Growing up Brady: Special Collectors Edition

1999, third edition from later that year, from Good Guy Entertainment [I do not make this stuff up]
Barry Williams with Chris Kreski
Growing up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg: Special Collectors Edition
Original price unknown, bought used for $4.50
Worn paperback
B- for new material

I ended up just skimming this edition because much of it was unchanged.  And I didn't find the new material as interesting as the original, although it was fairly interesting.  Here's a breakdown on what I spotted of the changes:

• New cover that looks more low-budget (due to the change in publisher?)
• New chapter "The Bradys and Y2K...A New Beginning?", which briefly explains why Williams thought a new edition was justified
• More on Susan Olsen's decision not to participate in A Very Brady Christmas, including her joking, "Of course I had no way of knowing that the two-hour TV movie would last longer than my entire first marriage!"
• The new chapter "Remembering Robert Reed," which is what it says, although Williams also has harsh words for the media exploitation of Reed's death
• The new chapter "Beyond Re-runs, Reunions and Revisitations," where Williams understandably has high praise for the Day By Day  parody and faint praise for the Brady big-screen movies.  (I laughed hard at all three at the time, but the sitcom has unquestionably aged much much better, and not just because you get to see Christopher Daniel Barnes playing "Chuck Brady" before he was big-screen Greg, not to mention Julia Louis-Dreyfuss post-SNL and pre-Seinfeld.)
• The chapter "Where Are They Now?" is what is says as well.  Needless to say, Williams was still protecting Maureen McCormick and pretending that none of the Brady kids went bad.  (Unlike for instance, Danny Bonaduce.)
• The Appendices, like Barry's Filmography and Stage Credits, seem to be new.

The year after this edition, the TV-movie Growing Up Brady came out.  I watched it on Youtube a few weeks ago.  The casting was off, but it was interesting, especially considering Williams himself not only appears in it but got Sherwood Schwartz to do a cameo.  A lot was changed from the book, ironically to make it more of a dramedy. 

This finishes off the 1990s, just beating out the 1980s for the decade with the most entries, by about half a dozen, demanding what you count.  And it's only nine years till we get McCormick's Here's the Story....

Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings

1999, first edition, from Cleis
Gore Vidal
Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings
Probably bought new for $14.95
Slightly worn paperback
B

This overlaps 1968's Sex, Death, and Money, and not just topically.  The first three essays here are mid-'60s ones that appeared in SDaM, and although it's been a long while since I read that collection, I decided to skip those three works.  (Near as I could tell, Vidal hadn't made any changes or comments on them.)  I jumped ahead to a snarky and insightful look at David Reuben's Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex, which even at age 14 I found dubious.  The book overall is smart and funny.  Even when I don't agree with Vidal, he's entertaining.  It was nice to get his take on Eleanor Roosevelt compared to B. W. Cook's.  (In 1971 he offers his memories of her, and then in 1999 he briefly talks about reading her correspondence with Lorena Hickok.)  There are also some interviews of Vidal by gay journalists, in 1974 and again in 1992.

One thing that Vidal said repeatedly that no one (of any orientation) seemed to get was that "homosexual" is an adjective, not a noun, and it applies to acts rather than people.  He was (I'm guessing) a Kinsey 4 or 5, defining himself as bisexual when pressed for a label, but seeing nearly everyone as potentially bi.  He does discuss homophobia, and the impact of AIDS, but I found his opinions changed little over time, except to become both more cynical and more hopeful.  In his lifetime, he saw gradually more acceptance of homosexuality, but he was always aware of the prejudices of society, particularly the Religious Right.

I doubt that I'll get his novel The Golden Age (2000) in time for this project, but this is not a bad place to end with him.  As you probably know, he passed away after I started blogging about him, but even at the time I saw him in Celluloid Closet (1995), he was an iconoclastic icon.  He may not be remembered fondly overall, but he will be remembered.

The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë: A Novel

1999, Carroll & Graf edition from later that year
James Tully
The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë: A Novel
Original and purchase price unknown
Hardcover in good condition
D-

While Tully starts with an interesting premise-- that Arthur Bell Nicholls murdered the entire Brontë family plus at least one of their dogs-- the way he presents it results in one of the worst pieces of historical/biographical fiction ever written.  I found myself scoffing at nearly every page, when I wasn't trying to tune out the tedious style.  The story is told by two narrators, servant Martha Brown (real person) and modern lawyer Charles Coutts (fictional).  Coutts/Tully has the nerve to criticise Emily's use of two narrators in Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte's reduction of the Yorkshire dialect in her reediting of that novel, when the two narratives here are never successfully blended, and Coutts cuts down on Brown's Yorkshire (although he leaves the "him and I" thing, to remind us she's just a servant).  

