Finished Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross.

This is a graphic novel that features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a host of other heroes and villains. It’s set in a grim future where so-called metahumans have begun fighting each other in the streets — with no regard for human casualties. The big three step in to try to find some way to deal with the metahumans and save the world — with some fairly disastrous results.

This isn’t light, fun comic reading. Kingdom Come deals with some pretty serious issues — religion, freedom, heroes vs. heroes, humans va. metahumans, friend vs. friend.

Most of the focus is on Superman, who went into retirement several years ago. I have to say I am not a huge Superman fan. He’s just too good and too earnest to be that interesting (at least to me). I’m much fonder of characters like Batman who are just, well, more human. (Plus, Batman had some really great lines in this book).

Still, I enjoyed this one. Anybody who thinks comics can’t tackle deep issues in a thoughtful manner should read Kingdom Come. Thumbs up.

Up next: Probably something free I get at the RWA conference.

Finished The Devil in the Junior League by Linda Francis Lee.

Frede (pronounced Freddie) Ward is a member of the ultra-exclusive Junior League of Willow Creek, Texas. Everything about her life is fabulous — until her husband Gordon steals her money, divorces her, and runs off with another woman. Frede’s solution? To get “no class” lawyer Howard Grout to track down Gordon. There’s only one catch — Howard wants Frede to get his less-than-sophisticated wife, Nikki, into the Junior League. While Frede tries to whip Nikki into JL shape, she (rather predictably) learns some lessons about herself.

I have to say that I didn’t like Frede that much. Since the novel is written in first person, that was a major problem. All Frede cares about is being a perfect lady and adhering to the lessons her mother taught her — even though she doesn’t seem to enjoy doing it. At the beginning, she comes off as lifeless and boring as the understated beige clothes she favors.

Take, for example, when she finds out that Gordon is cheating on her. Frede packs up his clothes and tells him to get out in a rather calm manner. It just didn’t ring true for me. This book is set in Texas. I expected a shotgun to come into play somewhere in this scene. Woman scorned, and all that.

Also, Frede finds out near the end that Gordon cheated on her with just about everybody in town. How blind do you have to be not to know your husband has slept with every other woman in the Junior League? I would think somebody would tell you. That seemed a little far-fetched and unrealistic to me, as did what Gordon was planning to do with Frede’s money.

Still, things pick up nicely in the last 100 pages, and it was fun seeing Gordon finally get what he deserves. But overall, I can’t give this one a ringing endorsement.

So, thumbs down.

PS I believe I read somewhere that Jennifer Garner was considering doing a movie based on the book. If she does, it might be one of the rare cases where the movie is actually better than the book.

Up next: Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross.

Finished Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund. I wouldn’t exactly classify this as a YA novel, but it’s not really romance either. Collegiate lit? Chick lit?

Amy Haskell is a typical junior at Eli University, editing the college’s lit magazine and wondering whether she wants to have a real relationship with her “friend with benefits” Brandon.

Then, Amy gets “tapped” or chosen to join Rose & Grave, the most elite secret society at Eli. And her whole life changes. Suddenly, all the cool, rich kids on campus are her friends, and she’s riding around in limos and drinking champagne.

At least until the older members of the society decide to shut Rose & Grave down. Seems the old, white guys don’t think women should be allowed into their club. Sexist pigs! 👿

But Amy, with the help of her new friends, manages to change their minds — or at least circumvent their scheming.

A prestigious, Ivy League-type college that has a plethora of secret societies isn’t a world I’m familiar with, since I attended a Southern university where most of the students were commuters (including moi). But hey, that’s why we read books, right? To get transported to other worlds.

I enjoyed a lot of things about SSG. The college atmosphere was nicely done, as was Amy’s worry about how her new “status” would affect her relationship with her best friend. Amy was a smart, believable character who wasn’t afraid to stand up to people who had a lot more power than she did.

The only thing I didn’t like about Amy was the way she treated Brandon. The nicest, sweetest guy in the world, and she messes up their relationship. I know Amy has her issues, but I wanted to reach into the book, take her by the shoulders, and say “What the heck are you doing?” Then again, most of us don’t know a good thing when we see it.

(And I wanted to know Poe’s real name. If it was in the book, I missed it.)

Anyway, thumbs up.

BTW, the second book in the series, Under the Rose, was just released. Got to help a fellow Chick-Lit writer out. 😀

Up next: The Devil in the Junior League by Linda Francis Lee.

What about you? What are you reading this summer? Inquiring minds want to know …

Finished Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. Fangirls and fanboys know Gaiman as the author of the Sandman graphic novel series and American Gods, among other things.

Fragile Things is a book of literary, fantasy short stories Gaiman has written over the years, with a few poems thrown in for flavor. There’s a little bit of everything in the book. October in the Chair imagines the months of the year as people telling tall tales around a fire. A Study in Emerald is sort of a Sherlock Holmes story in reverse.

Most of the stories are pretty dark and bleak though, like Keepsakes and Treasures, in which a mob-like enforcer talks about killing people and doing other unsavory things for his employer. 

Perhaps the most disturbing story for me was The Problem with Susan, which imagines what happened to Susan in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books (she’s the sister who didn’t die and go back to Narnia aka heaven with the other kids). I will never think about Narnia the same way again (A note to my friend Amy: you probably don’t want to read this story. It is that icky at the end).

If you’re looking for easy resolutions and tidy endings, Gaiman is not the guy to read. Most of the stories are ambiguous, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions about what happens next. Still, the stories made me think and made me interested in reading more of Gaiman’s work. (My significant other has been pestering me to read American Gods for months now).

So, thumbs up.

Another note: To Sam of the Ten Thousand Things, if you haven’t read Gaiman yet (although you probably have), you should read this book. It is the kind of thing you would love, and it reminded me of several things we read back in AP English.

Up next: Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund.

Finished A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore.

Bizarre. That’s the word I would use to describe this book. It’s about Charlie Asher, a so-called “Beta Male.” Like all Beta Males, Charlie is a sweet, shy, somewhat awkward guy who worries more than he should. Charlie is the sort of guy who only eats yellow mustard. It’s plenty spicy and dangerous enough for him. That’s how Moore describes Charlie. Seriously.

When Charlie’s wife dies, he becomes a “Death Merchant,” a sort of deputy to Death who collects soul vessels from people who have died and keeps them out of the hands of the sewer harpies (nasty things that want to take over the world). And it goes on from there, with Charlie having one misadventure after another as a Death Merchant while trying to raise his infant daughter by himself.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started A Dirty Job, and I don’t quite know how to describe it without spoiling the whole book. I suppose the best thing to say is that Moore is like Terry Pratchett — on drugs.

The book starts out pretty slowly, but picks up speed after Charlie realizes what he’s become. One thing that bothered me was the lack of a timeline. It seems like whole months and years pass in the space of a few chapters. The only way I could tell how long Charlie had been a Death Merchant was by keeping track of how old his daughter was.

The book really falls apart in the third act, which goes from bizarre to just crazy and rather icky in places. It’s like Moore felt he had to go even farther over the top than he already had. Speaking as someone who writes over the top, it was a little too much for even me to swallow. He also throws in a character at the very end that I don’t think he really needed.

I enjoyed Moore’s breezy writing style, and he really knows how to describe characters and settings in fun, original ways (like the mustard description). There’s a great bit near the end where he describes a car (I think it’s a Cadillac) as a death machine. Priceless.

But the book really didn’t satisfy me in the end because the big showdown was so ridiculous and drawn out.

So, no thumbs up, thumbs down. I have to give A Dirty Job a split decision just because I don’t know if I would read another book by Moore after this one.

Up next: Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman.