Assimilation Squared

Tipton, Scott. Star Trek, The Next Generation / Doctor Who Assimilation 2, Volume 1. IDW Publishing, 2012.

Finally, a comic book I can really be interested in! It's got Doctor Who, Amy & Rory, and Cybermen, and also Star Trek, Captain Picard, and the Borg! What more can anyone ask for?  I really enjoyed both volumes of this work; I read both in one sitting on the same night. Will someone please turn these into a movie?

Contagious

Berger, Jonah. Contagious: Why Things Catch On.  Simon and Schuster, 2013.

From GoodReads: "Contagious combines groundbreaking research with powerful stories. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheese-steak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the seemingly most boring products there is: a blender. If you’ve wondered why certain stories get shared, e-mails get forwarded, or videos go viral, Contagious explains why, and shows how to leverage these concepts to craft contagious content. This book provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, advertisements, and information that people will share."

This book delves into the theories behind why certain things go viral, from products to YouTube videos to internet memes involving grumpy cats. It's a great look at what makes things interesting and popular.

Two Boys Kissing

Levithan, David. Two Boys Kissing. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013.

Wow. Just wow. The basic plot of this story is that two boys are attempting to beat the world record for the longest kiss, which means they'll have to be standing up and their lips will have to touch for more than 32 hours. Meanwhile, we follow several other boys - a closeted boy who runs away when his parents find out he's gay, a couple of boys who just started dating, a boy who was born with a girl's body. The entire story is narrated from the perspective of all the gay men who have died of AIDS and are now watching this scene unfold. It's amazing and heart-warming and sad all at once.

Does Jesus Really Love Me?

Chu, Jeff. Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America. Harper, 2013.

Jeff Chu embarks on a search throughout the United States to see what different organizations and denominations believe about the intersection of faith and sexuality, specifically whether God does indeed love gay people. He visits the infamous Westborough Baptist Church, Exodus (an ex-gay organization), the Metropolitan Community Church, the Gay Christian Network, and many other organizations on various ends of the spectrum. His research is thorough and he tells the stories of many individuals he encounters on his travels. Interspersed throughout the book are Chu's email conversations with Gideon, a young man from a very conservative Christian family who has recently come out to himself and is considering coming out to his parents.

This book is very thorough; I can tell that Chu has done his research. I can also tell that this topic is very important to him, as is his faith. My coming out and "counseling" sessions were very similar to Gideon's, and I did enjoy this book as a description of the current pulse of the faith community of the United States, although much of the information was not new to me. I would recommend this book along with Justin Lee's Torn and John Shore's Unfair! to those who are interested in the Gay/Christian debate.

Brain on Fire

Cahalan, Susannah. Brain on Fire. Free Press, 2012. 

Susannah Cahalan was a successful journalist with the New York Post when she was struck with a strange illness that caused seizures, hallucinations, and a host of other symptoms. No one could figure out what was wrong, but it was clear that Cahalan needed serious medical assistance. It was only after a doctor performed a simple test that she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder.

This book stems from the combination of interviews of the medical staff, Cahalan's parents' journal, and thousands of pages of medical records. Cahalan describes her month of madness when her brain truly seemed to be on fire.

This was a very interesting book, made even better by an excellent narrator. The story is well-told, engrossing, and only near the end does Cahalan mount a soap box and advocate for others who may have her same illness. I'd recommend this book in a heartbeat, especially to fans of narrative nonfiction.