Weekly Reader: Avoiding Aiden by Chris Cole; M/M Romance Leads To Journey of Self-Discovery

 

Weekly Reader: Avoiding Aiden by Chris Cole; M/M Romance Leads To Journey of Self-Discovery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Just in time for Pride Month. 

Chris Cole's Avoiding Aiden is a sweet, moving, funny, traumatic, and heart tugging novel of a man who discovers love after his boyfriend breaks up with him and goes on a personal journey of self-discovery.

Aiden is a college student doubling in English and Human Resources and as he mentions in his first sentence "being dumped f#$_&@g sucks." His boyfriend, TV news reporter Carter broke up with him. Aiden dreads the inevitable conversation that would result. ("Oh hey Aiden how's it going?" "Oh great, literally anybody in my nightmare! Just picking up a few last minute things for dinner." "Same here. Hey how's Carter doing?")

His friends, Elyse and Charlie convince the depressed Aiden to go clubbing with them allegedly to see Charlie's drag performance but also Aiden could be hooked up with someone else.

Aiden is introduced to Jude, an English teacher. They have a cute and funny conversation about what vegetable and superhero they would be and what brings Jude to town to teach classes. ("You're here on purpose?," Aiden said, surprised that anyone would choose to live in his home state of Idaho.) They sleep together for a night and get along afterwards enough to exchange text messages while Jude gets into a serious relationship and Aiden goes to visit his four siblings who set him up with various unsuitable dates. After his eventful summer ends, Aiden returns to school and is shocked to discover that Jude is his English professor! As if that wasn't enough, Jude just ended his relationship and is still interested in Aiden. It gets better. Jude's ex is also Aiden's ex: Carter!

 Avoiding Aiden alternates between touching and humorous, sometimes both at the same time. Aiden concedes that his family is unique with the eldest Brett as the only straight sibling who feels the pressure of being the only family member that is able to biologically continue the bloodline. Aiden also has a trans brother,Riley, who is hypersensitive about any signs of prejudice and two sisters, Sarah and Shenoah, who are a lesbian and bisexual respectively.  

They also had the two most understanding, accepting, and supportive parents that are unfortunately deceased. Aiden goes through tremendous guilt and loss over his parent's deaths and has a hard time coming to terms with the grief, even well into adulthood. This grief is part of the reason that Aiden is so self critical and uncertain in relationships.

Aiden loves his siblings but sometimes resents their micromanaging of his love life.When they hear that he's single, they set him up with dates when he visits.  They turn out to be disasters from Porter who likes using his tongue too much, to the well endowed Noah who gets possessive after only one date, to Patrick who "can't do complicated" and Han, who Aiden just doesn't feel the same way about them. Through this wild summer of reconnecting with siblings and having the worst rebounds possible, Aiden continues to text Jude so it's clear who he is really interested in. 

Even when Aiden is reunited with Jude, things become even more complicated. With Jude being Aiden's professor, they realize that they could cross several boundaries that could cost Jude his job. There are hints that the issue is less of a student-teacher relationship but that it's a male professor-student relationship. That there is a double standard and if one were a female, the issue would be swept under the rug and most would look the other way. Aiden and Jude realize that every moment that they are together must be kept under the strictest confidence . It's up to them to decide if their relationship is worth fighting for and holding onto despite the potential outcome.

There is another complication: Carter.  He's still in the picture and despite Aiden trying to get over the breakup, it's clear Carter hasn't either. However while Aiden tries to move on in a healthy manner, Carter becomes obsessive. In one chapter, he does something to Aiden that changes the focus of the book entirely. It is a traumatic event and it clearly shows that Carter has jumped way over the moral event horizon. It also shows Jude's loving and protective nature that he cares for and supports Aiden during this whole ordeal. 

Aiden also emerges from this ordeal as a more mature and thoughtful person who is ready to open up his heart and get into a real relationship. 

Aiden also learns to be more honest with himself. In avoiding relationships,he was avoiding himself. He avoided the parts of himself that made him emotional, self conscious, insecure, and feel like he is incapable of love and being loved. When he accepts himself, that's when Aiden knows that he can accept love. Accepting Aiden.

Weekly Reader: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston; LGBT Romances Presents An Idyllic Current World

Weekly Reader: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston; LGBT Romance Presents An Idyllic Current World

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book by a trans or non-binary author


Spoilers: Of the books that I have been reading during this stressful time, Colin McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue is alternately the saddest and the most uplifting. Uplifting because of what the book is, but saddest in what it represents or what it doesn't represent. It is wish fulfillment, an alternate universe, and a fantasy almost as unrealistic as The Other Magic by Derrick Smythe. It is hopeful and uplifting because it is not the world as it is, but the world as it could be.


