December and 2014 in review

Any year down guys, another whole year has zoomed by in the blink of an eye.

This year is probably the year I most noticed by study interfering with my reading. I was just so busy and so tired that I went for huge stretches where I'd only read comics or watch TV shows in my spare time. Still, while it maybe wasn't a spectacular year for a blogger it was a damn sight better than most people.

But first the December stats.

BOOKS: 

DECEMBER:

What I Read:

*Hawkeye: L.A Woman (3) - Matt Fraction
*The Martian - Andy Weir
*Outlander: Cross Stitch - Diana Gabaldon
*My Friend Dahmer - Derf Backderf

Book Stats:

75% male / 25% female
100% American / 0% International
25% ebook / 25% audiobook / 50% physical
75% fiction / 25% non-fiction
50% graphic novels / 50% novels

What? How did I only read 4 books? Four books which I'm almost certain I mostly read in the last 4-5 days? I actually thought I'd nailed it again after a successful November but I must have been busier than I thought! On the plus side, all four books were great. I really enjoyed all of them and for the most part they were completely unchartered territory for me. After my first attempt at listening to The Martian I didn't think I'd be able to go back to it in this format, but the reader eventually won me over. My Friend Dahmer was a Christmas present and I don't think I'd ever seen this book before, or if I had I hadn't noticed it. And Outlander. This wasn't a book I really expected to like but I was curious enough to give it a shot (being a free book on Netgalley also helped). So yeah, successful final reads for the year!

2014: 

What I read: 

Number of books read: 39

Number of comics read:39 

Number of pages read: 18380

Longest book read: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (771 pages)

Book Stats: 

71% male / 29% female

67% American/ 33% International

84% fiction/ 16% non-fiction

50% graphic novels / 50% novels

Breaking my reading down into stats is something I only started this year so I've never broken my full year down like this before. I knew my percentage of lady writers would be down, but what's interesting is that the majority of fiction books I read (53%) either revolved around a female centric cast (think How to Build a Girl or Boy, Snow, Bird) or had a female primary protagonist (think Wonder Woman or Rat Queens). So my interests clearly lean me towards books about women but they're often written by men. I think it might have been my comics that skewed this percentage the most, which is an interesting occurrence on its own. I guess the boys club mentality still hasn't truly been broken through. I'd like to say that next year I'll try and read more books by women and international authors, but to be honest I tend to pick books up on a whim so I don't know if actively trying to change my stats will really work. I'm definitely going to try and buy more diversely though. When and if I read those books in anything resembling a timely matter is a completely different story though. 

How did everyone else go with their reading this year? Hitting the usual highs or experiencing some road blocks? Any book resolutions for the new year or are you as lazy and ill prepared as me?

LIFE: 

 2014 was a busy year. I kept working on my PhD but I also made trips to the US (well, finished a trip to the US) and Japan and spent a week back home for my birthday and best friend's wedding. I hosted costume parties and movie nights and we played a tonne of boardgames. I nursed hang overs and went on road trips up the coast and Tom and I finally bought a new adult couch (i.e. not one that was 10th hand) and mattress for our bed. Lots of change but lots of progress. Wider picture wise it wasn't as great a year. There have been far too many accidents and atrocities and human rights violations across the globe. But I dunno, maybe I'm being crazy optimistic but it feels like the tide is changing. It isn't quite as easy to be a racist or sexist or homophobe and expect to get away with it. The hostage situation in Sydney the other week was a great example of that. While some people began to blame an entire group of people for the action of a single mentally ill man, the majority started the #Illridewithyou campaign and made an effort to prove that Australia is the multicultural country we say we are. Baby steps, sure, but baby steps are better than hiding our heads in the sand.

In front of a Kabuki theatre in Tokyo March 2014.

Book Review: I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

I Feel Bad About My Neck

Written by: Nora Ephron

Published: 2006

Synopsis: With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in "I Feel Bad About My Neck, " a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.

Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. She recounts her anything-but-glamorous days as a White House intern during the JFK years ("I am probably the only young woman who ever worked in the Kennedy White House that the President did not make a pass at") and shares how she fell in and out of love with Bill Clinton--from a distance, of course. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age.

Utterly courageous, wickedly funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, "I Feel Bad About My Neck" is a book of wisdom, advice, and laugh-out-loud moments, a scrumptious, irresistible treat.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“…the amount of maintenance involving hair is genuinely overwhelming. Sometimes I think that not having to worry about your hair anymore is the secret upside of death.”

I grew up primarily watching three types of movies, Disney, sports (thanks dad) and romantic-comedies (which only made dad double down on the sports films). I have a bucket load of memories of me sitting on the couch with my mum watching Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally. I doubt I really understood the majority of the films (the "I'll have what she's having" scene definitely went flying over my head) but I still loved them. I watch them now and they make me weep at what passes for romantic comedies now, clumsy women who trip over their feet and men who do little more than smile in their direction to deserve their adoration. We are in desperate need of a revival in smart and funny romantic comedies.  I Feel Bad About My Neck only further establishes that fact - maybe we could get some of the superhero films to funnel money into some worthy projects? Oooooh, maybe a superhero rom-com in the vein of Nora Ephron? Yes please, I'll take 5.

I Feel Bad About My Neck hasn't really got anything to do with romantic comedies, unless you count the story about her love affair with a rent controlled apartment in New York or the one about falling out of love with Bill Clinton. But it's funny and sharp and self-deprecating and god, so New York. It has the same essence of all of those brilliant romantic comedies in the 1980-90s. Or maybe I just tie Nora Ephron so tightly to the romantic comedies she wrote and directed that I can't help but see that same essence here. *shrugs* This is so not important, MOVING ON.

This book is a wonderful collection of short stories that centre around Nora Ephron becoming older. There are stories about dealing with an empty house after 20 years of raising noisy children. There are stories about the death of her best friend and realisation of her own mortality. There are stories about the endless stream of make up aimed at women over 40 and the vanity that is just as much a part of a woman's life at 50 as it is at 25. The stories range from funny and silly to serious and sombre, but they're all very warm and personal glimpses into her life. Speaking of, I saw a few reviews on Goodreads that really pissed me off which I mentioned on Twitter during the minithon. They were scoring the book low and criticising Nora Ephron for writing about handbags and make up instead of abortions and human trafficking. First, Nora Ephron was under no obligation to write about "serious" feminist issues just because she's a well known feminist. This isn't Bad Feminist or PRO: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, it isn't being marketed as a book of critical thinking and feminist theory. And second, fuck right off with your ranking of important issues. Obviously human trafficking is horrific and has traumatic implications for the people involved, but that doesn't mean discount all of the other squicky things done against women, even if it's something as simple as women feeling badgered by beauty companies about needing their products to remain attainable and youthful. And unlike the countless books and articles and short stories that look at the harmful influence of images on young women and children, it is rare to come across anyone writing about how it effects older women. Feminism isn't only for the young, nor is it only for the life and death issues.

