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Read in June, Part 2 (Catch Up Post!)

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Read in June 05

Nanjing: The Burning City – Ethan Young.  A harrowing account of a conflict I had never even heard of.  Through clever use of comic conventions we are placed on the side of the Chinese as Japanese forces invade and pillage Nanjing.  It is clear from the start that there are good people on both sides, but in the heat of war do the distinctions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ even matter?

Guardians of the Galaxy: All-New Marvel Treasure Edition – Brian Michael Bendis et. al.  A frustrating read partly because it’s a completely unwieldy size (in height and width, not depth), and partly because it gives us the beginning of three different version of the Guardians and then leaves us hanging.  The first version was my least favourite, and seemed almost like it took place in an alternate reality – mostly because it kept referring to a war with the Phalanx which… is that recent?  I thought we left them behind in the ’90s!  The middle version was pretty decent though I question the inclusion of Iron Man who doesn’t seem like a decent fit.  And the third version was easily the best because Skottie Young is awesome and it features an army of ex-girlsfriends set on taking their revenge against Rocket Raccoon.  Yaass!

Nimona – Noelle Stevenson.  FINALLY!  After years of hearing amazing things about this, I finally read it and it’s just as good as everyone says.  If you like fun, feminism, LGBT representation and kick-ass characterisation you should pick this up right away.

Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood and Vine – Jody Hauser, Francis Portela & Marguerite Sauvage.  Another one I’d heard so much about before picking it up, and another one that lived up to the hype.  See the marketing of Faith is all about her being a plus-size superhero.  Which she absolutely is BUT the comic is about so much more.  Sure, Faith is plus-size but the beautiful thing is that no one ever even makes a vague reference to that in the comic.  Basically, she’s a woman trying to build a life for her whilst also battling evil.  As you do.  (I really loved it.)

 

Read in June 06

Saga, Volume Seven – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.  Oh, Saga *clutches at heart*  Hazel’s back with her family – yay!  But absolutely nothing is happy or even just okay – boo!  Another wonderful volume but a bleak, bleak, bleak read.  I really need to read all the volume available in one sitting to really grind that sense of desolation deep into my soul.

Doctor Strange, Volume 3: Blood in the Aether – Jason Aaron et. al.  Although I didn’t enjoy this walk through Marvel villain memory lane as much as the action in previous volumes, I am still digging this incarnation of Doctor Strange.

Trees, Volume 2 – Warren Ellis & Jason Howard.  It had been so long since I read the first volume of this, that I was a bit hazy going in but I caught up quickly.  We follow Dr. Creasy who survived the awakening of the Svalbard ‘tree’ as she travels to the Orkney Islands where there are shenanigans – political and alien.  Do we get any answers?  Not a single one, but it’s still a compelling read.

The Dark Days Pact – Alison Goodman.  Despite not enjoying the system of magic in the first Lady Helen book, I liked enough about the story to pick up the sequel.  The Dark Days Pact places a lot more emphasis on Reclaimers and Deceivers, and, for me, suffers for it.  There are some really well done action scenes, but I’m still not convinced by how the relationship between the ‘good’ guys and the ‘bad’ guys work.  There’s a lot of politicking in this book, some interesting, some not so interesting (oh, hai there unnecessary plot device to further separate our main characters).  I continue to like Lady Helen herself, and to feel that her struggled against expectations is really well dealt with.  I also quite like a lot of the supporting characters.  Lord Selburn though… I mean, I assume he’s going to turn out to be IMPORTANT but he’s just freaking annoying at this point.  Oh man, there was so much I enjoyed about this book, but the bits I didn’t like, I really didn’t like, and they made the book drag really badly in places.  DESPITE THIS, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT 😀

 

Read in June 07

All-New X-Men Inevitable, Volume 3: Hell Hath So Much Fury – Dennis Hopeless et. al.  So Madelyn Pryor is in this.  Okay…  Meanwhile, Beast loses the run of himself and experiments with magic, and Iceman goes to a gay bar.  Underwhelming.

Cream Buns and Crime – Robin Stevens.  Cream Buns and Crime compiles all the Murder Most Unladylike short stories that have been released so far, and pads the books out with tips on how to be a detective.  The short stories, I enjoyed immensely.  The rest, I just wasn’t interested in though I think I would have felt different if I had been the book’s target audience!