You may wonder about the title if the crimes were actually Nicholls's.  Well, Charlotte was supposed to be so besotted with Nicholls, and so jealous of her siblings, that she condoned and sometimes even assisted him in his murders.  Martha herself, even though she claims to like all the Brontës except Charlotte, has no qualms about having a decade-plus affair with a murderer.  And Emily herself has an affair with Nicholls, so she doesn't mind about him doing in Branwell.  There is nothing consistent here with the actual history of the Brontës, their characterisations within the book, or even human nature.

Brown, Coutts, and probably Tully himself are incredibly spiteful towards Charlotte, including her looks, while invariably describing Nicholls as handsome.  I know fashions changed, but Google pictures of Arthur and you'll find he was as plain as Abraham Lincoln.  He was not some Svengali stud who could get women to do his bidding.  Somehow his charisma didn't extend to the village, which is always muttering about his doings up at the Parsonage, without actually, you know, calling in anyone to investigate the mysterious illnesses and deaths.  I'll admit that there are some strange things in his behaviour in real life (like his hostility towards Charlotte's friend Ellen), but that doesn't make him a murderer, and Tully never convincingly gets the story to work even on a what-if level.  There are times when it's almost so bad it's good, but it's alternately too hostile and too boring to be much fun.

Fruits Basket, Volume 3

1999 first published in Japan (both comic and book form), this TokyoPop translation from 2004 
Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket, Volume 3
Bought newish for $9.99
Slightly worn paperback
B-

Tohru meets Hatsuharu (ox) as well as the mother of the monkey (oddly translated as "concubine" of the hot springs spa).  The relationships get a little deeper than before, although there's still lots of slapstick and mild violence.  There's even more fan-art than before, as well as an "Interview with Takaya-sensei."

Fruits Basket, Volume 2

1999 first published in Japan, but published in comic form in 1998, and this TokyoPop translation from 2004 
Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket, Volume 2
Bought newish for $9.99
Worn paperback
B-

This time Tohru meets Momiji (rabbit) and Hatori (seahorse, rather than a dragon), and there's quite a bit of back story on the latter.  Also, her friends Hana and Uo invites themselves to a sleepover, but the Sohma's secret isn't revealed to them.  Tohru tells a story that didn't make the anime, about a boy in a cap leading her home when she was lost.

This is about equal to the first volume and is the first to include fan-art and even fan-haikus.

Fruits Basket, Volume 1

1999 first published in Japan, but published in comic form in 1998, and this TokyoPop translation from 2004 
Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket, Volume 1
Bought newish for $9.99
Slightly worn paperback
B-

When I first saw the anime, I loved it so much, I watched the whole DVD (six episodes) in a row.  I got the manga not long after, and enjoyed it less, partly because I missed the wonderful American voice-acting.  I also quit maybe a dozen volumes in because there were too many side characters, and I wanted the focus to stay on Tohru Honda and the Sohmas.  (In contrast, I read Kare Kano to the end, getting it from the library, and finding it about equal to the anime, although I only bought the anime, not the manga.)

As the dates at the top indicate, it was hard to know where to place this chronologically, especially since this edition contains an interview with the American actress for Tohru.  But I decided that the way it was originally packaged as a book matters most, especially since we get what presumably wasn't in the comic form, Takaya rambling about various topics, including what sound like rather boring video games.  Occasionally she'll offer insights into her characters, but not often enough.

As for the story itself, it's a good one, with Tohru learning the secret of the Sohma family, that thirteen of its members turn into animals of the Chinese zodiac (including the exiled cat).  If I recall correctly, these first six chapters roughly correspond to the first five episodes, with Tohru meeting, moving in with, and then briefly leaving Shigure (dog), Yuki (rat), and Kyo (cat).  The mix of personalities offers interesting contrasts.  I do have to gripe about a couple of things.  One, I don't find the violence of Kagura (boar) towards her "beloved" Kyo funny, although it sort of works in the anime.  Two, I don't mind reading back to front (TokyoPop's "authentic" format), but I don't like how it's not always clear whether to move down or right.  And three, some of the font is incredibly tiny (not only translated but shrunk down from the comics), so I ended up skipping the smallest.