The book stars Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of Ellen Claremont, the first female President of the United States and Prince Henry, (not our real-life Prince Harry obviously) grandson of Queen Mary of England. The two are often rivals talking snipes at each other in public and on social media. After a disastrous PR stunt at the Prince of Wales' wedding, in which the two fight resulting in a fallen wedding cake, the two are ordered to act like BFF's, share Instagram photos and Facebook stories of their time together, speak well of each other in interviews, and shadow each other at public events. Little does anyone realize that the two are hiding different feelings that open up on midnight New Year's Eve. The two young men kiss and become lovers. Now, they have to hide their relationship from potentially disapproving friends, family, media, and the general public should they create a scandal.


On the surface, there is nothing wrong with Red, White, and Royal Blue. In fact it's one of the best books that I read so far this year. Alex and Henry are a sweet charming couple that the Readers root for to get together. There are moments with real humor and warmth. Alex and Henry's email exchanges go from mocking to loving such as when they refer to each other in various terms like "Huge Raging Headache Prince Henry of Who Cares" and "First Son of Off-Brand England."

There are also some hilarious moments even after the two are outed. Ellen reacts the way any loving mother/POTUS would: she gives a PowerPoint presentation on "Why Having Sex With Foreign Dignitaries is Considered 'A Gray Area'." Highlights include a slide which reads "Exploring Your Sexuality is Fine But Does It Have To Be With The Prince of England?"


Henry and Alex are public figures, wealthy sons and grandsons of world leaders, but these aren't spoiled rotten kids who use their family connections to get away with trouble. Alex is inspired by his mother's career in politics and studies political science hoping to enter public service one day himself. In fact, he, his sister, June and the VP's granddaughter, Nora are bright brilliant young people who want to use their talents in political science, journalism, and mathematical analysis respectively to not only help Ellen with her reelection campaign, but to carve their own careers.

Meanwhile across the Pond, Henry visits sick children in the hospital particularly in one touching moment when he shares a mutual love of Star Wars with a bed ridden girl. (This exchange also softens Alex's original view of the Prince as a boring entitled snob). Henry is so involved in philanthropic and charitable causes that he considers his birthright to be an impediment from being as involved as he would like. His brother, Phillip, is more of a duty bound Traditionalist and Bea, his sister is more of the stereotypical drug addicted party girl/celebutante, but they are also good characters at heart. They clearly miss their deceased father (who in this version is a retired actor and Royal by marriage) and feel apart from their distant and depressed mother, so the Royal siblings care for and protect each other. If anything the large hearts are just as much a draw for Alex and Henry towards each other as their good looks and family pedigrees.


There are also triumphant moments that recognize the true worth of friendship and family when various people in both America and Britain lend their unwavering support for the duo. Bea, June, and Nora offer a Greek Chorus of sisterly protectiveness towards the Lover Boys.(Though they can't resist pointing out the Real Person Fanfiction about the duo.) Alex's father, Sen. Oscar Diaz treats Henry like another son and once his mother gets past her PowerPoint presentation, her response to the negative publicity is "f$#k it."

There is negative publicity, most prominently Henry's grandmother and brother are the most outspoken against the pairing. Even they are put in their place by Henry's mother who comes out of her depression to finally take an active interest in her children's lives.

Alex eventually gives a speech not only to out himself but to confirm his love for Henry. It is the type of speech that if it were real would go down in history as a monumental moment in LGBTQIA history. Of course the two get a happy ending that comes with some sacrifice, but it warms the heart and makes the Reader stand up and cheer. Which is why Red, White, and Royal Blue alternates between the most uplifting and the saddest.


Red, White, and Royal Blue is the saddest book because the world inside and outside the book couldn't be more different than if Red, White, and Royal Blue took place on Middle Earth or Westeros. To their credit McQuiston was aware of the dichotomy between fiction in reality. In the Afterwards, they state that Red, White, and Royal Blue began production in 2016 and was published in 2019 and McQuiston saw the dichotomy for themselves.

In the setting of Red White and Royal Blue, the first female President who had a commendable previous political and legal career is elected after Obama, the first black President. Even though, her first marriage ended in divorce, she remains on amicable terms with her first husband and her low key second husband does not mind filling the role of First Gentleman. In the real world, a business mogul/reality show star becomes President, even though he had three marriages, cheated on all of his wives with the next one, has made disparaging remarks about women on camera, and his supporters dismiss his behavior as "locker room talk." In this world, three women (one who was African-American), two African-Americans, a Mexican-American man, a gay man, and a Jewish man competed for the 2020 Democratic ticket. One by one, they all dropped out in favor of a 70ish white man with a divisive personality.