The Bookshop Girl – Sylvia Bishop.  Property Jones grew up in the bookshop she was abandoned in several years ago, growing to love both her adopted home and family.  But Property is hiding a big secret – she can’t read!  This was such a charming, funny, touching read, beautifully illustrated by Ashley King, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Baker’s Magic – Diane Zahler.  Please ignore the drab cover and pick this up, because Baker’s Magic is worth your time.  Featuring an orphan, a princess, an evil wizard, a lot of pirates, endless and glorious amounts of baking, and a quest to save a kingdom, this book will draw you in from the start and wrap you up tight until you turn the last page.

 

Read in June 08

Limbo – Dan Watters, Caspar Wijngaard & Jim Campbell.  The ’80s meets voodoo meets hardboiled crime.  This was a beautifully coloured comic, but it just wasn’t for me.  In a nutshell, a man wakes up with no idea who he is.  Hints are dropped that he was a bad guy in his previous life.  Now that he’s forgotten everything, is he still that man?  I mean… yawn.  We’ve done this before.  Still, the voodoo elements were really well done and, like I said, the colouring was excellent.

Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen: Sitting in a Tree – Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Latour, Sara Pichelli & Robbi Rodriguez.  Honestly, I don’t see it and I thought the age different was much bigger than we were told it was.  But.  It’s fun.  Gwen’s relaxed attitude to dimension hopping made for a nice counterpoint to Miles’ near-panic.  And man, do I want a fizzy drink from Gwen’s universe!

Marvel Tsum Tsum: Takeover! – Jacob Chabot & David Baldeon.  For a glorified toy advertisement, this was surprisingly well done.  I’d never come across Tsum Tsums before this, but the story and the super-adorable illustrations kept me turning the pages quite happily.

Read in December

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Read in December 01

  1. The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories – P.D. James.  Not being a big crime reader, this was my first P.D. James read.  Although it hasn’t inspired me to pick up any more of her books (I’m just not a fan of violent crime stories), I more or less enjoyed The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories, with the last two stories being my favourites.
  2. Christmas Ever After – Sarah Morgan.  Although the beginning and end of this story are best described as ‘shaky’, the middle section was a really fun, will-they-won’t-they-even-though-you-know-they-will romantic romp.
  3. Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days – Jeanette Winterson.  I love the idea of pairing a short story and a recipe for each of the 12 Days of Christmas, but this was an awkward book for me.  I think a knowledge of Jeanette Winterson and her work would definitely be beneficial when reading Christmas Days, as there are many references to her family and friends, some of which read poorly without knowing Winterson’s own story.  Although the book looks gorgeous, the shadows of Winterson’s negative life experiences made it difficult for me to fully enjoy what I was reading.
  4. A Snow Garden and Other Stories – Rachel Joyce.  The seven stories in this book are connected by a woman in a red coat, who pops up in various guises in each story.  The stories vary in tone and quality and I have to admit that most of them aren’t particularly memorable.  The exception, for me, was the title story, ‘A Snow Garden’, which featured a father trying to reconnect with his sons.

 

Read in December 02

  1. A Boy Called Christmas – Matt Haig.  A very cute Christmas read about a boy who sets out to find his lost father, leaving behind his cruel aunt and adopting a reindeer along the way.  It packs a punch for a relatively short book, and is gorgeously illustrated throughout.
  2. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas – Agatha Christie.  Ah, Poirot, you are definitely growing on me!  On holiday in the English countryside, Poirot is called to solve a murder which took place in a room locked from the inside.  Despite the copious amounts of blood involved, this managed to be a nicely festive read.
  3. Miracle on 5th Avenue – Sarah Morgan.  Sarah Morgan’s set-ups are always a bit too unlikely for me, but that never stops me from enjoying the romances at the heart of her books.  The chalk and cheese relationship in Miracle on 5th Avenue was as much fun as you’d expect from Morgan (ie lots), and the whole thing was Christmassy to the extreme (which is a good thing, ‘natch).
  4. Let It Snow – John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle.  Three intertwined stories by three different authors.  For the most part, I enjoyed Let It Snow – it’s a light(ish), fun, Christmas read – but it hasn’t inspired me to pick up anything else by Maureen Johnson or Lauren Myracle.

