aman757's reviews
32 reviews

Eighth Grade Bites by Z Brewer

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn't know much about what this book would be about, but I was surprised that there were more magical/fantasy creatures beside vampires.

This got revealed in part by a school assignment in which the main character Vladimir Tod got assigned to give a report about vampires. Also, at least a subplot in the story line revolved around a school crush that Vladimir Tod has on one of his classmates, Madeline.

I could definitely see in the writing style that this book was revealing certain plot points in anticipation of a sequel, as I know there were at least 3 or 4 more books written in this series. I don't know if I'd read any more in the series, but I enjoyed this book. One more detail I'll share that I enjoyed was multiple detailed descriptions of eating a steak and the way the blood and juices were dripping, I found to be exemplary literary passages.

Pick, Spit & Scratch: The Science of Disgusting Habits by Julia Garstecki

challenging informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

I enjoyed reading the electronic version of this book. There were several facts discussed that I found interesting.

For one, I was glad to be reminded of something that sounded familiar of the 2-minute recommendation for how long to brush your teeth, Also, I was interested to learn the term for someone who picks their nose with Greek roots, including rhino - (as stated) means nose. And furthermore, I learned that red light may occasionally facilitate sleep, whereas blue light, like that from a TV or computer screen, is not helpful for sleep, in fact likely deleterious.

Without seeing any specific age recommendation on this book, I'd make a guess that this is a good book for tweens to read, or about elementary going into middle school.

The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition by Linda Gordon

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

3.5

I found this book to be informative about the operations of the KKK in the specific age of the 1920s and around the beginning of the 20th century. I was interested to learn about some of the religious associations the KKK opposed, in addition to their discrimination in regard to race. But also there was supposedly some association with certain Christian denominations and historic populist movements. Also supposedly there was discrimination against Catholics and Jews to an extent but not as much as the emphasis the group put on white supremacy, especially with regard to the subversive, hidden nature of the group, as clearly apparent in the hidden, masked costumes. There was some reference to modern revivals of the KKK group, but the emphasis was the particular age in the 1920s with an association with certain Protestant religious beliefs, and also a biased opposition to newly popularized cultural expression like jazz of the decade.

Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have been interested lately in the concept of the "white knight," particularly regarding how the term can be used to refer to race, though doesn't always. And being that Batman is a comic book superhero character that has to me existed at the intersection of making racial commentary without explicit stating it, I decided this would be an interesting comic book to read despite this not being a preferred genre for me. I did find some of the psychology concepts contained in this comic intriguing, though it did seem that many of these concepts, both explicit and implicit, were intended to obscure or mask ideas, rather than enlighten. Some of the evidence I'd point to for this would be how the comic started with the idea of the city of Gotham perceiving Joker to really just be a misunderstood, decent person and Batman being a villainous, out of control vigilante.

This shift in perception changed when Batman force fed psychosis medication to Joker. But as the comic progresses, there are multiple layers added to this, including a sort of dual personality within Harley Quinn, Joker using his newfound access to the Gotham police to empower the cities villains and a female Neo Joker, and a partnership between the band of villains and the gangs of the primarily minority-populated part of town called Backport. And in addition to this, it was revealed that there was a connection to the technology used by Mr. Freeze and the Third Reich. And that Bruce Wayne's parents had a connection with the Nazis who supplied the technology. Also too, Bruce Wayne was partnering with freeze to sustain the life of his butler Alfred, who eventually passed away.

All of these factors made for interesting plot developments. But to me, all of these various developments also took away from the comic making any truly meaningful social commentary. And that is why, though I can see some of the entertainment value in the Batman character, I think the use of the character goes too far at times by delving into various social issues, while obscuring them with overly complex storylines.

Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Magic tree house was one of my favorite book series as a kid. This book in particular is one I can remember asking my mother to buy because it wasn't at the library at the time. Reading this book again, I remembered the repeated plot point from the series of the main characters Jack and Annie making a wish with a book in their tree house to take them on a fantasy adventure, and then them returning to the tree house by wishing with a Pennsylvania book. In this book, a special edition in the series,

the characters return to their tree house with the help of the wizard Merlin, from a medieval time in Camelot.

I don't really like stories about wizards and knights and this almost mythical time in history, particularly because of how these stories can be used to support anti-social, fantastical behavior in the present. Though I did appreciate the author Mary Pope Osborne including a short section at the end of the book about some of the historical evidence she used to form some of her characters. That said, while this book did evoke some positive memories of a book series I enjoyed as a child, I don't think it is one I'd pass along to the children of the new generation.

Black Battle, White Knight: The Authorized Biography of Malcolm Boyd by Michael Battle

