Books and comics read in April 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015 14:11![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Demon Knights: The Gathering Storm
Avengers Assemble: The Forgeries of Jealousy*
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
Lady Susan/The Watsons/Sanditon - Jane Austen
Men At Arms - Terry Pratchett
Elektra: Reverence
Stray Souls - Kate Griffin
Guardians of the Galaxy: Angela
Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First Century City - Anna Minton*
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back*
Death and the Maidens: Fanny Wollstonecraft and the Shelley Circle - Janet Todd
Not Ordinarily Borrowable, or Unwelcome Advice - Thomas Thurman*
Ruin and Rising - Leigh Bardugo
Superman: Up, Up and Away*
Secret Avengers: Let's Have A Problem
The Darkest Part of the Forest - Holly Black*
The Woken Gods - Gwenda Bond
Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie
Avengers Assemble: The Forgeries of Jealousy
Featuring ANYA CORAZON (aka Spider-Girl) teaming up with and being mentored by and snarking at a whole selection of Avengers, YES GOOD. :D
Ground Control
Well written and accessible polemic on urban planning and its effects on people. Covers things like the increasing privatisation and consumerisation of public space, how the housing crisis has been exacerbated by things like the Pathfinder programme and Right to Buy, and how the Respect agenda and ASBOs have resulted in the increasing stigmatisation and disenfranchisement of young people.
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back
Slightly muddled, but still pretty fun. I really liked both the art and the writing, I just wish that Pixie and the other girls (X-23, Mercury, Blindfold, Armor) had actually done more, rather than being victims for so much of the story.
Not Ordinarily Borrowable
Truly delightful little story about a young scholar named Maria who, on finding that a dragon has been to the library and borrowed all the books she needs for her research, climbs on her bicycle and sets out to find him and ask for them back. I enjoyed it very much indeed.
Superman: Up, Up and Away
Superman is a character that I tend to like more in theory than in practice, but sometimes I read a comic that makes me like him as much as I want to. This one, set a year after Infinite Crisis, with Superman having lost his powers because reasons, managed it on page four, where Clark and Lois are watching a film about Superman that ends with a message to him from the people of Metropolis: "wherever he is, we wish him well". ♥ ♥ ♥ (Lois, of course, is busy making sarcastic comments about the film's many factual inaccuracies, because she is the best.) The rest of the comic wasn't quite as great, but I nevertheless really enjoyed it.
Secret Avengers: Let's Have A Problem
I've bounced off a few volumes of Secret Avengers, but I'd heard such good things about the Ales Kot run, which starts here, that I decided to give it another try and I'm so glad I did. It even made me not hate Coulson! (I think it was the matching "Nick's best friend"/"Phil's best friend" captions on him and Nick Fury at the beginning of one of the issues that did it.) I really loved how well it conveyed the sense that all the characters knew and were familiar with each other, that they'd worked together and/or been friends or lovers or whatever. Tonewise it was exactly the mix of funny and serious that I like. ALSO NATASHA/JESS DREW FOREVER. Natasha took her out for ice cream and massages and weapons training! "I'm not sure I'm ready for this," said Jess as they headed into space for a mission. "Darling, you are ready for so many fabulous things," replied Natasha. ♥_♥
The Darkest Part of the Forest
This book was an excellent read and gave me so many things I love. A lady knight! Queer romance! Fantasy and everyday elements intermingling! (The only thing it was a little lacking in was female friendship.) Well done, book. I don't know if Holly Black's planning a sequel, but I really hope so, because the status quo we were left with at the end of the book was one I would love to see more of.
Avengers Assemble: The Forgeries of Jealousy*
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
Lady Susan/The Watsons/Sanditon - Jane Austen
Men At Arms - Terry Pratchett
Elektra: Reverence
Stray Souls - Kate Griffin
Guardians of the Galaxy: Angela
Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First Century City - Anna Minton*
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back*
Death and the Maidens: Fanny Wollstonecraft and the Shelley Circle - Janet Todd
Not Ordinarily Borrowable, or Unwelcome Advice - Thomas Thurman*
Ruin and Rising - Leigh Bardugo
Superman: Up, Up and Away*
Secret Avengers: Let's Have A Problem
The Darkest Part of the Forest - Holly Black*
The Woken Gods - Gwenda Bond
Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie
Avengers Assemble: The Forgeries of Jealousy
Featuring ANYA CORAZON (aka Spider-Girl) teaming up with and being mentored by and snarking at a whole selection of Avengers, YES GOOD. :D
Ground Control
Well written and accessible polemic on urban planning and its effects on people. Covers things like the increasing privatisation and consumerisation of public space, how the housing crisis has been exacerbated by things like the Pathfinder programme and Right to Buy, and how the Respect agenda and ASBOs have resulted in the increasing stigmatisation and disenfranchisement of young people.
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back
Slightly muddled, but still pretty fun. I really liked both the art and the writing, I just wish that Pixie and the other girls (X-23, Mercury, Blindfold, Armor) had actually done more, rather than being victims for so much of the story.
Not Ordinarily Borrowable
Truly delightful little story about a young scholar named Maria who, on finding that a dragon has been to the library and borrowed all the books she needs for her research, climbs on her bicycle and sets out to find him and ask for them back. I enjoyed it very much indeed.
Superman: Up, Up and Away
Superman is a character that I tend to like more in theory than in practice, but sometimes I read a comic that makes me like him as much as I want to. This one, set a year after Infinite Crisis, with Superman having lost his powers because reasons, managed it on page four, where Clark and Lois are watching a film about Superman that ends with a message to him from the people of Metropolis: "wherever he is, we wish him well". ♥ ♥ ♥ (Lois, of course, is busy making sarcastic comments about the film's many factual inaccuracies, because she is the best.) The rest of the comic wasn't quite as great, but I nevertheless really enjoyed it.
Secret Avengers: Let's Have A Problem
I've bounced off a few volumes of Secret Avengers, but I'd heard such good things about the Ales Kot run, which starts here, that I decided to give it another try and I'm so glad I did. It even made me not hate Coulson! (I think it was the matching "Nick's best friend"/"Phil's best friend" captions on him and Nick Fury at the beginning of one of the issues that did it.) I really loved how well it conveyed the sense that all the characters knew and were familiar with each other, that they'd worked together and/or been friends or lovers or whatever. Tonewise it was exactly the mix of funny and serious that I like. ALSO NATASHA/JESS DREW FOREVER. Natasha took her out for ice cream and massages and weapons training! "I'm not sure I'm ready for this," said Jess as they headed into space for a mission. "Darling, you are ready for so many fabulous things," replied Natasha. ♥_♥
The Darkest Part of the Forest
This book was an excellent read and gave me so many things I love. A lady knight! Queer romance! Fantasy and everyday elements intermingling! (The only thing it was a little lacking in was female friendship.) Well done, book. I don't know if Holly Black's planning a sequel, but I really hope so, because the status quo we were left with at the end of the book was one I would love to see more of.