In McQuiston's world, Ellen's son and daughter, the First Son and Daughter of the United States are mixed race with a white mother and a Latino father. In this world, immigrant children from various Central American families are separated from their families and placed in cages, given little to no medical treatment, and many have disappeared perhaps into illicit foster homes or sold to human traffickers.

Inside the pages of the book, there is controversy towards the pairing particularly from the Queen of England, but his family manages to help Henry keep his lineage and place in the family world. Outside the pages of the book, Prince Henry and Meaghan Markle, Duke of Duchess of Sussex are in the process of giving up their titles and lineage rather than have Markle receive continue to receive negative criticism for "challenging the role expected of her" (when her late mother in law received praise for doing many of the same things that she does). Instead she and their son have received insults and threats because of their skin color, this being a factor in their leaving.


In fiction, an often marginalized group is given a voice in power. In reality, Ahmoud Arbery was shot just for being a black man jogging in a white neighborhood. George Floyd was killed by a police officer who usurped his authority by putting his knee on Floyd's neck after he passed out. White armed protestors can storm Capitol buildings and not get arrested, but if an actor speaks about an issue or a black football player takes a knee they are considered a threat. Protections for LGBTQIA people have rolled back. Women may be openly accusing powerful men of sexual harassment and assault, but it's the women who are being branded as liars and whores and are removed from their jobs while many of the men remain in their positions and/or are defended, even posthumously.

The President favors alt right and hate groups, praises their actions, and calls them very fine people because they support him. He does and admits various horrible things and still gains support from so-called religious people because he plays on their fears and values.


In Red, White, and Royal Blue, the children of the President, Vice President, and the British Royal family have famous names but don't use them to get away with crimes or to attend parties. Instead they use their talents, expertise, and drive to make the world a better place. In the real world, the children of the President use their famous name to get past conflicts of interest and illegal activities such as defrauding charities (while hypocritically accusing Hunter Biden of the former).

In the book, a bit of political skullduggery is uncovered when Ellen's strongest rival gets a key endorsement when he blackmails a young idealistic senator to support him instead of Ellen. The conspiracy is uncovered and the senator comes clean. Outside the book, the current White House occupant was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction, but the Republican led Senate chose party over country and refused to remove him from office.

The biggest issue during the book's 2020 election is the outing of the President's son. The biggest issue during the real 2020 election is a worldwide pandemic which has killed millions and shows signs of a second wave emerging. Rather than care about their fellow men and women, especially those who are considered essential workers, many refuse to follow health guidelines by gathering in large public places and refusing to wear masks. They claim these regulations are violations of their civil liberties, when all they are protecting people from sickness. Many would rather believe a conspiracy theory, than scientific and medical research and good common sense.

Red, White, and Royal Blue is idealistic because it gives us hope. There is still time to turn things around and let certain people be heard, accept love in its many forms, allow people to live their truths, for friends and family to consider love and support more important than wealth and politics, to become the people that McQuiston wrote.

New Book Alert: A Prison in the Sun: A Fuerteventura Mystery (Canary Islands Mysteries Book 3) by Isobel Blackthorn; Journey of Mystery and Self-Discovery Lead To Dark Story of Imprisonment During Franco's Spain

New Book Alert: A Prison in the Sun: A Fuerteventura Mystery ( Canary Islands Mysteries Book 3) by Isobel Blackthorn; Journey of Mystery and Self-Discovery Lead To Dark Story of Imprisonment During Franco's Spain

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's always interesting when mysteries are set during the protagonist's vacation especially at a beautiful island resort. It's as though things would normally be peaceful and sleepy in this island. By contrast, a violent murder or robbery is conveniently waiting for the amateur detective du jour to show up on the scene to solve it.

In reality, the odds of such a thing happening are slim but make for exciting reading especially when the vacation spot shares a dark history that is waiting to be explored and shared by our vacationing hero. If the protagonist learns something about themselves, as well as the location's past and solving the mystery, then it's so much the better.

In Isobel Blackthorn's latest mystery, A Prison in the Sun, we get two such interesting stories in the beautiful setting of the Canary Islands. The first story is about Trevor Moore, a ghostwriter who is incredibly miserable. His marriage ended when his wife left him for another woman. He is estranged from his children. He is also in a rut in his career. He is tired of writing blog entries, reviews, and books and getting no credit for them especially when one of his clients is nominated for a literary award for a book that he wrote. His best friend/colleague basically strong arms him to travel to Tefla, Fuerteventura, and write an original work.


Trevor hopes that he can get away from his problems and achieve literary success on his own right. What he gets instead are a few mysteries and a chance to dissect his own love life and sexual identity.


Trevor goes exploring through his new locale and sees an abandoned windmill and a hostel. “The village has a terrible history,” says Luis, a local physical trainer. But he won't elaborate.

