Books and comics read in May 2015
Monday, 1 June 2015 09:28![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Batman: Gotham By Gaslight
Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: Indians in Britain 1700-1947 - Rozina Visram
*Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter - Pamela Cox and Annabel Hobley
*Family Secrets: Living With Shame from the Victorian Era to the Present Day - Deborah Cohen
Black Widow: The Tightly Tangled Web
Original Sin: Thor and Loki: The Tenth Realm
The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch
Heroes for Hire: Control
Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest
New Avengers: Breakout
Storm: Bring the Thunder
Truth: Red, White and Black
She-Hulk: Time Trials
The Last Camel Died At Noon - Elizabeth Peters
Heroes For Hire: Ahead of the Curve
*New X-Men: Academy X: Choosing Sides
*New X-Men: Academy X: Haunted
*New X-Men: Hellions
*New X-Men: Academy X: X-Posed
*New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 1
*New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 2: Crusade
The City of Silk and Steel - Mike Carey, Linda Carey and Louise Carey
*Phonogram: Rue Britannia
*Star Trek: The Crimson Shadow - Una McCormack
Posse of Princess - Sherwood Smith
She-Hulk: Laws of Attraction
The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters
(Another month of Marvel Unlimited! Though I read all the stuff I was really excited about last time I signed up, so most of this fell on a spectrum from "this was fine" to "this didn't quite annoy me enough to make me stop reading it", Truth: Red, White and Black being the honourable exception.)
Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter
Somewhat slight but very entertaining history of shops and shopgirls. I wanted more analysis of the gendering of shopwork (there was a brief mention of the idea of emotional labour that wasn't followed up on), but that wasn't really what the book was trying to do.
Family Secrets: Living With Shame from the Victorian Era to the Present Day
Interestingly nuanced exploration of ideas of privacy and secrecy, and different levels of privacy and secrecy (individual/family/everyone). I had a few caveats with it - the chapter on disability constantly referred to "idiot/imbecile children", and while I assume the author was trying to be faithful to the terminology that would have been used at the time, I really felt like that choice needed to be made explicit and probably discussed a little; I was also a little sad that the chapter on queerness was exclusively about men, though at least this choice was justified, with the author explaining that the way queer women were both less visible (due to the lack of awareness that women might desire other women) and more able to live openly (due to the acceptability of close female friendship) didn't really fit with the ideas she was trying to explore as a whole. Those aside, this was very good: I was particularly intrigued by the history of divorce, and the way that I could see Victorian society trying to pin down what divorce was for and when it was acceptable through the law courts.
New X-Men: Academy X: Choosing Sides, New X-Men: Academy X: Haunted, New X-Men: Hellions, New X-Men: Academy X: X-Posed, New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 1, New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 2: Crusade
I enjoyed most of this run a lot, het romance drama aside. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but if you're looking for a comic about x-teens going to x-school and having x-shenanigans, it's definitely worth a read. I was also pleased to see a few characters I'm fond of turn up, like Dani, Shan and Prodigy. Sadly after X-posed it took a turn for the worse: I wasn't really a fan of the House of M volume (not listed here because it wasn't all on Marvel Unlimited and thus I haven't technically finished it), for a start - it had some nice moments, but I knew it was going to get undone, so it felt pretty pointless, and it really failed to justify why Sooraya in particular was so out of character. :/ And then the post M-Day stuff - Emma Frost out of character, gratuitous deaths, ugh. Possibly it picked up again later, but I noped out after the second volume of Childhood's End, so I don't know.
Phonogram: Rue Britannia
My main issue with this was that I completely loathed the protagonist. D: I mean, he got better, but still. I thought this set up a really interesting world and then kind of failed to do anything much with it, which was a shame. It did get points though for the Bristol set stuff at the beginning, and also the slightly vertigo-inducing moment where it mentioned Ash, a band I really loved for about five minutes in the early 2000s but had since completely forgotten the existence of. But overall, I wanted to read about basically anything else that was going on in this world EXCEPT what the protagonist was up to. :/ Fingers crossed volume two will give me that.
