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Read in June, Part 1 (Catch Up Post!)

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Read in May 06

Harley Quinn, Volume 1: Die Laughing – Amanda Conner et. al.  I’m a bit torn on this one.  On the one hand it was fun, on the other I’m not a fan of the new origin story which completely robs Harley of the agency that made her character so intriguing in the first place.  As a Marvel fan, it also felt a bit too similar to Deadpool, especially when it was breaking the fourth wall.

Garbage Night – Jen Lee.  In a post-apocalyptic world, a group of young animals fend for themselves, sharing tales of ‘garbage night’, a night when food was plentiful.  The minimalist story does this book no favours, making it hard to ignore the fact that although at least one of the characters used to be a pet, all the animals are now walking around on two legs, wearing human clothes.

All-New Wolverine, Volume 1: The Four Sisters – Tom Taylor, David Lopez & David Navarrot.  I’ve never been a fan of X-23 (I’ve never been a fan of Wolverine, for that matter), so I wasn’t expecting much from this.  So colour me shocked that it was actually really well done.  When a shady group tries to weaponise clones of X-23, she’s not overly impressed.  But we’re not dealing with the X-23 we were introduced to all those years ago, we’re dealing with an X-23 who has felt love and loss, and learnt restraint.  Her personal growth is given plenty of room to develop, and The Four Sisters manages to be both action packed and quietly beautiful.

The Midnight Library – Kazuno Kohara.  An adorable look at a girl who works in a library that only opens at night.  I can’t fault the illustrations which are charming, but, to be completely cynical about it, The Midnight Library presents a completely unrealistic view of a modern library.  Yes, I know it’s a nursery book but libraries aren’t that well funded, okay?  Even fantasy libraries staffed by children and owls!

 

Read in June 02

Aquaman, Volume 2: Black Manta Rising – Dan Abnett et. al.  Aquaman just wants Atlantis and the good ol’ US of A to be pals, but Black Manta is super not into it for REASONS.  So, obviously, he takes over N.E.M.O. (a sooper sekkrit club bent on total domination of the world) and fakes an Atlantean attack on the US to start a war.  Oh noes!  Oh, and there are some mystical prophecies that makes Mera totes sad.  Now, if that sounds like your cup of tea, good for you, but it’s a hard, hard pass from me.  Except for the inclusion of a character with a stutter, because that’s actually pretty cool.

Wonder Woman, Volume 1: The Lies – Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp & Laura Martin.  I love Greg Rucka’s work, so I had super high hopes for this volume.  As the characters reset yet again (seriously DC, stop), Diana remember multiple versions of her own origin story (a clever nod to all the Wonder Women who have come before) and fears that things are not what they seem.  She figures out that she’s been somehow manipulated, but by who?  The Lies does an admirable job of picking up a lot of sub-par Wonder Woman lore and stitching it together into something unsettling, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what comes next.

American Vampire, Volume 8 – Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque & Dave McCaig.  It’s been a while since I read volume 7 so this was tricky to get into for me.  It’s also the midpoint of the story arc, which was frustrating as I don’t have volume 9.  But, VAMPIRES IN SPAAAACCCCCEEEEEE!!!!!  Two thumbs up!

Deadpool, World’s Greatest, Volume 6: Patience Zero – Gerry Duggan et. al.  I’m so glad that this volume seems to have moved past the Mercs for Hire and Shiklah, two storylines I never really cared about.  Without the Mercs and Shiklah bumming us out, we’re back to Deadpool and Preston, a team I never grow tired of with bonus Stryfe, of all people.  Dun dun duuuunnn!!!  (I liked it, just in case that wasn’t clear.)