The Reptile Room

1999, possibly first edition, from HarperCollins
Lemony Snicket
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second: The Reptile Room
Hardcover in good condition
B+

This is just as clever as the first book, with lines like "Never, under any circumstances, let the Virginia Wolfsnake near a typewriter."  And when Mr. Poe (the children's dim-witted "protector") panics, he calls out to not only several deities, but Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Snicket even gets away with filling over a page with just the word "ever" repeated again and again.  Helquist's illustrations aren't quite as memorable, although the snake topiary is good.  

The first book set up the situation, with the children becoming orphans and meeting Count Olaf.  In this first sequel, they have a much kinder distant relative to stay with, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, but Snicket observes that their happiness won't last long, and indeed it doesn't.  

The Bad Beginning

1999, possibly first edition, from HarperCollins
Lemony Snicket
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First: The Bad Beginning
Box set of three books bought used for $14.40
Hardcover in good condition
B+

Nice as it is to revisit the Harry Potter series, I have to admit that this series starts off with a bigger bang.  Both the pseudonymous Snicket and his soon-to-be regular illustrator Helquist have a sly wit like nothing else in children's literature.  My earlier copy of this first book was something I picked up to read in a bookstore while waiting for my then-boyfriend.  He was so late that I made him buy the book for me (for $4.50), since I'd already fallen in love with what I'd read so far.  Snicket offers a mix of modernity and Victoriana, lace and fax machines, that's not steampunk but was as just as fresh yet classic when I first encountered it at the end of the '90s.  (And I wasn't yet a Harry Potter reader, so there were no comparisons for a long time.)  I do think the series declined later, so I was surprised at how well the first book has aged, still making me laugh out loud.  The funniest and cleverest illustration is easily the "eye" one for Chapter Eleven, including Daliesque "melting" eyes instead of watches.

Fourteen years ago, I thought the series would be too satirical for kids, but actually the children I've talked to who've read it (several dozen over the years) really enjoy it, even if they don't get every joke.  Heck, neither did I at first.  (Like the Von Bulow reference in Klaus [sic] and Sunny's names.)  I also like that Snicket goes somewhat against gender stereotypes, by making oldest sibling Violet an inventor.  (Another positive female figure in recent children's literature that Susan J. Douglas would overlook, without Hermione Granger's excuse of being British.)

As the series went on, and I was checking out books from the library more, I owned less than half of this series (six books out of thirteen).  My copy of #2 was very, very worn (bought used) and I didn't have #3, but I had such fun with #1 this time, that I got the box set.  I prefer to buy books used rather than new, so I don't know if I'll complete the set but I'll see if I can fill in some of the other gaps as we go along.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

1999, British hardcover Bloomsbury edition that's not the first but at least pre-Goblet-of-Fire, American paperback Scholastic edition from 2001
J. K. Rowling
American edition illustrated by Mary Grandpre
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
British edition possibly bought for 11.99, American originally $7.99 but purchase price 25 cents
British edition in good shape, American in surprisingly good condition especially considering the price
B

I found this equal to the second book (with probably Grandpre's weakest illustrations so far), although the characterisation is getting even more complex.  This is symbolised by the second title character going from "Black" to "Sirius" in the narration.  Harry changes from seeing Black as the man who betrayed Harry's parents to his kind, protective godfather.  Similarly, Ron's rat Scabbers turns out to be the real traitor.  And even Hermione has a secret that she hides all school year.  As for Harry, he contemplates murder!

The kids are growing up in other ways.  Not only fifteen-year-old Lee Jordan but thirteen-year-old Ron swears, although we're not told what specific words.  Ron has a crush on "curvy" Madam Rosmerta, and Harry has a funny feeling in his stomach when he meets pretty Cho Chang.  And Hermione actually mouths off to a teacher, several times, not to mention slapping Draco Malfoy.

This is a moment that became a punch in the movie version (probably the most popular moment in the film, the times I've seen it), affecting Rowling's own memory of the moment when she wrote of it again a few books later.  Even here, when the movies were not yet in production, she's remembering earlier events incorrectly, as when she says that Ron went to the Forbidden Forest twice before.  (In the first movie, Ron replaces Neville on that detention.)  And although I haven't commented on it before, but of course many have throughout the Internet, Rowling's maths and calendar skills are off in all her books, here notably with the dates for Buckbeak's criminal case.  On the other hand, I can't say I've really noticed a problem with her adverbs, notorious though she is for them, but that doesn't really bother me as such, especially in a children's book.

