I’ve been very, very restrained this week, which I suppose makes up for other weeks! Just one ARC, The Killing Kind, and one issue of a comic.
See, Mum? Lisa? This is proof I am starving for lack of books.
Don’t look at me like that.
This week’s theme is books you’d like to see as movies/tv shows. The proviso here is that I would want appropriate casting, e.g. not a white man for Ged or Patriot.
Gaah, gimme them. Nowww.
Another week where I’ve been a bit naughty! I have just adjusted my book budget to take other stuff into account, though, so I had the leeway. Thankfully. I hate failing at any challenge! But first…
For review
It was listed as just a preview excerpt, but what I downloaded seems to be the full file. I am immensely excited about this one. My review of The Just City is actually (finally) going live on Monday!
Bought
A friend bought me An Ember in the Ashes to comfort me about the election results! A couple of the others were on sale on Amazon or something like that. Aside from Sabaa Tahir’s book, they’re all paperbacks; for some reason I’m not really in the mood to read on my ereader at the moment, much as I love my Kobo.
Library
I got a couple of others, but I’ve featured them here before; I just grabbed ’em from the local library while I’m visiting my parents, to reduce the amount of books I had to haul across the country!
Comics
Yay so many comics! Boo that my pull list is now costing me £10 some weeks. Whoops.
Batgirl: Death of the Family, Gail Simone, Daniel Sampere
There’s a lot of individual elements I like in this book — Barbara’s bravery, her struggles with her anger at the people who put her in a wheelchair, her sheer ferocious intelligence (and yet she spends so much time punching her way through problems, sigh), some of the family issues that are brought up… But where it ties in with the other Batfamily books, it feels clumsy. I don’t know what’s going on with Damien, with Nightwing, etc. Nor do I really get chance to care, since it’s all a whirlwind of action.
The art is good, expressive, etc, but ye gods, I forgot how dark DC comics can be. Grit, grit, and more grit.
I do like Alysia’s coming out; I like the casual way Barbara takes it, and yet how important the moment still feels.
Rating: 3/5
Up until Friday and the UK election results, I was being good. Then I bought myself a couple of books as self-comfort… At least it’s books, not chocolate?
Bought
Thorn I got using a promotional voucher thing; Atlanta Burns was in a deal. Finnikin of the Rock and The Bards of Bone Plain were my naughtiness; my mother bought me After the Golden Age so I can reread it before Dreams of the Golden Age (which I’m still waiting for, but which should arrive soon). Then there’s a preorder of The Wrath and the Dawn because, uh, obviously.
Library
I pretty much behaved myself with the library, though!
Comics
Last issue of Operation S.I.N. Which means it really is time for me to read it, for the awesome of Peggy Carter. (And, uh, I should watch Agent Carter. And Daredevil. Oh god.)
So yeah, a good haul for me! How’s everyone else been doing this week?
Ms Marvel: Generation Why, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jake Wyatt
I liked this more than the first volume. It felt less like it was setting the scene, and it got down to the important stuff: superhero team-ups, more self-discovery, bigger plots, etc, etc. Kamala teams up with Wolverine and (separately) Lockjaw, sent by Queen Medusa of the Inhumans to guide her somewhat. I loved the interactions with Wolverine — fangirly, cute, funny, but also serious. He’s her mentor, teaches her some important things about her powers and how to live with them, and he relies on her to help him, even to do the bulk of the fighting.
There’s still some background with Kamala’s family, but less so. It’s reduced from being the main issue to being part of the flavour of it, so that her family saying (for example) that Lockjaw is a dog and therefore impure is just… part of who Kamala is. I liked her interactions with the leader from the mosque, too: he’s a mentor figure as well, in a way.
The art is all great. I especially liked the first few issues collected here — you’ve gotta love the scene where she jumps down into the water flailing her arms and trying to shrink as fast as possible — but all of it is awesome. And there’s no gratuitous anything, either: this ain’t the black leotarded Ms Marvel, for sure.
Rating: 5/5
Is it Saturday again already? Whoa. I’ve been catching up on blog stuff all this week, thanks to the readathon — which is not a complaint.
Review copies
I have finally got round to writing a review of The Buried Life, which will be up soon; Cities and Thrones is the sequel. You can still check out Carrie’s post here from her blog tour for The Buried Life, too! I got The Eye of Strife via LibraryThing; I’ve been meaning to read Dave Duncan for ages, so this should be interesting.
Won
I’ve been interested in Sword for a while, so I picked it as my win in one of the readathon giveaways. <3 Dreams of the Golden Age was my pick for another win; that hasn’t arrived yet, which is probably good, because I need to reread After the Golden Age, and I think my partner has my copy.
Library
Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Drowning City are both rereads, to get me back up to speed for the next book in the series/trilogy. Crown of Midnight is obvious, since I just read Throne of Glass (but I’m sorry, I just don’t love it as much as some of you guys seem to). I have The Deadly Sisterhood somewhere, but goodness knows where. And I just like Susanna Kearsley.
Bought
Quite a contrast there between the covers, heh. I reaaally need to actually read the issues of Silk I have… I’ve been tearing through Kowal’s series lately, just in time for this last book. I’m excited!
Audiobooks
I usually prefer to listen to audiobooks I’ve already read for myself, hence Among Others and Rivers of London (the latter of which I’d like to refresh my memory on anyway); Epigenetics: How Environment Shapes Our Genes is a new one for me, which I couldn’t really resist because epigenetics! Non-fiction! Science!
How’s everyone else been doing? Behaving yourselves?
Good morning, folks! After a busy couple of weeks, I’ve been good this time. I had one library trip, and didn’t buy anything for myself when I went shopping. (Unless you count accessories for my Captain America teddy bear. Shush.)
Library books
Yes, you can clearly see what I’m in the mood for at the moment!
Aaaand comics. Two single issues, and the TPB of Ms Marvel, which my sister bought me. <3
Comics
What’s everyone else been getting?
Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More, Kelly Sue DeConnick, David Lopez
It’s no secret that I love Captain Marvel, so it’s probably not a surprise that I adored this, too. I love Carol and her stubborn determination to do what’s right, and the fact that she tries to do things that Captain America would approve of. I love her relationship with Rhodey (“I’m never gonna be the one who holds you down”!) and his acceptance of what she needs to do. I love the fact that she takes her cat into space with her, and I love her dumb banter in a fight.
I liked that this ties in with Guardians of the Galaxy, too — not in too obtrusive a way; you only need to know a couple of basic facts about the Guardians, mostly about Peter Quill and his father — so that we’ve got a sense of a whole universe, not just Earth’s problems.
Lopez isn’t my favourite artist for Captain Marvel, but the art is pretty good: clear, expressive, colourful.
Also, gotta love the casual queerness.
Rating: 4/5
A somewhat acquisitive week for me! But at least I’m keeping from requesting loads of ARCs, given I have a challenge to meet that means reading 55 of them already… (Yes, that’s not even all my backlog. Just 30% of it. I am awful.)
Bought
The first three, well, I planned to get them anyway, since I’m enjoying both series. The Tanya Huff I’ve been eyeing for ages. And One Night in Sixes is a bookclub read, if I recall rightly.
Comics
Looks like a tie-in event for Captain Marvel? Might not be so fond of that… And I am getting tired of seeing Carol looking terrified/helpless on covers. Spider-woman looks fun, though.
How’s everyone else doing? Up to anything interesting?
