Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1: Gifted, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

So a little while ago I got to talking about comics on the internet to my friends, as one does. I mentioned that I hadn't actually read any.

Cue horror and staring from all corners of the internet.

But you see, I live in a small town, and I am not from a practicing nerd family, and my library believes in vampire books and contemporary romances. I had an excuse! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY FORGIVE ME WORLD!

Time passed, as it has a habit of doing. I went to visit some friends! And then, out of the blue, when I was at a shakespeare rehearsal, they presented me with a lovely sign, and the Whedon/Cassaday arc of Astonishing X-Men! I no longer had an excuse. I must bite the bullet and read comics.

And so I did.

And I was DELIGHTED. ^_^ They almost made the trip home enjoyable! Um, the plot. There are aliens, and a cure for mutation, and people coming back from the dead. But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the plot is not the MAIN reason people (like me- specifically me,) like comics. We (that is to say I) like it for the characters, and the dialogue, and something I didn't even realize until reading this, which is the art. The art is SO AMAZING. I didn't know you could do that, before!

I'm just gonna skip through my incoherent talking about art, because no one needs to see that. Or read it. Because it is incoherent. (Unlike this explanation, which is SO LOGICAL I could use it as a philosophy thesis.) I'm just gonna mention some parts in this volume which I REALLY liked. :D

Anything with Emma Frost. Or Kitty Pryce. Oh, and any time Hank McCoy and Wolverine are talking. Oh, and I loved Cyclops whenever he was around too. ^_^ So that leaves out- Ord, and the researcher, and the nightmare girl- oh, and I loved Brand and Nick Fury too! The rest of it was just lovely, not DELIGHTFUL.

And yeah, I gave it four stars out of five.

The Rise of Renegade X, Chelsea Campbell

Villainy runs in Damien's family. His mom is a very respected (and feared) mad scientist (dad isn't mentioned, perhaps a lab accident?) and he's quite happy with his family heritage. He's ready to embrace his evil destiny, in fact! He's going to go to the local university for super villains- with early enrolment- take something tasteful, like mad science, and then take over the world. He just has to wait till his thumbprint turns to a V on his sixteenth birthday, and then he's on his way.

Only on his birthday, in front of hundreds of paying guests eager to see an actual villain embrace his heritage, things go wrong.

Because his thumbprint just changed- only not into a V. Damien is now the proud owner of an X on his thumb. The rare and almost mythical progeny of a villain- and a hero.

Damien now is less ready to believe that his dad met with an unfortunate lab accident, or was a turkey baster, as he'd always believed. Now for a spot of non-consentual DNA testing! Yay! That's always good for a laugh...

And then before you know it, we're dealing with mind-control rays, public schools, GIRL ISSUES, flying (omg omg omg omg and not in a good way) SCIENCE, the future, Zombiesand BIG DECISIONS. I'm saying that in a very vague and probably annoying way because I don't want to spoil it for you. ^_^ I'll just say I liked the kissing scenes. And the torture. And the kissing torture. ^_^

Oh, and I think this is the first love triangle I've read that I both enjoyed, thought was believable, and knew right away who I was cheering for. (Now come on, he's caught between a heroine and a villainess. Who do YOU think he should go for? :D) I was IMPRESSED how it seemed entirely believable to me. I mean- granted- everyone involved is insane and has truly twisted ideas of how relationships should work, but I'm cool with that. I can understand that MORE than oh dear pretty fluffy angels you're so pretty and I've never seen you before plz have my babies plz plz plz??? Which is my reading of most relationships, and ESPECIALLY love triangles. *cough* Not that I'm thinking of the classic triangle of our generation *coughJacobBellaEdwardCoughCough* or anything. *cough* Nope *cough cough* I need to go get a drink of water...

*returns, triumphantly hydrated* So yes. The plot just makes me happy to outline, much less read, the love triangle gives me the warm fuzzies, the characters are win- did I mention that? Yes, they are win. Especially when you're moving from first impressions to how people change (or are proven to be exactly the person you thought they were.) They're all LOVELY.

I think at this point you might be getting a vague idea that I liked this book. If you were thinking that, you would be CORRECT. In fact, I gave it five stars out of five. I know there are some technical issues, but I just love it so much. :D You should all read it.

Oh, and Ms. Campbell is writing a book set in ROME next. Ancient Rome. I hope her book after that will be a sequel to renegade. :D

Hunting Party, Elizabeth Moon

^____________________^

I read this book, oh years ago. I was browsing the ten cent shelf, saw the name Moon in the SF section, and thought that was an EXCELLENT handle for a SF writer. Then I read it.

Oh My Gosh, you guys, it blew my mind. When I start to build my SF futures, this is one of the main building blocks I use. It's just so- complicated! There's so MUCH going on in the book! *big, sappy grin* Politics, and death, and acid put downs, and stupid young boys, and girls being awesome, and lizards, and fox hunting, and royalty, and smuggling, and safety regulations, and family obligations and fighting, and so on. *cough* I remembered it as being rather mind-blowing when I read it the first time. (I was 16 at the time.) And then I would RUE THE DAY I sold it to another bookstore. RUE, I tell you.