Doing some online and in-person research Trevor learns that the hostel was used as a prison/labor camp for gay men during Franco’s presidency.

The history of the hostel is horrible, yet interesting but Trevor is not convinced that he is the writer for it. Shouldn't such a dark local history be told by a local author or at least one who has a passing acquaintance with the Spanish language, Trevor asks. Not to mention an author that's gay? Which Trevor insists that he is not even though he lusts after Luis’s toned handsome body and remembers experimenting with a male classmate in school.


While he suffers from writer's block and tries to ignore his confused sexuality, Trevor goes for a long walk on the beach and finds a backpack filled with several items including fifty thousand euros in rolled up bills and more importantly for Trevor, a manuscript. Not only that, but news reports state that a body washed up onshore. No points in guessing whether the body and rucksack are related.


Besides Trevor's story, we receive another interesting story, the one in the manuscript. That of José Ramos. José is a man living in Franco's Spain who tells of his estrangement from his family because of his sexuality and imprisonment for staring too long at another man. José is arrested, found guilty, disgraced, and sent to Tefla's labor camp.

At Tefla, José is forced to do hard manual labor with several other prisoners. He writes about them, particularly Manuel, a former prostitute turned lover to José.

As with many books which involve a historical and modern story, José and Trevor's stories converge commenting on one another as the modern Trevor learns from the historical José.

The mystery is mostly slight as Trevor continuously makes several errors such as trusting the wrong people and blurting out the wrong things at the most inopportune time. He is constantly on the run from drug dealers and gangsters that he envisions want the money in the rucksack. He also isn't particularly honest himself. He considers keeping the money even after he encounters the dead man's next of kin.

However, where the mystery is not as compelling, it's the change in Trevor's character that is the strongest aspect to this book.

Trevor starts out as a sad sack of a man given to cynical barbs out of his life, work, and current situation. When one of his clients wants him to write a tone-deaf and racially insensitive book about an indigenous Australian man, he sighs with relief that no matter how bad the book is, at least his name won't appear on the title page. “Being a ghost has some advantages,” Trevor says.

Trevor is the archetypal middle-aged man going through a mid-life crisis. He spends most of the book bemoaning his failed marriage, flaccid appearance, and dead-end job. It takes this trip to make him look at his life differently and seek to improve it. He signs up for a gym membership and works to develop his body. While he debates whether or not he is gay, he opens his mind up to the possibility accepting his erotic fantasies and romantic thoughts towards men, particularly Luis and his former schoolmate.

When he peers at José's story, Trevor shows real creative talent by translating and editing the manuscript. When he reads the opening of José telling his story to a bird, Trevor reinserts the bird in a few key moments understanding José's need to tell his story to someone, anyone, and uses the bird as a metaphor for José's wanting to fly free from a bigoted world.


Most importantly, Trevor learns to accept himself. When he reads about José and the other men, he learns about the consequences that they had to suffer for their sexuality. They faced imprisonment and torture. After their release, they were unemployed, isolated, and fell into alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, and depression. They were declared pariahs in Franco's Spain which held rigid beliefs about what men should be and they did not include sleeping with other men. However, José did not deny who he was considering his love for other men to be as natural as any other love.


Trevor learns how to live with himself and his own desires. If José and the others can be honest with themselves while surrounded by imprisonment, ostracism, and possible death then so can he.

While Trevor continues making plenty of mistakes concerning the rucksack, he considers working on José's story to be his own atonement and legacy.

Ironically, reading and working on about José's life and imprisonment, gives Trevor the chance to free himself from his emotional prison.

New Book Alert: Seance on a Summer's Night by Josh Lanyon; Witty Protagonist and Creepy Setting Make For Brilliant Gothic Novel

New Book Alert: Seance on a Summer's Night by Josh Lanyon; Witty Protagonist and Creepy Setting Make For Brilliant Gothic Novel

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: The key with LGBTQIA fiction these days is that they don't always have to do with being LGBTQIA. What I mean is that, while there are romances about boy meets boy or girl meets girl and dramatic coming out stories in less enlightened times or in modern day in front of a disapproving family and society, that isn't all there is to Queer Literature.

To be truly equal means to cover all barriers. One of the ways to do that is to put LGBTQIA characters in genres where their sexuality isn't the most important part of the book. It is essential to their character, but no more so than it would be for a straight protagonist obtaining a heterosexual love interest. The sexuality and gender roles become a subplot in that book.

Josh Lanyon's novel, Seance on a Summer's Night is that type of book. Yes the protagonist, Artemus “Artie” Bancroft is gay. Yes, he spends multiple parts of the book discussing his love life and yes, he obtains a male love interest in the book. However, Artie's sexuality takes a back seat in what is a memorable Gothic Novel and Ghost Story with a witty protagonist who happens to be gay.

