sophia_sol | Entries tagged with book theme: comics/graphic novel/manga

This is a short little comic-book memoir about the author's experiences of love and arranged marriage in the context of her Muslim family and community. It's funny and sweet, but very light-weight and surface-level, just skimming over everything that happens. I can see what it's going for: writing a story that normalizes her experiences of how relationships are handled in her community. Which is great! But it all flies by so fast that there's no real feeling of weight to anything she talks about. A fun enough read but not a book that is likely to stick with me.

The last Squirrel Girl :((((( What a gift this series has been. And honestly if it has to end I'm glad it could end with intentionality instead of just withering away. The specific story being told by this volume doesn't excite me as much as some, but it was still a delightful read, and I am so glad that the series ends by affirming the primary importance of the friendship between Doreen and Nancy. I love them so much.

Yay more squirrel girl! This one featuring SKRULLS and the incredible notion that not everyone of a specific species is in fact naturally evil! This one's less funny than some but continues to be A+ content.

Squirrel Girl continues to be the actual best!

The first issue in this volume is a self-contained story about time travel and I ADORED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. Also this is the second time now that The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl has told a time travel story involving Doreen and Nancy's elderly selves being each other's Most Important Person and I am so here for it.

The rest of the volume covers Squirrel Girl's part in some title-spanning Marvel Comics event, and like, whatever about the event, but the Squirrel Girl story was charming. I loved the stuff about Ratatoskr and Doreen's team-up, and Loki's presence is always a delight. And the whales' reactions to Rachel!! Amazing.

Roller Girl, by Victoria Jamieson

A charming middle-grade graphic novel about the travails of managing friendships as a preteen, as the main character Astrid discovers the joys of roller derby. I loved the way all Astrid's various relationships were portrayed in the book - her friendships, her mom, her mentor/role model Rainbow Bite, the coaches of the roller derby summer camp, etc. A fun short read.

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, by Kelly Jones, illustrations by Katie Kath

A lovely, engaging novel for kids, about the difficulties in starting life afresh when your family moves to a new place, the excitement of discovering things to love about farm life, the sadness of missing family members who have passed on, the importance of community, and of course, chickens with superpowers. There are also illustrations throughout which add a lot to experience of the story. I don't have a lot to say about this book, but it's good stuff. Thanks to

rachelmanija's review of this book for letting me know of its existence!

The person who’s been the artist for all of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl up to this point left after the last volume, and someone new started here. I miss Erica’s art so much! The new person is good too, much better than I was fearing when I heard there’d be a replacement artist, but nobody can live up to Erica Henderson.

But that aside, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl continues to be a TOTAL DELIGHT. God I love this comic. In this volume: escape rooms! the nature of personal growth and redemption! friendship! the best ever sense of humour! LOVE IT.

(Also a brief mention of Squirrel Girl’s childhood friendship with Ana Sofia* which I am SUPER PUMPED ABOUT and I just want Doreen and Ana Sofia to STILL BE FRIENDS AND PART OF EACH OTHER’S LIVES, one small mention merely WHETS MY APPETITE FOR MORE)

*Ana Sofia is Doreen’s best friend from the middle-grade novels about Squirrel Girl by Shannon and Dean Hale.

I recently caught up on Squirrel Girl trades that are out so far! Which means I've now read volumes 6, 7, and 8 and am up to the equivalent of issue #32.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 6: Who Run the World? Squirrels, by Ryan North

( Read more... )

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 7: I've Been Waiting For A Squirrel Like You, by Ryan North

( Read more... )

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 8: My Best Friend's Squirrel, by Ryan North

( Read more... )

Back in the days after I'd started keeping a list of all the books I read each year but BEFORE I started posting reviews of them, I kept desultory personal notes (ranging from a single word to quite a few paragraphs) on some of the books. And I always vaguely forget I have, and forget where exactly to find them, and I'd like to just have them on my dw so they're FINDABLE again for me. And also some of you might find these interesting/amusing? (N.B. some of these contain what I would now classify as INCORRECT OPINIONS.)