 

Read in June 03

Catwoman, Volume 6: Final Jeopardy – Will Pfeifer, David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez & Jeromy Cox.  There’s a new bad guy in town and he’s set on taking Selina’s place as the top thief in Gotham.  As he systematically takes her life apart, Selina finds herself facing some impossible storylines.  Now, as stories go, that one has a lot of potential.  Unfortunately, everything seems really perfunctorily handled.  Selina’s protege is framed for murder and goes on the run.  And that’s the last we see of her.  Selina’s nanny gets beaten up and ends up in hospital.  And that’s the last we see of her.  Selina gives her baby away and then ends up on a prison planet four thousand light years from Earth.  Wait… what?  She somehow gets back to Gotham (there’s literally no explanation of how given in this volume so I can only assume it happened in another title), and then they bring back Black Mask which is so lazy, I can’t even think too hard about it without my head feeling like it’s going to explode.

Tuff Ladies: 24 Remarkable Women of the History – Till Lukat.  Like many books, this was one I really wanted to love but sadly, it was too flawed.  Featuring 24 illustrated ‘biographies’ of noteworthy women, Tuff Ladies is strongest when dealing with lesser-known women such as Miep Gies, who sheltered Anne Frank and her family.  But there seems to be no organisation in the presentation of those included, so it bounces from Harriet Tubman to Malala Yousafzai to Beate Uhse to Princess Diana.  Most of the time it seems to be pitched at a young audience, especially with the inclusion of a glossary of words readers might not have come across before, but an entry about Linda Lovelace makes it clear that the book is aimed at adults.  Add in some spelling and grammar mistakes and I feel more disappointed in Tuff Ladies than not.

Night Shift – Debi Gliori.  A stunningly beautiful book that helps explain depression to children.  Instead of a black dog, Gliori uses a dragon as a stand-in for depression and chronicles the way darkness can overtake a person using lavish illustrations and minimal text.  Utterly recommended.

 

Read in June 04

Journey, Quest and Return – Aaron Becker.  Told entirely without words, the books of the Journey Trilogy tell the story of a girl whose family are too busy to spend time with her.  Using a crayon, she creates a doorway to another world where she has gorgeous, epic adventures, makes a friend, and saves a king.  But what will happen when there is a threat to her imagination itself?  Wonderful.

Weekly Miscellany

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I’ve sat down to write this post a few times now and gotten absolutely nowhere.  My current computer set-up is so uncomfortable that at one point cleaning my bedroom windows seemed like a better thing to do.  I’ve been meaning to replace my (incredibly cheap and ugly) desk for… ten years now?  And I could probably do with a new chair.  But, money.  Ah, for the days when full-time jobs were a thing.  ANYWAY, I’m not leaving this spot until this post is finished, neck pain or no neck pain.  DETERMINATION and GRIT or something like that.  (In the end my boyfriend came in about half way through this post wanting to go to bed, and the post got pushed yet again.  Fail.)

 

Added to Wishlist

Added to Wishlist 01

  1. The Girl with Ghost Eyes – M.H. Boroson.  Have I mentioned that I’m looking for more urban fantasy with female protagonists?  It was a sad day the day I realised that all my favourite urban fantasy series were male-led and I’m pretty determined to change that so if you have any recs I’m open to them!
  2. Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis.  I’m so behind on my Stephanie Burgis reading but, despite not having been published yet, this one has jumped right to the top of my list.
  3. When Light is Like Water – Molly McCloskey.  Hopefully the really dull cover on this one isn’t a reflection of the set-in-Ireland story.
  4. Rotherweird – Andrew Caldecott.  Usually I find long books off-putting – there are so many books to read and big ones take so much longer! – but this sounds like the type of weird and wonderful story that I can’t ignore.

 

Added to Wishlist 02

  1. Shades of Milk and Honey – Mary Robinette Kowal.  I can’t stop reading Regency-esque stories with a supernatural twist.
  2. Flex – Ferrett Steinmetz.  I’m intrigued by this, partly because it reminds me of Marvel’s District X, and partly because not all magic stories can be Regency romps (sad but true).
  3. The Marvelwood Magicians – Diane Zahler.  Although the blurb doesn’t much appeal to me, I recently read Zahler’s Baker’s Magic and loved it, so I have high hopes.
  4. Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls – Beth McMullen.  Like Regency-esque + magic, modern boarding school stories are a sub-genre that I can’t resist.