NOT IMPRESSED

What a mess of a review, I should probably start over, but who has time for that? NOT I. So read it. Read it in spite of it not covering Very Serious Feminist Issues and dealing with silly and frivolous topics like ageing and price gouging in real estate and the expectations children, spouses, family and strangers have. Or read it FOR spite, because nothing would make me happier than people ignoring the complaints of those sour puss reviewers. Read it because it might not be When Harry Met Sally but the wonderful woman who wrote that also wrote these stories. Or at the very least read it because Nora Ephron emphatically understands how important reading books is to people like us.

“There is something called the rapture of the deep, and it refers to what happens when a deep-sea diver spends too much time at the bottom of the ocean and can't tell which way is up. When he surfaces, he's liable to have a condition called the bends, where the body can't adapt to the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. All of this happens to me when I surface from a great book.”

Pages to Panels: New Comics to Jump Straight Into

One of the biggest hurdles I had to get past in comics was working out where to start. I think that's probably why I began with one off graphic novels like Maus (shhh, I got volume 1+2 in a single volume so it counts) and From Hell. But one of the things I love about comics is how sprawling the narratives are. They don't have to wrap everything up in 300 pages or limit themselves to a trilogy. They can expand for years, even decades, and restart when things are starting to get stale. While the impatient part of me loves reading comic series which have wrapped up already so I can just read straight through, I think my love of getting into a series early trumps the joy of spending an entire weekend reading through volumes 1-10 of Transmetropolitan. Following along on that unfolding adventure is one of the true joys of comics. Waiting for the next issue and then devouring it in a single sitting brings back memories of the Harry Potter releases when I was younger, and anything that reminds me of that kind of joy and excitement is obviously getting a huge thumbs up from me.

You can definitely still get this joy if you jump into an established (but still ongoing) story, but I thought I'd share some of my recent first issue finds that are shaping up to be pretty excellent arcs that'll be sure to captivate. 

Bitch Planet (Kelly-Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro) came out a week ago and damn, do I love it. It's essentially a 1970s exploitation film infused with a brand of feminism you'd be unlikely to find anywhere near one of those films. The titular Bitch Planet is where the disobedient (and outright criminal) women are sent. It's essentially an outer space Australia (minus the men), complete with people being sent for downright dog shit reasons except instead of it being poor people being villainised for stealing a loaf of bread it's women being villainised for getting in the way of their husband's affair. Well, they aren't all quite so innocent but the-whole-planet- for-disobedient-women is shady as hell. As DeConnick says of the 5 female protagonists:

“there are five women, all ridiculous and real, and all very different. One shouldn’t be there. The other four are unrepentant and guilty as Hell.”

 I really enjoyed this first issue. It's about as subtle as a punch to the face and it's insanely campy but SO GOOD. But if you don't think a neon pink holographic depiction of the Madonna-whore complex used as a confession program in a women's prison is the dopest shit around then this is not the comic for you.

But don't just take my word for it: AV Club review

Black Market (Frank Barbiere and Victor Santos) is technically up to its fourth issue, but that's still pretty close to getting in at the ground floor. It's ground floor adjacent, it's basically the mezzanine floor. Black Market is what I'd describe as superhero adjacent. It's not really in the same genre as Batman or The Avengers but it is indelibly tied to it. The story comes down to a moral quandary. What if the key to curing every known disease on Earth lay in the DNA of superheroes? If superheroes are here to help, isn't this the ultimate sacrifice and way for them to help? Down on his luck with an ailing wife, Brainiac Ray Willis finds himself caught up in the mess of harvesting (or trying to at least) superhero blood with his scummy brother Denny. Black Market manages to traverse between the well known tropes of the superhero comic genre right side up and completely flipped on their head. It's the exact right mix of science and superhero, fantasy and grim reality. A brilliant little series so far.

But don't just take my word for it: Comic Vine review

Chances are, even if you've never touched a comic in your life, you've heard about ODY-C (Matt Fraction and Christian Ward). It's the ambitious and incredibly creative gender-swapped, futuristic sci-fi adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey. I don't even know what to write here because, come on, if gender-swapped outer space Odyssey doesn't sell it to you nothing will. No one could ever accuse Matt Fraction of coasting. Whether he's writing for Marvel or tackling epic poems, you know he's going to push the envelope. I don't think you need to have read The Odyssey to truly enjoy this comic, but like any adaptation a great deal of the enjoyment (for me anyway) is knowing how the new writer tackles the original story's themes, characters and style. The art is also something else. That cover above doesn't even begin to do justice to the epicness of the art within. It really plays with traditional comic panels and forms, so I'm not sure if that would make it harder or easier to read for a comic newbie. But read it regardless.

But don't just take my word for it: IGN review

Grant Morrison's Multiversity is an interesting addition to this post. Technically there is more than one issue out, but they're all technically first issues. Multiversity is, essentially, a series of one shots (single issues) that take place within the 52 alternative universes set up in the mid-2000s series 52. These may only be one-shots now, but it has been pretty heavily signposted that they may be expanded into full-run series. It's an interesting and eclectic mix of storytelling. Each issue, while interrelated, presents a world very different to the issue before it, told in a very different way. I'd imagine people will definitely gravitate towards particular one-shots and away from others - depending on the characters, genre and style. It's also one of the few comic series that doesn't include a single straight, white male protagonist. Full warning though, Grant Morrison is weird. I love his writing and his comics are some of my favourites, but I often feel like things are flying way over my head when I read him. But I personally kind of like that. I like that feeling that I could revisit a comic of his in 10 years and the Kayleigh then will respond to it very differently to the Kayleigh now. But it's also something that will turn some people off completely. So tread carefully with this one if you haven't read Morrison before, maybe keep an eye out for Comixology sales or borrow a copy from a friend.

But don't just take my word for it: Pop Matter's Pax Americana Multiversity review

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Read my previous Pages to Panels posts: 

Pages to Panels: A Bookish Guide (1)

Pages to Panels: Superheroes (2)

(audio)book review: Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Yes Please

Written and read by: Amy Poehler

Published: 2014

Synopsis: In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book is full of words to live by





_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I have the Angelina Jolie of vaginas.”

I have found my book soul mate.

Am I surprised that I loved Yes Please? No. Of course I loved it. It's Amy FREAKING Poehler. I was guaranteed to enjoy the crap out of this book. But I am surprised that I loved it this much. When I read Tina Fey's Bossypants I had a ball. I laughed a lot and I gained a huge appreciation for her creativity, work ethic and feminist views. But once I finished it and wrote a gushing review that was kind of it. I'd recommend it to friends who liked 30 Rock and I'd occasionally reblog tumblr posts of quotes from it but it isn't like it shook the foundation of my world y'know? But I can't imagine that I'm going to pop Yes Please aside when I finish this review. It's the kind of book I'll keep around so that I can flip to those particular parts that resonated the most when I need a pick me up or a laugh. I've already replayed chapters to Tom so he can understand why I was cackling to myself in the bedroom for 20 minutes.

