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026. Read in June

Posted on by Posted in Read This Month, Uncategorized .

Time is just flying by at the moment.  I always plan to blog and never quite manage to get around to it, so I really need to get myself into some kind of routine.  Work has been a bit of a nightmare lately, so I just go home, complain about it and go to bed instead of blogging to destress.  Silly me!  On the upside though, my commute to work has been giving me loads of time to read, so June was a busy month for books.

Read in March:

Read in June

  1. Mister October, Volume 2 – Christopher Golden (ed.).  I enjoyed this volume more than the first, perhaps because a lot of the stories were told in a more contemporary style.  It’s not the type of book that I would reread, but it passed the time quite nicely.
  2. The Testimony – James Smythe.  James Smythe is easily my favourite discovery of the year.  I picked up The Machine not too long ago in the library because it had a good cover and an intriguing blurb, and loved it.  Happily, The Testimony popped up on Amazon as a free download not long after, and it was equally enjoyable.  All around the world, people hear a voice, and it tells them not to be afraid.  The book is told from various points of view, and what made it memorable for me is that the ending is not really a resolution or explanation.  Recommended!
  3. X-Men: Powerless – Tom Raney, Brett Booth, Steven Harris and Graham Nolan.
  4. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs.  I’ve had this on my to-read list since it came out and finally managed to get a copy through the library.  I was surprised that it was a YA novel, not having gotten that impression from the various reviews I’d read.  I like YA though, so it wasn’t a problem.  The combination of old photos and a supernatural was really entertaingly done, but I didn’t love the book as much as I’d expected – probably because I’d heard so much about it.  That always raises standards to an almost unreachable level, I think.  I’m looking forward to the sequel though because, despite not loving it, I did like it and that’s all you need sometimes.
  5. Astonishing X-Men: Monstrous – Daniel Way and Jason Pearson.
  6. Virago is 40: A Celebration – Various.  A bit of a hit and miss anthology, but the hits made it worth the read.  Plus, Virago is awesome.
  7. Ascent – Jed Mercurio and Wesley Robbins.  This is another title that’s been on my to-read list for quite some time.  I have the novel but haven’t quite gotten around to it.  The graphic novel version was pretty solid, telling the story of a Russian pilot turned astronaut.  I’m looking forward to the added detail in the novel, as the graphic novel story felt a bit sketched (ha!) at times.
  8. One Month to Live – Rick Remender, Stuart Moore, John Ostrander and Rob Williams.  The basic idea of this has so much potential – a man gains super powers when he’s forced to ingest toxic waste, but as well as now being a bad ass, he also has terminal cancer.  Unfortunately, the premise was drowned in a mawkish ‘cancer is just so sad’ vibe that was handled very clumsily.
  9. Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Volume 6 (Collected Volumes 12 &13) – Stuart Immonen, Steve Dillon, Tom Raney, Aaron Lopresti and Brian K Vaughan.  One day I’ll read all of Ultimate X-Men in order, because there really is so much of it that I enjoy.
  10. The X-Files: Season 10, Volume 1 – Michael Walsh and Joe Harris.  This was unexpectedly good.  Sadly, the library doesn’t have the second volume so the mystery remains *insert theme music here*
  11. Emily the Strange: Rock, Death, Fake, Revenge and Alone – Rob Reger and Various.  Every time I read an Emily graphic novel, I realise that I like the idea of her more than the execution, you know?
  12. The First X-Men – Christos Gage and Neal Adams.  So, it’s not that this was bad – the story was decently told and illustrated – it’s just that it wasn’t necessary.  At all.
  13. X-Men: Haunted – Brahm Revel and Cris Peter.  Quite atmospheric, though it never fully reached the tone it was searching for.  Certainly an enjoyably different way of telling an X-Men story.
  14. Skin Game – Jim Butcher.  If I were to have come across this series from scratch now, I probably wouldn’t have bothered, just because it’s ongoing and so many supernatural/urban fantasy series fade away but keep flogging that dead horse long after they should.  Happily, I first met Harry Dresden when there were only four books and I’ve been reading them ever since.  And they’re awesome.  The quality hasn’t faded at all and I always want to know what’s going to happen next.
  15. Deadpool: Secret Invasion – Daniel Way and Paco Medina.  Such brilliant randomness.  A really excellent volume.
  16. Olivia’s First Term – Lyn Gardner.  I picked this up after reading a review over at Did you ever stop to think and forget to start again? and I’m glad I did because it was a really lovely modern school story.  It’s the kind of book that First Term at L’Etoile by Holly and Kelly Willoughby failed so utterly miserably to be.  Olivia’s First Term is set at a stage school, but these girls (and boys) aren’t obsessed with money, looks and fame in the same vapid way the girls in First Term at L’Etoile were.  The author never talks down to us in Olivia’s First Term, and she never leaves us with the message that money is the best thing anyone can ever have.  I’ll definitely be reading more of these.
  17. Alice-Miranda at School – Jacqueline Harvey.  I picked this up at random, and good lord it was so, so charming!  Alice-Miranda is a scamp of the highest order and her adventures at school are told very firmly tounge-in-cheek, in a way that makes you absolutely love her.  Definitely recommended to lovers of the school story genre.
  18. Shiverton Hall – Emerald Fennell.  I quite liked the mix of boarding school and horror genres in this one.  The horror element was genuinely creepy, and I just might look out the sequel.
  19. The Explorer – James Smythe.  Everything in the blurb of this – the crew of a ship on a mission to uncharted space, die one by one until only a single member remains - happened in the first 50 pages of this book, leaving me compulsively turning pages to see what was going to happen.  I loved that the blurb worked in tandem with the story, serving as more than just a general summary, and I loved the tension of the storyline itself.  Definitely recommended!

