Books and comics read in November 2013
Sunday, 1 December 2013 17:36![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Framley Parsonage - Anthony Trollope
*Guardian of the Dead - Karen Healey
*Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore
*Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt
*Lord of the Shadows - Jennifer Fallon
*Doctor Who: Shada - Gareth Roberts
84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
Doctor Who: The Sleep of Reason - Martin Day
Sense and Sensibility (Marvel graphic novel adaptation)
*Pantomime - Laura Lam
*Avenging Spider-Man: The Good, the Green and the Ugly
*Consider the Fork: How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat - Bee Wilson
Guardian of the Dead
I am basically in love with all the choices this book made. ♥ I was excited to read it because it's set in New Zealand, and I read a lot of books set there when I was little (I had a great aunt who lived there and who had Correct Ideas about what sort of thing to send for presents...), so anything set there has this sort of strange/familiar feel to it that I love. Outside of that, the story was beautifully constructed - all about stories and their power - and the cast was excellently diverse (I'm not sure I've read anything with an asexual character in it before, but I may be forgetting something). I really liked that we got to see (skip) the aftermath of the earthquake and how Ellie dealt with it: that strikes me as unusual. It was also very strongly anti rape culture, not in an issue book way, but in an organic way: this is the sort of thing that comes up in Ellie's life and that she has to deal with. Which really fitted in with the theme of the power of the stories we tell. And finally, the characters were so great: I loved Ellie herself, of course, and also I adored Iris Tsang and all the unexpected stuff the book did with her.
Bitterblue
This book is SO GOOD. It's all about trauma, recovering and restoration, about living with the memory of past horror, and about how to decipher (literally, a lot of the time!) a monstrous past. And it's also about power and helplessness, responsibility and duty, and about balance: struggling to neither dwell on the past nor repress it, to see both the greater good and individual needs. I LOVED IT SO MUCH AND I WANT TO READ IT AGAIN.
Soon I Will Be Invincible
I was a bit suspicious of this superhero book at first, because it started with villain POV and I was afraid it would be really cynical, but I decided I trustedsilly_cleo (who lent it to me) enough to carry on and I'm glad I did, because it wasn't at all. Instead it was compassionate, affectionate and almost elegiac in places; I liked it very much. (And there was a decent number of women in the core team, always a plus!)
Lord of the Shadows
FINALLY I HAVE FINISHED THIS TRILOGY. I hated it it more and more as I went along, and yet I could NOT STOP READING IT. I disliked most of the characters (with some shining exceptions, HI JACINTA), the gender politics were terrible and the writing wasn't that great. Though to be fair to it, the idea of exploring how going undercover amongst the villains and trying to use their own methods to bring them down might affect you was interesting, it just unfortunately made for a rather dislikeable hero. And also on the positive side, the final line was excellent. In conclusion, don't read these books, but if you do, don't blame me when you can't stop.
Shada
Utterly delightful. Sticks fairly closely to the original scripts, especially at first, but tweaks and rewrites and adds things to make it a better, stronger story. ♥ Also packs in references to later stories, particularly the New Series (bunkbeds!). A joy to read!
Pantomime
I have been thinking for a while that I'd like to read a more interesting take on the "girl dresses up as boy to have adventures" trope, one which avoids the gender essentialism and heteronormativity of that thing where the designated boy lead falls in love with her because he can subconsciously see her essential girlness. AND HERE IT IS.:D This book plays with ideas of gender, sexuality and performance in a really interesting way. There were a few missteps here and there on both these and other fronts, but it's a first novel, and it attempts so much more than most books do that I'm inclined to forgive it some of its flaws (though the treatment of race was not great, I didn't think, and that's less forgiveable). Overall I found it a really absorbing read and was intrigued by the hints at the fantasy/possibly far future worldit was set in. A good debut: bring on the sequel!
Avenging Spider-Man: The Good, the Green and the Ugly
I got this Spider-Man team up book for Captain Marvel's debut, which was excellent, and I also really enjoy the She-Hulk team up that preceded it. Unfortunately the Deadpool team up was a bit of a dud: I enjoyed the snark and fourth wall breaking, but I hated the art (a horrible wobbly scratchy style like the post-reboot Batman Incorporated) and I was pretty uncomfortable with the inclusion of the Hypno-Hustler. :/
Consider the Fork
I enjoyed this history of food technology, particularly whenever it veered into talking about the interaction between new food technology and people cooking in their kitchens: how technology shaped cooking habits and vice versa. It was overall a bit rambling, but in an entertaining way.