One of the reasons I love this book is how much effort was put into it. Audiobook memoirs are always better when read by the writer, they take on a much more intimate feel than I think you'd ever get from reading the physical copy. But Amy Poehler's audiobook is insane. It's an actual production. Aside from her reading and yelling and laughing a lot (her laugh is so infectious), she has Patrick Stewart reading haikus and Kathleen Turner reading the chapter titles and narrating the more serious moments. Her parents come by to offer their lists of important things to do as parents. Carrol Burnett drops by to reiterate that Poehler isn't exaggerating about their first meeting. Michael Shur annotates her chapter on Parks and Recreation, adding little nuggets of gold about one of my favourite comedy shows. The final chapter is read live to an audience, and their laughs and applause are the perfect button to the 7 hour journey Poehler leads. It's unlike any audiobook I've listened to. It's like a variety show for your ears.

Narratively, this book is very similar to Bossypants. But as friends who met in their early 20s and have travelled a very similar career path that isn't really surprising. Poehler also talks about growing up and her first forays into improv and "making it" as an actor and then juggling marriage and having babies with this hectic career, and while they approach these subjects from two very personal perspectives (and hey, it's not like there aren't eleventy billion memoirs about dudes doing the exact same thing) this is probably the main reason I would recommend the audio over the physical book. I'm sure it reads well enough as a physical book, but as a book that stands out from the crowd, I think you need the variety show element that the audio introduces. And while I would never want to say a negative word about my book soul mate, there are some rough chapter transitions and clunky sections every once and awhile. I didn't find them to be glaring in the audiobook, but they might have bugged me if I were actually reading them on a physical page. There are also moments that I think perhaps translate better to audiobook, although without reading the physical copy I'm not even sure exactly how they appear in the physical copy. For instance, during the Parks and Rec chapter there is a moment where she addresses each of her co-stars and then mentions a favourite moment or scene with them in the show. In the audiobook this is a really sweet and funny section where she conveys not only her love of the show but  for each of her co-workers. I don't know how well this would read on the page though. Maybe it'd be fine, but maybe it'd feel a little disjointed or filler-ish.

All that said though, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well Poehler could write. I knew the comedy elements of the book would be fantastic, as would the bursts of outrage or excitement, but there were also some beautifully crafted moments in the book that were really touching. Any time she mentioned her kids her writing softened and glowed. You could tell the moments in her life that have had the biggest impact because the writing was sharper, like she'd been replaying and  rewriting the moment in her head ever since it happened. She's brutally honest about moments in her life that can't have been easy to talk about, like her divorce for instance, but she also tempers those moments by including a section devoted to coming up with self help books for divorcees that are more realistic and, of course, hilarious. This isn't a typical memoir. It reflects Poehler's improv origins, full of short, sharp and eclectic moments. And like improv some of it works while some of it falls short. But the entire package, the entire 7 hour variety show/improv performance is bursting with creativity and heart and far more hits than misses.

Amy Poehler is a really special lady. I'd love to say that I see myself reflected in these pages but when it comes to the personalities of famous funny ladies I probably fall closer to Tina Fey. But Amy Poehler is the kind of girl I would want by my side. There's that Groucho Marx saying that "When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'.” Amy Poehler is definitely the best friend saying "damn that was fun" but she'd also probably be the reason you're in there, maybe because she picked a fight with a guy in the airport who told her she shouldn't be in first class because she talked too much.

“All of my lower-middle-class Boston issues rose to the surface. I don’t like it when bratty, privileged old white guys speak to me like I am their mouthy niece. I got that amazing feeling you get when you know you are going to lose it in the best, most self-righteous way. I just leaned back and yelled, “FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU.” Then I chased him as he tried to get away from me.”

She's a firecracker, hilarious and tiny with a mouth like a sailor and definitely the person you want in your corner. She's put together one hell of a book, one that is an absolute must read (or must listen. DEFINITELY a must listen) for anyone who fancies themselves an Amy Poehler fan (which honestly, is anyone who has ever heard of her).

Book Review: Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

Broken Monsters

Written by: Lauren Beukes

Published in: 2014

Synopsis: Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies, but this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half-boy, half-deer, somehow fused. The cops nickname him "Bambi," but as stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams?


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Shakespeare would have it wrong these days. It's not the world that's the stage - it's social media, where you're trying to put on a show. The rest of your life is rehearsals, prepping in the wings to be fabulous online.”

This is going to be a tricky book to review. Like Gone Girl or any mystery book ever, it's best to go into this one knowing the bare minimum. So I'm going to be tip toeing around a lot here, but bottom line, you should probably read this book.

Talking broad picture, the book is about the hunt for a serial killer in Detroit. The book is told from multiple perspectives, the lead detective Detective Versado, her theatre-loving daughter Layla, writer/douchebag extraordinaire Jonno, TK the homeless guy with a heart of gold and struggling artist Clayton. Detective Versado gets the lion share of the narrative, but the others weave in to add new perspectives and depth and transform this from your typical whodunnit. Talking a little more specifically though, it's not really about a serial killer at all. Well. That's not entirely accurate. The serial killer is critical to the narrative and it is a compelling story in its own right, but Beukes uses the serial killer to build a much stronger story of life in today's world of technology and the ramifications of all of these digital versions of ourselves.

The characters may seem a little cookie cutter-ish from my quick summary above, and on the surface they are. But even for the smaller characters like TK, backstory is woven in to give them their motivations, and the greatest motivation for all of them is the city they live in. I know it's cliché to say that the setting is a character in the book, but Detroit couldn't have been exchanged for just any other city. These characters are pushed beyond their limits by the city they live in. Detective Versado is underpaid and overworked, a female struggling to find footing in a career dominated by men, in a city where crime has become a fact of life. TK's struggled his whole life because of a choice made in his adolescence, and opportunities aren't exactly plentiful for a black ex-con who lives on the street. Jonno crashed and burned in New York and is now dependant on Detroit to lift him from the wreckage. Detroit shaped their pasts and motivates their futures. It is this great big shadow that lingers over everyone's lives and decisions and choices. It's oppressive and dangerous. We see the families leaving home because their houses are being foreclosed on, we walk among the ruins of the factories that were abandoned when the town went bankrupt and we watch as people sleep in their cars in a Walmart carpark because the shelters are full. We get stats about the crime rate and discussions on Renisha McBride. But amongst all of this we also see a burgeoning art scene, gorgeous art deco architecture, secret beaches and a committed community. While the novel never ventures into uplifting territory, it does a solid job of showing us that life does continue even when everything seems lost. People adapt to their environments. Unfortunately, while some people adapt for the better creating something from nothing, for some people this adaptation take on a darker role.

While this book is a crime and mystery novel first and foremost, it also has some really creepy scenes. I wouldn't go so far as to say it crosses into horror, but it definitely flirts on the border. Again, it's better to go in knowing very little. So maybe just trust me when I say that I think this novel is a real gem and worth discovering for yourself.

November in Review

It's December. You know what that means!

