archerygirl's Mount TBR assault of 2012 (part two)

This is the 2012 list. I won't be putting Touchstones in this post - those will be found in the thread with my thoughts on the books

My aim this year is to end 2012 with Mount TBR smaller than it started. As Mount TBR on 31st December 2011 is 133 137, that can be done. Can't it?

My threads from 2011 are here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/104810
http://www.librarything.com/topic/122699

January:
1. Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3 Issues 7 to 12 - Joss Whedon and John Cassady
2. Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (December 2011)
3. The Secret Mistress - Mary Balogh
4. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
5. The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
6. Heat Wave - Richard Castle
7. Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity - Mike Carey
8. The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man - Mike Carey
9. Medieval Law in Context - Anthony Mussen
10. The Unwritten Vol. 3: Dead Man's Knock - Mike Carey

February
11. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
12. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
13. Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (January 2012)
14. Fantastic Four: Season One - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
15. Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold
16. Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine (February 2012)
17. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N. K. Jemisin
18. Into the Fourth at Trebizon - Anne Digby
19. Timeless - Gail Carriger

March
20. Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned - Brian K. Vaughan
21. A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin
22. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
23. Demon Knights (issues 1 - 7) - Paul Cornell
24. Storm Watch Vol 1: The Dark Side - Paul Cornell
25. X-Men: Season One - Dennis Hopeless
26. Astonishing X-Men Vol 3: Torn - Joss Whedon and John Cassady
27. The Cloud Roads - Martha Wells
28. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
29. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

April
30. Yellow Blue Tibia - Adam Roberts
31. Y: The Last Man Vol. 2: Cycles - Brian K. Vaughan
32. Crucible of Gold - Naomi Novik
33. The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale
34. Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step - Brian K. Vaughan
35. Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm - Bill Willingham
36. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
37. Fables Vol 3: Storybook Love - Bill Willingham
38. Fables Vol 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers - Bill Willingham
39. Among Others - Jo Walton (Hugo nominee)
40. Sandman Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman
41. Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (March 2012)

May
42. Agatha H and the Airship City - Kaja and Phil Folio
43. Fables Vol 5: The Mean Seasons - Bill Willingham
44. Fables Vol 6: Homelands - Bill Willingham
45. Unwritten Vol. 4: Leviathan - Mike Carey
46. A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin

June
47. Feed - Mira Grant
48. Fables Vol 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) - Bill Willingham
49. Fables Vol 8: Wolves - Bill Willingham
50. Black Widow: Deadly Origins - Paul Cornell
51. Leviathan Awakes - James S. A. Corey
52. Fables Vol 9: Sons of Empire - Bill Willingham
53. Fables Vol 10: The Good Prince - Bill Willingham
54. Chicks Dig Comics - Ed. Lynne M. Thomas
55. X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga - Chris Claremont
56. Fables Vol 11: War and Pieces - Bill Willingham
57. Vegan Virgin Valentine - Carolyn Mackler
58. Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages - Bill Willingham
59. New Avengers Vol 1: Breakout - Brian Michael Bendis
60. The Death of Captain America Vol 1: The Death of the Dream - Ed Brubaker
61. The Death of Captain America Vol 2: The Burden of Dreams - Ed Brubaker
62. The Death of Captain America Vol 3: The Man Who Bought America - Ed Brubaker

July
63. Deadline - Mira Grant
64. Fables Vol 13: The Great Fables Crossover- Bill Willingham
65. Fables Vol 14: Witches - Bill Willingham
66. Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed
67. The Ultimates Vol 1: Super-Human - Mark Millar
68. The Ultimates Vol 2: Homeland Security - Mark Millar
69. The Ultimates 2 Vol 1: Gods and Monsters - Mark Millar
70. Fables Vol 15: Rose Red - Bill Willingham
71. Avengers Vol. 1 - Brian Michael Bendis
72. New Avengers Vol 2: Sentry - Brian Michael Bendis
73. Hawkeye and Mockingbird: Ghosts - David Lopez
74. Hawkeye and Mockingbird/Black Widow: Widowmaker - David Lopez
75. New Avengers Vol 3: Secrets and Lies - Brian Michael Bendis
76. Avengers Vol. 2 - Brian Michael Bendis