 

Read in December 03

  1. Housekeeper Under the Mistletoe – Cara Colter.  Despite the misleading cover and title of this (only the epilogue is set at Christmas), I was pleasantly surprised when reading it.  Mills and Boons books have a reputation, shall we say, and we make fun of them a lot at work.  And yes, I could see the formula in this, but it was well written and the romance was given time to develop, rather than being being a rushed insta-love like in a lot of novels of this type.  I suspect I’ll try another Cara Colter book at some point.
  2. Christmas Term at Vernley – Margaret Biggs.  Almost nothing Christmassy happens in this book, but it was a rippingly good school story, so I forgive it!
  3. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Tom Becker et al.  A collection of short stories and poems written in support of Crisis, a charity in the UK that supports homeless people.  Given the connection with Crisis, quite a few of the stories involve displaced youths, broken families and general hard times, but the Christmas theme means that there’s still hope for everyone.  A bit of a tough read, at times, but a rewarding one.
  4. The Santa Klaus Murder – Mavis Doriel Hay.  I’m a bit torn on this, because although I mostly enjoyed it, I did feel like I had to slog through some sections to get to the good bits.  When the overbearing head of the Melbury family is murdered, everyone is a suspect.  The investigation seems laughably half-hearted at times, but clips along at a decent, fairly engrossing pace.  Unfortunately, time and time again we’re forced to read an extensive list of all the suspects and where they were at any given time (a standard part of a crime novel, but there were so many of them and they were all… a bit dull, to be honest).  So yeah, decent overall but a bit bogged down in places.

 

Read in December 04

  1. Snow Angel – Melanie Shawn.  Lily has a secret, because this is a romance novel and of course she does. Happily, she doesn’t fall into the ‘damaged’ category of romance heroine.  Yeah, she shies away from relationships and yeah, she gets paranoid and jumpy, but she doesn’t need a man to save her from herself which I appreciated.  The central romance in this is actually adorable (and hot), though I would appreciate it it if we could stop using dogs as a way to tell if someone is evil or not.
  2. Mistletoe Magic – Stacey Joy Netzel.  This could have been so good if it got a hold of itself and stopped being ridiculous!  A retired military man gets the hots for a mystery girl who just so happens to be running an animal sanctuary on a farm he’s recently purchased.  He flirts with a view to something else without realising that he’s about to evict her from her home.  All of that was fun, but it kept getting bogged down in drama and sadness, so in the end it was a mixed read.
  3. My Christmas Fiance – Serenity Woods.  I feel like all I do is say ‘this romance would have been really good if it had only…’ and here’s another that had great potential but got ridiculous really quickly.  First of all, why is the hero a billionaire?  He runs a company that makes games for the blind, which is nifty, but not too likely to turn you into a BILLIONaire.  And I have so many questions about the heroine’s background.  It’s set up to look like her husband hit her, but when we get the details it’s all tremendously vague.  He definitely emotionally abused her, but the impetus for her taking her son, moving across the country and changing her identity is that he hit her which… did he?  That aside, why the hell, as a married woman, are we supposed to believe that she was so sexually naive?  Okay, I’m rambling, but I liked both of the main characters in this, I liked that it was set in New Zealand, but I felt let down by set-dressing.
  4. Christmas at Carol’s – Nicola Yeager.  This is basically page after page of descriptions of different foods.  Yes, there’s a plot, but it’s incidental when compared to the author’s clear love of French food (which got a little tedious, to be honest).

 

Read in December 05

  1. A Christmas Homecoming – Melissa McClone.  Another billionaire.  Why are they all billlionaires??  What’s wrong with a nice guy, who floats your boat and has a normal job?  And guess what?  He’s a curmudgeonly billionaire.  Bet you didn’t see that coming! 😉  That said, I actually really enjoyed A Christmas Homecoming, mostly because the heroine was really driven and didn’t let her emotions distract her from what she wanted to achieve in life (which doesn’t sound romantic but is actually awesome).
  2. A Very Country Christmas – Zara Stoneley.  I couldn’t connect with any of the characters in this.  Look, I get the the definition of poor for formerly landed gentry is different that poor for pretty much everyone else, but if you’re poor you don’t shop in Waitrose, and you certainly don’t get drunk on booze samples and buy a dozen bottles of something fancy.  If you’re poor, there’s no money in your bank account for shenanigans like that.
  3. Santa Claude – Alex T. Smith.  The Claude books are for beginner readers and they are so adorable it almost hurts.  In this installment, Claude handcuffs a burglar, only to discover that it’s Santa Claus.  With the key to the handcuffs nowhere to be found, Christmas is suddenly in danger!  A really witty story paired with gorgeous illustrations.
  4. Unwrapping Her Perfect Match – Kat Latham.  A romance where the hero is a rugby player – yay!  Apart from the fact that the heroine had a pretty unlikely reason for her lack of self-confidence, I really enjoyed this.  Both characters were strong individuals, but they were both able to learn something from the other, and the romance made them stronger.