BOOKS:

What I Read:

*Looking for Alaska by John Green (my review)
*An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield (my review)
*Suicide Squad: Kicked in the Teeth (V1) by Adam Glass, Ryan Benjamin (my review)
*Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
*The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith
*I feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
*Yes Please! by Amy Poehler

Book Stats:

43% male / 57% female
57% American / 43% International
28.5% ebook / 28.5% audiobook / 43% physical
57% fiction / 43% non-fiction
15% graphic novels / 85% novels

Thank god for the minithon, I actually read stuff this month! And look at those stats! Look how much variety there is. They're the most beautiful stats I've had all  year! Not only are comics in the minority (mostly because I was reading single issues which I don't count but shhhh) but I have hella female representation AND actual non-fiction books. When was my last non-fiction read?! (July. The answer is July) So huzzah for me!

What I DNF:

The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R Carey

To be honest I'm not sure if I'm going to officially DNF this one, or just shelf it for a few weeks/months. I thought I was going through a reading slump because I just couldn't get through more than a couple of pages at a time. But every other book I've picked up while reading this, Looking for Alaska, Broken Monsters and I Feel Bad About My Neck, I've read without the same stuttering. Maybe this book and I just aren't made for each other. Maybe I just need to give myself a bit of a break. The writing is fine, the characters are fine. They're not world changers - for me anyway - but they could be the recipe for a really solid read. So I'm DNFing for now and I'll pick it up again after Christmas and see if anything has changed.

GIF Rating:

MOVIES

It's been a light month for movie viewings. At the cinema I only saw three movies,the Keanu Reeve's action film John Wick and the epic Interstellar,and part 1 of Mockingjay. I really enjoyed all of them, but for very, very different reasons. If you like big, silly action films then John Wick is a must see, it was delightful! Interstellar was a real mind trip. It's definitely not for everyone (it is 3 hours after all), but I really enjoyed immersing myself in that world. And I thought Mockingjay was solid. But the first half of Mockingjay was always my favourite in the book, what with the commentary on propaganda and using Katniss as a prop for their rebellion, so I think the real test will be whether they can make the second half not suck. I also found the film incredibly emotional given the current events happening in the US and overseas. The release date might have been a coincidence, but it's definitely timely.

DVD wise, a few friends and I spent a night having a bad movie night and we watched the delicious Patrick Swayze treat Roadhouse and the majestic Miley Cyrus vehicle, LOL. If you like bad movies and haven't seen LOL you need to move it to the top of your list. I don't think I've ever laughed that hard at a movie. It is straight up one of the most bonkers films ever made. So stupid, so dumb but so, so great.


LIFE: 

Pretty much all I want to talk about in this section is the amazing package I got in the mail the other day. Nahree had promised to mail me a PhD care package but I had no idea she'd be SO generous.

The zombie apocalypse could come tomorrow and I would not need to worry about getting hungry for MONTHS. Okay, I may end up getting diabetes and dying of heart failure if this was all I ate but for the love of God, how insanely wonderful was Nahree for sending me this! No one does junk food quite like America does junk food*.

Oh, on other life matters. Now that it's December and officially okay to discuss Christmas, does anyone want to do a Christmas card swap?


*I feel like this could be taken as either a compliment or a criticism, but it's definitely meant to be a compliment here.

Graphic Novel Mini-reviews #28

The Wicked and the Divine: The Faust Act (Volume 1)

Written by: Kieron Gillen; Illustrated by: Matt Wilson, Jamie McKelvie

Published: 2014

My Thoughts: I've been reading this since the first issue was released a few months ago and now that the first volume has been released I can finally review it! This is a really interesting series, it uses various mythologies to comment on modern celebrity status and popular culture. The basic concept is that the every 90 years the pantheon of 12 gods are reincarnated and given another 2 years on earth before they die again. During that time they inspire hatred and adoration in equal quanities and are credited with being the trendsetters and muses that push humanity forward. This iteration takes place now and most of the gods are on Earth as rockstars. There's the David Bowie-esque gender bent Lucifer, the Kanye West inspired Baal and my personal favourite, the triplet Morrigan who is a little bit Florence Welch, a little Sinead O'Conner and a whole lot awesome. As much as I enjoy the series, I found reading it as each issue came out a little disjointed, especially in the earliest issues. I think this is the kind of narrative that it helps to give your full attention to from start to finish. And while I'm not really sure where the narrative is headed, I am loving the journey. The art, by the way, is flawless. Really vibrant and clean. And the gods are iconic and completely individual, while also beautifully tying into the symbols and iconography of the gods they represent. I have so much wardrobe, make-up and hair envy - those gods sure know how to put together a look.

Hellblazer: The Devil You Know (Volume 2)

Written by:Jamie Delano; Illustrated by:  David Lloyd


Published: 2014 (original comics from the late 1980s)

My Thoughts: While I'm still really enjoying Constantine as a character, this volume was all over the place. In the first volume I really enjoyed how segmented the issues seemed to be but this time it seemed like a fault rather than a positive. The first couple of issues resolved the primary arc from volume 1, but after that they seemed to hop and skip backwards and forwards in time - at one point he mentions being 30 while he was set up as 35 in volume 1 and another story seems to be set in the late 1990s instead of the 1980s - not completely unexpected since this volume is made up from different arcs. My main issue is that there are vague mentions to haunted pasts and demons hunting him, but because of the time shifts it's hard to work out if it's a threat we've met before or just the kind of hazard most magicians would face. Couple that with some non-traditional panel layouts and I just felt off-centre as I read through. The stories themselves were pretty solid outside this confusion though, there's one in particular "Antarctica" which just kind of blew my mind. So while this one didn't hit the same exact heights as the first, I'm still eager to move on with the series to see where it goes.

Suicide Squad: Kicked in the Teeth (Volume 1)

Written by: Adam Glass; illustrated by: Ryan Benjamin

Published; 2012

My Thoughts: Suicide Squad was a pretty creative way to reintegrate a bunch of out of work villains back into the DC world. Some you'll have heard of (Harley Quinn and Deadshot) while others (King Shark and yo-yo) are probably absent from your memory for a reason. But the rag-taggyness of the group is kind of the point. The higher-ups consider them to be fully expendable, worthless criminals who are only useful as cannon fodder. It's not surprising then that the turn over is pretty high. New villains join the squad only to die five panels over, and unless they're literally falling apart they're not going to see a hospital bed any time soon. One of the things that I really enjoyed in this comic is that the missions rely on the villains acting villainous. They're not jobs Superman or Batman could take on because they have morals. They want to save lives and they're always looking for a way to avoid sacrificing a life to achieve a result. These guys are ruthless. They want to save their own skin and they aren't ashamed of it. At the same time some of the team are vigilantes rather than villains (think Black Spider) and have to wrestle with the moral compass while trying to stay alive. It's not always elegantly depicted, but it's interesting and action-packed nonetheless.

Time to teeny tiny minithon!

Konnichiwa fellow readers!

I skipped the intro post this time around because I was joining everyone half way through and there was zero chance I was going to be organised enough to get a post written before hand.

Before I launch into talk of books and snacks THANK YOU to the ever wonderful Tika for organising this and hollering about it on twitter so I didn't forget.