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

I enjoyed reading this book, which was unique in both the content of its subject as well as the format. The primary subject of this book is Malcolm Boyd, a gay celebrity priest who impacted the U.S. and the world in many ways, including activism in the African American civil rights movement, as well as writing and publicly speaking about his sexuality and the ways this aspect of his personality affected his relationship with the church. The title of the book also has several layers of meaning. For one, it relates to how the chapters in the book are organized around the biblical passage in Revelation about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who ride horses of different colors: white, red, black, and green. The way Boyd's life corresponds to the characteristics associated with each horsemen is a primary part of what organizes the contents of the book's chapters. Furthermore, the title relates to a contrast between Boyd's race of white and the race of the biographer, Michael Battle, being black. The significance of this relationship between biographer and subject was explored throughout the book, with one way being the inclusion of email correspondences between the two that illuminates how Boyd influenced Battle's writing of the book and Battle helped shape Boyd's views toward race and religion. I had never heard of Boyd before reading this book, and find it difficult to comprehend how revolutionary and iconoclastic he was to the church and culture in his time. This book has helped me better comprehend some of my own hesitance toward religion, particularly with regards to the treatment of race and sexuality. Additionally, I believe the chapter organization leaves me with a helpful framework for directing some of that personal hesitance to actually influencing a positive change in religious settings I've either avoided or rejected. The chapter about the black horse was particularly illuminating to me about how my personal interpretation of the religion I grew up in reflects a sort of spiritual famine in need of less restrictive borders around religious expression, though I don't think the points made in that particular chapter can be fully comprehended without the context of the book's other chapters and what these reflect about the character of not only Boyd, but Battle also and how nobody can know the fullness of their being without relation to each other.

The White Knight Syndrome: Rescuing Yourself from Your Need to Rescue Others by Marilyn J. Krieger, Mary C. Lamia

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I liked the way the research in this book began with a term used in popular culture, specifically that of "white knight", and explored how this term may be defined as a psychological concept. The only previous example I've read of a similar endeavor was in a book about male body image disorders called The Adonis Complex. Similarly to that of "Adonis", the term "white knight" is one that refers to a somewhat vague idea, but has certain defining qualities that may be arrived at through observational research. Therefore, observation and case study comprise a large portion of this book, with the different examples given illuminating different aspects of this popular term and how it can be defined in psychological terms. Some existing concepts also seemed helpful for the researchers, including the concepts of empathy and altruism, and specifically if empathetic behavior can truly come from altruism alone, which is a question discussed in the book but not definitely answered. I think the researchers were effective in the way they presented the theory of three different types of white knight behavioral categories. In addition to delineating differences in the behaviors observed, this strategy also allows for the possibility of comparison to other categorized psychological terms, including certain personality disorders. I think the book also concludes in an effective, though somewhat open-ended, way, with the authors providing examples of well-adjusted relationships in which some saving behaviors occur but they get balanced between the partners, and they conclude that it is for the most part on us as individuals to save ourselves from these "white knight" tendencies and personal childhood or developmental traumas.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

As far as series concluding books go, this final installment in the Harry Potter series was probably top two out of the ones I read, with the fourth still my favorite. In this book, with Dumbledore having just died at the end of the previous installment, this one focused in the beginning on student preparations at Hogwarts for upcoming attack by Voldemort. I read this book a couple weeks ago, but I believe the final battle between Harry and pals with Voldemort and his resistance partners was pretty exciting. And there was an interesting dream sequence after the battle that concluded the book. Overall, I enjoyed reading this series. I recall some in recent years about author J.K. Rowling facing criticism for being outspoken against transgender individuals, and I can't recall exactly what she said but I never picked up on this as a underlying meaning in this book, though I didn't read particularly for that. Also, the title "... and the Deathly Hallows" makes me think I could possibly try to read this book sometime as a metaphor for different themes, like weed references or either something like the tree of life. But that may be at a later time.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Reading this book, I put more thought into some of the social commentary made with this book series than with the first two books I read from the series. I think there are some messages regarding an intersection of race, gender, and sexuality, some which seem appropriate, some I might not fully agree with, but I think that intersectionality is a theme present in this book series, with sexual orientation being something only alluded to from what I read. One aspect of how this theme is explored I could identify was how the Gryffindor quidditch team captain, Angelina Johnson, was introduced as being black in the previous book. This is something I took note of because I didn't read race or color as specifically identified with any other character in the books I read in this series. This is something that, while I don't think the label of black diminishes the other aspects of this character, including her role of chaser for the quidditch team and her leadership role on the team, I think it adds a layer of significance to her character, and I believe this led me to read further into what role the character may have in the larger social meaning of this book series. I think part of the message I got from reading these books was to embrace imaginative aspects of storytelling, though sometimes I think this caused me to read some parts as being coded language at times around gender, sexuality, and race, particularly race, sometimes not being able to determine if certain parts were meant offensively or not. Angelina makes an appearance in this sixth book also, mostly regarding her role on the Gryffindor quidditch team and her interaction with her fellow team members. Overall, the plot of this book in the series focuses on the students and professors from Hogwarts, and the larger wizard world, preparing for the return of Voldemort and other practioners of evil magic.

The book reaches its climax with a showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore, with Draco Malfoy present, in which Snape kills Dumbledore. And then concludes with the funeral of Dumbledore.

Some of the dialogue in this ending part of the book were the parts I identified some allusions to sexuality and gender relations.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I liked the previous book in the Harry Potter series slightly more, but this one had some interesting points in it too. Part of the book focused on Hermione advocating for house elf liberation, which seems to be symbolic of a larger political meaning. One of the house elves introduced was named Kreature, and he worked in the Hogwarts kitchen at least for a time. There were also some other creatures/fantasy beings introduced that I enjoyed reading about, including trolls and centaurs. There was a new Hogwarts professor introduced also named Sirius Black, who is one of the professors suspected of aiding Voldemort in his return.

Another part of this book was Harry experiencing visions of facing Voldemort, which come to find out later are planted in his mind by Dumbledore to prepare him for a later battle. These visions make his blood boil and bring out feelings of an almost uncontrollable aggression. And then later in the book, Harry actually has his first battle with Voldemort, which ends with him escaping, setting the series up for the next book.