025. We Now Resume Our Irregular Programming

Posted on by Posted in Read This Month .

I moved towns recently, and I’ve barely been on my computer since.  Living with someone curtails the time you have to waste on the internet, apparently.  To put it mildly, I’m unimpressed ;)  Today marks the start of my online catching up, so let’s get to it.

 

Read in March:

Read in March

  1. Bitter Greens – Kate Forsyth.  I picked up this book after coming across it in a fairy tales for adults display at my local library, because who doesn’t like a good retelling of Rapunzel?  The cover is beautiful, and the book was too.  It wasn’t quite to my taste, as I found myself slogging through certain sections.  The other bits though, were worth the slog.
  2. And Another Thing… – Eoin Colfer.  I’ve been rereading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series sporadically over the last year so that I could pick this up and have it make sense.  To be fair, it stands alone well, but it’s nice to find all those references back funny.  The book itself was solid but not mind-blowing.  Funny, but not quite Douglas Adams.
  3. The Isobel Journal – Isobel Harrop.  I picked this up at random and quite enjoyed it.  A quirky graphic novel for awkward teenagers (or former teenagers!) everywhere.
  4. Pirate Club: Brainwash Escape Victims – Derek Hunter.  A reread.  Telling the tale of a group of kids and the secret club they form, it was just as bonkers and fun the second time around.
  5. First Term at L’Etoile – Holly & Kelly Willoughby.  Awful.  Genuinely a terrible, terrible book.  The narrator’s voice treats the reader like an idiot, which I always hate.  Children don’t need to be talked down to.  But worse than that was the skewed morals imparted by the book where being rich and pretty is always better than being genuinely talented, and the division between the two is reinforced on a daily basis.  Haaaaaaaaaated it!
  6. Hazed – Mark Sable & Robbi Rodriguez.  I bought this as part of a mystery bag of comics a few years ago, so wasn’t expecting much.  Shows what I know.  This is Heathers with plastic surgery.  Caustic and cutting and very, very mental, and it all came together in quite an enjoyable way.
  7. Re-Gifters – Mike Carey, Sonny Lieu & Marc Hempel.  Loved it!  The Minx line may have had its problems, but it really did produce some quality material.  The main character in this is just awesome and the kind of person I would love to see girls be inspired by, rather than the dreary popstars they tend to look to.
  8. Hoarder to Order – Sue Kay.  Read this in preparation for the move and it was hilarious, though not deliberately.  I’m not sure how helpful it was, but what can you do?
  9. My Vision For a New You – Steve Bell.  Well, it’s Steve Bell.  ‘Nuff said really.  (I liked it, in case this is not clear.  I’m a fan of Bell’s political cartoons and this was an excellent compilation.)
  10. Lovely, Dark and Deep – Amy McNamara.  I won’t lie – had I known that one of the main characters in this had MS, I would not have picked it up.  That’s an issue that hits just a little bit too close to home.  I did, however, enjoy the book.  Although it’s aimed at people in their late teens/early adulthoods and deals with depression and chronic illness, it never becomes one of those dreadful ‘issues’ books.  The lead character is so, so flawed and yet you want to find out what happens to her.  You want to see her move forward with her life.  One of the things that I liked about it the most is that the ending isn’t really a resolution, something which rings much more true than wrapping all the plot points up in a neat little bow.
  11. Deadly Little Secret – Laurie Faria Stolarz.  This book recycles quite a few of the most popular YA cliches, but it’s well written enough to rise above them.  Not earth-shattering, but a fun, breezy read nonetheless.

