laceblade

• What are you currently reading?
W.I.T.C.H., volume 1 - I own the first four volumes, so I'm reading them & later volumes from the library to decide whether I'd like to keep it.
Halfway through volume one & I'm feeling pretty meh - the writing is pretty weak but the art is fantastic. I'll wait 'til I've read all of the volumes before making a decision.
So far it's pretty standard: 5 girls discover they have magical powers! It's a very mahou shoujo storyline, but I think this was created by Disney.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Shugo Chara!, volumes 10-12 - These were the last three volumes in the main series.
I really feel like the storyline ended with volume 10, and volumes 11 & 12 were pretty useless additions.
I'm now kind of dreading picking up the sequel (Shugo Chara!-chan) which I've already got checked out from the library.
I think I said everything I had to say about this series last week: I like the premise more than the execution. If I still have the first two volumes in my stacks, I think I'll be adding them to my sell pile.

Cross Game, volume 3 (collecting volumes 7 & 8 as published in Japan - I read the first two volumes last year & haven't picked it up for a while. This is still a more-moving-than-usual sports manga about baseball.
Still, often when Aoba picks up a baseball & throws a hard pitch, there will be at least one panel that's solely a crotch-shot of her panties when she lifts her leg in the air to throw the ball. Also a swimsuit scene that had some girls near a pool and had some panels that were literally nothing but shots of the bottom halves of their swimsuits. It's a sign in neon lights to me: THIS STORY IS NOT INTENDED FOR YOU.

• What do you think you’ll read next?
More manga, & also selections about Mary Magdalene & women in the Catholic church from a handout I picked up Monday evening at a mass I attended - officiated by a woman Catholic priest (!!!).

• What are you currently reading?
Unsounded - still love it. I really like the things Cope does with the frames and her websites in dramatic &/or magical moments. Ugh, it's so good. I'm in chapter 6.


• What did you recently finish reading?
Killjoys #1 - IT'S OKAY?! I liked this more than the free comic book day one-shot, although now I'd like to go back & reread both of them.

Avengers Assemble #16 - Meh. Not much to say about this.

Buffy #22, The Core, part 2 - Not much to say about this, either. Annoyed with the final line of the issue recycling a line from the TV show.

Wild Ones 6-10 - I decided to just push forward & finish this series, as it was only 10 volumes & I already had 6-8 in my apartment.
It's still terrible. About one panel of Sachie looking like a yakuza bamf-boss for every 50 pages of her completely lacking agency. I rated volume 6 three stars on Goodreads because a plot point progressed due to Sachie's choices & talents. After that, back to the same-old, same-old.
I finished this to be a completist. Rakuto's love for Sachie was something I didn't find romantic. He would say things like, "I wish I could lock you up," etc. to prove how ~protective he is toward her, which I found gross.
The final volume shows Sachie about to embrace the other female daughter of a DIFFERENT local yakuza boss - WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE BEEN THE ACTUAL ENDING?
Instead, the ending is predictable except by focusing on a previously unmentioned dramatic problem.
Anyway, with this, I'M FREE. I'M FREE.

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott - I didn't think I was going to get through this in time for book club, but I miraculously did.
As I mentioned last week, I read this in September but had forgotten all the details. This is why rereading books is super rewarding for me! My memory's weird. Certain things = steep trap. Books/etc., though, main plot points totally escape me & I'm usually only left with vague impressions.
Anyway, I like how important lies are in this book, both as part of the society in which Cat lives & also major plot point progressions.
I also still love how strong Cat is, even when so many things about her life are revealed to be lies. It's very much like the finale of Buffy season 2 - "Take away your friends, blah-blah, and what's left?" "Me." /kicks ass/
I'M SO READY TO READ THE ADVENTURES OF CAT AND BEE, BOOK 2 :) :) :)


• What do you think you’ll read next?
Well, I have a pile of manga I've been amassing from the library, so more of that. I'll be picking up Captain Marvel #13 and possibly other stuff at the comic book store tomorrow or soon.

• What are you currently reading?
Nothing.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Young Avengers #5: And so the first arc comes to an end, & everyone is a team & they're going off in a spaceship (?!). I don't really care where they're going or what they're doing, so I guess that means I should take it off my pull list, lol.
I might follow up later, when it's at the library or something.
I REALLY could have used a trigger warning for Billy's pages, too, jfc.

