FOL Manoa purchase. Man marries a superhero and one of her exes makes him invisible to her. Slow-building tale with many side trips to describe the super powers all around us.

Printed in green ink! Like Shadow Castle! Only that one was for 12-year-olds.

Thank you for sending this additional wishlist book, ghir!

“...special yet common, gifted yet clumsy, triumphant yet sad, simultaneously extraordinary and common.”

^^not only describes the superheroes in this book but also the mood of the story.
Also, interesting, quick, and short. ;)

Selected to travel with the Round IV Otherworldly Bookbox.



✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Congratulations! You've found a traveling book!
See where I've been and track where I go by creating an account and writing a journal entry for this book.
Wish to remain anonymous? Then no need to create an account, just write a journal entry letting us know where you found the book and review it if you like.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

I'm claiming this from the Otherworldly bookbox.

I thoroughly enjoyed this offbeat little book, from the romantic-problems central plot to the many, many amusing descriptions of character traits as superpowers. (This is the 10th anniversary edition of the book, "Now with MORE Superheroes"!) The main story deals with Tom, married to The Perfectionist, who hasn't been able to see Tom since their wedding and believes he's abandoned her. [Never mind that everyone else can see him and presumably could explain this to her; doesn't seem to work that way.] Anyhow, she's finally given up waiting and is boarding a plane from Toronto to Vancouver to start over - but Tom's on the plane too, sitting next to her. We get lots of flashbacks explaining how they met, why Hypno interfered in their relationship, and - eventually - whether the couple will find each other again or not.

I enjoyed the writing style, a kind of laid-back observational tone, with attention paid to the minutiae of daily life, and the small things in relationships that can make a huge difference.

The "superhero" concept centers mainly on treating figurative traits as literal ones, though a few of the superpowers - such as Hypno's - seem to be more active. The many capsule descriptions of superheroes-not-directly-involved-in-the-plot often included amusing (or tragic) tidbits about how they found counterparts whose powers complemented or negated theirs, with varying results. A few examples:

The Couch Surfer, who is "not only able to withstand long periods of acute poverty but is also able to nutritionally sustain himself with only handfuls of breakfast cereals, slices of dry bread and condiments. Mysteriously always has cigarettes."

The Clock, who can travel in time - but who points out that everybody is constantly traveling in time; a real superpower would be NOT to do so.

Mr. Opportunity: "He knocks on doors and stands there. You'd be surprised how few doors get answered."

Among the bonus-superhero section:

The Alarmist: "... She's prepared for the worst; any worst, any time. She's constantly disappointed that it never happens."

Mr. Late: Interesting twist here; yes, he's always late, no matter what techniques his friends use to fake him into getting their earlier, but "something of great importance will happen to you while you're waiting for him. It is, however, still extremely annoying."

Oh, and there's a very detailed colophon in this edition:

"Typeset in Freight and Freight Sans.

"Printed at the old Coach House on bpNichol Lane in Toronto, Ontario on Zephyr Antique Laid paper, which was manufactured, acid-free, in Saint-Jérôme, Québec, from second-growth forests. This book was printed with vegetable-based ink on a 1965 Heidelberg KORD offset litho press. Its pages were folded on a Baumfolder, gathered by hand, bound on a Sulby Auto-Minabinda and trimmed on a Polar single-knife cutter."

I left this book in the Little Free Library. Hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***

I just picked this up at the second-hand book store in Middleton, MA. I was looking for books for my child, and found this in the $0.99 sale section, and on a whim, picked it up for myself because the story was so intriguing. Just opened it up and my heart felt warm and fuzzy to see the "Honolulu HI 2017" written on the inside cover. My "boyfriend" and I were secretly married there years ago during a magical stay. Now, with this note, our secret is forever linked to this book :)