August
77. Fables Vol. 16: Super Team - Bill Willingham
78. Home from the Sea - Mercedes Lackey
79. Redshirts - John Scalzi
80. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seaon 8 Vol 1: The Long Way Home - Joss Whedon
81. Huntress - Malinda Lo
82. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Vol 2: No Future for You - Brian K. Vaughan
83. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling
84. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Vol 3: Wolves at the Gate - Drew Goddard
85. Y The Last Man Vol 4: Safeword - Brian K Vaughan

September
86. Pardonable Lies - Jacqueline Winspear
87. The Head Girl of the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
88. Truth: Red, White and Black - Robert Morales
89. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
90. Nightwing Vol 1: Traps and Trapezes - Kyle Higgins
91. Stormwatch Vol 2: Enemies of Earth - Peter Milligan

The previous thread ended with my brief breakdown of my immediate Hugo awards shortlist feelings, my fear of zombie novels and the beginning of a discussion on Y: The Last Man. In that spirit, a brief (!) list of the books I aim to tackle in the coming months:

Crucible of Gold - Naomi Novik
Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
Y: The Last Man Vol 3
The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale
Among Others - Jo Watson
Feed - Mira Grant
Deadline - Mira Grant
A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin
Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol 3: - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol 4: - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol 5: - Bill Willingham
Locke & Key Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft HC - Joe Hill
So Many Books, So Little Time - Sara Nelson
Chime - Franny Billingsley
The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper
On Stranger Tides - Tim Powers
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkein

Checking in to lurk :)

Hello! Lurk away :-D That's what I seem to be doing on other treads mostly at the moment.

Welcome to the multiple-threadiverse! ...

:D

Just dropping in to check out the new digs.

Stopping by to lurk. I'm also up to the third Martin book, might get to it this summer. Hope you enjoy Cooper's book, I remember enjoying that series when I read it in middle/early high school.

Congratulations on your new thread Kathy.

#5> I made it to a second thread last year, but not until August or September. It appears that I'm much more chatty this year :-D Apparently any time I mention Buffy or Star Trek, people love to talk.

And by the way, I've just watched Red Moon Rising and fell in love with Willow and Tara all over again. Season 4 of Buffy is definitely much better than I remember!

I still remember hanging out on the WB Buffy Posting Board the night after that episode aired, with irate fathers coming on to post about how sick we were and how they weren't letting their 16 year old daughters watch Buffy ever again. How we laughed!

#6> Getting settled into the new digs. The comfy chair is in, the biscuit stocks have been transferred (bourbons, custard creams and Jaffa cakes, obviously) and I've got a nice selection of teas ready for the next marathon of reading.

#7> I've got to read the final three of Martin's books by July 31st :-D It's going to be fun! I've read the Susan Cooper books several times and I'm planning my Dark Is Rising re-read for Christmas because it's such a festive-feeling book. That's also when I'll be rereading Doomsday Book.

#8> Thank you! It feels odd to be into a second thread so early. Then again, it feels odd to be on books 32 and 33 so early as well. This year is turning to be a massively bookish year.

Bookish years are the best. Looks like you have some wonderful reads coming up -- looking forward to even more chattiness! :)

#10> Thank you! Yup, I love bookish years :-D

Fables = good. Looks like a good reading list.

#12> I've read the first couple of volumes of Fables and really enjoyed it. Needing to read volume 14 for the Hugo awards gives me a good excuse to mainline all the others!

I've got three to pick up from the library tomorrow :-)

I have two books that need reviews, but I have no finally got Twilight started. I'm on page 20 and want to slap Bella already. Does she improve at all or am I doomed to 400 pages of whinging and ivory skin?

Dooooooomed!

*cowers*

Good thing it's a library book, that should stop me actively throwing it when I get too irritated.

Hehehe sorry, I couldn't resist.

If you're interested, there are some great recaps of the books here. Will Include Spoilers, obviously, but also includes both humorous and serious discussions of the plot (such as it is), characters, speculation regarding the popularity of the series, etc.

