Super You: Release Your Inner Superhero by Emily V. Gordon

Dear Emily V Gordon, I’d like to grab coffee with you and pick your brain and become BFFs.

After reading Super You: Release Your Inner Superhero, it felt like I received the biggest and warmest hug. I felt like I could tackle anything, and even if I couldn’t, that’s ok. I have read a handful of books to help me “deal”, but this one was truly unique and gave me the right tools to handle a multitude of situations. I found the book relatable because of her personal stories and experiences peppered in. Gordon’s honesty made me trust her beyond just her past experience as a therapist. She helps us to figure out who we are, and become a “Super You”, which is the best version of yourself not weighed down by “stuff”. She makes a helpful comparison that it’s how you would present yourself on a dating show to get picked over the other contestants; you are putting your best self forward, not focusing on the negative and letting it overtake you.

This book stands out with the superhero comparisons (emotional Hulk is great), the fun pop culture and comic facts placed throughout, and the writing prompts and exercises to really dive deep into finding your Super You. There are prompts to help you find your core values, and an important one was about what changes you would like to make in your life. These were done by answering some questions twice, once as yourself now and then again as Super You. It was a simple but powerful exercise that really stuck with me. Another concept that stuck with me was the “reality show”, which is about taking yourself out of a situation and viewing things as an outside  party. Like in a reality show, the cameras are getting all angles of a situation, including the confessional booth where everyone’s thoughts and feelings come out. This was a helpful strategy to remove myself from a situation, take some time really looking at it, and assessing how to proceed.

TL:DR- I could go on and on about this book, but I encourage you to pick it up for yourself and explore it! Emily V. Gordon gives us the tools to become the best and truest version of ourselves, not what we think we should be. Embrace your weird and nerdiness and become a Super You.

Reviewed by Katie Holland, who is a Chicago based artist, creative mind and bookworm.

Publication Date: September 29, 2015                                    Page Count: 320

ISBN: 1580055753                                                                          Publisher: Seal Press

Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction by Kurt Vonnegut

This collection of short stories previously unpublished until 2009 will be enjoyed by Vonnegut fans familiar with the author’s trademark style. Within the short stores, averaging roughly 15 pages, Vonnegut relays his unique view on the mishap and comedy that is life. As is typical with Vonnegut, the reader needs to have the ability to use suspension of disbelief, as his stories blur the boundaries between reality and fiction.

There are a  few stand out stories from this collection that are truly memorable- “Confido” starts out the collection with a story of a device that is supposed to be the key to happiness; someone to talk to who truly understands us. It turns out to know people too well, and brings to light many deep and dark emotions. We wonder if perhaps ignorance is bliss after all.

A few stories do have a “feel good” ending. “F U B A R”, standing for Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition, has us following an office worker banished to an office in the company’s gym within the complex of buildings. A new typist helps him find the positive within the everyday. “Ed Luby’s Key Club” is a longer story that shows the depth of a small town’s corruption and then salvation by righting wrongs and bringing to justice a man who got away with too much, for far too long. At the end of it all the experience helps a married couple find a renewed love in each other.

Vonnegut is great at presenting us with a twist ending that we cannot imagine coming. In “The Hall of Mirrors”, two detectives go to a hypnotist that is suspected of murdering several female clients that withdrew large sums of money before they are last known going to his office located in an old large house. The hypnotist, Weems, is quick to put the detectives under his spell and take control so he can continue his scheme. He leads them upstairs to the old ballroom where there is essentially a hall of mirrors and tricks the detectives in to what ends up being his own demise.

TL:DR It is amazing what scenes and feelings Vonnegut can create in a short amount of pages. If you are new to Vonnegut, I suggest starting with a few novels and enjoying this after. Current Vonnegut fans will enjoy this look at previously unpublished work.

Reviewed by Katie Holland, who is a Chicago based artist, creative mind and bookworm.

Publication Date: October 20, 2009                                       Page Count: 251

ISBN: 038534371X                                                                         Publisher: Delacorte Press

Beardo Volume One - The Art Degree Guarantee by Dan Dougherty

From a strip in the Daily Illini newspaper to this book of his comic series, Dan Dougherty’s Beardo is a sweet, funny, and sarcastic look at the life of an artist. Very relatable to those who also have art degrees and are trying to make it. This is a very honest depiction of real life, a breath of fresh air in the internet age where people tend to put forward the best image of themselves.

