Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, “The Plain Janes”

I read about D.C.’s new imprint, Minx, in the New York Times last year. The line of graphic novels aimed at young females intrigued me, in part because the first book’s illustrator, Jim Rugg, is a Pittsburgher. “The Plain Janes” is the story of a girl whose family moves to the suburbs from the big city after she survives an attack. Jane quickly spots the girls who should be her friends (all with names varying on Jane) but has a difficult time convincing them. But a citywide guerrilla art project brings them together, and strikes fear in adults.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2007, 176 pp.
Obtained via: Read at Borders
Date started: 5.28.07
Date finished: 5.28.07
What I liked: The young-female-driven plot is a great development in comics — I hope it catches on. Minx has a lot of books in the queue, so I guess we’ll see. The Janes’ group — “People Loving Art in Neighborhoods” — is inspiring to me, even at 25.
What I didn’t like: There are a couple parts that feel like they’re taken straight from “Mean Girls.” There are a couple of pages of the story that look a little off, artwise, but that’s minor.
What I learned: Teen fiction is entertaining for grownups, too.
Unresolved question: Why does teen fiction still hold on to stereotypes so much?

David Mamet, “Oleanna”

After rewatching “Wag the Dog,” recently, my friend Marty insisted that I read some of David Mamet’s other works, because I hadn’t.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1993, 80 pp.
Obtained via: Marty
Date started: 5.19.07
Date finished: 5.24.07
What I liked: The rapid-fire dialogue.
What I didn’t like: The rapid-fire dialogue, sometimes. It’s possible to rush through this play (like I did), but to fully digest it, I’d have to read it again more slowly.
What I learned: I need to read more slowly.
Unresolved question: I didn’t pick up on the sexual assault mentioned in the second half of the book… did I miss something?

Barbara Brooks Wallace, “Peppermints in the Parlor”

This is a reread of an old childhood favorite. I remember borrowing this book multiple times as a kid. It’s vaguely Darwinian with lots of orphans and mean matrons and an old sea captain. The short version: Eleven-year-old Emily’s parents die, and she’s sent to live with her aunt and uncle who live in a mansion in San Francisco. But when she arrives, her aunt is in servitude and the mansion is filled with old people who may as well be ghosts, terrified by a woman who runs the place with an iron fist and feeds them moldy bread and gruel. If anyone is caught stealing from a big bowl of peppermints in the parlor, they’re sent to a cell in the cellar to remember what they’ve done wrong. Suddenly a servant, Emily tries to breathe some life in the place — but will she get caught?

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1985, 198 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 5.13.07
Date finished: 5.16.07
What I liked: The author has a good sense of tension and pacing. And for some reason I still remembered this part where the fishmonger’s son uses a piece of moldy bread to make a mold of a key.
What I didn’t like: Some of the characters’ language is a little stilted (done for effect, I’m sure, but where the heck are they supposed to be from?) and the ending comes around a little too swiftly.
What I learned: I had good taste as a kid.
Unresolved question: Having read this so many times as a kid, how could I still be surprised by the ending? Is my memory really that bad?

Tom Wolfe, “I am Charlotte Simmons”

Charlotte Simmons is a back-country girl who’s first in her high school class and an all-around genius — which gets her sent to proto-ivy Dupont. Her self-righteousness and surety barely masking fear seem like a pretty common freshman scenario to me. Confronted with her classmates’ nonstop partying and expensive lifestyles, she eventually gives in and becomes a victim of college life.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2004, 676 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 4.30.07
Date finished: 5.12.07
What I liked: The first half or two-thirds of this book had me absolutely rapt. I started out at a private college and had an experience quite similar to one in the book where Charlotte’s father, after meeting her new prep-school, private-plane roommate’s family, suggests they get lunch at the Sizzlin’ Skillet rather than Le Chef. When I was at Ithaca, a father and his family stopped me and some friends downtown to ask us where he could “get a good burger.” I said — only half jokingly — that there was a Wendy’s up the hill. Anyway… The description of college goings-on and freshman habits are right on the money for the most part.
What I didn’t like: Except some of the slang. I don’t know where Wolfe went to observe kids, but either some of the slang words he chose were very regional or they’re just simply out of fashion already. A few things really bugged me about the last part of the book. Charlotte goes to a frat formal with a guy she’s been hanging with even though she knows it’s likely to have stuff she’s not comfortable with. It seemed like all of a sudden she went from hanging with a group of intellectuals to being crazy about the fact she was hanging with the hottest frat guy in the hottest frat house on campus. And academia takes a total back seat for the rest of the book. Charlotte Simmons loses herself entirely, to the point that the last sentence of of the book is “It obviously behooved XXX XXX’s girlfriend to join in.” She doesn’t even have her own identity any more! Charlotte’s stronger than that!
What I learned: Reconfirmed that frat guys are bad news.
Unresolved question: Does Charlotte ever get it back together after freshman year? (Yes, this 676-page book only covers freshman year.) It’s great that she inspires the star basketball player to become a scholar, but what about her?

“Notes From The Underground,” edited by Nancy Armstrong

“Notes From The Underground: The Most Outrageous Stories From The Alternative Press” at its best points inspires and outrages you. At its worst, it’s mildly boring. But on the whole, the editor selected a great crop of stories from alt-weeklies all over the United States.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2005, 338 pp.
Obtained via: Powell’s, Portland, Ore.
Date started: 3.27.07
Date finished: 4.24.07
What I liked: “Bound by Fear: Polygamy in Arizona” was fascinating; “Dope” because Dan Savage is always amazing; “Stalking the Bogeyman” is haunting and powerful.
What I didn’t like: “Academia Under Siege” got a little dry; “Dead Wrong” seems to tell the same story over and over.
What I learned: A lot about Mormons and a little about love.
Unresolved question: What, exactly, was the selection process for these?