*Happier, sappier grin* And then the other month, I found it at the bookstore again. I may have done one of my traditional dive-and-squeal attacks on the entire SF case when I saw it. There were are no witnesses, so who can tell? And anyways, I brought it home and read it again. And it's JUST AS GOOD as I remembered. I had actually forgotten the whole first part of the book, which was delightful and classic Moon. I am unreasonably delighted by things like the inclusion of banking in adventure books. And shopping. For guns. For old ladies.

And Customs! ^__________^ I love customs! Silly small-minded import officers. He he he he.

This is probably not selling the book to you. Let's do a nice overview of the plot, hmm?

Herris Serrano is a naval officer, one in a long and honourable line of officers. However, her family isn't talking to her, because she's just resigned her commission. Her honour is technically intact, but everyone knows the truth. The only job she can get is as the Caption of the luxury liner Sweet Delight, where no one seems to know their job, she has to wear purple plush, safety standards are abysmal, her boss is a doddering old noblewoman who's mad for horses, and her XO is smuggling contraband in the air exchange system. Welcome to the future, Herris.

Meanwhile, we're also following her employer's POV. Lady Celia has no patience for idiots, which she considers to include most of the world (and her former captain, who managed to get himself killed, the dolt.) Her NEW employee seems to be sensible, though rather stressed about things that surely don't matter. (Safety drills in the middle of the night? Really?) However, Celia has her own, more pressing issues to deal with. Namely, her truly moronic Nephew and his entourage of adoring fools, who've been foisted on her for a year. She decides that nothing and no one- including the darling duffer she's related to- is going to stop her from her season of fox hunting. Her Nephew and his cohorts can just learn the sport of kings.

ALSO we get story from the Nephew's point of view. And that's just delicious, so I won't spoilt it for you. Heheheheh.

I gave it five stars out of five. I just love this book. It makes me HAPPEH. ^_^

(P.S. The main character is dark skinned, despite what the low down deceiving cover is telling you.)

Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

So I read this for book club. And it was REALLY PAINFUL. Basically I hated all the characters, including the narrator. Oh wait, that's a lie, I approved of Angel's parents. But everyone else. GOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHHH. *headdesks*

I know this is a classic. And it's technically good, I'm sure. I just want to throw it on the floor and throw drinks at it. Several times.
GAHHHHHHH. WHY? WHY DOES THIS EXSIST? WHY DO-

Ahem. You can see this book elicits strong emotions in me. The basic plot- which I am not going to worry about spoiling, seeing as the book was published like a hundred and twenty years ago, is that this really innocent girl, Tess, gets guilted by her family into going away to work. Where she is seduced/raped- it's kinda unclear- by her employer. She promptly leaves the job and goes home, and then then we skip ahead a year to where she's feeding her baby. Who she hasn't named yet? The baby falls ill and the priest won't come out and baptize it, because it's the middle of the night and the baby is illegitimate, and so she baptizes him herself and names the child Sorrow, and then Sorrow dies, then to be buried in the unconsecrated part of the churchyard. This is the "happy" part of the novel.

We go on to where she goes away to work, and Hardy basically takes a couple hundred pages to rhapsodize about the wonder of pagan-times-as-empodied-by-dairy-farming, and how they're so much better than modern morals. He also thinks that red and white fat arms on girls with big eyes are hawt, if you know what I mean, and dust caught by sunlight is, like divine. I really was trying to just get the words down my brain at this point, and not shout at the page. But while Tess is all busy being a pagan goddess in the sunlight and the butter, some disillusioned poor agnostic sap named Angel who thinks too much is falling in love with her because she's so pure. She says she can't marry him because of her past, but he's all about how nothing in her silly little pure past (don't try to think, woman, it makes your brow furrow, and that's unattractive) could possibly stop his love for her, and he doesn't let her tell him what she's talking about. Of course then when they get married he goes Lolz, I got seduced by this old woman once, morals are for teh lose, you forgive me, right? And she cries and says of course I do, and because you're so good and modern you'll forgive me for my sins, and I know you will, because it's exactly the same as your sins!

AND THEN HE LEAVES HER AND GOES TO BRAZIL TO CATCH FEVERS.

Meanwhile, Tess is destitute and pulling turnips, and her old employer Alex finds her again, and is hanging around, and I really hate this book, and then her family ends up homeless, and Alex says he will support her family if she becomes his mistress, and then she does, and then it all goes to heck in a hand-basket.

Angel comes back, and Tess kills Alex, and then runs after Angel and says "you'll love me because I killed him, right?" Angel, of course, pets her hair and bring her away to live like a married couple in a house they break into, and then they go hang out in Stonehenge and the police catch her and he pets her hair and says soothing agnostic things and lets them arrest her, and then they hang Tess and Angel marries her younger sister. Who is like what, sixteen? Seventeen?

