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Read in April 2015 (Catch Up Post!)

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Read in April, Part 01

  1. Star Trek, Section 31: Disavowed – David Mack.  Look, I’m still bitter that they broke Bashir and Ezri up in the continuation novels, so this was a difficult one for my broken shipper heart.
  2. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel – Ransom Riggs & Cassandra Jean.  I thought that this was a completely unsuccessful adaptation.  One of the problems was that the art just didn’t suit the magical-realism tone of the story.
  3. John Constantine, Hellblazer: The Family Man – Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison et. al.  A mish-mash of storylines, some of which are deliciously creepy.
  4. Alice-Miranda in Paris – Jacqueline Harvey.  I started reading the Alice-Miranda books because of the boarding school setting, but I enjoy the ones set elsewhere just as much, and it’s all because of the charming whirlwind that is Alice-Miranda herself.  She’s so joyful and earnest, which is delightful to read.
  5. Alice-Miranda Shows the Way – Jacqueline Harvey.  See above.

 

Read in April, Part 02

  1. All-New X-Men, Volume 6: The Ultimate Adventure – Brian Michael Bendis & Mahmud Asrar.  So, I clearly need more Miles Morales in my life.  Still less X-23 though.
  2. The Uncanny X-Men: Legacy of the Lost – Chris Claremont et. al.  The beginning of the relationship between Storm and Forge, plus random alien hijinks.  I love these little reprint volumes.
  3. My Real Children – Jo Walton.  This was wonderful.  The split timeline narrative mixed historical fiction, feminism, LGBT issues and brilliant characters into a book that was hard to put down.  I really recommend this one!
  4. Mr Mac and Me – Esther Freud.  I work in Glasgow, so a novel about Charles Rennie Mackintosh was bound to draw my attention.  Unfortunately, I struggled with this one.  I found the writing a bit dry which made it hard to sympathise with the characters.  The main character, a boy who befriends ‘Mac’, was the worst affected which didn’t work for me as the story is told from his point of view.  Basically, I’d skip it if I were you.
  5. Foxglove Summer – Ben Aaronovitch.  These books continue to be great urban fantasy, and I recommend them unreservedly to anyone who’s a fan of that genre.  Taking Peter out of his usual stomping grounds of London worked really well, and the new supporting characters were a joy.

Weekly Miscellany

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I blame the bank holiday weekend for the lateness of this Weekly Miscellany, so you probably should too ;)

 

Articles of Note

 

Bookmarked Recipes

 

Playing: Star Trek TimelinesStar Trek Timelines

I’m currently unhealthily obsessed with this game.  Luckily, I’m off work at the moment, so I have plenty of time to send my crew on 3 hour missions in an attempt to level them up.  To be honest, I thought this would be a fairly quick game that I could rattle through, but I’ve been playing it for about two months now and the final levels are frustratingly difficult.  On the plus side, collecting a crew of different versions of my favourite characters is pretty addictive, so I think this game will continue to entertain and annoy me in equal measure for the foreseeable future!

Read in March 2015 (Catch Up Post!)

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Read in March, Part 01

  1. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth – Chris Hadfield. In some ways this was more of a motivational book than a memoir, but I enjoyed it despite my slightly surprise at the format. Hadfield’s voice is warm and witty, and his account of his career so far is definitely worth a read.
  2. Charm – Sarah Pinborough. A dark and sexy retelling of Cinderella.
  3. The Activity, Volume 1 – Nathan Edmondson & Mitch Gerads. I don’t remember this at all, which can’t be a good sign.
  4. The Manhattan Projects, Volume 1: Science Bad – Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. An alternate history version of the project that developed the atomic bomb, this is really weird and really interesting. The sci-fi elements are awesome, and the characters are all weird and wonderful and terrible. Give it a try!
  5. Secret, Volume 1: Never Get Caught – Jonathan Hickman & Ryan Bodenheim. Don’t remember this either…

 

Read in March, Part 02

  1. Mariana – Monica Dickens. We follow Mary from her childhood to Paris to married life, and it’s charming. A true comfort read for when you need one.
  2. 99 Days – Matteo Casali & Kristian Donaldson. Interesting to see the Rwandan genocide covered in a comic, but this, like most of the Vertigo Crime titles, wasn’t particularly great.
  3. Claudine at School – Colette. Although Claudine was a vivacious character, I struggled through the story of her childhood and early adulthood. I just found that I didn’t really care about what was happening, which was disappointing.
  4. The Manhattan Projects, Volume 2: They Rule – Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. Still weird, disturbing and interesting!
  5. The Manhattan Projects, Volume 3: Building – Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. See above.