I came into this 'thon with no actual plans. I didn't know what books I'd read and I had no mini snacks. I KNOW. I'M A TRAITOR TO THE CAUSE. But hear me out, we're going to lunch for Tom's grandpa's 90th this afternoon and it's a swanky place and I want to get my money's worth. So no tiny pies or sandwiches or popcorn for me this year, just an extra large cup of coffee and then a decent sized cup of tea when I realised I had no coffee left. But I did enjoy looking at what tiny treats everyone else indulged in. I think I need to get Tom to start baking me mini pies, because Alice's girlfriend has made me realise that I need that for my next minithon.

So this was my minithon.

Aforementioned cup of coffee, Zadie Smith's short story The Embassy of Cambodia (which is also tiny in stature) and Nora Ephron's book of essays I Feel Bad About My Neck. So much tiny in that selection. I didn't even have to stretch for reasons why they were mini this time around. I feel like that's an achievement in and of itself.

  I managed to finish Zadie Smith's short story (67 pages, but it's probably like 20 in a normal sized book) and read 139 pages or 8 of Ephron's essays. I think this might be the most I've ever read during one of these minithons. Probably because I wasn't distracted by tasty, tiny food.

(Audio)book review: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Written and read by: Chris Hadfield

Published: 2013

Synopsis: Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it.

In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff.

You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you're setting yourself up to feel like a failure most of the time.”

Maybe it's corny, but I truly feel like there isn't anything truly outside my grasp. Obviously it's highly unlikely that I'm about to become prime minister or the next Angelina Jolie, but I can get in the ballpark (or at least in the carpark next door to the ballpark). I could get involved in local politics or try my hand at community theatre. I can take tours of studios and Government House and at least get a good idea of what it would be like to fill those shoes. But space is an entirely different kettle of fish. I could visit NASA and take astronomy classes and visit every space exhibit at every museum on the planet and it won't come close to life in space. It's utterly unachievable unless you dedicate your life to becoming an astronaut, and as much as I'd love to look down on Earth from space that was never a career for me.

Which I think is the main reason Chris Hadfield has become such an internet success. He brings space to the masses, whether by crying into a camera to show us how tears work in zero gravity or by writing a book that  gives an incredibly thorough look at the business of being an astronaut. He's such a genial guy that it's hard not to get swept up in his excitement when he talks about smiling so hard at his first launch that his face ached or empathise when he recounts how hard it is to be the family of an astronaut. A great deal of this book is about confronting people's stereotypes of this particular career. Like how much money it costs to launch people into space and what it actually achieves. While Hadfield is clearly passionate, he also doesn't completely let go of his objectivity, especially when it comes to money.

“Many people object to “wasting money in space” yet have no idea how much is actually spent on space exploration. The CSA’s budget, for instance, is less than the amount Canadians spend on Halloween candy every year, and most of it goes toward things like developing telecommunications satellites and radar systems to provide data for weather and air quality forecasts, environmental monitoring and climate change studies. Similarly, NASA’s budget is not spent in space but right here on Earth, where it’s invested in American businesses and universities, and where it also pays dividends, creating new jobs, new technologies and even whole new industries.”

Not only are there misconceptions about what astronauts do, but I think there is a large gap between who actually becomes an astronaut and who Hollywood leads us to believe is right for the job. Because of its exclusivity, astronauts have always seemed sort of larger than life. They're space cowboys, explorers in a new frontier. Even though I know they have to be incredibly intelligent, I always imagine them as kind of jock-y. Macho and tough and tall. Visual cues that I think probably have a lot to do with the people hired to play astronauts in the not-even-close-to-realistic sci-fi movies. So I found it fascinating that Chris Hadfield sounds like any guy I'd see walking down the street. You mean he doesn't faintly glow and hover off the ground? Or have muscles as insane as The Rock? Not only that but Hadfield manages to make being an astronaut sound...dull. And I don't mean that the book or Hadfield's narration is dull - I was captivated from start to finish, but life as an astronaut is nothing like the movies. Being an astronaut actually rarely involves going into space. And whether or not you do, it's ruled by rules and safety checks and infinitesimal tiny details. It sounds so repetitive and ordinary.

And while I'm sure some people would consider that a negative, I think it's a huge positive. Working for NASA, whether as an astronaut or in some other role, is a totally achievable job. Yes it's a competitive field, but you don't have to be Superman to be hired. And I think that's a fantastic lesson to impart on kids. Astronaut is so often the job kids say they want, but it's also considered this entirely mythical position for only a special few chosen people. Hadfield brings the profession back down to Earth. Yes you need to work hard. Yes you need to be passionate. Yes you need to be intelligent. But the things most worth doing are the things you have to work for.

Hadfield manages to combine personal anecdotes about college and marriage and parenthood with stories about life on the ISS and working in Cape Canaveral and a motivation self-help book. While I loved learning about life in space and the career path that led to it, it was Hadfield's mentality that I think I'll take away from this book. There's a reason this book is called "an astronaut's guide to life on earth," while some of the advice may be a little intense for life as a retail clerk or banker, the general attitude and lesson that the advice aims to impart can benefit anyone. 

“In any new situation, whether it involves an elevator or a rocket ship, you will almost certainly be viewed in one of three ways. As a minus one: actively harmful, someone who creates problems. Or as a zero: your impact is neutral and doesn't tip the balance one way or the other. Or you'll be seen as a plus one: someone who actively adds value. Everyone wants to be a plus one, of course. But proclaiming your plus-oneness at the outset almost guarantees you'll be perceived as a minus one, regardless of the skills you bring to the table or how you actually perform.”

Each chapter, or there about, centres around these kernels of advice. From "sweat the small stuff" to "aim to the a zero", Hadfield discusses how these have helped be a better astronaut, a better husband and a better father. Perhaps most importantly though, he describes his failures, both personal and professional, and how he moved past them. Combine all of this advice with an amazing career and a really, really nice guy and you've got a really great read on your hands.

(Audio)book review (sorta): Serial the podcast

I happened across an article last week which was titled something Buzzfeed-y like "5 reasons you should be listening to the unbelievable Serial Podcast" and while I usually avoid these sorts of articles on principle (seriously, can people start trying with their headlines again?) something drew me in.

Serial is a new podcast that breaks the traditional podcast mould. Rather than looking at a new subject each week, Serial is taking 12 episodes to investigate a murder case from 1999. From the website:

"On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She'd been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae's body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. Many others don’t."

The podcast is absolutely fascinating. It's like listening to a true crime novel, but unlike a novel it's a living document. As the podcast grows in popularity, more people will come forward with their memories of the event and the people involved. Sarah Koenig is the host of Serial and she (along with her research and production team) has structured the show to make it as enticing as possible. Each episode raises more questions than the last, and just when you think you have a hold of the evidence Koenig introduces something new that completely shakes your previous confidence.

Though the show is looking at a real life case it is easy to fall into the classic "whodunnit" realm as you listen to the evidence Koenig presents both against and in support of Adnan. A lot of the articles and reddit posts on the podcast are of people wondering whether Adnan is telling the truth about his innocence, which understandably leads to a lot of conspiracy theories. But while this is an obvious hook into the series I actually think it's a very small part of what the series is about. Unless the series manages to stumble upon a confession from someone else (or maybe lures Adnan into finally admitting guilt/involvement) it's less about the case, and more about the judicial system that sent Adnan to jail.