Star Trek: The Crimson Shadow
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. It's full of awesome stuff about rebuilding, and dealing with past deeds. And also so much amazing Garak stuff (especially his relationship with Parmak *hearteyes*), and so many women. Ugh, I am having trouble expressing in words how great this book is, but if you liked DS9 at all you should definitely read it. I didn't previously care that much about Cardassians and Cardassian society, but Una McCormack (in this book and also in The Neverending Sacrifice and her Worlds of Deep Space Nine novella, both also highly recommended) is so great at communicating how much she cares, and making them seem so interesting, that now I really do.
Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: Indians in Britain 1700-1947 - Rozina Visram
*Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter - Pamela Cox and Annabel Hobley
*Family Secrets: Living With Shame from the Victorian Era to the Present Day - Deborah Cohen
Black Widow: The Tightly Tangled Web
Original Sin: Thor and Loki: The Tenth Realm
The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch
Heroes for Hire: Control
Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest
New Avengers: Breakout
Storm: Bring the Thunder
Truth: Red, White and Black
She-Hulk: Time Trials
The Last Camel Died At Noon - Elizabeth Peters
Heroes For Hire: Ahead of the Curve
*New X-Men: Academy X: Choosing Sides
*New X-Men: Academy X: Haunted
*New X-Men: Hellions
*New X-Men: Academy X: X-Posed
*New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 1
*New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 2: Crusade
The City of Silk and Steel - Mike Carey, Linda Carey and Louise Carey
*Phonogram: Rue Britannia
*Star Trek: The Crimson Shadow - Una McCormack
Posse of Princess - Sherwood Smith
She-Hulk: Laws of Attraction
The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters
(Another month of Marvel Unlimited! Though I read all the stuff I was really excited about last time I signed up, so most of this fell on a spectrum from "this was fine" to "this didn't quite annoy me enough to make me stop reading it", Truth: Red, White and Black being the honourable exception.)
Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter
Somewhat slight but very entertaining history of shops and shopgirls. I wanted more analysis of the gendering of shopwork (there was a brief mention of the idea of emotional labour that wasn't followed up on), but that wasn't really what the book was trying to do.
Family Secrets: Living With Shame from the Victorian Era to the Present Day
Interestingly nuanced exploration of ideas of privacy and secrecy, and different levels of privacy and secrecy (individual/family/everyone). I had a few caveats with it - the chapter on disability constantly referred to "idiot/imbecile children", and while I assume the author was trying to be faithful to the terminology that would have been used at the time, I really felt like that choice needed to be made explicit and probably discussed a little; I was also a little sad that the chapter on queerness was exclusively about men, though at least this choice was justified, with the author explaining that the way queer women were both less visible (due to the lack of awareness that women might desire other women) and more able to live openly (due to the acceptability of close female friendship) didn't really fit with the ideas she was trying to explore as a whole. Those aside, this was very good: I was particularly intrigued by the history of divorce, and the way that I could see Victorian society trying to pin down what divorce was for and when it was acceptable through the law courts.
New X-Men: Academy X: Choosing Sides, New X-Men: Academy X: Haunted, New X-Men: Hellions, New X-Men: Academy X: X-Posed, New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 1, New X-Men: Childhood's End, Vol 2: Crusade
I enjoyed most of this run a lot, het romance drama aside. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but if you're looking for a comic about x-teens going to x-school and having x-shenanigans, it's definitely worth a read. I was also pleased to see a few characters I'm fond of turn up, like Dani, Shan and Prodigy. Sadly after X-posed it took a turn for the worse: I wasn't really a fan of the House of M volume (not listed here because it wasn't all on Marvel Unlimited and thus I haven't technically finished it), for a start - it had some nice moments, but I knew it was going to get undone, so it felt pretty pointless, and it really failed to justify why Sooraya in particular was so out of character. :/ And then the post M-Day stuff - Emma Frost out of character, gratuitous deaths, ugh. Possibly it picked up again later, but I noped out after the second volume of Childhood's End, so I don't know.