 

Read in March, Part 03

  1. The Manhattan Projects, Volume 4: The Four Disciplines – Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. See above.
  2. All-New X-Men, Volume 1: Here Comes Yesterday – Brian Michael Bendis & Stuart Immonen. It’s probably not the best idea to read these as out of order as I have, but such is the life of a person who uses the library a lot. It was actually great to read how the whole thing started at last.
  3. Rat Queens, Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery – Kurtis J. Wiebe & Roc Upchurch. So many different people recommended this to me and with it’s kick-ass characters and fun setting, I can see why. I wasn’t blown away by it though. I actually feel a bit bad my reaction because I wanted to love it. (And , you know, screw you Roc Upchurch.) https://www.themarysue.com/rat-queens-artist-domestic-abuse/
  4. The X-Files Season 10, Volume 3 – Joe Harris & Matthew Dow Smith. Still digging this, but don’t tell anyone that I haven’t watched the new season yet…
  5. American Vampire, Volume 3 – Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque & Sean Murphy. I just love the tone of this series. It manages to mix American history with vampire lore without being too serious or ridiculous, and it’s super enjoyable to read.

 

Read in March, Part 04

  1. American Vampire, Volume 4 – Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque & Jordi Bernet. See above.
  2. American Vampire, Volume 5 – Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque & Dustin Nguyen. See above.
  3. The Books of Magic – Neil Gaiman, John Bolton et. al. I hadn’t read this since my early teens and enjoyed my revisit. I’m not overly familiar with the DC universe, so this serves as a great guide to the more magical corners of it. In a post-Harry Potter world, Timothy Hunter is still cool as fuck.
  4. Fury, Volume 1: My War Gone By – Garth Ennis, Goran Parlov & Lee Loughridge. I’m not a fan of the type of storytelling that involves us learning how difficult it is to be a man and how ladies should always be topless, so no to this.
  5. The Twelve, Volume 1 – J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Weston. I felt like I’d read this before, but I hadn’t. Turns out it’s just super similar to a bunch of other titles – heroes from the past are transplanted into the future and have a tough time fitting in, oh no!

 

Read in March, Part 05

  1. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe – Cullen Bunn & Dalibor Talajic. Deadpool kills EVERYONE and it’s pretty excellent.
  2. Chew, Volume 2: International Flavour – John Layman & Rob Guillory. Cyborgs, alien fruit, deadly roosters, kick-ass characters at every turn and general zaniness. What’s not to like? (PS I love this series.)
  3. Chew, Volume 3: Just Desserts – John Layman & Rob Guillory. See above.
  4. Chew, Volume 4: Flambe – John Layman & Rob Guillory. See above.
  5. Chew, Volume 5: Major League Chew – John Layman & Rob Guillory. See above.

 

Read in March, Part 06

  1. Chew, Volume 6: Space Cakes – John Layman & Rob Guillory. See above.
  2. Chew, Volume 7: Bad Apples – John Layman & Rob Guillory. See above.
  3. Fell, Volume 1: Feral City – Warren Ellis & Ben Templesmith. Detective Richard Fell is transferred to Snow City after royally fucking up his career. On a downward spiral, he finds Snow City even weirder than he could ever have suspected. This is a really successful mix of horror and crime, totally elevated by Ben Templesmith’s excellent art.
  4. Savage Wolverine, Volume 4: The Best There Is – Jen Van Meter & Gail Simone. Oh, Wolverine. Who is it that’s buying endless titles of yours??
  5. Death of Wolverine – Charles Soule & Steven McNiven. I haven’t read much of the lead-up to this, so at time it didn’t make a lot of sense. Wolverine dies, and we’re supposed to think it’s forever. Okay then.

 

Read in March, Part 07

  1. Arsenic for Tea – Robin Stevens. Hazel and Daisy take on another case when someone drops dead at Daisy’s ancestral home. Glorious hijinks ensue.
  2. The Baking Life of Amelia Day – Vanessa Curtis. Amelia loves to bake, and she really wants to take part in baking reality TV programme. There’s only one problem – she has Cystic Fibrosis. Despite it being a huge part of her life, Amelia is not defined by her illness, and despite the serious issues it deals with, this is not a gloomy book. Instead it’s a funny, lovely read with bonus recipes (yay!).

Weekly Miscellany

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Added to My Wishlist

Wishlist Books

  1. Citizens – Kevin Curran. A modern-day character discovers his great-grandfather’s account of Dublin in 1916. Perfect reading for the year that’s in it.
  2. Starflight – Melissa Landers. YA sci-fi with Firefly influences. I’m into it.

 

Watching: Project Runway

Project RunwayAll of them. Seriously. Over the past few weeks I’ve been rewatching Project Runway, Project Runway Canada, Project Runway Australia, Project Runway: All-Stars, Project Runway: Under the Gunn and Project Catwalk. I still have Project Runway Philippines, Mission Catwalk, Project Runways: Threads, Models of the Runway and Project Runway Korea to go. Let me share some random thoughts with you. Iman is awesome. Project Runway Canada lucked out getting her as host. I love the sometimes she just shouted and designers she thought were being stupid, and everyone should appreciate her for telling everyone that ‘goth is a legitimate look’. I had forgotten that the first season of Project Catwalk was presented by Liz Hurley, and I’m not really into it, but Ben de Lisi as mentor almost makes up for it because he’s so, so stroppy. The first Project Runway Australia mentor, Henry, is amazing. So enthusiastic and earnest. I wish Project Runway itself would go back to two day challenges and a longer time to do the final collection. I know it’s cheaper to have everything done faster, but the designs suffer. Is it wrong that I get a little thrill when I recognise one of the models as being from America’s Next Top Model?