I really recommend giving the series a listen for yourself (it's currently at 8 episodes, and a new one is released every Thursday) so I'm going to be a little vague on the details but one of the things that's stood out for me in this case is the inconsistencies. So much of the case is built on a single witness testimony, and it's a testimony that is riddled with problems. Every episode I find myself wondering "is this standard in murder trials?" "is it usual for cops to take a single course of action and ignore other avenues of investigation?" and "why wouldn't a defence attorney bring up the prosecutions cherry picking of the phone records?" Granted, I have very little knowledge on the judicial system outside of crime dramas and believe me, I know how unlikely it is that they're feeding me facts over fiction, but so much of the information in the podcast just seems illogical. If this case is typical, what does that say about the judicial system? If a jury admits to voting guilty largely on the basis that the defendant didn't take the stand, does that mean we need to look closer into whether the jury system is actually the best way to handle these cases? So much of the court case seems to have depended on who could tell the best story, and that worries the hell out of me. Is that really the best way to get justice? How many innocent people end up in jail because the prosecutor is that much better at spinning the evidence in their favour? And how many guilty Richie Riches walk free because they can buy the best people to defend them?

This show is run by many of  the same producers and managers as This American Life, including Ira Glass, so you don't need to take it from me that this show has impeccably high standards, both in terms of production and journalism. It's infinitely more 'readable' than most of the audiobooks that I've tried over the past year, and each episode leads to a huge conversation between me and Tom as try to get on top of the new information presented. And since it's a podcast it's free, so win win right?

Graphic Novel mini-reviews #27

Captain America: Winter Soldier (Volume 2)

Written by: Ed Brubaker; Illustrated by: Steve Epting

Published: 2005

My Thoughts: I probably enjoyed the first volume of Winter Solider a bit better than the second. The first was very introspective, something I always dig in my superheroes. This volume is far more action-heavy - whether in the present day assault from the Winter Soldier (and those he works for) or in the WWII flashbacks that feature heavily in this volume. All that being said though, it isn't like this volume completely discounts on character development in favour of action set-pieces. There are some brilliant moments where Cap wrestles with whether the Winter Solider is actually Bucky anymore and if there is even a fraction of Bucky still alive - should Cap do everything in his power to save him?

Kill Shakespeare: Mask of Night (Volume 4)

Written by: Anthony Del Col, Colin McCreery; Illustrated by: Andy Belanger

Published: 2014

My Thoughts: I wasn't sure if I wanted to read any more of Kill Shakespeare after the third volume. It wasn't bad, but I did feel like perhaps the gimmick had played out. But when I saw this was only a four issue volume I figured I'd give it a shot and see if they managed to introduce anything new to the story. The story takes place directly after the third volume, with Shakespeare, Juliet, Hamlet and Othello angry and still slightly mad from Prospero's Island. While they escaped Titus's navy they find themselves in the hands on Cesario and Viola, two dastardly pirates (and lovers) who intend to turn them in to the highest bidder. And yes, you read that correctly - Cesario and Viola are two separate people in this story AND they're together. It actually took a moment to remember that Cesario is Viola's alter-ego in Twelfth Night but I kind of dug that depending on your Shakespeare knowledge their relationship took on very different connotations. And it's moments like that which make these comics interesting. Not the slightly shoe-horned in lines like "parting is such sweet sorrow" when two characters separate, but the much less overt character traits that demonstrate that this team not only know Shakespeare, but know him well enough to experiment based on thematic elements of his plays. If you've enjoyed the other three volumes then you'll probably still enjoy this one - but I definitely feel as though it's weakened a bit with each volume.

Rat Queens: Sass and Sorcery (Volume 1)

Written by: Kurtis J. Wiebe; illustrated by: Roc Upchurch

Published: 2014

My Thoughts: I've been wanting to read this for soooo long but I wanted to wait until a trade volume was released and luck would have it that Comixology had it on sale. Score! This comic is everything. I can't even tell you how much I adore it. It's a D&D player's dream. There are four gorgeous, sassy, kickass female protagonists - Hannah the Elven Mage (with an excellent rockabilly vibe), Violet the Dwarven warrior, Dee the human cleric and Betty the Goblin (Smidgen) thief. They're all heavily, heavily flawed but loveable characters with a penchant for quests, bar fights and sex. Betty considers candy and drugs a perfect meal, Dee is overcome with social anxiety, Hannah is reckless and Violet was beardless before it was cool. They're joined by a motley crew of enemies, frenemies and lovers, of which Orc Dave is my absolute favourite. He's a cleric who has magical bluebirds settle in his beard after healing. BIRDS IN HIS BEARD, SO FREAKING CUTE. The art style is cute and colourful, the writing is fun and (at times) vulgar. It's basically like being back in one of my D&D campaigns which is the most wonderful thing ever because I miss D&D like crazy. So this is helping fill that gaping, ridiculous hole.

Pages to Panels: A Bookish Guide to Getting Into Comics. SUPERHEROES (2)

Heyyyyyyy, it's time for round two of Pages to Panels!

I was going to make this instalment another "if you like this/read this" post but I know that one of the issues I first had to overcome as a comic reader was where the hell do you start? Series like Fables or Rat Queens are easy because even if they're 20 volumes in  there's a clear linear progression. It does get a little messy when they start working on side series and prequels, for instance Fables has Jack of Fables and Fairest - two series which occasionally dip back into the Fables narrative,  but for the most part these newer series are still not nearly as difficult to work out a reading order for.

But if you're interested in a traditional superhero series? Hell to the no. It's like wading into quicksand, just a quick scan at the hundreds of titles for a single hero will make you feel like you're well out of your depth. The first thing to keep in mind is that it is incredibly unlikely you'll ever be able to read an entire hero's back-catalogue. Not only are you potentially looking at 60 years of stories, but there are cross-over editions and specials and singular runs which add tonnes and tonnes of titles to an already heavy load. Not to mention, honestly, you probably don't want to read them all anyway. Characters evolve and the Batman you love from the Nolan trilogy is very different to the Batman of the 1950s. If you're attracted to the dark and brooding Dark Knight then you probably don't want to read any Batman pre-1980s. By all means get a taster for early Batman, but if you decide it isn't your jam then just mooove on. And that's okay. Life long comic book readers will occasionally try and shame you for not knowing what happened in issue 47 when Batman faced off against Freeze* but your time is precious. So screw those guys.

Batman is actually a fantastic starting point. He may have continuous runs dating back to the stone ages but his stand-alone arcs are brilliant and super easy to read in any order. One thing to keep in mind is that comics love to reboot and redux and re-imagine. What was the Joker's origin story in the 1970s is unlikely to be the same  in 2000. So while you may decide to start on an arc written in the 1990s, don't assume that what you know from the films or cartoons is any basis for what you're heading in to. My best advice is to just ignore anything that isn't in the comic in front of you. Don't worry about the Joker or Freeze or Robin. And if you come across a mention of a fight or a villain that doesn't seem to be mentioned previously in the comic, it was probably in a cross-over issue and just jump onto Google.

