Creepy Reads

I finished two books last week for two work  book clubs. They were both appropriately creepy for the season.

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor was inspired to write these three short stories by "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti.  The first story is about a girl who longs to be wanted and that longing attracts a goblin's attention.  The second is about a girl cursed into silence which is only challenged by first love.  The third is a complex story told in a non-linear way about a woman running from her past and her daughter trying to find out who she is.  These stories are spooky and creepy and I love them.  I can see why this was a National Book Award finalist.  Jim Di Bartolo, Laini's husband, illustrated this book beautifully.  I posted a picture of the hardcover with his art gracing the cover.  The newer paperback edition has a different cover which I do not like.  I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys dark  faerie stories.







Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

A menacing carnival comes to an Illinois town and 14 year olds Will & Jim try to fight the main baddie, owner Mr. Dark.  While Will & Jim may be the main characters, Will's dad, the janitor at the public library, is really the heart of the story.  I love Fahrenheit 451 so I expected to love this.  I did not.  I liked it, but no love.  It can get pretty wordy at times.  There was something about the writing in this book that made me think Stephen King read it as a young boy and it influenced him.  I read that Dandelion Wine takes place in the same town as this book and it makes me want to read it to see the differences.

Angel: Immortality for Dummies

I'm not as much a fan of the Angel graphic novels as I am the Buffys.  I also find the series numbering confusing.  The first four are all volumes of Angel: After the Fall, which was one large story arc.  Volume five was a new story arc called Angel: Aftermath.  Then came Angel: Last Angel in Hell, which was labeled volume 6.  Now suddenly this is volume 1.  I feel like IDW should have either made this volume 7 or made volume 5 a volume 1 since it was a new story arc.  Whatever, I only have two more Angel graphic novles in this particular IDW series left so it will no longer drive me bonkers!

This volume begins with Angel missing and Team Angel does not know whether he is in hiding from his new found fame or if something is wrong.  I feel very meh about this book.  I like the bits with Angel and I like the promise of the new character that is presented.  There is a lot of Connor in this book and he is not my favorite character.  I also don't think Spike sounded very Spike like.  I like him much better in his mini-series which was published after this.  The first four volumes, which were scripted by Saint Joss, are my favorites.  I purchased volume five only because it was 50% off.  I'm glad I've been getting these through the library, especially since they are only available in hardcover.  I think it would take a big sale for me to succumb to my fandom OCD and buy this book.

I am counting this toward the RIP Reading Challenge.

RIP Challenge VI

Every year I anticipate the RIP Challenge hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. The challenge is all about reading novels that can be classified as mystery, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic, horror, or supernatural. I also don't follow through very well, but I still like reading all the posts. There are lots of different challenges so that everyone feels like they have time to participate. I will definitely read at least two books because the September and October selections for the book club I help facilitate at work fit perfectly: World War Z and Something Wicked This Way Comes. So, I am participating in Peril the Second. I will also participate in Peril on the Screen. Some films I love watching this time of year are The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and Sleepy Hollow. Read more about the Perils here.

Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams

Tara is a former criminal profiler, current recluse, who used her skills with a deck of Tarot cards to help catch killers. Unfortunately, one serial killer caught her, leaving her scarred and not so keen on being around people. An old family friend, who is part of a secret society of women, tracks her down and asks her to help find a missing scientist. This is pretty cool urban fantasy because it also throws in science, secret military facilities, a government conspiracy, and a charming Agent Harry Li. I will definitely read the second book in this series, Rogue Oracle. Alayna Williams is a pseudonym used by Laura Bickle. Go to her website here. I've met Laura / Alayna a couple times and she's super nice and encouraging to aspiring authors.

I love the blog Forever YA and they often cast actors in the main roles of books they review. When I was reading this I couldn't help but picture a couple actors as characters.

Rose McGowan as Tara Sheridan - Maybe it's all the Charmed I watched this spring. I've liked Rose since I was in high school and saw Scream.

John Cho as Agent Harry Li - He's Harold, he's Sulu, and he's awesome! He also guest starred in a season one episode of Charmed. Huh!

Once Upon a Time V

I love the idea of a book challenge: a group of people deciding to read a certain type of book. I am horrible though at follow through. Luckily, Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings has levels of commitment for his challenges. I will be participating in The Journey. That just means I will read one book that falls into the challenge requirements before Midsummer. Read the about the challenge here. This, along with R.I.P., hosted at the same site, are my favorites of the year.

Great Graphic Novels!

I've read several graphic novles so far this year.



Batgirl 1: Batgirl Rising



I'm a huge Batgirl fan (hello, librarian!). This was the first Batgirl I've read where Batgirl wasn't Barbara Gordon, which is bad because Stephanie Brown is not Barbara's immediate predecessor. Barbara is in it though as Oracle, guiding the newest Batgirl. This is part of the Batman Reborn event (should I call it an event?) so Batman is not Bruce Wayne. I liked it well enough to read volume 2 when it comes out. I should read the actual Batman books from this series too so I can have a better understanding of the background story.



Wizards of Mickey Volume 1: Mouse Magic

I saw the newest issue reviewed on tfaw.com and thought I'd check out the trades. Mickey is a wizard who is supposed to guard a magical stone for his village. He loses it and follows the wizard who tricked it away from him to a wizarding tournament. There he meets Goofy and Donald. This was adorable and I might buy it for my nephew.







Angel: Blood and Trenches

This story shows one of the many things Angel, of the tv series, did during World War II. It was done in black and white except for the blood, which was obviously red. I didn't love the artwork. For me, it didn't look like amazing black and white work, it looked like concept art. The story was okay enough, but I didn't like it enough to want to purchase it for my collection of Whedonverse comics & graphic novels.






Astonishing X-Men Volume 4: Unstoppable

I'm a Whedon fangirl at heart. The combination of Whedon and X-Men makes me happy. His entire run on Astonishing X-men has both his witty dialogue and that one gut wrenching moment that reminds you tat he is not all fun and games. I'm planning on reading volume 5, even though volume 4 contains the end of Joss's run.

Revenge of the Spellmans & The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz

I love the Spellman family so of course I continued with the series. I'm actually quite sad that Lisa Lutz's forthcoming book is not about them. The third and fourth books in this series have the same quirky qualities as the first two books. There is a satisfying resolution to one storyline in the fourth book that has been ongoing since book two. I'm sure if there is a book five though Izzy will muck it up. But I will be there reading all about it!

Absence

So I missed a few days on here. But I posted on Livejournal one of those days, so it totally counts right?