 

Articles of Note

 

(Re)Watching: Leverage

Leverage

In search of something fun and light in the run-up to an interview recently, I started rewatching Leverage and it was exactly what I needed.  I’m almost done with season three, and all I can think is ‘why did they cancel this??’  To be fair, it’s not a subtle programme, especially in the first season where the good guys versus bad guys thing was sometimes so heavy-handed it was distracting.  BUT, it’s fun!  Elliott punches things!!  Hardison hacks things (and makes Star Trek jokes)!!  Parker jumps off things!!  Sophie does every accent ever!!  Nate drinks a lot and thinks he’s cool af!!

I’ve also been watching the seventh season of Masterchef USA (and just found out when googling what season was being show here that all the guest judges are men which is not cool, Masterchef USA, not cool at all) which is usually perfect mindless TV, but this time around there’s a guy who keeps saying ‘people underestimate me because they think I’m just a frat guy who can’t cook’ and it’s like THEY ONLY THINK YOU’RE A FRAT BOY BECAUSE YOU KEEP REFERRING TO YOURSELF AS ONE EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE 28, DUDE.  28!  AT WHAT POINT DO YOU STOP BEING A FRAT BOY???  Ahem.  I have some issues with him, clearly.

Weekly Miscellany: Bumper Edition

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Added to Wishlist

Added to Wishlist 01

  1. Love in Row 27 – Eithne Shortall.  The blurb had me at ‘Aer Lingus’ 😀
  2. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. – Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland.  Neal Stephenson writes big, big books.  They’re excellent books, but they require a real dedication of time, so I usually skip them.  The buzz around this has made me reconsider though.
  3. Urban Shaman – C.E. Murphy.  I’m wary of the main character being ‘half Irish’ but I recently realised that most of the urban fantasy I read is male-centered and that’s something that needs to change.
  4. The Wild Robot – Peter Brown.  This sounds adorable!  A robot wakes up on an island with no idea of how she got there and adopts a gosling <3

 

Added to Wishlist 02

  1. The Genome – Sergei Lukyanenko.  It’s never even occurred to me that Sergei Lukyanenko could have written anything outside of the Watch series, which shows a serious lack of common sense, frankly.
  2. Ancient Appetites – Oisin McGann.  IRISH STEAMPUNK!!  How have I not heard of this series until now?!
  3. Blue Gemini – Mike Jenne.  A techno thriller based on real events, apparently (it surprises me sometimes how little I know about the detail of the space race).
  4. Hull Zero Three – Greg Bear.  I’ve been meaning to read something by Greg Bear for ages and then I stumbled across a review of Hull Zero Three which calls it ‘part survival horror, part science-fiction’ and I am all in.

 

Added to Wishlist 03

  1. The Circle – Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg.  I have a soft spot for books about witches, I can’t deny it, and one review likened this to L.J. Smith’s The Secret Circle which was a major part of my teens, so I really didn’t have much of a chance of putting up any resistance.
  2. The Falconer – Elizabeth May.  Historical fiction meets urban fantasy set in Scotland.  Yes, please!
  3. My Last Continent – Midge Raymond.  Why are books set in Antarctica automatically fascinating??
  4. The Iron Age – Arja Kajermo and Susanna Kajermo-Torner.  This looks a hard read but a really, really good one.