Is this a children's book, or have we hit Young Adult now?  I'd say it's on the border.  There are some innuendos (a fortune-telling book about "broken balls" and security trolls who compare the size of their clubs), but even with the swearing and violence and all, it's still a relatively innocent story.  And we get the usual pattern of Quidditch and classes and of course Gryffindor winning the House Cup again.  The next book of course will be a game-changer in many ways....

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

1999, possibly first edition, from Chronicle Books
Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook
Original/purchase price unknown
Slightly worn paperback
C+

I think I got this as a "humorous" gift, and probably haven't read it more than once before.  This time, it made me not want to leave the house, or at least never go to Florida again.  The authors consulted experts and provide advice on how to, as the cover says, "Escape from Quicksand, Wrestle an Alligator, Break Down a Door, Land a Plane...."  I was hoping the book would be funnier, since most of the information is stuff I will probably never have occasion to use.  It was somewhat interesting though.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

1999, 2004 Penguin edition
Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Original price $14.00, purchase price $5.43
Slightly worn paperback, with last 3 1/2 chapters missing!
B-

Perhaps it's not fair to judge this book when this printing is incomplete, but based on what I read, it's about equal to the original.  True, there are a lot more implausible things happening, including Bridget's Bangkok arrest for drug-smuggling, but I found it equally funny, especially of course her interview of Colin Firth.  (This ended up in the first movie, but only in the British version.  Now available on Youtube though.)  I also liked the mocking of self-help books.  This time the Austen inspiration is Persuasion, with Bridget getting bad advice from such books, and from her friends.

I do have to say, she's still a loser, arguably more of one.  She and Mark Darcy both make many unnecessary relationship mistakes, and this time she can't even find a new job when she's unhappy in her current one.  The book is presumably set in 1996, since it picks up right after the previous one, and yet it's got Bridget, Sharon, and Jude ogling Prince William, who would've been about 14, rather than the legal-in-Britain 17 he was when the book was first published.  

This book became a movie the year this edition was published, and from what I recall many changes were made.  I'm waiting for Book 3 to be marked down, so I don't know if I'll pick it up in time for this project.

Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man

1999, first edition, from William Morrow and Company
Susan Faludi
Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man
Original price $27.50, purchase price unknown
Hardcover with broken spine
B-

The "betrayal" that Faludi writes of is twofold, by specific fathers of Baby-Boom and younger men, and by the culture at large, which shifted after World War II from an emphasis on men doing to an emphasis on men (and of course women) being and appearing.  She began with an examination of why some men are angry and sometimes violent, then went on a literal and figurative six-year journey that led her to a surprising destination.  (She uses "literal" and "figurative" quite a bit in the book, not always accurately.)  

That I was much less into this book than her classic Backlash (1991) is also twofold, although not a betrayal by any means.  First of all, the earlier book had a clear message from the beginning, while the thesis here is one she stumbled into.  And secondly, many of the men she profiles are not ones that I want to read about, like the Spur Posse.  There are some genuinely heroic men, like Michael Bernhardt, who tried to stop My Lai and spoke out against it later, but that's not who the book spends the majority of its time with.  I understand, if she's going to explain the Angry (mostly) White Male, then she has to dwell on that sort of man.  But that doesn't mean I want to be on this journey with her.  There was a point where she wrote about leftist women's late-1960s drift towards feminism because of the sexism of leftist men, and I wanted her to pursue that story instead.

Maybe this makes me sexist, but I didn't want to read about the defense industry, sports fans, the Promise Keepers, or any of the other all (or nearly) male groups and individuals she profiles.  But I wouldn't have wanted to read about women doing any of these things either.  Only Faludi's writing skills kept me reading to the end.

One thing of note, she briefly discusses here the problem of men raised to "rescue" women (yes, literally or figuratively), but finding that women don't want and/or need to be rescued.  She would expand on this in The Terror Dream, which we'll look at in 2007....