SO HERE'S THREE YEARS' WORTH OF BOOKS IN ONE POST, OKAY GO.

( expand this cut to see nested cuts listing all the books )

Alison Bechdel's second comic memoir. Her first was Fun Home and was about her father and her relationship with him. This one does the same with her mother.

I wasn't nearly so into this book as I was Fun Home. I think my biggest problem with it is that it just so very much about psychoanalysis, which is not a topic that interests me, and in fact I'm rather skeptical about given how based in Freudian theory it is, and how much of Freud's theories have been discredited.

The book really felt more like it was about the psychoanalysis of Alison's relationship with her mother instead of actually about her actual relationship with her mother. So for what it is, it's well done, but it's just not what I personally wanted to be reading.

Oh well. I was warned going in by the friend who lent me this book that it's not as good as Fun Home, so at least my expectations were appropriate going in so I didn't experience unexpected disappointment.

A fun Squirrel Girl story in the usual style for this creative team. ( Read more... )

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/271356.html

At any rate the world doesn't stop having good books in it just because everything else is horrible.

Here's a collection of short book thoughts about some books I liked, that aren't substantive or spoilery enough thoughts to get their own posts.

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex

A reread. Still an impressively successful and delightful book! A kid's book about alien invasion(s), told from the point of view of a young biracial girl, with the conceit that it was written by her for a school project with a goal of it ending up in a time capsule. Tip is a really engaging narrator, and the themes the book is addressing are all well handled, and it's just all SO GOOD. I have a lot of feelings.

Also http://archiveofourown.org/works/1087542 is pretty much exactly right for what happens after the book imo. I love this fic. (though really I ought to read the ACTUAL Smek sequel at some point I think. There is one now!)

Quilting: Poems 1987-1990, by Lucille Clifton

An interesting collection of poems written by an African-American woman. Worth reading, though I have nothing to say about it because I'm not comfortable enough yet with poetry to have the words to describe it.

Dogsbody, by Diana Wynne Jones

A well written and charming book, as is to be expected from DWJ. I'm not the right audience for it, since I don't particularly care one way or another about dogs, and our main character is fairly thoroughly a dog for much of the book. But DWJ is a good enough writer to keep me invested despite this, and I did care an awful lot about Kathleen!

The Emperor's Soul, by Brandon Sanderson

A reread. I still love this book. But do I have anything else to say about it that I didn't say last time? No.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now, by Ryan North, art by Erica Henderson

A total delight, just like the last two Squirrel Girl tpbs! I love Ryan North's sense of humour, and Erica Henderson's art is perfect for the story. Doreen and her friends are all amazing, and I love just about everything about this book.

However. The last two issues in this collection are a two-part crossover with Howard Duck. The first part (done by the Squirrel Girl team) was just about as good as the rest of the series but the second part (done by the Howard Duck team) I just wasn't as into. It wasn't as funny or as charming, and I didn't like the art as much, and I just didn't care as much. It's too bad that this is the note the book ended on, because the rest of the book had me gleeful all the way through.

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/265979.html

I've been intending to read this book for just about forever, I think? I mean, Alison Bechdel is so well known in feminist/queer sorts of circles. But it was just a sort of vague intention, until I came across a bootleg of the Fun Home musical (which I watched because there is literally no other way I am at all likely to be able to see this musical, more's the pity) and it was SO GOOD and then I really definitely needed to read this book.

And it was also SO GOOD. Different from the musical in some respects, of course, since it is inevitable that using a different medium to tell a story will have different results, but it feels the same. It's clear the Fun Home musical people did a remarkable job translating this narrative into a different format.

I was riveted by this book. I read it over the course of two lunchtimes at work, and at the end of the first I had SUCH trouble putting the book down! I felt a lot of affinity for Bechdel, even while her life and identity don't actually have a lot in common with mine. But there's still something there.