Avengers: The Enemy Within #1: This is the beginning of the Captain Marvel crossover event. This was okay, mostly like reading another of Captain Marvel, with special appearances by Spider Woman & Thor.
Carol coping with a chronic illness is what makes her character compelling to me.

The Last of Us #2: Still really digging this. I love Faith's art. Starting to dread the end of this prequel mini-arc, because the storyline will continue in a PS3 video game and I don't have a PS3 ^^;;;

Angel & Faith #22, What You Want, Not What You Need part 2 - So, the entire season has been leading up to this. ( spoilers )
As the apocalypse is nigh (again) & everyone prepares, I find myself really attached to this group of people. I hope there's more after this season ends, whether in a continuation of Angel & Faith or back with the main Buffy title.

X-Men #1 - This is the new series that Brian Wood is writing, which caused a stir a few months ago when the cover just showed six women. ONLY WOMEN HOW CAN IT BE?! Anyway, my familiarity with the X-Men universe is pretty minimal. I saw the X-Men movies maybe once each, like a decade ago? (or whenever they came out lol)
This issue includes Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde & some other people, but I don't really know who any of them are.
THAT SAID, I love the art, I'm interested in the story, & I think I'll be sticking around for a while.

Lifelode by Jo Walton - I really liked this. I wish I was in a better headspace & able to say more about it.
It's the first time I've finished a novel in a while. And just...yeah. I love Taveth.
Still a little uncomfortable with the concept of a "lifelode," but overall I really loved it.

• What do you think you’ll read next?
idk.

• What are you currently reading?
Nothing, really? About to start Young Avengers #4

• What did you recently finish reading?
Killjoys comic preview from FCBD: This was really fast-paced, I think too much so?? mergh. Maybe I need to reread it :[

ATLA FCBD short: "Rebound," featuring Mai on the cover, :D after her breakup with Zuko, Mai's depressed & hanging out working in her aunt's flower shop, in the Fire Nation.
I am continually impressed by Gene Luen Yang's ability to write the ATLA characters true to form (here, in The Promise, & now in The Search), and also honestly look at how the political aftermath of the events would leave these kids, their families, & their societies. I see these comics as the true successor to the original show, rather than the slapped-together & sometimes irresponsible Legend of Korra.
(PS: Gene Luen Yang tweeted at me?!?!)

Saga #11 & #12 - lots of emotions in these two issues! I still love the dialogue, the art, ad the pacing. I'm sad this is going on hiatus for a while so they can build up a backlog. Does anyone know how long the hiatus is supposed to last?

Star Wars: The Assassination of Darth Vader, another short from FCBD. This was the flip side of the ATLA one about Mai. This takes place shortly before movie IV. Written by Brian Wood, basically a Vader monologue about what a badass he is, as we watch him kill his would-be assassins. Forgettable.

Willow: Wonderland, #5 (final) The end, by which I mean the final page, was great. I'm not sure I'll ever want to reread this, though.

Buffy Season 9, #19 (Welcome to the Team #4) - ( Spoilers )

Angel & Faith (& Spike) #20 - Working through some heavy shit in this issue. I still like it so much. I very much appreciate Spike's presence, & sort of wish he'd shown up earlier rather than having his own 5-issue spin-off. Buffy comics are pretty dialogue-heavy. It's a thing that irritates me a little when I compare them to other series.

Buffy Season 9, #20 (The Watcher) - a POV of Xander's manpain, but at least in the end I felt very justified by my disgust with him.

Angel & Faith #21 - I didn't think that the mission that started off the premise of this series would remain its focus, & now I'm just afraid to see what happens! We're now in the final arc. I'm scared/excited to keep reading, ;_; ( Spoilers ) With this, I'm now caught up on Buffyverse comics! \o/

Wild Ones, volume 2: There was a great triumphant moment at the end of this volume. So, obviously Sachie & Rakuto are working to keep their yakuza-ness a secret from their high school classmates. Due to some strange turns of events, this secret is basically threatened to be revealed. And in this AWESOME scene, Sachie is a total badass, and basically says, "Yeah, so I'm yakuza. What of it? You wanna go?" OMG THIS BAMF RN.
They walk it back a little by having Rakuto tell her classmates, "Oh, she was just acting for this school event, isn't she a great actress?! Hahaha."