Happy new thread :) Just popping in to say hello

Happy second thread! Enjoyed your comments about Yellow Blue Tibia from your old thread - that's one I've been meaning to read since the 2009 Arthur C Clarke shortlist - for some reason this year's shortlist doesn't appeal as much.

#16> I'll be interested to read some of the discussions when I've finally finished it. I'm now halfway in and searching for a plot. Surely there must be a plot beyond "Edward is a vampire and Bella is clumsy!"? Also, just read the vampires sparkling chapter and giggled my way through a lot of it :-)

#17> Hello!

#18> Thank you! Yellow Blue Tibia is a hard one to get into, but it's a book that I'm glad I read if that makes sense. This year's Clarke list didn't interest me hugely either. SF goes through fashions, I think, and what the Clarke panel were going for this year didn't seem to by my thing. The Hugo shortlist is more appealing to me, despite the zombies, so it's going to be a fun one to read this year. Maybe the Clarke list will be a bit more my thing next year.

Also just hello-ing. Also, I'm glad you say last year it took till August to get to a second thread. I seem to hang around a lot on the thread of pretty well established LTers who seem to race through their threads with tonnes of comments by multiple peeps, whilst mine feels a lot more like a meander with a few occassion companions, if that weird analogy makes any sense : ).

Oh, must remember never to put a full stop after a smiley again. It makes it look it has a spot on its chin.

#20> It's an analogy that makes total sense :-D I've noticed that a lot of the chatter in the group happens on certain peoples' threads and those of us who tend to be quieter get more lurkers, which sometimes makes us feel like we're talking to ourselves.

And I'm grinning a lot at the spotty chin.

In news of the "argh, why does the good stuff happen when I can't go there!" variety, they've just announced a huge Star Trek con in London with all five captains (i.e. Shatner/Kirk, Stewart/Picard, Brooks/Sisko, Mulgrew/Janeway, Bacula(sp?)/Archer) in attendance.

All five.

At one con.

And I don't have enough vacation to make the trip over because I've already committed to another con in February and my vacation year runs from June.

Argh!!!

The Star Trek convention!!!!!!! I know!!!!!!! El Husbando and I were bemoaning that very thing yesterday. We'd probably donate an arm, leg, and a kidney to be at that convention, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Why did they have to wait until now, when I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic and have my vacation plotted out next year?

Why couldn't they have done this four years ago, when I was living thirty miles from London?

Argh!! What a convention that will be and I just can't finagle the vacation or the finances :-( Woe is us.

Ohmygosh, all of them together?! That's awesome!
I guess we can console ourselves with the idea that so many people will be so excited to go, so it'll be super-duper crowded and annoying. That's what I'm telling myself, at least.

That is a good way of looking at it. I'm remembering some of the more insane cons that I've been at and the queues and crush for certain people (i.e. James Masters, OMG the insanity) and trying to console myself with the thought that it would be fifty times worse than that.

Nope, I'd still probably do it if I still lived near London. Despite the horrible hordes.

Oh James. *drools* I have a life-sized standee of Spike. He lives right next to my Johnny-Depp-as-Cap'n-Jack standee. They're friends. They've got in common the fact that they both just absolutely adore me.
...
That was more information than you needed about me, I'm certain. *shrugs*

*waving* at Kathy

Omigosh, what I wouldn't give to be at that con. I just finished my (long) rewatch of all the Star Trek TNG episodes, some of which I had not seen since I was a teenager (I am not ashamed to say that I cried at the last one) and last year I watched all of Voyager (hooray, NetFlix!). But I am a bajillion miles away from London. *sigh* The good stuff always happens elsewhere.

RotFL at all of you drooling over the STar trek convention! I happened to be an undergraduate at college during the original Star Trek airing years, and pretty much missed all of them, there only being one TV in my living hall and that tuned to what the majority wanted to watch. I basically missed 4 years of TV totally.