I'm not really sure how to talk about this book? In part because it's so different from the sorts of things I usually read - it's nonfiction, a memoir, a comic, with nonlinear narrative structure. But Bechdel uses the tools of her art (narrative and pictorial) with strength and great ability, and it all really works together to create a wonderful whole.

Highly recommended.

(in completely irrelevant thoughts about this book, Alison is a BECHDEL from PENNSYLVANIA and basically I am extremely curious whether she has Mennonite ancestry because I mean really.)

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/262582.html

1. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Power
2. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel You Know It's True
both by Ryan North, illustrated by Erica Henderson

WHERE HAS SQUIRREL GIRL BEEN ALL MY LIFE.

I was cackling with delight all the way through. I don't even know what to say. ( I say things )

AND SO FORTH, I could keep going with many exclamation points for a long time. The long and the short of it is: yes good more please.

And like: I know this is an ongoing comic and I know there are more issues out that have not yet been released in trade paperback. So I COULD read them if I wanted to pay ridiculous prices for short and flimsy single-issue releases. But that's not how I prefer to read/buy comics. Sigh, my life is so hard.

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/253836.html

Dude I have TOO MANY THINGS TO POST ABOUT and not enough time to write up all my thoughts/feels. So you get the abbreviated version now and may or may not get more later.

THINGS:

1. This weekend I visited Verity! And also got to hang out with Effableobject and with Aria! And it was an amazing A+ decision and I had a fabulous time and all of the above people are gr9

2. I watched Maleficent with Verity! (YES even though both of us are the not-good-at-watching-visual-media sort...) and I loved it to itty bits. Not a perfect movie but it did everything I could ever have wanted from this story so I AM HAPPY.

3. I read all of the Fraction Hawkeye that has come out yet! Which means through issue 18. And DAMMIT I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. I am terrible at reading WIPs, and I love this comic dearly and I WANT TO KEEP READING IT BUT I CAN'T TILL MORE COMES OUT.

4. Relatedly, I read all of the current Young Avengers, which means through issue 10. And once again DAMMIT WIP.

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/214177.html

Okay um! The number of graphic novels I have read in my life can be counted on one hand so I'm not very practiced at how to talk about them?

So uh yes Black Widow: The Name of the Rose was really great! I loved it a lot! I had a million Natasha feels! ( cut for spoilers )

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/213572.html

( Safe Harbor, by Anita Diamant )

( It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health, by Robie Harris, illustrated by Michael Emberley )

( Digger, by Ursula Vernon )

( The Kalevala, by Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley )

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/199275.html

( The African Queen, by CS Forester )

( Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling )

( Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon, by by Matt Fraction, art by David Aja and Javier Pulido )

( Heidi, by Johanna Spyri )

( White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf, by Aaron Bobrow-Strain )

Crossposts: http://sophia-sol.livejournal.com/195461.html

I got Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite and Umbrella Academy: Dallas out of the library today, because Gerard Way. And so of course I read them immediately. (I read the first half of Apocalypse Suite while walking home, because I'm impatient like that. And very practiced at reading-while-walking.)

Two thoughts:

1. It is exactly the sort of thing I would expect Gerard Way to write, based on what I know about him...from...reading fanfic about him. Um.

2. It is way better than I expected.

It is really awesome, but also really weird. It is a story about dysfunctional family, and also about time travel, and also about music destroying the world. It's clever, and silly, and dark, and imaginative, and really well written. And it also made me have feelings all over the place, mostly about the dysfunctional family stuff.

There's clearly all sorts of fascinating history and backstory and complicated relationships with these characters and their family, which hasn't been explored, and it's all done in just enough detail to make it feel like a real, full life, but all of it leaving you desperately wanting to know more. Also it leaves you desperately wanting to punch Dr Hargreeves in the face a lot....

And the AO3 has fifteen whole fics about Umbrella Academy! Schweet. I hope one of them's about ( minor spoilers. )