"The Onion" Presents Our Dumb Century

1999, first edition, from Three Rivers Press
Edited by Scott Dikkers
The Onion Presents Our Dumb Century: 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source
Bought new for $15.00
Worn paperback
B-

The popular satirical website (and until last year print newspaper) The Onion here covers 1900 to 2000 with fake but almost believable headlines and news stories.  Although there are pictures (including "photo-graphs"), it's a very slow read because the font is so small.  My favorite aspect was the use of pop culture, as in the four stories inspired by It's a Wonderful Life, and the article "Henley, Frey Urge Nation to Take It Easy" in 1973.  The best of these is probably the Little Rascals "gang" terror in 1932, with a young Spanky trying to look menacing in plaid knickers and matching hat.

This book won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.  I laughed out loud a few times, but I didn't find it hilarious.  It was actually most interesting from an admittedly skewed historical perspective, including a reference to Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense, written at a time no one yet knew he'd become Vice-President.

Agapanthus Hum and the Eyeglasses

1999, 2001 Puffin edition
Joy Cowley
Illustrated by Jennifer Plecas
Agapanthus Hum and the Eyeglasses
Original and/or purchase price unknown
Slightly worn paperback
C+

This is cute if slight, even by beginning-reader standards.  The improbably named Agapanthus wears glasses but wants to be an acrobat.  With the support of her (yes, her) "good little Mommy," "good little Daddy," and a "beautiful lady" acrobat, she resolves this dilemma.  Plecas's illustrations are equally cute yet simple.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 2: 1933-1938

1999, Viking (Penguin) edition probably from later that year
Blanch Wiesen Cook
Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 2: 1933-1938
Original price $34.95, bought used for $8.40
Hardcover in good condition
B-

I didn't find this as good as the first volume, with my mind wandering more, especially with the long, drawn-out unhappy relationship with "Hick" getting so much attention.  I was more interested in the issue of prejudice and how ER and others (including Hick) dealt with it.  Cook points out that one reason for the U.S.'s silence for so long about the Nazi abuse of the Jews was not only American anti-Semitism, but the shameful racism of much of the U.S. (although most obviously in the South) towards Negroes (the then politest term).  Lynchings were common early during FDR's administration, although all sorts of anti-black discrimination (much of it similar to what Hitler urged towards Jews) were everyday. 

ER had her own blind spots, but she made great advances personally and politically in the half-decade Cook examines here.  She was controversial, and yet more admired than any woman of her time, or than her popular husband.  Cook gets a bit worshipful at times, although it's understandable.  According to Wikipedia, Cook is currently working on Volume 3.  I doubt it'll be out in time for this project, but I probably will get it if and when it's published.  It'll likely focus on the World War II era, and I'd like to know more about what ER did and said in that period.  (And a Volume 4 with the UN would be great of course, but that's probably a long way off, to say nothing of Volume 5 with her reluctant involvement with the Kennedy campaign.)

Saturday Morning Fever: Growing up with Cartoon Culture

1999, possibly first edition, from St. Martin's Press
Timothy Burke & Kevin Burke
Saturday Morning Fever: Growing up with Cartoon Culture
Bought new for $17.95
Worn paperback
B-

The Burke brothers look back at cartoons and live-action of the early '70s through mid-'80s, with some Saturday morning programming of before and after as well.  The book is all over the place, sometimes offering a somewhat serious examination of children's entertainment, and other times being very flippant about both TV and its critics.  (There's little of Martindale's respectful tone, especially about the Kroffts.)  This is the first book I own to be proudly, at times aggressively, Generation X, mocking Baby-Boomers and other elders who see their own nostalgia as superior, while at the same time being very Gen-X and cynical about nostalgia.  They also definitely are left of center, although they mildly criticize political correctness.  Not surprisingly then, they're also opinionated about the shows, although never clear exactly why, for instance, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters sucks more than Land of the Lost.  I disagree on that, and a few other matters.

They do offer others' opinions and experiences, and my favorite part was the Saturday morning viewing ritual in its many forms, sugary cereals optional.  I would've liked more of the book to be about the actual viewing, and not so much axe-grinding.  Overall, recommended, with some reservations, including that they can be very funny (like on Davey and Goliath) and then have a list full of duds.

Jane and the Genius of the Place

1999, 2000 Bantam edition
Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Genius of the Place
Bought new for $5.99
Worn and torn paperback
C+

Although this isn't bad, it is the weakest of the Jane Austen Mystery series that I own, and I can see why I stopped buying them.  (I can't remember if I checked any later ones out of the library.)  The main problem is the mystery, which is both easy and somewhat dull.  As before, I liked the visits with the Austens, this time mostly brother Neddie and his family.