#27> I am proud to say that I have seen the top of James Masters' head, the enourmous crowd around him, the huge crowd around his signing table and the insane queue waiting to see him sing and do a Q&A. That was a con that was all about the autographs, very little in the way of Q&As or panels. I got to see the people that I went for (Sylvester McCoy!! Nicholas Courtney!!) and watched the crazy with bemusement. Siddig el Fadil was also there, looking very fine, and somewhere in a huge crowd there was Nichelle Nichols. Jeri Ryan was also somewhere in a massive crowd but I did manage to walk into Jolene Blalock, who is very tall and beautiful.

That was also the con where I crashed into Colin Baker. I know, he's incredibly tall and quite wide so I've got no idea how I didn't see him until I went "smash".

#28> *waves as Stasia*

#29> Yup, nothing huge happened in London until *after* moved away. Argh. I'm thinking about a TNG re-watch when I've finished DS9. The remastered Blue-Rays look amazing.

#30> Heh, that's quite a bit of TV you missed! I'm guessing that it never really 'caught' you when you had access to a TV again. I know a ton of people can't believe that I haven't seen Farscape (I shall soon be rectifying that, thank you Netflix) because it was being shown in the UK at 6pm at a time when I was rarely home from work in time. The odd times that I was around, I'd missed so many episodes that none of it made sense so I didn't get caught up by it.

I'm doing the happy dance of triumph - Twilight is finally over. Phew!

Shall write reviews of my recent reading soon. Prepare yourselves for a scathing critique of Twilight. I don't think I'll be reading the other books in that series...

Now I am browsing the shelves with a big dilemma over what to pick as my next non-Kindle book. Hmm.

OK. some reviews! I've been reading a fair bit :-)

32. Crucible of Gold - Naomi Novik
This was a terrifically fun book, complete with adventure, ship wrecks, daring escapes and wonderful character growth. It felt very much like a book of two halves, with the first half focused around the journey from Australia to South America (with ship wrecks and daring escapes on the way) and the second half focused around the Incan Empire. Temeraire and Lawrence team up with old friends and it’s the interactions with Iskeirka that provide a lot of the more light-hearted moments in the book. She’s my favourite dragon after Temeraire. What really stayed with me, though, was Novki’s portrayal of the Incan Empire. As always, she has thought through the impact of dragons on this alternate history and so things are quite different from the way that our history went. The devastation of the human population as a result of the diseases brought by Westerners has radically changed their relationship with their dragons in a way that makes sense and makes this society absolutely fascinating. I loved the imagery of the brightly-coloured dragons - so reminiscent of the fabrics and art from that part of the world - and I would love to see artwork inspired by those chapters. In all, this is a satisfying and fun entry in the series and the final chapters set up the next book so well that I’m now going to be very impatient waiting for it!

33. The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale
I picked this one up as a result of a discussion on Roni’s thread and I loved it. The Goose Girl isn’t a fairy tale that I’m familiar with so the plot was new to me. Some elements were predictable because that’s the way that fairy tales always go, but Hale does a great job with developing characters and settings so that it was always fun and interesting. I loved the central character and the way that she grew through her experiences. It’s not that she was silly or weak-willed to start with, but I could easily see why her mother didn’t think she would do well as a queen and opted instead to marry her off. Ani’s eventual betrayal by her maid is what kicks everything into motion and I could easily see that was going to happen, but Ani’s reaction to it and her discovery of her inner strength is what makes the novel so compelling. It was light and fun without being pure fluff, exactly what I needed after the traumas of Mockingjay.

34. Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step - Brian K. Vaughan
Yorrick and friends interrupt their journey to California to travel to the site where a shuttle from the International Space Station may be landing, with its complement of astronauts including two men. There are adventures, kidnappings and other assorted hi-jinks on the way making this a volume that is hard to put down. I’m growing to like Yorrick, 355 and Dr. Mann a lot as the series progresses and develops. There were a couple of revelations along the way that I wasn’t expecting at all and I’m looking forward to seeing how some things will impact later storylines.

35. Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm - Bill Willingham
Revolution is fomenting on the Farm and at the same time, Snow White decides that Rose Red’s punishment for her scam in the first volume is that she will have to accompany Snow on her annual Farm inspection. The Farm is where all the fairy tales that cannot easily blend into the city live and they are fed up. The prominent involvement of the pigs - and their communist leanings - echoed the George Orwell book but this is definitely a Fables story. I enjoyed the glimpses that I got of the different non-human societies and it was fun to play spot the fairy tale as I read. The deeper ideas were handled well, there was some great humour, and the final resolution was satisfying and fun.

I've also got my Twilight review ready. Dedicated fans, look away. It turns out that I hated this book so much that my review got rather long and scathing, which is why it's getting its own post.

36. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
I don’t think that I’ve ever actively loathed a book quite so much in my life. So much has been written about these books that I felt that it was time to finally find out what all the furore was about. After all, Harry Potter has come in for just as much criticism and I love those books so I wanted to see for myself rather than taking other peoples’ comments as my own. On that front, I am glad that I read this and stuck with it through all 498 painful pages. I now know that all the criticisms that I’ve read are sadly true. Bella is whiny, self-absorbed and shallow. I struggled to find any redeeming features to her. Even her extreme clumsiness quickly went from adorable to unbelievable - she makes me look graceful and I’ve got medical reasons for being an huge klutz! More importantly, Edward is a manipulative stalker and I honestly could not understand Bella’s obsession with him beyond the unearthly beauty that the author rams home with every other sentence. In fact, the author’s repetitive descriptions of Edward’s amazing beauty were another element that made me increasingly frustrated. The portrayal of Bella and Edward’s relationship as the great love of the century grated on me the further I read. The first three-quarters of the book had no discernible plot beyond the constant them of Edward rescuing Bella from her improbable clumsiness and how amazing it is that he’s a vampire. The revelation that he had been creeping into her room to watch her sleep is treated as the height of romance but I found it disturbing: it’s the behaviour of a stalker and that combined with his manipulative treatment of her would have most adults reaching for the phone to call the police. When a plot eventually emerged its only purpose seemed to be to cement Bella and Edward’s love (which I would call obsession on Bella’s part rather than love) and give Edward more opportunities to manipulate and ‘protect’ her. Nothing about the book enchanted me but I can easily see why it appeals so much to the teen crowd. That is unfortunate because the messages it sends out about the nature of love and the kind of behaviour that is acceptable are worrying to say the least. I read the book with growing horror and I cannot see myself ever picking up any of the other books in the series. My brain now feels faintly violated.

:) Sorry you didn't like the book. Hope your next is much better.
I've been meaning to pick of Novik's books for a while. Thanks for the reminder

#36> I might have got carried away with my Twilight dislike! You should definitely check out Novik's books, they're brilliant :-)

As I'm currently midway through Among Others on my Kindle, I know that I've at least got one book on the go that's far superior to Twilight!

I read the first Temeraire book, but never got beyond it. I will have to get back to the series. Thanks for the reminder, Kathy!

I'm madly jealous that you actually got Crucible of Gold. I won it through Early Reviewers, but it has never arrived, which makes me incredibly sad because I LOVE that series.

But I am glad to know it was good, consistent with the series... perhaps someday I will get to read it...

(Feel sorry for me yet? Or do I have to make with the puppy eyes? I know, first world problems. ;) )

I won it through Early Reviewers too but haven't gotten it either. Sometimes it takes awhile. I only recently got my January win.

Never read Twilight, never will. Sounds dreadful.

I did read Fables though and agree with you about it. I think the series gets better as it goes - the first book was the weakest but from there on ...

I eventually gave up on counting fairy tales; there were just too many that I didn't know and couldn't identify. Even so, it was good fun. Look forward to seeing what you think of the rest of them.

I'm dropping out of lurk mode to say hi and say I've loved Temeraire since he lifted his head in book one and asked Will why he was frowning LOL.

Twilight series...ugh...and this coming from someone who read all four...

Buffy...loved the whole darn series but especially seasons four and five...

#37> You should definitely get back to them!

#38> Heh :-) I pre-ordered my copy so it arrived a day or two after it got released. Feel free to make all the puppy eyes you need to...

#39> I think that I'll stick to pre-ordering things like this...