 

Read in April:

Read in April

  1. Rooftoppers – Katherine Rundell.  After reading a review over at Did you ever stop to think and forget to start again?, and seeing the nomination list for the Guardian Children’s Prize, I snatched this book up off the library shelves.  Happily, it lived up to expectations, spinning a charming story that was a delight to read.
  2. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black.  I thought this was a fairly original spin on vampires and the teenage girls that love them, but then I’ve always had a soft spot for Holly Black’s work.
  3. Uncanny X-Men: Broken – Brian Michael Bendis, Frazier Irving & Chris Bachalo.  Nice art, pretty good storyline.
  4. Raised By Wolves – Jennifer Lynn Barnes.  A really interesting spin on werewolves in YA.  I’ve always enjoyed books that delve into pack dynamics, and this book does that and then challenges them.  Yay feminism!
  5. Shiver – Maggie Stiefvater.  A reread.  I had completely forgotten how mental the ‘cure’ was.
  6. Linger – Maggie Stiefvater.  I’ve had this since it came out so it was about time that I read the fecking thing.  Good, though not particularly original or memorable.  Cole grated on me hugely at first but he grew on me.
  7. Forever – Maggie Stiefvater.  See above.
  8. Every Day – David Levithan.  The most ridiculous thing soured this book for me – there’s a blurb on there by Patrick Ness (I think), saying that Every Day is wholly original.  Which is clearly bullshit.  You can tell just from the back cover that it’s Quantum Leap for teens.  Which, by the way, I have no problem with.  I mean, it’s Quantum Leap for teens done really, really well and dealing with all sorts of interesting issues in interesting ways, but come the fuck on Patrick Ness.

 

Read in May:

Read in May

  1. Delirium – Lauren Oliver.  This was a pick based on random clicking over at Fantastic Fiction and I ended up quite liking it.  In a future where love has been classified as a disease, a teenage girl fumbles her way to an awakening.  The thing I enjoyed the most about the book was the ending which was sparse and beautiful and inspiring.  What I didn’t know at the time, is that Delirium is the first part in a trilogy which disappoints me a little because it means that that wonderful ending will be hugely diluted.
  2. A Second Chance – Jodi Taylor.  The third volume in The Chronicles of St Mary’s and just as much of a rip-roaring ride as the first two.  To be honest, it’s not the most wonderfully written thing ever (though it’s far from the worst), but I just really enjoy these books.  They’re fun, and those twists and turns keep me turning pages frantically.
  3. Mister October, Volume 1 – Christopher Golden (ed.).  I’m not a huge horror reader.  I read a lot of supernatural and urban fantasy, a lot of which strays into the horror arena, but I can’t really name any horror books or authors that I’ve really enjoyed off the top of my head.  This collection had highs and lows but it kept me reading, so that’s always a good sign.
  4. 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death – David Lapham.  Blood-coated fun.  Not as creepy as the early stuff but still good.

024. Books, Glorious Books!

Posted on by Posted in Acquisitions, Completed Collections .

From the library:

From the Library

  1. An Officer and a Spy – Robert Harris.  Robert Harris is one of my favourite authors, and has been since I first picked up a copy of Enigma when it first came out.  I’m about two chapters into this and really enjoying it so far.
  2. The Italian Sausage Bible – Mary Contini.  Om nom nom!
  3. Steve Niles Omnibus – Steve Niles.  I’ve not read anything of Steve Niles’ outside of 30 Days of Night, so I’m quite looking forward to this although it looks like it’s of incredibly variable quality.  The joy of comics, eh!
  4. The Emperor of Paris – C.S. Richardson.  Picked this up after reading about it over at caffeinatedlife.net :)
  5. Miss Buncle’s Book – D.E. Stevenson.  Pretty sure I requested this after reading an online review too.  Not a fan of this cover but I absolutely love this one.
  6. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black.  The cover on this really appeals to me.  It’s simple but arresting.