Wild Ones, volume 3: More of the same. It's like...there's not a lot going on in this series that's special? Mostly the same shoujo. I'm a little creeped out by how much time Sachie's grandfather & Rakuto spend talking about who Sachie should/shouldn't be spending her time with, instead of allowing her to make those decisions herself. ("I don't want my granddaughter to grow up to be with someone in the yakuza...") Also some typical shoujo things, where a dude with strong feelings for a girl ends up in awkward body positions where he's directly over her body, etc., in images that look a little disturbingly like a prelude to sexual assault (but it never goes there).
There's a satisfying moment in this volume, too. Rakuto is asked to perform a pointless rescue mission of Sachie. He's being "tested" & there are a lot of arbitrary rules to follow. In the end, he's about to miss rescuing her by the certain time limit, but then Sachie stands up to her captor, says, "There's no rule saying that I have to wait to be rescued," & jumps out the window (into Rakuto's arms). Immediately afterward, the captor says something about Rakuto always saving her, and Sachie is defiant, saying, "No! We save each other."
MANGA, YOU ARE WORKING MY WAY INTO MY HEART.
Thus far, the series has not really addressed the seedy work performed by all of the men surrounding Sachie's life. I'd like to know way more about their ties to their community, whether they actually kill people, etc.

Wild Ones, volume 4: The feature of Sachie shooting a fake gun at a festival GIVES ME LIFE. STOP TEASING ME, MANGA. I want Sachie going on missions with her yakuza crew, pwning people.
Anyway, Sachie leaves her home to go to a festival WITH SOMEONE ELSE. Even though she'd rather be with Rakuto, SHE CAN'T SAY NO.
Back at her grandfather's place, all the men bemoan her absence, & remember how before she came to live with them, they ate instant meals every day. THANKS FOR ESTABLISHING THE ONLY GIRL IN THIS SERIES MAKES EVERYONE'S MEALS DESPITE GOING TO CLASS AT HIGH SCHOOL. Has anyone ever made a list of all manga in which girls provide food FOR EVERYONE?
This is a reason why I like xxxHolic - Watanuki is the one doing all domestic tasks (he's the dude protagonist).
It turns out that Sachie can't stay away for a single night. Rakuto shows up in Okinawa to essentially kidnap her home. (He literally picks her up and steps directly back on to the train he came from, sending both of them farther away from home instead of towards it.)
The end of the last chapter epitomizes what I both love & hate about this series. Sachie drops her wallet & then gets into an altercation when one dude tells her to step off because he's part of a yakuza clan.
Sachie's face turns angry & bamf-like, and she yells, "Turns out that we're part of the same world!" But then you turn the page & Rakuto shows up to say, "I told you so many times to go straight home. What am I going to do with you, Sachie?" UGH.

Venus Capriccio, volume 2: I'd forgotten that Akira is a little exoticised for his "beauty" (whenever the word "beautiful" is used, Takami, the narrator, makes sure to say "even though he's a guy"). He is beautiful in part BECAUSE he is part European, apparently.
Anyway, Takami gets a job at a restaurant, so Akira gets one there, too, to "watch her." Takami's grumpy about this. When she accidentally serves people the wrong salad, he intervenes to apologize on her behalf & also serve the correct food.
He arranges his schedule to match hers to walk her home & calls someone else to do it when he is unavailable.
One night, some hoodlums show up in the restaurant & hit on her. Takami is handling it, but there's no need because Akira shows up to spill water on their heads.
They leave, and he berates Takami. "You're still a girl, Takami. Wake up and recognize that. You're too vulnerable. It's dangerous for you to be walking the streets alone at night..."

It's so gross. I feel like Venus Capriccio and Wild Ones are both communicating the same message: It's romantic for a boy to step in & control a girl's life: Who she sees, where she goes. There isn't room for any men in a girl's life except for her romantic interest. And any misfortune she experiences for daring to [exist outside the shelter of home after sunset / talk to men / etc.] is absolutely her fault.

If anyone's wondering why I prefer series with just girls & no men lately (i.e., K-On!, AKB0048, etc.), this is a huge reason why.
The volume picked up a little after that - I still enjoy watching Akira and Takami play the pinao. I enjoy this series' art. I just still had some smoldering rage going on.