 

Added to Wishlist 04

  1. The Party – Elizabeth Day.  There’s something about this – a sense of unease, a suspicion that the narrator is far from reliable – that draws me in.
  2. You Should Have Left – Daniel Kehlmann.  Despite the basic cover, this sounds unnerving as fuck.
  3. The Wicker King – K. Ancrum.  I can’t give a one sentence overview of this so click on the Goodreads link because it sounds dark and twisted and brilliant.
  4. Magicians Impossible – Brad Abraham.  Set a magical story in our world and I’m almost guaranteed to check it out.  (We’ve learned a lot about my bookish likes in this post, haven’t we? 😀 )

 

Articles of Note

 

Bookmarked Recipes

Read in February (Catch Up Post!)

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Read in February 01

  1. Dust – Hugh Howey.  I took this out from the library in December 2014 and didn’t get around to reading it until Febraruy 2017.  AND I DON’T KNOW WHY.  I loved Wool, was pretty excited by Shift and couldn’t wait for Dust.  Who knows why it languished for so long in my TBR pile.  Happily, when I finally did get around to reading it, it didn’t disappoint.  I love the enclosed world(s) created in the Wool series, and I’m a sucker for unexpected twists and turns which Dust delivered in spades.
  2. Captain Marvel, Volume 1: Rise of Alpha Flight – Michele Fazekis et. al.  I don’t know why Alpha Flight are suddenly in space, but there’s not really any time to ponder that question as we’re thrown straight into the action, and I’m kind of into it.  The combination of action, politics and sci-fi in this volume reminded me of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which can only be a good thing.  Where’s my Captain Marvel movie, Marvel????
  3. Black Widow, Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread – Nathan Edmondson & Phil Noto.  I don’t know much about Black Widow, and ‘The Finely Woven Thread’ didn’t do much to enlighten me.  That said, it was a solid spy-thriller that I enjoyed more than I thought I would.
  4. Savage Wolverine, Volume 2: Hands on a Dead Body – Zeb Wells, Joe Madureira & Jock.  So many Wolverine titles make me throw my hands up in the air and question the popularity of the character, and this was definitely one of them.  The first half is thoroughly ‘meh’ and the second half makes almost no sense.  I gave it two stars.  ‘Nuff said.

 

Read in February 02

  1. Queer: A Graphic History – Meg-John Barker & Julia Scheele.  Breaking down queer theory is a tall order, but one that this book takes in its stride.  Illustrated with humour and verve, it takes a more-or-less academic look at an incredibly complex subject and manages to make it accessible to almost everyone.
  2. Paper Girls, Volume 2 – Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang.  So, I liked the first volume of Paper Girls.  It was good, and the ending was exciting, but I felt a bit unmoored when reading it.  I was hopeful for volume 2, but not quite sure what to expect.  Luckily we jump right in to aliens, time travel, witty banter, awesome relationships and general EXCITEMENT.  If you haven’t started this series yet, you really, really need to.
  3. Superman/Wonder Woman, Volume 4: Dark Truth – Peter J. Tomasi & Doug Mahnke.  Dismal.  So very dismal.  There was potential in the storyline but I really don’t think Tomasi knew what to do with what he was writing.  Avoid.
  4. Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho.  This was recommended to me by several bloggers and man am I glad I listened to you all.  Things are not going well for England’s Sorcerer Royal.  There’s a war on, and the government are set on involving magic in the fight, magic reserves seem to be falling, someone keeps trying to kill him, he’s somehow ended up with a female apprentice.  Oh, and he’s black.  This book covers so many amazing things.  Magic – check.  ‘Regency’ shenanigans – check.  Diversity and the problems inherent therein – check.  Rampant feminism – check.  Romance – check.  Read it!