We see Beardo get a job with a large coffee chain and quickly move up the ranks thanks to his lack of passion, which is good for when shit hits the fan, according to his boss. The job and promotion ends up being a distraction to his art, as well as the band he starts with several co-workers. A common discussion among employees is their “real passion” and what creative endeavors they are pursuing outside the coffee shop. I think this book really gets into what it is like for many modern day creatives who need “real work” and can have trouble balancing their art, jobs, and personal relationships. His fiancée Red is often on him to get a real job because of financial pressures and bills. As the book goes on we see Red dragging her feet to set a date for the wedding, and after many fights Beardo is still blindsided when she declares she has not been happy for some time and is leaving him. We feel bad for the main character but then see his life turn around when he starts to get more illustration work, pick up part time hours again after quitting the coffee chain, buy his own condo, and start dating again. His outlook perks up a bit and everything is coming together even though life is still not quite “perfect”.

The customer service vignettes are funny and are often used to break up the main story lines. There is the typical customer who expects the customer to always be right, the person complaining about coffee prices, the one complaining about how long the lines takes and then proceeds to hold it up themselves; so on and so forth. Our main character Beardo is disillusioned and does come to find pleasure in making fun of these types of people after they leave the shop, sometimes even to their faces. There are a few recurring characters who provide some extra comedy such as an older man named Jim who is always complaining about corporate coffee shops yet still continues to go there often. He also gives Beardo plenty of crap about never making it as an artist.

Dougherty’s style of drawing in this book is clean lines and some fairly bright colors with simple shading. He does an excellent job at establishing scenes and environments with a good amount of detail but not too much as to distract the reader. The style and story combined make this a fun lighthearted read.

TL:DR- Dougherty portrays the customer service/retail life without it getting boring for the reader. I looked forward to his sarcastic view of the work and life situations we all experience. His take on personal relationships was also relatable and clever.

Reviewed by Katie Holland, who is a Chicago based artist, creative mind and bookworm.

Publication Date: June 6, 2014                                              Page Count: 152

ISBN: 1939888026                                                                   Publisher: ComicMix LLC

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall

A young Native American boy is in a life changing accident on his reservation when his head is run over by a mail truck. We follow Edgar through his recovery and subsequent schooling at a Native American boarding school for orphans, as he is abandoned by his alcoholic mother and there is no one to raise him. We continue to follow his story as he hopes to fit in with a potential adoptive Mormon family.

He grows up fast, yet slightly stunted at the same time. He has to learn for himself what is right and wrong, often through the people around him. Through circumstance, Edgar is forced to make hard decisions at a young age and live with the consequences. Should he break the rules to fit in at school? Should he become Mormon to save himself? The way this book is written, especially how it switches between first and third person creates an empathy for Edgar. There is frustration with Edgar as we watch him struggle with his emotions and we question how he handles certain situations. The reader has many concerns for the main character but Udall addresses our concerns as the book goes on.

There are a variety of characters and Edgar is often unsure about whether he likes them or not. He wants to see the good in people, but has trouble doing so. Barry, the doctor who saved his life in the ER when he was rushed in after the accident, has trouble letting go of the boy he saved after he no longer works for the hospital. We see Edgar struggle with Barry’s behavior as his life starts to unwind. Edgar doesn’t know what to think of many of the people he encounters, so he often disengages and lets things run their course. He does finally take charge and makes the decision to find the mailman who ran him over in order to forgive him, and the reader is treated to the outcome of that decision. Edgar is around many men in this book, but he does not seems to seek a paternal role in them. While he does not mourn the loss of his alcoholic mother, motherhood is an important subject as we see Edgar raised without that role in his life. The book begins and ends with the subject of mothers, wonderfully book-ending the novel.

TL:DR We follow Edgar as he finds his way through life after an nearly fatal accident and being abandoned by his mother. He learns from his mistakes, as long as that may take, and finds his place in life. Edgar’s story is saddening and comical as we watch him try to figure things out. From Brady Udall, this is  a coming of age story under extraordinary circumstances that you can’t wait to finish.

Reviewed by Katie Holland who is a Chicago based artist, creative mind and bookworm.

Publication Date: June 2001                                                 Page Count: 432

ISBN: 978-0-393-02036-6                                                    Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company