Some Glee fics:
drowning in your dizzy noise by timorous_scribe - Santana and Rachel, three fail-starts and one take-off. Assumes events up to 4x17 'Guilty Pleasures.' (NSFW)

Mixed Media by parsnips - Cooper Anderson lands a role on a show called White Collar, & so obviously the entire Glee Club becomes involved in the White Collar fandom. Blaine-centric, which I usually don't enjoy, but this fic is HILARIOUS & I loved every part of it.
He's a professional. He knows about pointing.

• What do you think you’ll read next?
idk. Likely more comics. I don't want to knock on comics b/c they can be super important & meaningful, but I'm still feeling not up to the emotional complexity of novels.
The Anna Karenina book club next meets during WisCon, & I had to return my copy to the library a while. I am not feeling compelled to finish it, especially as someone mentioned that more [redacted] happens.
I also stopped reading Kokoro for that reason, too.
I have more Wild Ones manga waiting for me at the library.

• What are you currently reading?
Returned to I've Been Trying to Reach You by thememoriesfire, a Glee AU where Rachel's the leader of Vocal Adrenaline & very popular at her high school. After having a baby & then facing bullying, Quinn transfers to Rachel's school & is very much an outcast.
I like it a lot. I keep trying to analyze what it is that makes her writing so perfect. Haven't figured it out yet.


• What did you recently finish reading?
Hawkeye #4-7 - Still loving it.


Cyteen: The Betrayal by C.J. Cherryh. Cyteen is a huge book, but for book club we just read the first third, aka the way the author DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ IT.
Ahh, so cloning & lots of ethical problems. It's hard to talk about stuff without giving away the plot?
Also FUCK my edition, because it spoiled 3/4 of the book on the back cover! wtfffff
I would really like to know where this society's ethical review boards are that oversee research. How did their society get to this stage?! idk.
I'm finding Cyteen pretty dense. I want to read the rest, but it's all a little too much for me right now.


Bunch of Glee fics:
You're the nicest thing I've ever seen by skintightsocks - Tina/Mike, after 2x17

How to Be a Doper Person (The Answer: Puppies) by skintightsocks - During/after 2x17. Puck gets a Pomeranian puppy. Puck/Lauren. It's tiny and fluffy and has giant eyes and Puck falls pretty much instantly in love.
He's a badass, okay, but he's been learning that he can be a badass and still have feelings, and, well, Puck's always been a sucker when it comes to animals. Which is why he tucks the dog under his arm and scales the fence behind the pound while he's having a "getting to know you" session with her.

Kiss With a Fist by skintightsocks - Finn/Puck/Blaine, PG-13
"I like football," Blaine says desperately. "We can talk about football."

Not Far To Go by skintightsocks - NC-17. Santana had spent a lot of time searching her soul and embracing her feelings and all that bullshit, which really just meant that she had spent the first few weeks of summer trying to get her ya-ya sisterhood on. She'd gotten bored like four movies into the list of lesbian films she'd found, gotten pissed when But I'm A Cheerleader hit a little too close to home, and then had given up and just gone back to watching a lot of porn while decidedly not thinking about Brittany.

The Heat of the Moment by skintightsocks - Hummelberry. Hypothermia. (sex content, for those who avoid that with this pairing)


• What do you think you’ll read next?
More fic.
I am feeling rebellious against book clubs. I WANT TO READ WHATEVER I WANT.
More importantly...I'd like to get back to writing my fic.

I had sort of planned to read more comics today before posting, but I have a lot to today, & I think it's better I post now!

• What are you currently reading?
Anna Karenina. I read the first 12 chapters of Part 5 on the bus yesterday.
At this point, I guess I should warn ( for spoilers ) Still feeling 100% bored by the Levin chapters. Very glad that someone gave me a content warning for the rest of the book, but I'm kind of waiting in suspense for it to happen & wondering if I won't be able to attend when my book club discusses it -___-


• What did you recently finish reading?
Avengers: The Children's Crusade, which basically focuses on the Young Avengers, except when it doesn't. UMM. Overall, I liked reading about the Young Avengers kids & their interactions with each other. But this focused a lot on Dr. Doom and the Scarlet Witch, and Magneto was around for a while until he wasn't and it was just like, I DON'T CARE?! AND WOLVERINE, HOW COME YOU'RE SUCH AN ASSHOLE?! Is Wolverine always an asshole?! I don't even know.
So...yeah. It was okay. It was neat for the Hawkeyes to be together again. I now feel prepared to read the current Hawkeye series (involving both Clint Barton and Kate Bishop) and the NEW Young Avengers series that just started.
THAT ENDING, THO.