#40> You can definitely skip Twilight. Horrid book. I'm enjoying Fables a lot - just started volume 3 and it's excellent.

#41> Temeraire is one of those characters that you can't help adoring. Even when elements of a plot haven't caught me, I've been unable to resist loving Temeraire himself so I always know that I'm going to enjoy a Novik book. I'm impressed that you stuck with Twilight through all four. I don't think that I'll be able to, particularly as I'm doing a Buffy/Angel rewatch and comparing it to them. My personal favourite is season 3 Buffy, but I'm being reminded of just how brilliant season four and five were now that I've got that far.

Oh my....please don't be impressed by my reading all of Twilight LOL

Never read Twilight, never will. You MIGHT be able to get some of the bad taste out of your mouth here:

http://www.squidoo.com/twilight-spoof

Good chunk of reading being done here! Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy Twilight, hopefully your next book is more satisfying

#43> Heh :-D

#44> Have bookmarked that to read when I get home. Thank you!

#45> I've got several books either on the go or lined up that are pretty great, so my next books are guaranteed to be more satisfying :-D We've got a weather warning for rainfall tomorrow on this side of the province - how are you doing on your side?

This weekend I learned that I do not at all like having my pupils dilated. Ugh. Very little reading got done but I did get through the final two episodes of DS9 season 2, four episodes of Castle, five episodes of Fringe and the Captain America movie.

At least now I know that I lose my close vision for eight hours, my distance vision for three hours and my wonky vision will induce a wicked nauseous headache.

As I have a visit with Awesome GI Guy on Wednesday, this is proving to be a week of unpleasant medical procedures. I'm very much looking forward to Thursday.

I do have a review, but I read this sometime last week and forgot to review it so it's not actually a newly finished book. Heck, I think that I finished it before I got Twilight done.

37. Fables Vol 3: Storybook Love - Bill Willingham
Just checking through my reviews and realised that this one got missed. Oops! This volume collects a couple of stand-alone stories along with the Storybook Love arc. It was the main arc that I enjoyed most and I think that is because it focused heavily on Bigby and Snow, two characters that I’ve quickly grown to love. Bluebeard has finally had enough of their interference and with one character from Animal Farm still on the run, puts together a plan to quietly get rid of Bigby and Snow. As with any cunning plan it backfires somewhat and Prince Charming, oddly enough, also becomes involved in protecting Snow. Charming is rapidly growing into a character that you love to loathe: he’s selfish, vain and greedy. At the same time it’s easy to see how he fooled beautiful princesses into marrying him! One of the things that I’m enjoying about this series is the way that our expectations for fairy tale characters are turned upside down regularly It’s fun installment in a series that gets better as it goes on.

#44 Never read Twilight either (and think it's very unlikely that I will do so) but the Buffy v. Edward mashup was hilarious! Buffy is so awesome...

How'd you like the Captain America movie? I was pleasantly surprised, considering how much I dislike Captain America in general... but the movie was good. Except for that ending... *eye roll*. It was a rather blatant "and now we put this character into the Avengers movie." LOL.

#48> Yeah, Buffy is awesome and the brilliance of Buffy only makes the badness of Twilight worse :-) Must watch the mash-up tonight...

#49> I was surprised by the fact that I genuinely enjoyed Captain America! Just the concept of Captain America puts me off so I didn't expect much from it other than lots of "hooha, America is great!" and that wasn't the focus of the movie. The ending was very definitely "and this is how he's in the Avengers movie", which was the only bad spot, but overall it was a fun movie and much more enjoyable than I expected.

We have had tons of rain over the last 3 days. My yard is a pond! I was getting worried two nights ago that we would lose power as the wind was so strong that it pushed my patio furniture around! We were fine though and the power stayed on thankfully. It's still pretty grey and drizzly here though, hopefully tomorrow is better!
We are taking a trip down to Digby tomorrow and Peggy's Cove on Saturday to look at wedding resorts so I hope for some sunny dry days!

We had a ton of rain here yesterday, but I think we've had it much milder than you. For once, I didn't even get any wind gusts that made me check the location of all the flashlights!