But back to Batman arcs.

If you come to me for recs I'm going to suggest Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, Jeff Loeb's The Long Halloween, and the epic Knightfall. They were the first three arcs I read (in that order as well) and I never felt like I was out of my depth. The beauty of Batman is that while some details might change (namely who is Robin and various villain's origins) the general gist of it remains the same. You have your wealthy man about town who is also their protector. And he dresses like a bat. A man-sized bat. And since he is stinking rich he always has excellent toys. The rest of the details come from the arc you read -how brooding he is, his relationships, age and mental state - that all depends on which storyline you decide to read.

The internet is a beautiful thing. While I am fairly well versed in the comics I've chosen to focus on, I'm still far from the person you necessarily want to go to for a thorough breakdown of superheroes. That's where that pretty, pretty internet comes in. The DC wiki is obviously a pretty decent starting point, especially if you want to jump in at a later arc and just read up on the general story progression up until that point. The same goes for Wikipedia. If you have a couple of titles that jump out at you but you want to know a little more about them, wikipedia is pretty thorough in this regard. But if you want a more in-depth suggestion on the critical arcs and where to then move on from there are some other sites that will serve you well.

A Comic Book Blog has a really fantastic run down of seminal Batman arcs. They introduce you to the narratives, why they're important and also offer the next read based on which choice you make.

The AV Club also has a decent run down which is especially helpful because it's aimed at film fans who may have no comic experience with the Dark Knight at all.

Comic Vine is a bit more a time line (and a little bit spoiler-y) than a really helpful guide, but they've steered me in the right direction for other heroes and are therefore a pretty handy reference to keep bookmarked.

But on the off chance you're not interested in Batman you can basically take all of that advice and change Batman for Superman or Captain America. Comic Vine and A Comic Book Blog look at a wide array of heroes, and Wikipedia will be your friend regardless of which side of the DC/Marvel battle you pick.

I know buddy, they're crazy

That said, I've found other superheroes harder to get into than our dear Dark Knight, mostly because a lot of them don't have the detective serial aspect of Batman arcs and some of them are just insanely convoluted. There are two main ways I've attempted to traverse new (to me) heroes. The first is the simplest and maybe best for newcomers, the current runs of DC and Marvel comics. If you're looking at DC that would be the New 52 (which kicked off in late 2011) or Marvel Now! for Marvel (2012- current). These are both made as easy entry points for new readers. There's been a mixed-response from older comics readers but I've found this to be a pretty great way to get into a few series that otherwise would have been too tricky. It's how I discovered Aquaman, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain Marvel. Once you've read up on this particular run, you can make the decision to travel back to earlier incarnations or to simply stay on the road they're paving. And either option is absolutely acceptable.

The other option is the movie route. After seeing X-Men: Days of Future Past I was interested in reading how the comic differed from the film. I had never actually read X-Men before and of all the superhero series this is probably the most mind-boggling one to try and get into. It's full of paradoxes and twins and Days of Our Lives level soapy drama. DoFP is a short run, about 5 issues, and by itself isn't too bad. It mostly involves characters you know from the films and unless you read up on it first you aren't likely to know how loopy the wider plot around it is. Similarly my first Captain America comic was the Winter Soldier double volume which I decided to pick up partly because I enjoyed the film and partly on the strength of writer Ed Brubaker. So this is definitely an entryway into the comics, but it's likely that most other films have taken a mid-point comic or even parts of several arcs to produce their films, so it's probably best as a taster. Ultimately you'll probably need to hunt around the web to work out where is best to start, which is where the websites above will come in handy. Or just Google "superhero" + where to start and work your way through the blogosphere.

Finally, if you mostly want to read some comics as a companion to the Marvel and DC films then there are some volumes that would be more helpful than others. Now that we have a basic idea of the story lines for the future Marvel films (and the rumoured DC arcs) there are some comics that will better help round out your understanding than others. Let's go!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (written by Ed Brubaker, illustrated by Steve Epting) - While it's a bit darker than the film version, this comic is a really solid starting point if you're interested in starting either the modern Captain America and Winter Soldier arcs. It reflects back on his more idealistic early days as Cap, as well as reflecting on the difficulties that a man from the 1940s faces in the modern world. It's also a good primer for the Civil War story arc, which we now know is going to play a pretty major role in Marvel's phase 3. It's more a backgrounding that an explicit lead-in, but I think it does a good job of explaining the mentality of Cap as that storyline begins.

Aquaman: New 52 (written by Geoff Johns, illustrated by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado) - As I said in my mini-review, I never thought I'd read Aquaman but I found the New 52 not only gave me an introduction to the character while hinting at old storylines I'd eventually want to discover, but it made me feel awful for ever laughing and suggesting he was a "useless" hero. Aquaman has been announced in the next Batman V Superman movie as well as his own standalone (Hello Jason Mamoa!) and DC is rumoured to be mining heavily from the new 52 so if you start here you'll be sure to get the most accurate origin for the films.

Captain Marvel: In Pursuit of Flight (Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Deter Soy, Emma Rios) - There have been seven Captain Marvels and Carol Danvers (former Ms Marvel) is the latest to take on the mantle. The main reason I recommend starting here is firstly because the movies will be taking on this particular character and (likely) story thread, but also because I found it a really helpful starting point for a bunch of other series. Danvers gained her particular powers from the original Captain Marvel (a Kree alien named Mar-Vell) so in this volume you actually get the best of both worlds, a look at both Earth bound and cosmic heroes. Even though some things may only be alluded to or mentioned in passing, I found the brief mentions of the inhumans,  Kree technology and Danver's past to be indelible when I went on to read Guardians of the Galaxy and Ms Marvel and Annihilation. 

Suicide Squad: New 52 (written by Adam Glass, illustrated by  Frederico Dallocchio) - While personally I'd recommend starting this series at the John Ostrander, since all of the news of the film has been centred around Harley Quinn if you're mostly interested in it to contextualise the film then this is the place to start. Unlike my other recs, these aren't heroes. They're well known DC villains who are forced into undertaking black ops missions for the US government. It has massive potential to be completely different from the superhero films currently on our screens and it's perhaps the announced film I'm most excited about (aside from Wonder Woman OBVS). Read here for a little bit more info on exactly what the series is about, and why it'd be a great film.

This is basically the way I've thrown myself into comics. Is it necessarily the smartest or simplest way? Eh, maybe not. But it's worked for me. The Mary Sue just published a really interesting piece about "what to know now that you know you want to read comics". It's got a bit more of a breakdown of exactly what comics are - single issues, trades etc and the best way to navigate that area. So I highly recommend giving that a read too.


*To any angry fanboys strolling through - that is a hypothetical issue 47, I know it isn't real. 

Book Review: Looking For Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska

Written by: John Green

Published: 2005

Synopsis: Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“It always shocked me when I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things.”