...I don't really know where to go next with my foray into U.S. superhero comics. I guess I should catch up with Batwoman & see if I still like it or not.

(current series) Young Avengers #1: What happened to Hulkling's earrings?! Why is Loki here? Is he a teenager, too? LOKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Most of what I feel after reading this first issue is unease. Maybe I don't want this to be on my pull-list after all?

Young Avengers #2: omggggggg...so the recap is done by spoofing Tumblr. Pictures from last issue, with captions. Also with Tumblr tags, like, #SO MANY FEELS or #oh billy
Overall I liked #2 way better than #1! The overused metaphor of, "Our parents can't even UNDERSTAND that everything's totally fucked up & life makes no sense!" might get old fast.


Venus Capriccio, volume 1 by Mai Nishikata - So, Thursday evening I found myself at Half-Price Books, & they had about a billion volumes of manga, lots of it shojo. I was steered clear of some faily ones by a friend, & decided to put some on hold at the library. But I did buy 3 volumes of Venus Capriccio!
This is a cute little shoujo. The protagonist is Takami, who's tall & a tomboy. Her childhood friend is a boy named Akira, whose good looks almost make him look feminine. They met as children when Takami's parents had her start taking piano lessons in an attempt to feminize her.

While other people in the series (parents, potential love interests) try to tell Takami & Akira how to properly perform their gender, they never do it to each other. A lot of shoujo manga tropes get subverted here, & I kind of really, really love it.
Example: Early on, Akira has confessed his feelings for Takami, & she isn't really sure how she feels about it - does she like him back?! etc. But then a potential rival shows up who declares that she loves Akira more. She's also much shorter than Takami, dresses in skirts/etc., and expresses her femininity way differently than Takami does.
Rather than having an all-out cat fight or long-standing grudge, these two end up respecting each other. Takami actually wipes a tear away from her rival (in love)'s cheek - sort of like a stereotypical dude in shoujo manga!
Anyway, I love this, & I love it too when the characters play the piano. It makes me want to play again, too!

This manga was released in the US by CMX, a company that put out a lot of great shoujo. I miss CMX.


• What do you think you’ll read next?
I need to burn through parts 5 & 6 of Anna Karenina so that I can also get through the first part of C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen, which we're reading for beer_marmalade.

I also just picked up Avatar the Last Airbender: The Search, part 1, & I expect I won't make it through the week without devouring that.

• What are you currently reading?
Anna Karenina - Currently trying to make it through part 2 before Sunday, which should be easy (I'm in the middle of part 2 right now).
It's really easy to dive into this book, which I enjoy. Some of my friends have mentioned having to reread pages or passages b/c it's so dry, but I haven't had that issue at all, perhaps because the translation I picked up (most recent English one) is better, after all. It did win some awards & stuff.
I like Anna and Kitty and Levin. Kitty seems to be depressed now, :[
I love reading about the stupid men in this book, bahaha, like Anna's husband who only forms his opinions based on other people's opinions!

Related, I've recently learned that the book club I'm joining to discuss this book has actually been meeting for months, to discuss other books! Now I feel like I've invited myself/etc., but people assure me that's not true, so we'll see how Sunday goes.


• What did you recently finish reading?
Mara #2 - Not much really happened in this issue, & what did happen was weird overlord narration, not dialogue. There were lots of ads at the end & it made me grumpy. I want to know what happens to Mara! Hopefully the next issue will be more interesting.

Spike: A Dark Place #5 - I'm just glad this is over. #5 wasn't any better than the rest of them. Here's a note to myself: SELL THESE, free up space!

Civil War: Runaways/Young Avengers - (This is just the first volume; Secret Invasion will be next.) I've read this before, but it was when I didn't know anything about the Young Avengers. Umm, it's definitely more interesting this time around, although on the whole it's not great. Mostly, this just gives me lots of Runaways feelings :( I've read the Runaways since they first started coming out, and I love those kids. ALSO their outfits are better, their dialogue is better, & they're much funnier than the Young Avengers. Now I just want to reread Runaways, lol.