Today is a bit foggy and miserable. I think it's supposed to get better as the week goes by. I'm planning a day out in the city on Saturday and I definitely don't want to get wet! Hope Digby and Peggy's Cove treat you well :-D

Several completed books including my first Hugo read, which I confess was a massive hit for me. I've got another four Hugo books to read before I make up my mind but Among Others is definitely on my top reads of 2012 list no matter how I vote!

38. Fables Vol 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers - Bill Willingham
War comes to the Fables in this book and the reader gets some more hints about the Adversary and how he/it operates. There are a couple of seemingly disconnected stories at the beginning of the volume and they pay off midway through. This was a more serious story than the previous one and it left a lot of questions unanswered. I found the final two or three ‘chapters’ completely compelling and I couldn’t put it down as I worried for the characters I’ve become attached to. Willingham is not afraid to kill his characters when necessary for a story.

39. Among Others - Jo Walton (Hugo nominee)
I picked this up a couple of weeks before the Hugo nominations were announced as a result of the discussions around what works were eligible. It sounded interesting and just my kind of thing so it was great to see that it was on the Hugo list so I didn’t need to put it aside. I can honestly say that I loved it and it has gone onto my “top reads of 2012” list. There was so much to like. It is told as the journal of a girl who has run away from her mother and social services have placed her with her father, who sends her away to boarding school. From the beginning we know that something terrible happened that killed the girl’s twin and left her with a crippled leg, but we pick up as she starts at school so most of it has happened ‘off stage’. A lot of the intrigue comes from trying to piece together the hints and brief mentions in her journal to work out what happened and what *really* happened. Mor is a sympathetic character and a huge reader. With her leg putting her out of commission for many school activities she has lots of time for books and one of the things that I loved about this book was Mor’s thoughts on what she’s reading. The book is set in 1979/1980 and she reads primarily SFF, so some of the things that she reads and discusses are familiar and some are books and authors that are classics of the genre that I haven’t got around to yet. I’d love to find a list of all the book references in this so that I can read them all and then re-read Among Others. There are hints of magic and the development of thoughts on responsible magic-usage, which is where the SFF angle plays in, but because we see everything from Mor’s point of view I was always wondering whether the magic was real or a coping mechanism. It added an extra layer to the story and kept me thinking long after I put it down at night. Despite the journal format, there are some great secondary characters that are developed nicely. Mor’s thoughts on the world and people around her are fascinating. It’s a book that I think is going to stand up to re-reading and I’d recommend it to anyone.

40. Sandman Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman
This is not an easy graphic novel to read. The ideas are dark, disturbing and layered in meaning with unsettling artwork that added hugely to the atmosphere. It has taken me several months to read because I needed to take breaks between each sections, particularly in the middle, due to dark nature of the storylines. I can definitely see why it is so well-regarded and it is well written and developed. However, the horror was a little too much for me and it is not something that I can see myself continuing.

Returning back to your con envy, right now in Calgary the entire cast of ST:TNG are there. And am I there? No *weeps* I'm at a library conference in Jasper instead... *sigh*

*sigh* It's like the world is conspiring to keep us from these awesome things...

Although I've just been seeing Tweets about the price of the London con. Ouch. Glad the distance had already stopped me thinking about going because I'd be very disappointed about not being able to afford it right now if I still lived near London.

Apparently Brandon Sanderson is going to be at my local con (Halcon) in October, which should be awesome :-) John Rhys-Davies and Rene Auberjonois will also be there so I'm going to make the effort to actually go this year.

I'm so glad you liked Among Others! That's one of my most memorable reads from the past few years. Simply stunning.

#57> It's definitely one of my top reads of the year. It stayed with me and kept me thinking long after I put it down each night and it feels like it will re-read well. Fabulous book.

One more slipped into April, just. I finished this on Monday although it's taken a couple of days to write the review.

