Seriously, Jack looking at the wagon and not being excited, and Laura fluffing his bed because she realizes she's been neglecting him, I was like "Sh*t, Jack's gonna die! Nooooo!"

Jack's death--waaah!

Stick with the book, megan, because you next get the thrill of Laura's first train ride and then the fun of meeting Lena.

Jack's death--waaah!

I did a total double take here, because one of the characters in Superpowers is named Jack.

And for how long are we whitefonting plotty stuff in Superpowers, or really any new release? I disremember.

BECAUSE IF JACK DIES (or any of the Superpowers kids) I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.

Stick with the book, megan, because you next get the thrill of Laura's first train ride and then the fun of meeting Lena.

And watching them build the railway!

Sometime in high school, I remember reading a poem about an Arab girl named Leila. (At least, I think that's what her name was.) Something about her sitting in a garden, maybe? It was by a well-known poet, and I think from sometime around 1920 or so. Anyone know what poem I'm talking about? Google is giving me no help.

And watching them build the railway!

Don't forget the scariness when the railroad workers decide that they want their pay earlier than contracted and try using mob force to get Pa to fork over the money, which Ma has hidden in the flour barrel.

Hil, is it this? [link]

No, that's not it. Thanks, though. I think the poet was British, but maybe American.

Hmm. I just read Three Men In A Boat...and I must say, it's....incredibly random? i should've thought to bring "To Say Nothing of the Dog" (Connie Willis) and see if having read the former now informs the latter at all, but I guess that'll have to wait (I'm on a trip). I can certainly see the similarities, but must ask--is it just my edition, or is it random, or what on earth does the ghost stories at the end have to do with the rest of the book?? Good grief, man!

So bizarre.

I just finished Superpowers, and I think it broke me a little. Man.

Really good stuff. Of the reviews I've read, I'm surprised that none of them mention how, just like in comics, some of the action that I consider important actually took place "between the panels." Nicely done.

And I'd say that the book stopped being about superheroes (if it ever really *was*) about halfway through.

One of the only things I didn't like -- and this is really no fault of the book -- was that knowing that the timeline of the book encompasses 9/11 gave me this inexorable sense of dread. Because I knew (and surely this is no spoiler; we *know* the author, and he wouldn't pull such a hackneyed trick) that nothing corny like the superheroes *stopping* the terrorist attacks would happen. And that meant that the alternative was big pain coming right at them.

And that meant that the alternative was big pain coming right at them.

::nodnodnod::

And at us, oh ye gods.