Phonogram: Rue Britannia
My main issue with this was that I completely loathed the protagonist. D: I mean, he got better, but still. I thought this set up a really interesting world and then kind of failed to do anything much with it, which was a shame. It did get points though for the Bristol set stuff at the beginning, and also the slightly vertigo-inducing moment where it mentioned Ash, a band I really loved for about five minutes in the early 2000s but had since completely forgotten the existence of. But overall, I wanted to read about basically anything else that was going on in this world EXCEPT what the protagonist was up to. :/ Fingers crossed volume two will give me that.
Star Trek: The Crimson Shadow
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. It's full of awesome stuff about rebuilding, and dealing with past deeds. And also so much amazing Garak stuff (especially his relationship with Parmak *hearteyes*), and so many women. Ugh, I am having trouble expressing in words how great this book is, but if you liked DS9 at all you should definitely read it. I didn't previously care that much about Cardassians and Cardassian society, but Una McCormack (in this book and also in The Neverending Sacrifice and her Worlds of Deep Space Nine novella, both also highly recommended) is so great at communicating how much she cares, and making them seem so interesting, that now I really do.
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Date: 1 Jun 2015 09:08 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2015 09:21 (UTC)no subject
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Date: 1 Jun 2015 14:50 (UTC)no subject
Date: 1 Jun 2015 15:00 (UTC)Fiction-wise - Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series (8 books so far, beginning with The Last Kingdom). Heavy on the fighting and masculine tropes, BUT there are some interesting women in there, and the protagonist is half Saxon, half Dane - which makes him thoroughly fascinating!
Non-fiction-wise - the book that started my sudden obsession was The King in the North by Max Adams; Ceawlin, the Man who created England by Rupert Matthews; Britain After Rome, the Fall and Rise, 400-1070 by Robin Fleming; Women in the Middle Ages by F. & J. Gies; and Medieval Women, A Social History of Women in England, 450-1500 by Leyser, Henrietta. I've got others on my TBR pile, but those are the ones I've started reading. Robin Fleming's book's probably the most comprehensive general history of the period.
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Date: 1 Jun 2015 15:05 (UTC)I really liked Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy when I read it about a million years ago, but never thought to try any of his other books... /o\
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Date: 1 Jun 2015 15:09 (UTC)I'd never read anything of BC's before (nor even seen an ep of Sharpe), but I'm enjoying this series despite its overt masculinity.
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Date: 1 Jun 2015 15:15 (UTC)no subject
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Date: 8 Jun 2015 07:49 (UTC)I've been on holiday and thought I would read lots of comics (I actually only ended up taking She Hulk 2 and Sex Criminals 2) but then got super into my novel book and didn't touch them! Ooops.
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Date: 11 Jun 2015 14:52 (UTC)Hee, always the way! What was the book? And did you have a good holiday?
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Date: 11 Jun 2015 15:21 (UTC)Book was The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood. It was almost perfect. And yes, holiday was lovely thank you. I can write here because no one involved will ever read this, but it actually was really frustrating as I went with my ex (it was booked ages ago) and spent the entire time wishing I was with my new partner who I am ABSOLUTELY BESOTTED WITH. (Hence the lack of reading time.)
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Date: 12 Jun 2015 12:03 (UTC)I really need to reread The Robber Bride - I read it when I was 17 and really couldn't get into it, but I've loved her other books and heard so many good things about it that I think I must have just read it at the wrong time. And oh no! Glad you at least had a good book to read... /o\
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Date: 16 Jun 2015 13:31 (UTC)I found one of the characters in Robber Bride super awesome in a strongly identify with way. Had to try really hard to not just speed along to her bits. I was going to ask if you'd read The handmaid's Tale as that's probably my favourite so far, but Goodreads say yes you have! In 2001 though.
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Date: 17 Jun 2015 11:45 (UTC)Yep, I read it at school! (Though not FOR school, I don't think.) I definitely liked it, hence reading The Robber Bride, but I think I could probably stand to reread it; I'm pretty sure I'd get more out of it now. I really loved The Blind Assassin when I read it... I was going to say a couple of years ago, but apparently it was in 2011? So I definitely recommend that one if you haven't read it already!