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Book Recs/Comic Recs, 11/19/08
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 07:51 pmIn Books:
Emma & Me: There's an amazing twist ending to this, and I'm really fixated on that right now, and the fact that I called it before it was revealed. Since I don't want to give the twist away, suffice it to say that there's a bittersweet story here about growing up and moving through grief. Quite well-written, even if I never did get a handle on the exact time period of the story. A good book group read, although it may hit some people's squick buttons pretty hard.
Queen Geeks Social Club: I enjoyed this, but I did find it highly ironic that a book that wore its feminist heart on its sleeve so prominently ended up being mainly about finding a boy, and how that made everything right for the main character. I wanted more geek in this story, and a little less teen romance. Because a book like this, with the premise that two geeky girls (one with a mad scientist father, the other with an absent artist mother) could change their own lives and the lives of other girls at their school through performance art and shared geekdom should be an AWESOME book. Instead... it was cute. It was passable. But it wasn't the type of book I would have craved when I was that age, and a geek outcast. I wanted books then that promised things would get better because I could depend on myself and my geekiness was cause for celebration, not books that promised my life would be better if I just had the cute but annoying boy following me around become my boyfriend.
Goblin Quest: This book harkens back to the old D&D dungeon crawl game scenario, but flops the story around to have the readers sympathize with the goblin and not the adventurers. And what fun that is! Jig, the goblin hero, is brave and resourceful (in spite of his goblin nature), and thePCs heroes are whiney, greedy, and unpleasant. I could just imagine the character sheets that went along with these characters, and I really would have loved to play in that game (not as a hero, though.) This was a great book club read.
In Comics:
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (Vol. 1): For whatever reason, I keep forgetting that Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, and every time I pick up a book of his, I think, what a boring name. He must be some average guy. What I really should be thinking is, prepare yourself for one hell of a disturbing but gripping story. Heart-Shaped Box messed with me a lot, but not like this book did. I think what really nails the horror for me in this story is the combination of supernatural and banal evil that Hill spins through the narrative--people are capable of doing terrible things, but their motives are never clear and may simply be petty, or something bigger, spurred by worse entities than the human heart. The monster of this story (whose origin is as yet unclear) remained fairly unconvincing for me until one particular panel, when Gabriel Rodriguez's deceptively simple and art turned horrifically alive, and oh, heavens, did I regret reading that close to bedtime. The characters in this story make the whole thing worth it, despite the scare. Recommended, but with the caveat that you should read it well during daylight.
Token: Ugh, so disappointing. So the Minx line ends with a whimper, not a bang. There were so many reasons I wanted to like this book, but the main character was whiney, the other characters cliched and dull. The artwork was nice in several places, but didn't make me want to run out and buy more by the same artist.
Emma & Me: There's an amazing twist ending to this, and I'm really fixated on that right now, and the fact that I called it before it was revealed. Since I don't want to give the twist away, suffice it to say that there's a bittersweet story here about growing up and moving through grief. Quite well-written, even if I never did get a handle on the exact time period of the story. A good book group read, although it may hit some people's squick buttons pretty hard.
Queen Geeks Social Club: I enjoyed this, but I did find it highly ironic that a book that wore its feminist heart on its sleeve so prominently ended up being mainly about finding a boy, and how that made everything right for the main character. I wanted more geek in this story, and a little less teen romance. Because a book like this, with the premise that two geeky girls (one with a mad scientist father, the other with an absent artist mother) could change their own lives and the lives of other girls at their school through performance art and shared geekdom should be an AWESOME book. Instead... it was cute. It was passable. But it wasn't the type of book I would have craved when I was that age, and a geek outcast. I wanted books then that promised things would get better because I could depend on myself and my geekiness was cause for celebration, not books that promised my life would be better if I just had the cute but annoying boy following me around become my boyfriend.
Goblin Quest: This book harkens back to the old D&D dungeon crawl game scenario, but flops the story around to have the readers sympathize with the goblin and not the adventurers. And what fun that is! Jig, the goblin hero, is brave and resourceful (in spite of his goblin nature), and the
In Comics:
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (Vol. 1): For whatever reason, I keep forgetting that Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, and every time I pick up a book of his, I think, what a boring name. He must be some average guy. What I really should be thinking is, prepare yourself for one hell of a disturbing but gripping story. Heart-Shaped Box messed with me a lot, but not like this book did. I think what really nails the horror for me in this story is the combination of supernatural and banal evil that Hill spins through the narrative--people are capable of doing terrible things, but their motives are never clear and may simply be petty, or something bigger, spurred by worse entities than the human heart. The monster of this story (whose origin is as yet unclear) remained fairly unconvincing for me until one particular panel, when Gabriel Rodriguez's deceptively simple and art turned horrifically alive, and oh, heavens, did I regret reading that close to bedtime. The characters in this story make the whole thing worth it, despite the scare. Recommended, but with the caveat that you should read it well during daylight.
Token: Ugh, so disappointing. So the Minx line ends with a whimper, not a bang. There were so many reasons I wanted to like this book, but the main character was whiney, the other characters cliched and dull. The artwork was nice in several places, but didn't make me want to run out and buy more by the same artist.