There was a point when I considered continuing with the series up to when Austen was actually publishing, but I just wasn't interested in enough.  I will note that apparently Barron is up to the eleventh mystery, and it's set in 1813, the year of Pride & Prejudice.

The Bundled Doonesbury: A Pre-Millennial Anthology

1998, first edition, from Andrews McMeel
G. B. Trudeau
The Bundled Doonesbury: A Pre-Millennial Anthology
Original price $22.95, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
C+

As I noted in my review of Recycled Doonesbury (1990), the comic declined in quality-- writing, not art (which is arguably better than ever)-- some time after Trudeau's hiatus.  This collection has a few nice moments, especially when B.D. and Boopsie buy the old commune, and Zonker comes along.  (He's now live-in babysitter to their daughter Sam, rather than to Mike and J.J.'s equally androgynously named daughter Alex.)  But I didn't like the further character-assassination of J.J., and the way that Mike's new girlfriend-turned-wife Kim is idealized at her expense.  Also, Alex's nicknaming of her dad and Kim got annoying, as did Trudeau's inability to remember her age.  (Although very bright, she's in third grade about a year after she's 10.)  I sort of liked the opposites-attraction of Mark and his conservative boyfriend Chase.

And Clinton works as a waffle, in the sense that Quayle is plausibly represented as a feather.  Amazingly, Duke (now with a son) didn't annoy me as much as usual, but I think it's because there were no longer far better characters he was pushing off the page.  Doonesbury in 2013 is apparently on hiatus again, but I've long since stopped caring.  As far as I'm concerned, the strip would've been best retired back in '83. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

1998, British hardcover Bloomsbury edition from 1999, American paperback Scholastic edition from 2000
J. K. Rowling
American edition illustrated by Mary Grandpre
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
British edition possibly bought for 11.99, American originally $6.99 but purchase price $3.00
British edition in good shape, American with split spine and possible water damage
B

I think this is a shade better than the first book, if not quite at B+ level.  The plotting is better (even if I still don't get, after all this time, quite what Lucius Malfoy hoped to accomplish and if he knew about Horcruxes), and the characterisation of everyone except the Dursleys (who remain cartoonish and are featured less) has improved.  The Weasleys especially shine, all of them-- the parents, Percy, the twins, Ginny, and of course Ron.  Poor Hermione spends much of the time in hospital, so it's not her best book.  (Things will even out more in Azkaban.)  Lockhart is of course a more interesting, and funnier, character than Quirrell, and we even learn more about Hagrid.  The most remarkable thing about this book as compared to the first is that, although still definitely a kids' book, things are getting more complex.  Good guys have flaws, bad guys have redeeming moments, and some people (like Lockhart) don't clearly fall into either category.  Harry, now 12, even doubts himself, when he turns out to be a Parselmouth (snake-whisperer).

As with the first book, there are lots of moments that are "aha!" for those who've read the whole series, but they work fine just in the context of this book, like the Vanishing Cabinet that Peeves breaks as a distraction.  There's less world-building in the sense that not everything's brand-new, and on the surface the story does feel like a replay of the general outline of the first book, down to Gryffindor winning the House Cup.  To make up for that, the familiarity pays off, comedically and otherwise.  The second movie is weaker than the first (especially with the "No Hogwarts without you, Hagrid" ending), but that's definitely not the case with their respective books.  I will say, I liked Grandpre's illustrations less this time around, although the first Lockhart one is just right.

Cool Women

1998, possibly first edition, from Girl Press
Edited by Pam Nelson
Written by Dawn Chipman, Mari Florence, Naomi Wax
Designed by Amy Inouye
Cool Women: The Thinking Girl's Guide to the Hippest Women in History
Original/purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
C+

This goes in alphabetical order, from Amazons to Wu Zhao.  And, yes, some profiles are of groups, others of individuals, from many times and places, as well as different claims to fame.  So it gets points for multi-culturalism, but I found the format annoying.  There are two-page spreads for each person/group, even when there's not much to say, or when there's too much to say.  (Funny to see Cleopatra reduced to that after Margaret George's novel.)  Also, the colors are often garish, and the text is hard to read against some backgrounds.

The audience seems to be junior-high girls, since the obvious is pointed out at times, as in "That's right-- not so long ago women weren't considered human enough to qualify as full citizens.  Pretty incredible, huh?"  On the other hand, it can't be aimed at an elementary-school crowd because of figures like Margaret Sanger.  You won't necessarily agree with their definition of "hip" or "cool"-- Evita? Queen Isabella?-- and the links are probably hopelessly dated by now, but I guess it might work as an introduction to what was then being called "girl power."