 

Acquisitions:

Acquired

  1. Firespell – Chloe Neill.  A cast-off YA supernatural that looks fairly promising.
  2. Christmas Books – Charles Dickens.  A cast-off.
  3. A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings – Charles Dickens.  A cast-off that somehow contains some different stories from Christmas Books.
  4. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway.  A cast-off.
  5. The Story Girl – L.M. Montgomery.  Bought this one and somehow overlooked the fact that they also had a copy of Pat of Silverbush.  It’s pay day tomorrow so I’ll be heading back first thing.  Luckily, the bookshop is right next to one of the places where I work so it all works out quite nicely.
  6. Mr Knightley’s Diary – Amanda Grange.  A cast-off.  This has terrible reviews but, despite the fact that I hated Emma, I really do love Mr Knightley.
  7. Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse. A cast-off.
  8. Ashenden – W. Somerset Maugham.  A cast-off.  And one with a fabulously stylish cover.
  9. Star Trek: Terek Nor, Day of the Vipers – James Swallow.  Via Bookmooch.  I have the second and third parts of this trilogy for a while now.  Maybe now that I’ve finally completed it, I might read the damned things.
  10. Reckoning – Cate Tiernan.  Also via Bookmooch and also the completion of a series I’ve been picking up over time.  I bought the first book in the Wicca series not long after it was initially published in the UK (in 2002, I think) and to date it is the only one I have ever read.  I’ve been buying them in charity and second hand bookshops for years and now I finally have them all.  I’m quite daunted to read them after all this time.  I mean, what if they don’t live up to the effort I’ve put in? ;)
  11. Orbus – Neal Asher.  A cast-off.
  12. The Ladies of Grace Adieu – Susanna Clarke.  A cast-off.  One of these days I’ll get around to reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and then I’ll have this one to follow it up with!
  13. Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson.  Via Bookmooch and yet another completed collection.  These completed collections are making me happy, but I’m also coming to the realisation that I’m going to have to read all these books and that is a little less happy making, if only for time reasons.
  14. My Love Lies Bleeding  – Alyxandra Harvey.  A cast-off.
  15. The Perfect Hostess – Rose Henniker-Heaton.  A cast-off.  Because who doesn’t need a hosting manual from the 1930s?  It’ll go wonderfully with my copy of Everybody’s Complete Letter Writer for Ladies and Gentlemen!
  16. The Spellman Files – Lisa Lutz.  A cast-off.
  17. 500 Chili Recipes.  A cast-off.  I love chilli so I just want to hug this book to my chest with glee.
  18. Hadrian’s Wall – Derry Brabbs.  A cast-off, and a beautiful one at that.
  19. The Scottish Parliament – Charles Jencks.  A cast-off.

023. Read in February

Posted on by Posted in Read This Month .

Despite some weeks in February feeling interminably long, I’m still quite surprised that it’s over.  And look – I read things!

 

Read in February

 

  1. Hipster Hitler – James Carr and Archana Kumar.  This was a gift for my last birthday and I feel bad it’s taken me this long to get around to it.  Enjoyable pun-filled goodness.
  2. Wolverine: Sabretooth Reborn – Jeph Loeb & Simone Bianchi. Not amazing but not terrible either.
  3. Astonishing X-Men: Unmasked – Marjorie Liu & Gabriel H. Walta.  Glad to see Iceman getting some character development again.  But more Northstar, please!
  4. The Girl With All the Gifts – M.R. Carey.  As previously mentioned, I LOVED this.  Go read it immediately!
  5. X-Men: Primer – Brian Wood, Olivier Coipel & David Lopez.  See my last post for thoughts.
  6. Revival: You’re Among Friends – Tim Seeley & Mike Norton.  See my last post for thoughts.
  7. Revival: Live Like You Mean It – Tim Seeley & Mike Norton.  See my last post for thoughts.
  8. The Little Women Letters – Gabrielle Donnelly.  Although the characters in this never really rang true for me, I thought this was alright.  Nothing spectacular, but the letters from ‘Grandma Jo’ made it more than worthwhile.
  9. Deadpool: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, Scott Koblish & Declan Shalvey.  Yay for Deadpool!  Must play the game soon.