So yeah. You may have picked up a slight vibe of me disliking this tome. It's a true vibe. Hardy MORALIZES the whole freaking time. About how stupid modern morals are, which might be true, but look, WE ARE IN A DIFFERENT TIME. MORAL ISSUES ARE DIFFERENT. I REALLY DONT" NEED TO HEAR YOU RANT AS A NARRATOR FOR HOWEVER MANY FREAKING PAGES THIS IS ABOUT THE INJUSTICE OF LOOKING DOWN ON SINGLE MOMS. I ASSURE YOU, HARDY, WE'VE MOVED PAST THAT PARTICULAR PREJUDICE. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I gave it two stars out of five. It's my blog, darn it, I can like what I want. *glares at you* Ahem. The one GOOD thing I got from this book was how sometimes people can be led into doing "bad things" by stupid family and other events that are really outside their control. Don't judge people. (Lest you be judged. OH WAIT, you mean that's a EXILING BIBLE VERSE? Hardy didn't COME UP WITH THIS IDEA? Who knew. WHO knew.)

Looking for Alaska, John Green

Oh my gosh, this book pissed me off so much. I had to stop right when I got to "after," and I wandered around wal-mart like a maniac thing, idly poking myself with sharp things to see if I bled and staring at bread like I'd never seen it in bags before.

Now I give it four stars out of five, because it's masterfully done. But when I see it I still want to break things and scream.

Oh. My. Gosh. So much anger. GAHHHHHHH.

Pudge goes to boarding school. There he meets a motley group of people, and a circle of immensely important ones. Most importantly within the circle is the Colonel, his roommate, and Alaska, from down the hall. They teach him how to smoke, and swear in rhyme, and pull pranks, and other things of dubious moral integrity, that undoubtedly have long philosophical and ethical shadows in his life.  I read this book in conjunction with a friend, and we're not totally on board with the teen sex. I think the work used to describe it was "unnecessary." Also "gratuitous."

Pudge becomes part of a very tight, very intimate clan of friends. And then something happens. Screaming is probably the right response.

I still can't believe that this was John Green's first book. It's insanely good.  It's just- really, really well done. I'm not sure that you should read it, but if you like being emotionally abused by books, this one is REALLY GOOD at it.

Suite Scarlett, Maureen Johnson

Oh, Maureen Johnson. You are so entertaining on twitter. And you write books which break my heart. (I have a heart of diamond when reading fantasy or SF. When it comes to Contemporary, it's more like sugar brittle. You look at me, and I shatter. But still! ^_^)

Scarlett's family owns a hotel in New York City, which does NOT mean they're rich. Think more "oh, by the way, we're going to have to use all the children as unpaid labour. Enjoy the summer!" School's out, and Scarlett is stuck manning the front desk and acting as maid service.

Things could probably be going better.

Then her brother Spencer gets a part in a production of Hamlet, which brings several new people into her life. (Including a startlingly attractive southern boy.) Together with the addition of a new guest who hires Scarlett as a her personal assistant (and calls her O'Hara,) the summer has gone from zero to about an eleven in the space of an afternoon.

And then things KEEP happening.

Okay, I really enjoyed this book. :D I shared it with my sisters, and they also really enjoyed it. :D We all agree that Eric (Startlingly Attractive Souther Boy) is lose, and Spencer is the one we want. And because Scarlett is RELATED to him, there's no danger of a romance there, so we can stalk him all we want! SKINNY SNARKY ACTOR BOYS WITH STRONG FAMILY RELATIONS AND LITTLE MORALS FOR THE FREAKING WIN. (SSABWSFRALMRFTFW.)  *cough*

I loved how realized everything was. There were no half characters. Everyone had depth, made mistakes, and had triumphs. (Except for Eric. He was all lose. Pure lose.) It dealt with cancer- but NOT in the way you think. It dealt with friendship, and revenge, and family, and finances, and what love looks like from the outside.

Oh man, Lola and Chip. I heart them so hard. And they make me so SAD! I sniffled! The path of true love never did run smooth... And you know? Eric? You see how SMOOTH everything was going with you and Scarlett? TAKE THAT AS A SIGN AND GO BACK TO YOUR SOUTHERN SWAMP WHICH YOU CRAWLED OUT OF. Fool boys and their wearing of tight shirts. Boo. Hiss.

Now, SPECER wore a tie. *plots*

I gave it four stars out of five. SSABWSFRALMRFTFW. *cough*

Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson

*I tried to write this prettily, but I just can't. It's too vicious a subject.*

Lia and Cassie are the wintergirls in the title. They both have eating disorders. Or rather, Cassie has an eating disorder- Bulimia. Lia has a not-eating disorder- Anorexia. It opens with Cassie's death. It closes with another death.

I couldn't finish this book. It just is too much like pulling my ribs out of my chest and stabbing myself in the gut with them. It's written brutally, because a long, intimate look inside the head of someone who honestly hates herself and her body can only ever be hard to deal with.

I've had this issue hit my family twice, and I just can't take visiting that place again for the amount of time required to finish the book. So I didn't finish it. But, I did give it three stars out of five, for the part I read. It appears to be very well written, so if you want a closer understanding of what it's like to measure your worth by how little you weight- no other indicators are valid- I'd recommend checking it out.