today.
ANYWAY, Paperback Crush is an extremely funny and informative look back at this, to me, previously forbidden world. Gabrielle Moss is a delightful tour guide in all the ways Grady Hendrix unfortunately was not in his disappointing pulp horror exploration, Paperbacks From Hell; Paperback Crush, in contrast, feels well-researched, logically put together, socially aware, and--most importantly--full of jokes that actually land. My only complaint about this book is that there's not more of it: more analysis***, more ridiculous covers to look at, more than one cursory mention of Animorphs.****
But overall this book was so fun. Honestly, my mom was probably right that there were much better things for me and my growing mind to be reading as a kid. But now, as a totally stagnant adult, all bets are off!
*This was a fun idea but actually really quite uncomfortable.
**The exception, of course, being the Animorphs books, which were awesome.
***Seriously, why is there no concluding chapter? A middle school book report knows better!
****I really love Animorphs, okay?
daisychainbookco's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
This is a fun, comprehensive look at so many of the teen books I devoured. It’s a fun walk through memory lane and a curious look at trends in novels.
anevilbag's review against another edition
reading this off and on during downtime at work but gotta give it up. unfortunately it's about 40 blog posts/hairpin essays summarizing a ton of books and there's only so many of those i can take.
redheadreadermom's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
3.0