Artie is a New York theater critic who is summoned back to Green Lanterns, his childhood home in Russian Bay, California, by his Aunt Halcyone. Halcyone raised Artie ever since his parents died and the two have been close until Halcyone’s marriage to Ogden Hyde, a domineering philandering tyrant. Artie moved to New York to pursue his career and a romance with Greg, a married man. Now, one year after Ogden's death, Halcyone summons Artie back saying that she “can't handle the situation” and that she needs Artie's “cool head and strong shoulders” to help with said situation.

The situation is that Green Lanterns appears to be haunted. Halcyone wants to turn the ornate many-roomed mansion into an inn. However, people report missing items, mysterious footsteps when no one is there, and transparent figures seen out of the corner of one's eye. Staff keep quitting and no guests check in because of fear of ghosts. Ogden's bed ridden sister, Lianna is consulting with mediums. Above all, rumors are spread that Ogden's death was no accident and that he was murdered something that Ogden's ghost has confirmed.

Seance on a Summer's Night is the perfect read if someone is looking for a good Gothic ghost story to curl up with. All the tropes are there. There is the creepy house with dark rooms, secret passages, and dim lighting just waiting for someone to see something spooky pop out of the shadows. (It makes one wonder why anyone would want to visit there but many people like to visit haunted places like Winchester Mystery House. Plus I live near St. Louis where one of the favorite tourist destinations is the Lemp Mansion and Brewery, so who am I to judge?)

If the setting didn't give off a spooky enough atmosphere, then the people who dwell within Green Lanterns certainly will. Everyone appears to be hiding something and has their own private agenda.

Lianna was once a social butterfly but now spends her days lying in bed, reading Tarot cards, and talking to her only friend, medium Roma Loveridge. She also goes on nightly walks looking for Ogden and in one creepy chapter almost falls to her death. Roma herself produces some spooky moments with her séances that may or may not be on the level. She also has a strange psychological hold on Lianna and sometimes Halcyone which makes Artie extremely suspicious.

The remaining servants, Tarrant and his daughter, Ulyanna appear to resent the increased workload and Artie's presence. Seamus Cassidy, a handsome gardener, captures Artie's eye but maybe hiding his true intentions and connection to the goings-on at Green Lantern. Then there's Halcyone who Artie wants to believe is innocent of Ogden's murder but is acting more and more mysterious and keeps dropping hints about how she can't be forgiven for something.

Poor Artie doesn't know who to trust when everyone in Green Lanterns is acting suspiciously, even family members and people he had known for years.

Characterization is Lanyon's strong suit and he gives us a brilliant protagonist in Artie. Artie is very witty and prone to providing sarcastic one-liners. When Halcyone quotes the “more things in heaven and earth” line from Hamlet, Artie replies “That's right, Hamlet. There's fire and water.”

Artie is a fervent skeptic which is why Halcyone contacted him to see if there are any human agencies behind the haunting. Artie is the type of person who attends a seance and looks underneath the table for strings and flashlights. He proves to be helpful by observing clues for a rational explanation. However, he is so convinced by his skepticism that he refuses the possibility of thw supernatural even when it's right in front of him and all scientific reasoning has disappeared.

Besides being a skeptical cynic, Artie exhibits a softer side. He cares deeply for Halcyone and is protective of her because of the scares and the earlier abuse she received at the hands of Ogden. Even though he doesn't get along with Lianna, he expresses concern for her when she appears to be on the edge of a breakdown.

Artie shows vulnerability when thinking about his love life. He is haunted by the death of one former boyfriend and is still hurting over his breakup with Greg. His moments with Cassidy are sweet but tinged with sadness as Artie finds it difficult to fall in love again and also is suspicious of Cassidy’s true nature.

When Artie encounters the ghosts, he realizes that his one liners, skepticism, and vulnerable nature can't protect him from the secrets and fear that surrounds him.


Seance on a Summer’s Night has a descriptive spooky Gothic setting and a clever well-rounded protagonist. It is a great read for those hot July and August nights when you need a chill down your spine and a good scare.

Monthly Reader: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay By Michael Chabon: Classic Historical Novel Takes Us Into The History of Comic Books

Monthly Reader:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay By Michael Chabon: Classic Historical Novel Takes Us Into The History of Comic Books

By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
For right now I am reducing my Weekly Readers to once a month,  Monthly Reader instead. Mostly because I have been getting plenty of New Book Alerts so it's kind of hard for now to put others in. So I am doing one Classics Corner, one Monthly Reader and possibly one Forgotten Favorite for now anyway

Here is the first Monthly Reader: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay one of my all-time favorite novels. 
When 17 year old, Sammy Klayman, later Clay, meets his Czech cousin Josef Kavalier, for the first time in 1939 Long Island, it's a match made in comic book heaven. Recently escaped from Prague during the Nazi oppression, Josef finds an immediate friend in Sammy as the two share mutual interests in common such as a love of magic and escape artists like Harry Houdini and an interest in drawing. The love of drawing turns into a career in the comic books industry as Sammy talks his way into getting the two a job in a novelty products-turned-comic book company. 