Geisha, a Life by Mineko Iwasaki - I ended up really, really loving this. It was hard to put down. Iwasaki's look back at being a maiko & geiko was full of historical detail, and SO INTERESTING OMG. She did spend some time detailing how clueless the women who grow up in this life are. In her twenties, Iwasaki decided she wanted to live in her own apartment so far (while still entertaining clients), so she got one. She didn't even know that vacuum cleaners needed to be plugged in order to work. Stuff like that. The women are entirely dependent on the people who care for them/their house.
Her interaction with Queen Elizabeth II was amusing (she flirted with Prince Philip b/c Elizabeth wouldn't eat their awesome food); her interaction with Prince Charles appalling (he signed her fan with his name without asking her - ruining it so that she couldn't use it at her next appointments that evening).
Toward the end, Iwasaki's decision to retire at age 29 to try & shock the whole cultural society into reform came as a shock to me the reader. She had mentioned in the book that she'd petitioned for girls to be able to stay in school longer (through high school), but I wish she'd spent a little more time discussing how she came to her decision, the reactions of all the other people in the book, etc.
I felt frustrated that it ended like a Victorian novel - she gets married & oop! Story's over! I really wanted to know what else happened in her life - I hadn't realized I'd become so attached, bahaha.
Anyway, I highly recommend this, although: warnings for attempted rape & suicide.


• What do you think you’ll read next?
More Young Avengers comics - Civil War crossover stuff, Dark Reign, and Children's Crusade (now that I figured out that it's NOT a Young Avengers title - just regular Avengers - and that's why it wasn't coming up in my searches in the library database lol).

I've still got a pile of stuff in my library basket, including Wolf Hall, which just came yesterday. I had hoped I'd have a couple months before receiving that one, but in our library, whichever branch a book gets returned at, the next person in line at that branch gets the book, even if there are ten people before them in line. If they're at other branches, then too bad! So I guess the 50-some other people with this book on hold don't go to my library -_-
Anyway, I'd kind of hoped to be done with Anna Karenina before picking this monstrosity up. At least AK, I'm reading in smaller chunks, I guess.

Also need to read a book lent to me by a co-worker and beer_marmalade's February book, Moon Called.

I'm feeling a significant lack of manga in my life right now, so I might return to Gokinjo Monogotari.

The other day I ran into heyfoureyes and we were talking about how doing this reading meme has made us realize how much we actually read week-to-week.
Sometimes when I'm focusing on single-issue comics or fanfiction, it doesn't seem like much has happened (at least not according to my Goodreads profile), so I'm just...really liking this meme.
I love seeing what other people are up to, too!

• What are you currently reading?
Young Avengers Presents - Thanks to everyone who commented telling me the order of the YA comics, I've been able to continue, still getting everything from the library thus far! (Yay, my city's library!) I really appreciated having this volume of character development one-shots, because it's helping me be able to tell everyone apart! Previously, I knew Cassie and Kate, & Patriot, but everyone else's real identities/Avengers identity kind of blurred together, so I'm glad I did track this down to read it.
Hulkling's civilian name of Teddy Altman throws me every time, because there was a doctor on Grey's Anatomy for a few seasons with the same name.
Hulkling's interaction with Captain Marvel is the first time I've ever read/seen the male (aka: original) Captain Marvel in comics form. Carol Danvers seems way cooler.
I really dislike the way the women are drawn in this series, sometimes. In certain panels, the detail around Kate Bishop's nipples (when she is fully clothed) makes me feel like I'm looking at pornography.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Captain Marvel, #8 & #9: I'd been really bored by the most recent storyline & was actually ready to drop this title, but I'd already bought #9 and I read it AND IT WAS SO GOOD. The art style changed again in this issue, but it grew on me. This issue is about Carol Danvers's personal life, but then she also fights some dinosaurs in the middle of the issue.
I <3 her relationships with everyone. I really hope that Wendy Kawasaki sticks around.
I had bought the first issue of Captain Marvel hanging out with the cast of the Avengers movie in "Avengers Assemble #9," but it didn't do much for me because SHE didn't do much. It also read like fanfic?! idk. I don't care A LOT about Iron Man/Thor/Hulk/Captain America/etc.
Anyway, her interactions with Tony Stark in this issue were fine to me, because it was ABOUT HER.
I'm also really interested to see how [spoiler from the end of the issue] plays out.
So. Well played, writers. I was about to drop this title, but based on issue #9, I'll be sticking with it. Maybe this is how mass superhero titles always are? They kind of groove all over the place to hang on to all kinds of readers? idk.