*Guardian of the Dead - Karen Healey
*Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore
*Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt
*Lord of the Shadows - Jennifer Fallon
*Doctor Who: Shada - Gareth Roberts
84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
Doctor Who: The Sleep of Reason - Martin Day
Sense and Sensibility (Marvel graphic novel adaptation)
*Pantomime - Laura Lam
*Avenging Spider-Man: The Good, the Green and the Ugly
*Consider the Fork: How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat - Bee Wilson
Guardian of the Dead
I am basically in love with all the choices this book made. ♥ I was excited to read it because it's set in New Zealand, and I read a lot of books set there when I was little (I had a great aunt who lived there and who had Correct Ideas about what sort of thing to send for presents...), so anything set there has this sort of strange/familiar feel to it that I love. Outside of that, the story was beautifully constructed - all about stories and their power - and the cast was excellently diverse (I'm not sure I've read anything with an asexual character in it before, but I may be forgetting something). I really liked that we got to see (skip) the aftermath of the earthquake and how Ellie dealt with it: that strikes me as unusual. It was also very strongly anti rape culture, not in an issue book way, but in an organic way: this is the sort of thing that comes up in Ellie's life and that she has to deal with. Which really fitted in with the theme of the power of the stories we tell. And finally, the characters were so great: I loved Ellie herself, of course, and also I adored Iris Tsang and all the unexpected stuff the book did with her.
Bitterblue
This book is SO GOOD. It's all about trauma, recovering and restoration, about living with the memory of past horror, and about how to decipher (literally, a lot of the time!) a monstrous past. And it's also about power and helplessness, responsibility and duty, and about balance: struggling to neither dwell on the past nor repress it, to see both the greater good and individual needs. I LOVED IT SO MUCH AND I WANT TO READ IT AGAIN.
Soon I Will Be Invincible
I was a bit suspicious of this superhero book at first, because it started with villain POV and I was afraid it would be really cynical, but I decided I trusted
silly_cleo (who lent it to me) enough to carry on and I'm glad I did, because it wasn't at all. Instead it was compassionate, affectionate and almost elegiac in places; I liked it very much. (And there was a decent number of women in the core team, always a plus!)Lord of the Shadows
FINALLY I HAVE FINISHED THIS TRILOGY. I hated it it more and more as I went along, and yet I could NOT STOP READING IT. I disliked most of the characters (with some shining exceptions, HI JACINTA), the gender politics were terrible and the writing wasn't that great. Though to be fair to it, the idea of exploring how going undercover amongst the villains and trying to use their own methods to bring them down might affect you was interesting, it just unfortunately made for a rather dislikeable hero. And also on the positive side, the final line was excellent. In conclusion, don't read these books, but if you do, don't blame me when you can't stop.
Shada
Utterly delightful. Sticks fairly closely to the original scripts, especially at first, but tweaks and rewrites and adds things to make it a better, stronger story. ♥ Also packs in references to later stories, particularly the New Series (bunkbeds!). A joy to read!
Pantomime
I have been thinking for a while that I'd like to read a more interesting take on the "girl dresses up as boy to have adventures" trope, one which avoids the gender essentialism and heteronormativity of that thing where the designated boy lead falls in love with her because he can subconsciously see her essential girlness. AND HERE IT IS.:D This book plays with ideas of gender, sexuality and performance in a really interesting way. There were a few missteps here and there on both these and other fronts, but it's a first novel, and it attempts so much more than most books do that I'm inclined to forgive it some of its flaws (though the treatment of race was not great, I didn't think, and that's less forgiveable). Overall I found it a really absorbing read and was intrigued by the hints at the fantasy/possibly far future worldit was set in. A good debut: bring on the sequel!
Avenging Spider-Man: The Good, the Green and the Ugly
I got this Spider-Man team up book for Captain Marvel's debut, which was excellent, and I also really enjoy the She-Hulk team up that preceded it. Unfortunately the Deadpool team up was a bit of a dud: I enjoyed the snark and fourth wall breaking, but I hated the art (a horrible wobbly scratchy style like the post-reboot Batman Incorporated) and I was pretty uncomfortable with the inclusion of the Hypno-Hustler. :/
Consider the Fork
I enjoyed this history of food technology, particularly whenever it veered into talking about the interaction between new food technology and people cooking in their kitchens: how technology shaped cooking habits and vice versa. It was overall a bit rambling, but in an entertaining way.