The boys ultimately revitalize the comics industry with their characters The Escapist, a mysterious individual who with his group, The Sacred Golden Key conspire to help people escape from Nazi Germany and Luna Moth, a female librarian turned superhero. The two reach success but not without the usual problems and difficulties. 

Josef falls in love with Rosa Saks a bohemian artist (and the inspiration for Luna Moth), while trying to help get his family out of Prague. Sammy meanwhile is struggling through the ashes of a failed literary career and discovers his own sexuality after falling in love with radio actor, Tracy Bacon. 

This story is a superb work of historical fiction combining a history of the Golden Age of Comics with the harsh difficulties of WWII- Europe and America, and the comfortable ennui of post-War suburbia in the later chapters. Of particular notice in the book is the history of the Comic Books industry. All of the high points are there including the 1938 creation of Superman which was followed by various other superheroes many of whom like Supes are still around to this day to the 1954 Kefauver Senate Hearings in which comic books and graphic novels were cited as reasons for juvenile delinquincy. Any comic book fan would delight in the references and cameos by some of the Golden Age greats as Jerry Siegal, Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Stan Lee and many others. Joe and Sammy are themselves possible stand-ins for Superman's creators, Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster. Like Joe and Sammy they too were young Jewish teenagers when they created a character that had instant success and just like their fictional counterparts, they were swindled into selling the rights to their characters and being deprived of its residuals and royalties. 

Joe and Sammy are wonderful characters throughout the book and their many struggles which make The Escapist's fights against Fascism seem minor by comparison. Joe is driven by his hatred of the Nazis and his motivation to rescue his family. The chapter when he discovers his little brother's fate and the chapters that follow are moving as they show a man who has reached his breaking point and teeters on the edge of sanity as he withdraws further into his fantasy world of magic and daring escapes.

Sammy too comes across as a strong character, particularly in his romantic scenes with Tracy Bacon. He is alternately flirtatious and charming with his lover and fearful of the consequences of being a homosexual, as in a striking scene when Sammy is a witness to an FBI raid at a gay club. This incident leads to years of self-denial and bitterness as he attempts to build a typical suburban life with Rosa leading only to frustration and despair. 

Kavalier and Clay is the type of book that describes both a world of fantasy and a world of reality and describes them both very well. 

Banned Books Special: Drama by Raina Telgemeier; A Cute Charming Graphic Novel About Love and Identity at a Middle High School Drama Department

Banned Books Special: Drama by Raina Telgemeier; A Cute Charming Graphic Novel About Love and Identity at a Middle High School Drama Department

Spoilers: Callie, the excitable protagonist of Raina Telgemeier's graphic novel seems to be born for the stage so the 7th grader is a part of Eucalyptus Middle School Drama Department. However unlike many other starstruck teens, she does not want to be center stage singing and acting. (In fact an early moment reveals that she can't carry a tune.) Instead she turns her interest into set design. She pores over coffee table books and art books revealing the intricate sets of the old Ziegfeld and Broadway shows and strives to make her productions just like them. (with a third of a budget for a school production.) The intrepid teen deals with her grandiose ideas and the complicated love lives of herself and the other students in this charming and cute graphic novel which deals with friendships, romances, and discovering one’s identity in the world of the theater.

The kids are tasked to perform Moon Over Mississippi, a musical/love story. Callie is thrilled not only to design the intricate Antebellum sets but that she also gets to fire a prop cannon. (She hoped to fire one with pyrotechnics, but the stage manager and director/faculty advisor had to remind her of the potential damage to the auditorium and potential loss of life.) Her best friend, Liz is excited because as costume designer she gets to watch classic films like Shenandoah and Gone With the Wind to sketch the beautiful hooped skirt gowns and handsome Union and Confederate uniforms and to find details for the costumes even if it means going into the creepy prop and costume vault. Callie's friend Max is excited in his role as spotlight technician and that he also gets to boss the other kids around including Liz and Callie.

The fact that most of the main characters are crew members instead of part of the cast shows that these roles are just as important if not more so than the ones onstage. The people who contribute to these roles are just as creative and talented as the performers.

Besides the hijinks onstage, the Reader is drawn into the hijinks off and Drama begins to take on the attributes of a teen sitcom or light-hearted soap opera with the requisite love triangles, more like Love Dodecahedrons, present.