 

Read in February 03

  1. The X-Files, Volume 1: Revival – Joe Harris et. al.  A decent, if not spectacular, collection.  Some hits and some misses, but it’s always fun to revisit the world of Mulder and Scully.
  2. Tracer – Rob Boffard.  The future is here and it’s not that fun.  On a decrepit spaceship, Riley delivers packages for a living.  It sounds easy, but given how much of the station is a no-go area thanks to various gangs, it’s not an easy way to get by.  When she gets dragged into a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of station management, she does the only thing she knows how to do – runs.  It’s Mirror’s Edge in space, basically.  I never fully connected with this book, but it was a fun, fast read, and I recommend it if you’re looking for some lighter, action-packed sci-fi.
  3. We Go Out: Dung Beetle Book 1C – Miriam Elia & Ezra Elia.  A fun, if not particularly memorable, parody.
  4. The Ladybird Book of the Zombie Apocalypse – Jason Hazeley & Joel Morris.  See above.  An amusing, fast read, but not one that will stay with you.

 

Read in February 04

  1. The Battles of Bridget Lee: Invasion of Farfall – Ethan Young. A sci-fi war comic aimed at younger readers, there’s not much in this that’s earth-shatteringly original.  That said, I mostly enjoyed it but took, and still take, issue with the idea that it’s the future but women aren’t allowed to take part in combat.
  2. Aquaman, Volume 1: The Drowning – Dan Abnett, Philippe Briones, Scot Eaton & Brad Walker.  Right, so, Aquaman.  I see what Dan Abnett was trying to do with this relaunch, but the problem seems to be the Aquaman as a character is dull, dull, dull and therefore not someone you particularly care about.
  3. Doctor Strange, Volume 1: The Way of the Weird – Jason Aaron & Chris Bachalo. I’ve never had any fondness for Doctor Strange.  In my view, the magic Marvel universe, and the mutant one should remain separate.  Marvel disagree though, so I thought I’d give this new series a chance, especially since it’s illustrated by Chris Bachalo, who I’ve had a soft spot for since Generation X.  And I loved it!  This is a rollicking, disturbing, amusing look into the world of Doctor Strange.  A good starting point for new readers, but one that fully acknowledges and incorporates the history of the character.
  4. Doctor Strange, Volume 2: The Last Days of Magic – Jason Aaron & Chris Bachalo.  A fantastic continuation of volume 1 (the bad guys are… weird, but you just need to roll with it).

 

Read in February 05

  1. Spider-Man/Deadpool, Volume 1: Isn’t It Bromantic – Joe Kelly & Ed McGuinness.  Peter Parker is another character I’ve never have a lot of time for.  Sadly, even though he’s got Deadpool around to help him be much cooler, ‘Isn’t It Bromantic’ hasn’t changed that for me.  To be honest, I didn’t enjoy this at all.  Spider-Man isn’t my cup of tea, this version of Deadpool isn’t stellar, and putting them together weakens them both.
  2. Black Panther, Volume 1: A Nation Under Our Feet – Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze & Laura Martin.  I wanted to love this, I really did, but I just couldn’t connect to any of the characters or invest in the storyline at all.  I’ll keep reading it in the hope that it improves but I suspect it’ll turn out to just not be for me.
  3. Daredevil Back in Black, Volume 1: Chinatown – Charles Soule & Rob Garney.  This has a surprising amount of negative reviews, but I actually really enjoyed it.  I’ve never really found a Daredevil book that I’ve fully liked, so I didn’t have much in the way of expectations for this one.  But it’s fun, and interesting, and dark.  Daredevil gets a sidekick, who brings a lot of complications to the table, but that’s part of what makes the book worth reading.
  4. The Amazing Spider-Man: Edge of Spider-Verse – David Hine et. al.  I’m only in this for Spider-Gwen. Quelle surprise!

 

Read in February 06

  1. Spider-Gwen, Volume 0: Most Wanted? – Jason Latour & Robbi Rodriguez.  Given that Spider-Gwen was initially just super cool outfit, ‘Most Wanted?’ does a really good job of setting her up as a fully-fleshed character with motivations and problems.  Gwen Stacy decides to become a superhero when she’s bitten by a spider and develops powers.  The problem is that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing, her band would really like her to stop missing practice, and her father is the vigilante-hating Chief of Police.  A solid set-up and some great artwork.
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