When my Ninja swap package arrived I squealed and groaned when I unwrapped Looking for Alaska. I had put down YA as the genre I wanted to get a little more acquainted with, but after my rocky experience reading The Fault in Our Stars I wasn't really sure how I'd feel about another John Green novel. Would I find the characters as shallow? The narrative as manipulative? The whole thing so over-hyped that the enjoyment I did find within in the pages would be negated by my utter bafflement that people have lines from the book tattooed on their arm? But the whole point of the trick or treat swap is to push yourself out of your comfort zone and I hate writing off writers after a single book, so I decided to start the book that very day.

I liked this far, far more than TFioS. Some of my issues are still present (which I'll get to), but I felt that in spite of these issues it was far more ....honest, is what I'm thinking. More genuine perhaps? A quick Google lets me know that this is actually John Green's first novel, so maybe it was simply that he was putting a lot more of himself into the characters and mining his own life for anecdotes and settings. I don't know, but I definitely felt like this book had characters that lived, rather than simply moved through a series of events.

The book takes place at a co-ed boarding school in Alabama. Our protagonist "Pudge" is a collector of last words and a seeker of the "great perhaps". Back in his native home of Florida he is utterly friendless and while he loves his parents he's 16. Your parents being your only friends is not something any teen wants in their life. So off to his father's alma mater he trots, where he first meets his stocky map-nerd room-mate the Colonel and the smoking hot Alaska. Pudge and the Colonel click immediately, which sort of makes me wonder why he had zero friends back in Florida, but things are a little more rocky with Alaska. I mean she's hot, so that's a huge tick in the positive column, but she's moody and snooty and when he turns up at her room door that night wet from being dumped in the lake (a prank to get back at the Colonel - which actually freaked me the fuck out because he could have died*) she tells him to mooooove on stranger. Ugh, aren't girls the worst sometimes? 

Somehow though Pudge manages to wade through Alaska's comstant mood shifts and faux-existential garbage and spark up a friendship. So strong is this friendship that he passes on Thanksgiving with the folks and stays at the school with Alaska alone where they rifle through everyone's personal belongings watching their porn and stealing their booze. Okay, so obviously a few things in this book didn't exactly rock my world. But pushing past that for a minute the majority of the book is a lot of fun. Pudge is adopted into the Colonel's little group of friends, and along with Alaska, Lara and Takumi, the quintet drink and smoke and study and prank together. And as we all know, the group that drinks, smokes, studies, and pranks together, stays together. Except that these 5 don't. 

As you read the book you'll notice that the chapters aren't labelled Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter XXX, they're a countdown. One hundred and twenty-seven days before. Forty-three days before. And then the book breaks into the second half, the after. The cataclysmic event is significant. It's destructive and I can completely understand how it would completely turn a person's world upside down. But to me it was the biggest problem in the book. I'm about to throw out some heavy spoilers, so skip down to the River Song gif if you haven't read it and don't want to know. 

In a similar way that TFioS felt manipulative, the sudden death of Alaska in a drink driving accident felt manipulative. She's there having a great time and then a sudden phone call sends her into a spiral, rushing out of the school to her inevitable death. My biggest issue is not that she died. People die and I think it's important for books to look at issues like this so that young kids can know that all kinds of grieving is okay. You can cry. You can act out. You can go numb. Whatever your grieving process is, you're not alone. But half the book is dedicated to how her shocking death rocked the student population at this boarding school and the majority of it centres around Pudge, a guy who had known her for about 5 months and was obsessively in love with her, in spite of us not really seeing any true connection between them. Sure they had that Thanksgiving week alone, but most scenes showed them in a wider group setting getting along generally or else they were of Pudge sulking because she was in a relationship and seemed to genuinely care for the guy. If they book had broken into sections and looked at how each of the remaining 4 students survived then I would have felt a lot less skeeved out. Instead we got a lot of Pudge feeling sorry for himself and going full Romeo about how special their love was and then bizarrely the book basically rounds out with the other two guys announcing that they to had been in love with her. Ugh, come on. The take away to me felt less like "she was this enigmatic soul who commanded a room, even though she was a raging bitch half the time" and more "damn I wish she'd fucked me before she blew herself up in a fiery wreck". The mystery that the group embark on to find out where she was driving to and why she was upset (was it an accident or suicide?) could have been a fascinating look at how we deal with death, but in the end Alaska just felt like an object that they'd been unfairly robbed of, not a real person. 

Which leads me into my issue with the characters. Now that I've read two of John Green's books (which incidentally are the best possible depiction of his general arc as a writer) I think I can comfortably say that he doesn't write characters well. Which is fine! There are authors I read because of their ability to make me feel something, and others for their ability to paint an entire world and all its inhabitants through some incredibly creative metaphors and descriptors. Douglas Adams comes to mind, there is a brilliant post on Tumblr that collects a lot of his turns of phrase which manage to give weight to a person or a feeling by perfectly putting the right words together. But not every author can work that particular form of magic. Some write characters, some write events, some write emotions. They're all incredibly valid and I don't think you are an inherently bad writer if you can't write well in one of those areas. When I read a John Green book I feel like he has a story he wants to tell and then he finds the characters to tell it. And because of this we end up with very cookie-cutter "nerdy" or "cool" characters who fulfil a function but don't really live on their own. Pudge is fine, but I don't think I could really describe him to you. He's tall and lanky. He studies a lot. He prefers to read biographies to novels. But who is he? *shrugs* that I can't really say. Similarly, Alaska is just this massive mystery. She's manic and collects books and likes pranks. She's super hot and has green eyes. Sure we get a fairly weak insight into her towards the middle of the book, but it's never really built on either  so does it count? Compare this to say Rainbow Rowell. A lot of Rowell's books share similar parallels to John Green. They're (mostly) about teenagers and romance blossoming where you least expect it, and troubled homes and weird kids who don't fit in. But Rowell's characters live off the page. They might technically tick off the same checkpoints as John Green, "attractive but not in a traditional sense" "silly nickname" "obsesses over book/film/TV character or world" "has an odd hobby" but the plot in a Rowell book happens because of who the characters are, rather than the other way around. To me this leads to Green's characters feeling very manic pixie-ish, they're there to help the plot along and help other characters realise some deep truth about themselves, but they have no substance of their own. Except this is true for every character. It's like a game of Sims or something, the characters just walk headlong into walls repeatedly if they don't have an active role in a particular scene.

All of that said and done, I really did enjoy the book. I know the review might not actually depict that, but in spite of not liking the way John Green constructs his narratives I do like them. He writes with an earnestness which helps me move past the fact that apparently every book is contracted to have a character say something douche-y about cigarettes**. And while I might not connect with the characters and their particular journey, but I still find myself pulling in personal experiences which connect with aspects of the novel. Maybe that's the beauty of John Green, maybe he writes his characters like this so that we can populate his books with the men and women from our own lives and question how we'd react if our version of Pudge or the Colonel did X. Or maybe I'm just desperately grasping at straws to find out why I like a book that I struggled to review positively. Maybe life is just full of mysteries, man.

*They wrapped his body in duct tape so that he couldn't move. And when the Colonel later mentions something about how he could have died Pudge just basically shrugs it off. DUDE, NO.

*Says Alaska “Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.”. FARTING NOISE.