 

Read in December 06

  1. Mistletoe and Murder – Robin Stevens.  Hazel and Daisy spend Christmas at Cambridge University, with Daisy’s older brother.  Unsurprisingly, for the reader at least, they are confronted with another murder.  This is possibly my favourite Murder Most Unladylike book yet.  Hazel and Daisy continue to be wonderful,
  2. What Light – Jay Asher.  After 13 Reasons Why, this book was a disappointment.  It’s set on a Christmas tree lot over Christmas, so it fulfilled the seasonal quota, but the characters and the central relationship were a let down.  When Sierra meets Caleb she’s instantly attracted to him, but Caleb has a shady past.  Dun, dun, DUUUNNNN!!  And that’s the failing of this book.  Caleb did something bad when he was younger, but Sierra doesn’t care, so I think we’re not supposed to care, only it’s hard to follow Sierra’s logic because we’re not in insta-love with Caleb like she is.  Yeah… it was alright, but I wouldn’t be in a rush to recommend it to anyone.
  3. Must Love Mistletoe – Christie Ridgway.  Isn’t it odd how many Christmas books are about people who don’t like Christmas?  Bailey hates Christmas.  For reasons.  Those same reasons made her run away from the love of her life when she was 18.  But now she’s back in her home town and so is he.  You can see where this is going, right?  This was actually a really decent read.  Bailey charmed me from the start, and Finn’s conversion from bad-boy to wounded Secret Service Agent didn’t stretch my credulity too far ;D

Weekly Miscellany

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Added to Wishlist

Added to Wishlist 01

  1. The Librarians and the Lost Lamp – Greg Cox.  There are books based on the ridiculous but enjoyable TV series The Librarians.  Yay!  Which led me to the revelation that there are books based on the ridiculous but enjoyable TV Series Leverage.  Double yay!
  2. Iron Cast – Destiny Soria.  Something about the blurb of this one put me off, but I’ve since read some really good reviews, so I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt.
  3. Dr. James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time – Michael du Preez & Jeremy Dronfield.  The story of James Barry aka Margaret Ann Bulkley is an absolutely fascinating one.  I’ve read a comment or two about how this simplifies his/her story (Barry was possibly transsexual), but I still want to give it a shot.
  4. Contentious Terrains: Boglands, Ireland, Postcolonial Gothic – Derek Gladwin.  This one seems aimed at an academic market, but I’m intrigued at the influence Ireland’s landscape, in particular its bogs, has had on its literature.

 

Added to Wishlist 02

  1. The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers – Sinead Gleason.  I try to keep my eye on Irish fiction, but it can be hard.  This looks like an excellent gateway book to all sorts of stuff I might have overlooked.
  2. The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland – Sinead Gleason.  When I see ‘the North of Ireland’, I think ‘Northern Ireland’, but this includes works by women from Donegal, so it seems to be a bit more wide-ranging.
  3. The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman – Denis Theriault.  I should probably just give in to the Radio 2 Book Club.
  4. Mistletoe and Murder – Robin Stevens.  A festive Murder Most Unladylike book!  It turns out there are also two short stories in the series (one of them is about vampires!)  that I hadn’t realised existed, so those are on the list too.

 

Added to Wishlist 03

  1. Frogkisser! – Garth Nix.  I went to a launch event for Goldenhand the other day, and Garth Nix read the beginning of Frogkisser! (and told us that it’s been optioned for an animated musical movie).  Lads, it sounds absolutely wonderful.
  2. Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics – Jason Porath.  I’ve not come across the blog this is based on, which is a shame because this looks like an awesome book.

 

Articles of Note

 

Bookmarked Recipes

  • Apple Crumble Cake.  This looks incredibly pretty (and tasty).
  • Apple Crumble Cupcakes.  I really only know the name Zoella because you can buy stuff with her name on it in Superdrug, yet I’m still surprised that she posts cupcake recipes.  No clue why.
  • Sticky Apple Cider BBQ Chicken.  Autumn or not, it’s always BBQ time.
  • The 20 Best Cake Recipes: Part 1 & Part 2.  Definitely want to give the brownies a try.
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