Let's see if I can get this straight (deep breath): Callie is at first in love with Matt’s older brother, Greg who sees Callie mostly as a friend. Greg has an on-again-off-again relationship with Bonnie, the most popular girl in school who also plays the female lead in Moon Over Mississippi. Bonnie eventually begins dating West, who plays the male lead. Callie befriends two twin brothers, Justin and Jesse. Justin, who gets the part of a comic relief, is openly gay much to Callie's initial confusion and eventual acceptance. Callie develops a crush on Jesse, who assists her in constructing sets. What Callie doesn't know is that Jesse is also gay and is developing a relationship with West. Meanwhile, Matt harbors a secret crush on Callie which he hides behind snide remarks and deadpan sarcasm.

While as in many programs the love triangles, or whatever shape, is overdone, many of the characters are prone to hysterics and melodrama. (like most teens particularly ones involved in drama already). However the characters are so cute and likeable that it's easy to root for them despite them being thrown into the non-stop pairings.

Standing out in particular in the cast are Callie and Jesse. Callie is practically the engine, the driving force, behind the production. She gets excited by even the minute details such as tossing magnolia leaves at the young lovers during their big love song. She knows, loves, and studies Broadway musicals enthusiastically turning her hobby  int an obsession and a potential career.

She draws the other crew members into her enthusiasm by getting them excited and thinking this is going to be the best production ever. She makes suggestions for the various departments from lighting, to costumes, to acting and they take them willingly. Partly because many of her ideas are good, with the exception of the pyrotechnics cannon.  For example, she suggests soft lights for romantic scenes instead of red because “it looks too much like danger.” Also the others relent to Callie's suggestions because they know she will pester them until they agree.

 She is also persistent in creating the various facets of the set design. She obsesses over the cannon filling it with confetti and sound effects so it could create the perfect explosion that would startle the audience out of their seats. She uses the cannon not only in the play but in the cafeteria as free publicity advertising the play which creates a long line of students buying tickets.

Jesse also stands out in this charming cast. While his twin, Justin is a bit of a gay stereotype with his exuberant personality and love of being center stage, Jesse is very shy and standoffish. While he has a good singing voice and has the musical memorized (thanks to he and Justin having the soundtrack at home.), Jesse has tremendous stage fright and is content to stay behind the scenes.

Jesse’s shyness also pertains to his sexuality. Even though Callie pursues him as energetically as she does everything else, he is too terrified to tell the truth. He continues to follow her around because he is uncertain with how he feels and who he wants to be.

 It is only in the end when after Bonnie has a meltdown backstage and refuses to go on, that Jesse assumes her red gown and plays the female lead. He finally becomes comfortable with himself.

 In assuming a female identity, Jesse recognizes his own real identity as a gay young man and pursues a relationship with West.

While Drama is cute and charming and filled with laughable moments, at heart it tells a sweet story about how romance can be found only when people are being their true selves.

Weekly Reader Bonus: Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal; A Realistic Brutal Story of Growing Up From Our Favorite Comic Strip Characters

Weekly Reader Bonus: Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal; A Realistic Brutal Story of Growing Up From Our Favorite Comic Strip Characters




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: I suppose I should call this the Weekly Viewer since it's a play rather than a book. But many consider plays as important parts of literature as do I. In various previous Lit Lists, I have cited plays like A Raisin in the Sun, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead, Medea, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Odd Couple, The Sunshine Boys, and A Midsummer Night's Dream as some of my favorites. I also like a challenge so I thought this would be a good try.




There are many of us who wonder what happened to our favorite fictional characters later in life. What if they were hit with real world problems? What if the kids grew up or what happened when the adults were wayward youths? Such books as the Thursday Next series and films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the upcoming Happytime Murders show what happens when our favorite literary, animated, and puppet characters come face to face with such problems as sexuality, segregation, domestic violence, and crimes. Fanfiction writers explore various possibilities of their favorite characters in different sometimes angstier settings. Last month, I reviewed The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno which explored the adult life of a child detective based on Encyclopedia Brown. Exploring the pasts and futures of beloved characters raise interesting questions which invite various possibilities.




The latest characters to have their later lives exposed and dissected for the world to see are Charles Schultz's Peanuts gang. In the play Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, unauthorized by the Schultz Estate, Bert V. Royal explores the teen years of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and the gang and we discover it's a biting grim darker world than the one they knew when they were children.




Because of the unauthorization, none of the characters are called by their real names but we the audience know who they are. When one character called “Van” mourns for his lost blanket we know he's the quiet philosophical Linus. When one character, “Beethoven” retreats to the music room to play his favorite composer, it's not too hard to assume that he is the once musical prodigy Schroeder. Knowing who these characters were makes what happens to them all the more moving and heartbreaking. If Charlie Brown can have an unhappy adolescence, anyone could.