Pufnstuf & Other Stuff

1998, possibly first edition, from St. Martin's Press
David Martindale
Pufnstuf & Other Stuff: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sid & Marty Krofft
Bought new for $16.95
Worn paperback
B-

With full cooperation of Sid and Marty (who are still alive in 2013 by the way), as well as many who worked on the shows, Martindale takes a fond look back at well, H.R. Pufnstuf and other stuff.  I'm using the Schwartziana tag, even though technically Sherwood Schwartz had nothing to do with the infamous Brady Bunch Variety Hour, because Martindale has some quotes from Maureen McCormick and Susan Olsen that were not in the earlier Brady books.  (Olsen would go on to write Love to Love You Bradys, which we'll get to in 2009.)

I grew up watching most of the Krofft shows, even the ones that originally aired when I was a baby or toddler, because they continued to air ad nauseam throughout the 1970s.  As with Schoolhouse Rock, that doesn't mean I remember them that well nowadays, although oddly enough the theme songs stick with me most.  ("Dr. Shrinker, Dr. Shrinker, he's a madman with an evil mind!")  Martindale is kind of enough to include all the lyrics to the kids' shows, as well as some mind-bending synopses.  I think Lidsville comes across as the weirdest, e.g. "When the Good Hats throw a birthday party for Li'l Ben, a pig, Hoo Doo believes that the reason that the Good Hats can afford a party is because they have not paid their taxes to him...."

Yes, Martindale addresses the question of whether the brothers, particularly weirdly and wildly imaginative Sid, did drugs.  The answer is, not during the creation of the shows.  Somehow, that's even more disturbing.

Come and Knock on Our Door

1998, first paperback edition, from St. Martin's Press
Chris Mann
Come and Knock on Our Door: A Hers and Hers and His Guide to Three's Company
Original price $17.95, purchase price $8.98
Worn paperback
B+

With apologies to Joey Green, this is probably the best book I own about a sitcom.  It's partly that 3'sC was one of my favorite shows growing up (ages 9 to 16 during the original airing), but I also think Mann digs deeper into a show than anything since the 1986 SNL book by Hill and Weingrad.  Yes, there's lots of gossip, especially about Suzanne Somers's salary demands, but Mann also talks about the good times, the warmth among the cast, some of it still to this day.  Mann was able to talk to just about everyone, from guest stars to producers, everyone except Priscilla Barnes.  He's remarkably even-handed, presenting all sides on every issue.  He takes the show seriously, with comments on many specific episodes, but never too seriously.  Well, he does think 3'sC was a work of art, yet he recognizes the silliness, contributing his own.  (Even I think he overdoes the wordplay.  "Buddha pest"?  Ouch!)

He takes the show from its beginnings as a three-pilot adaptation of the British Man About the House, and on to the last season, with discussion of the spin-offs, The Ropers and Three's a Crowd.  He mentions the ways that the show still had an impact in the '90s, including on Friends, not just references but Audra Lindley's cameos.

Lindley died shortly before this book was published, Norman Fell later in '98, while John Ritter's death hit me hard in 2003.  And then Don Knotts went in 2006, but at least he'd lived to be 80.  For years, Mann has promised an update of this book, and the last I heard it was due out in Fall 2014.  That'll be too late for this project of course, but I'm curious to see how he addresses things like Joyce and Suzanne's reunion.

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

1998, first edition, from Random House
Molly Ivins
You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You: Politics in the Clinton Years
Possibly bought new for $23.00
Hardcover in good condition
C+

As the title suggests, this covers 1993 to '97, with the introduction addressing the Lewinsky scandal.  As always, the focus is on both Texan and national politics, although those overlap at times, as when she writes about Ann Richards losing the governorship to George W. Bush.  Ivins is critical of Clinton, although much less than Hightower was, partly because she feels the man faced enough criticism, from all sides.  She's got a nifty piece on Nixon, happily speaking ill of the dead, because he deserved it.  My favorite obituaries though were of her mother ("a combination of Sigmund Freud and Gracie Allen") and Jessica Mitford.  I found the collection funnier than the last one, especially the thing about the boss who talked to a thermostat.