I am used to manga & indie US comics. I'm still waffling on whether superhero comics are for me, as-they-are-released.


Saga #9: Lying Cat is the best character, y/y? And seriously, BKV answering letters at the end of each issue is basically the best thing ever. I love the lack of advertisements. Still love the storytelling & the art.
Randoms aside, this was another solid issue & I don't have much else to say about it.


Here We Cross, a collection of queer & gender fluid poetry.
The collection was put out by Stone Telling, "a speculative poetry quarterly dedicated to showcasing multi-perspective work of literary quality."
They put their stuff online for free - here's a link to their most current issue, from August.

My book club beer_marmalade decided to read this for January because most of us had never read sf/f poetry before. I have a tendency to dislike most poetry. This volume didn't really do much for me. The few standouts were The Changeling's Lament by Shira Lipkin, Hair by Hel Gurney, & The Gabriel Hound by Samantha Henderson.
From our discussion, I have a few poets written down, as recommended by jesse_the_k & Sofia. Although poetry isn't generally my thing, Sofia and I mostly liked the same poems from this volume, so maybe her recs will do me good!


• What do you think you’ll read next?
Anna Karenina - I didn't get a hold of it until yesterday due to various library mishaps, but I need to try & get through part I by Sunday for this impromptu book club I'm joining!
I'm sure I'll be looking at some other stuff too, but this will be my primary focus for most of the week.

Once I finish YA Presents, I hope to read more of it. The new Young Avengers #1 drops today too, so I'll be swinging by the comic bookstore after work to pick it up.

I've gotten a lot of stuff at the library - Moto Hagio's The Heart of Thomas, a bunch of acid reflux cookbooks, and that stack of books I'd already accrued in the last month or so.

• What are you currently reading?
Right now I'm reading The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson. I'm on page 68, and I'm struggling really hard. It's set in Heian Japan & written by a white woman from the US, and I just have a really hard time getting past this cultural appropriation. I feel weird reading it. I keep thinking of a post by yeloson's post: When you cut away the wrapper, appropriation is telling other people's stories for your entertainment & profit, not theirs.

I bought this book & Fudoki a while ago, used. I've read some of Kij Johnson's short stories and I liked her writing style quite a bit. I think the short stories were more recent than these books, though.

This kind of reminds me of Cat Valente's Yume no Hon. What's up with contemporary US sf/f authors appropriating Japanese culture? idk.
Anyway, I'll try a little harder. I'll also give Fudoki a chance at some point, to see if it's better.
I'm not sure if I'll be finishing The Fox Woman. I'll likely be selling it.


• What did you recently finish reading?
Buffy season 9, #16 (?) Whatever the most recent issue is: Still feeling pretty "meh" about things. Glad to see things swoop back to these characters, but overall meh.

Radical Reinvention by Kaya Oakes, which I blogged about here.


• What do you think you'll read next?
Young Avengers Presents is waiting for me at the library, so I'm going to get that.

A few weeks ago, I erupted over drinks with friends when they revealed they'd started a book club to discuss Anna Karenina & not invited me. It turns out they haven't actually met yet, so I have time to read part I & join them for their first meeting. I'm reading the most recent edition, as specified by JacquelynGill, who tells me it makes a huge a difference.

While a little despondent the other day, I stood in the library plucking random books from shelves: a few by Alison Wein, Henry James's The Wings of the Dove, Geraldine Brooks's March. idk if I'll read them or when.

In comics, I have a new Saga to read & need to read the two most recent issues of Captain Marvel.
When asking my comics guy if it's too soon to add the new X-Men comic by Brian Wood about girls to my pull list, he said, "You know Brian Wood's been writing a storyline already, right?
I hadn't!
He had been about to mark a bunch of them down to $1, so I got X-Men issues 30-35 with Brian Wood as the author. I guess some of the characters in this story will appear in the new X-Men that I want to be reading? WE'LL SEE.

You know, I always start these entries thinking, "Oh, I didn't read much this week."

• What are you currently reading?
I wanted to bring something new with me on the bus, so I grabbed the comfort of strangers by Ian McEwan, which I impulse-bought Sunday evening at Half-Price Books while I was feeling a little angsty. I read Atonement about a year ago and I really like McEwan's prose. I've been reading a lot of comics, fanfics, and meh-ish sci-fi lately, so it's really nice to read something with such carefully crafted sentences.