The play begins with the death of CB’s (Charlie Brown) dog and proceeds to get worse from there. First CB graphically describes to his Pen Pal the death of his beloved beagle (Snoopy) after getting put down because he contracted rabies and ate a yellow bird that CB believed “was the beagle’s best friend.” (Woodstock-I told you it would get worse.) The dog’s death sends CB into grief as he questions what happens after we die. While Peanuts often took a philosophical at times spiritual outlook, this play puts those questions front and center as CB ponders the meaning of death.




Far from being the misfit put-upon bullied kid, CB is now a popular jock who does his fair share of bullying. He is best friends with Matt (Pig Pen) who is no longer the nice kid who walked around with a trail of dirt. Instead he is an Obsessive Compulsive bigoted, sexist, homophobe who hates to be reminded of his former life and nickname.

CB is also still best friends with Van (Linus) who is a pothead and has some of the funniest lines in the play. When Van explains that after his blanket was burned, he smoked it's ashes. (“My blanket and I are one,” Van says triumphantly.)

Matt, Van, and CB also hang around with Tricia (Peppermint Patty), the former tomboy turned airheaded party girl and her best friend Marcie (Marcy-the only character to go by her original name), who while still is smart has become  like Tricia, another Mean Girl.
Royal’s decision to make Matt, Tricia, and Marcie antagonists (and Matt is particularly villainous in how he taunts those he bullies) show that sometimes when people grow and change, they not only don't retain the characteristics that they once had but they change for the worse.




The most frequent target for Matt and the other's abuse is no longer CB, but Beethoven (Schroeder). Beethoven has withdrawn into himself since his father had been arrested for molesting him. Instead of sympathies and support, Beethoven's former friends mock, taunt, and beat him for being gay. Even though CB did not bully Beethoven, Beethoven chides him for being worse “because (he) watched it happen” and that of all people, CB would know what it's like to be an outcast. Instead Beethoven keeps to himself even during lunch,where he sits in the music room as he practices the piano. It is in the music room that after a tense moment, Beethoven and CB kiss.




The kiss causes CB to question his feelings and sexuality. He fears hatred and ostracism from his peers. The only person to give him support is the last person anyone would expect: Van’s Sister (Lucy). The best scene in the play is when CB visits Van’s Sister in the psychiatric hospital where she had been staying since she set the Little Red Haired Girl's hair on fire. In one of the two most heartbreaking monologues in the play, Van's Sister reveals that she set the Little Red Haired Girl's hair on fire because Van’s Sister had an abortion and discovered that the LRH Girl called her “a whore.”

The dialogue between CB and Van’s Sister reveals CB’s confusion about the kiss and how he isn't sure whether he loves Beethoven. Van's Sister alternates between common sense advice towards CB’s predicament and accepting her role as an “unrepentant, unremorseful sociopath and (she) has no choice but to believe it.” In their mutual stories of love and hate, CB and Van's Sister reveal themselves as two people trying to find an identity for themselves as people who long to be loved and accepted.




Maturity is a common theme in Dog Sees God. Along with that maturity is the search for identity and realizing who we are and who we want to be. This is revealed by CB’s Sister (Sally) who similar to her song “My Philosophy” in the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is always looking for a different identity. Like Van, CB's Sister is seen as a comic relief as she goes from being a Goth girl to a Gangsta rapper. She also does a melodramatic one-woman show “Cocooning Into Platypus." While her one-woman show is hammy at first, she reveals the theme of the play by showing us a caterpillar that transforms into a newly made human who could think, cry, feel, find and lose love.




Finding and losing love is what the play is about. Once CB and Beethoven’s relationship is revealed to the others, they realize how much they have fallen in love. Unfortunately, their happiness is cut short by an angry Matt who is furious that he thinks Beethoven “recruited his friend.” Matt hurts Beethoven in a way that is savage, brutal, and leads to horrible consequences.


The adult world that surrounds the Peanuts gang is a darker one than the days when the kids put ornaments on Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, or when Linus waited in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin, or when Snoopy stood on his doghouse writing a book or fighting the Red Baron. But the kids know, as everyone else watching them do, they have to grow up sometimes.

1.  But maturity is not always dark or sad. It can also be a world of warmth, kindness, and friendship. This is exemplified in the other great monologue in the play when CB reads a letter from his Pen Pal who tells him that through it all, he is a good man. The most touching moment of all is when the Pen Pal reveals his name as CS, implying that even when his friends taunt CB and his life seems horrible God (or rather Charlie Brown's God and Creator, Charles Schultz) hasn't forgotten him and still loves him.