I've read but don't own 2000's Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush.  (Yeah, talk about wishful thinking.)  This is it for her among my books, and she died of cancer in 2007.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

1998, 1999 Ballantine edition
Fannie Flagg
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!
Probably bought new for $7.50
Worn paperback
C+

This isn't as good as Flagg's '80s novels, although, like Fried Green Tomatoes, its timeline jumps around.  I was wrong though that there are no timeline errors in this book.  As someone pointed out on Amazon, there's an 87-year-old woman who gives birth.  And there's an elderly woman (mother-in-law of a 50-year-old) who looks back in 1948 to the 1904 World's Fair, when she was a "small child."  

That's not the main problem with the book.  There are several much more serious issues.  One is that the main character, Dena, is not terribly sympathetic, albeit more likable than Rachel in Rachel's Holiday.  Dena is an alcoholic and a workaholic, emotionally shut down after her mother's abandonment of her.  For some reason, Dena's psychiatrist Gerry falls in love with her, and he spends most of the novel pining for her, which gets annoying.  I also didn't really care about the plot of how far Dena will go along with the trend towards network-news tabloidization.  (Think Hard Copy '70s style.)

The main person responsible for this trend is as ugly physically as he is morally, as is his female assistant.  And the black woman who ruins the life of Dena's uncle to the point that he kills her is, according to a policeman, "so ugly I'm surprised somebody didn't kill her sooner."  Dena and her mother are of course gorgeous.

I did like Dena's eccentric relatives and equally nutty best friend Sookie.  I also wished that the "surprise" plot of Dena's mother being black (well, one-sixteenth) had been incorporated early on, rather than used for shock value, not all that different from a tabloid, now that I think of it.  The stuff with the Neighbor Dorothy radio show was good, reminding me of the little newspapers in Flagg's earlier novels.  If she had instead set the book in the 1940s entirely, or just had Dena be burnt out from work and go back to her hometown to hear these stories, it would've been a much better novel.

We'll see if Flagg's novels each being a notch worse than the previous one continues, when we get to Standing in the Rainbow, a sequel to Welcome, in 2002....

Split-Level Dykes to Watch Out For

1998, possible first edition, published by Firebrand Books
Alison Bechdel
Split-Level Dykes to Watch Out For
Bought new for $10.95
Slightly worn paperback
B

The title this time comes from Toni, Clarice, and Raffi's move to a better neighborhood.  At the same time, in the bonus story (with a nifty map), Sydney moves in with Mo, and Ginger buys the house she, Lois, and Sparrow have been living in, although they have to have Sparrow's new sweetie move in.  June, who we never saw much of, moves to Boston and then Sparrow, well.

LOIS: (on the phone) Hey, Ginger!  Sounds like Sparrow's home.  And I think she might have the mystery date in tow.
GINGER: (off-panel) Really?  Who is it?  What's she look like?
LOIS:  Uh...kinda like Richard Dreyfuss in "Jaws," only balder.

Yes, Sparrow is dating a man, a white man, although she's still identifying as a lesbian.  Meanwhile, Ginger and Toni are both reminiscing about their one-night stand of a decade ago, although this time it doesn't get beyond some flirting and sexual tension.  As in the other recent collections, there's not much about politics, although Mo makes the point (one Deborah Rhode might agree with) that people would rather talk about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal than about more serious issues.

I found this on a level with most of the other collections, probably the funniest moment being a cigar-smoking Lois's Groucho imitation.  Next time, Post-Dykes to Watch Out For (2000)....

Jane and the Wandering Eye

1998, paperback Bantam edition from later that year
Stephanie Barron
Jane and the Wandering Eye
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
B-

This would be the best in the Jane Austen Mystery so far, if it weren't for the fact that Jane doesn't solve the mystery herself.  Instead, she plays Watson to Lord Harold, the Gentleman Rogue whom she associates with, despite the disapproval of some of her family.  We get much more of the Austens in this book than before, and Barron does a nice job with them, even when they sound a bit too Bennet-ish.  (And there's a direct quote from the 1995 Sense & Sensibility movie, involving an ankle, but with a twist on the line if not the ankle.)  The setting this time is Bath, which is interesting.  

I don't think the real Austen would be so casual about others' adultery, or others would discuss scandal with her so openly, no matter how much freer the Regency period was compared to the Victorian.  (The "wandering eye" is actually a portrait though.)  A mixed bag overall, but with more potential than before.  Understandably, I went on to get 1999's Jane and the Genius of the Place.