Still reading Ai Yazawa's Gokinjo Monogatari (have finished volume 3). I'm glad that the series is focusing on some characters other than the main couple without diminishing their presence. I remember Kare Kano annoying me when it went off to do that, but probably because I found the other characters (and the main characters, after volume 1) so damn boring.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Willow #2, a small arc that's part of Buffy, season 9. Still more pleased with this than the Spike spin-off. Season 9's been interesting to me all along, but it seems now that the threads are all in place, and the writers are starting to pull them. The revelation at the end of the issue was interesting, and I'm excited to see what happens in the next issue of pretty much all these titles.

Mara #1, a new comic series written by Brian Wood, drawings by Ming Doyle. Randomly picked this one up off the shelf having heard nothing about it, although I've read/liked Brian Wood for a while. The cover art was pretty striking.
The protagonist is a volleyball player is a war-torn Earth!future, and I like this enough that I asked my comics guy to add it to my pull list.

Young Avengers, volume 1: Sidekicks by Allan Heinberg/etc. I liked this quite a bit. Find myself wholly uninterested in the dude!characters, but Cassie seems awesome, as does Kate Bishop. I'm slowly starting to get a feel for the Marvel universe - previously, I'd only really been familiar with Runaways. I'm excited to reread the Civil War crossover with Runaways - the first time I read it, I didn't care about any of the Young Avengers, haha.
Basically this story does just what the title would you to believe! Kid versions of Hawkeye, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and Ant-Man, whoever the eff that is.

The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker by Roger Ebert. This is absolutely what I don't need from a cookbook. Nothing was useful to me, although maybe to someone more confident in the kitchen.
In discussing "how to make" soups in a rice cooker, he'd say something like, "Gather the ingredients for a soup. Toss them in the pot. Add about enough water. Turn it on." Incredibly frustrating. I think the only tip I walked away with was the tip to cook hot breakfast cereal in it, which I promptly did the next morning.

Struck by Lightning by Chris Colfer - I ended up liking this more than Land of Stories, which I think I discussed last time.
I'm still hoping the movie will be better than the book. I would have expected the journal of Carson Phillips (protagonist) to be way more guarded and cynical, given the way his character interacts with everyone else.
In spite of [spoiler], I am happy with the message of this book, which is basically: all kinds of shit can happen to make your life go out of control, but having goals and working toward them as hard as you can every single day = the point of life, even if your goals are never achieved.
That said, if Chris hadn't written it, I likely wouldn't have read it.

This week I discovered a new fic author. Her Quinn is especially perfect.

you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter by sing_song_sung - This is an AU fic. It is based on the novel The Likeness by Tana French. It's a WIP that seems to have been abandoned, but I'm glad it exists. Santana POV, Pezberry, + Puck and Kurt, and then Jesse St. James, Finn, Mike, and Quinn.
Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

girl, put your records on by sing_song_sung - In which Santana needs a song and Rachel is the one to sing it.
I don't usually care for the Brittana pairing (or other canon pairings), so I think what I like about this one is the Pezberry friendship.

sky of the sky of a tree called life by sing_song_sung - Post-3x02. Quinn wanted to call her daughter Caroline.

and these mistakes you make (you'll just make them again) by sing_song_sung - Quinn and Puck sing the songs of their summer.

look for the girl with the broken smile by sing_song_sung - Quinn's history rewritten, because she's vulnerable enough without a past that was obviously conceived in the writing of Born This Way.

you'll see a side of love you've never known by sing_song_sung - Mike/Quinn, season 1.

Also:
Puck/Rachel oral by astano, basically pure smut.

get you into trouble and take all the blame by smc_27, basically just a St. Puckleberry threesome OMGGGGG.

BTW, my masterlist of Glee fic recs can still be found here & is updated regularly.

• What do you think you'll read next?
Ugh, I'd really like to finish some of the books I've started-but-not-finished, so I don't want to add new things!

Recently put on hold at the library: Wolf Hall, Into the Woods (so I can read The Likeness and figure out where that fic was going to go!), Geisha, a Life - put on hold after reading about how Memoirs of a Geisha is a huge mess of cultural appropriation :[

My book club's reading Here We Cross for January, so I should get my hands on that. It's a collection of sf/f queer poetry. Since I normally hate poetry, this might be hilarious.