Last night I finished a book from my shelves and I'll be reviewing it once I've got the April breakdown completed :-D

41. Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (March 2012)
This wasn’t a bad issue, but it wasn’t a terrific issue either. Only a couple of the stories really stood out for me. “The Way of the Needle” by Derek Kunsen had an unusual alien race and some interesting ideas on class and friendship. It’s the creativity of the setting and biology that really grabbed me, though. “Nanny’s Day” by Leah Cypress was the other interesting one, looking at the consequences of custody battles when genetics and bio-origin have become secondary to a child’s attachment to their care-giver. The other stories in this issue were largely forgettable, unfortunately. It wasn’t a complete dud, but I don’t think that I’ll be going back to any of the stories.

April stats time!

Total: 12 books

Source
Kindle: 3
Digital comic: 3
Library: 4
My shelves: 2

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count Feburay 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133

On the plus side, two reads came from my shelves and Mount TBR shrunk. I vowed at the emd of March to get two reads from my shelves in this month, so that's a success.

On the down side, a new book walked into the house (Spy Glass) so it didn't shrink that much and didn't get to 132 as I'd planned. Oops? My aim is to get Mount TBR under 130 by the time I go to England (on May 18th) and I think that I'm going to have to cheat and read some of the short kids' books to get there. And maybe Spy Glass :-)

There was a fair degree of library usage and I'm now in full-on Hugo pre-reading and maybe a hint of Hugo reading. Hopefully my voting packet will arrive within the next few weeks, which will give me access to all the stuff that I don't already have access to.

May is going to be library-heavy again: lots of Fables to read, The Unwritten Vol. 4 just arrived and I should probably also get Locke and Key Vol 1. as part of my Hugo pre-reading.

I'm also aiming to get at least one George R. R. Martin book read and maybe also one of the Mira Grant novels read so that I can start on her Hugo nominated works.

I'm going to be in England for the second half of May with loads of activities planned, but that will involve a lot of time on/in planes, trains and automobiles (literally) so I think that I'll get a lot of reading it. My trusty Kindle and iPad are going with me to ensure that happens.

Unfortunately for Mount TBR, I intend to return from England with rather a lot of books. Between Hay-on-Wye, the London bookshops and my parents' amazing local second hand dealer, I don't anticipate ending May with Mount TBR under 140 books...

Oh, well, it will be worth it :-)

I completely understand what you mean about London bookshops. I've been to London twice (for three months and one month respectively), and have come home to the US with loads of new books. I'm pretty sure half my luggage weight was from books. It just happens. I especially remember the Charing Cross Road area. I would be walking along and all of a sudden I'd have a newly purchased book in my hands, almost like magic. London is a very tempting place for book addicts. Enjoy your trip.

I know there's no way that I'm coming out of Foyles or Piccadilly Waterstones empty handed. It's entirely possible to spend an entire day in either of them (they have cafes inside with very good food, you never need to leave!) and that always ends up with massive book purchases for me, plus a hugely expanded wish-list :-D

It's lethal for a book addict. I'm so excited :-D

First completed read for May!

Now I need to finish two volumes of Fables to return them to the library on Saturday, so my evening reading is booked for the next couple of days.

42. Agatha H and the Airship City - Kaja and Phil Folio
When I picked this one up, I had no idea that it was a novelisation based on a popular graphic novel series. It caught my eye because the artwork on the cover is great (not surprising) and the summary sounded fun. I think that I will now need to track down the Girl Genius series, thanks to this introduction. It was a fun book with an interesting female protagonist and some highly creative ideas. Some of it (such as Agatha’s identity) was well sign-posted so there were no big surprise reveals, but it pulled me in and kept me turning the pages anyway. The pacing was a bit uneven at times and I could feel the comic book origins at times from the writing style, but this not a bad book and it was the kind of fun, light, absorbing read that I needed.

Mostly I have been lost in the Avengers squee this weekend and being a massive fangirl, so there is very little reading to report.

I have put lots of Avengers books on hold at the library, suspended until I get back from England, and I have also been taking advantage of the Avengers sale on Comixology. Heh. It's holiday reading?

These two were read last week, with the second one finished in a lovely coffee shop where I ended up staying much longer than planned just so that I could finish it.

43. Fables Vol 5: The Mean Seasons - Bill Willingham
I’m a little undecided about my feelings on this one. It wasn’t bad storytelling, but I am uncertain about some of the developments particularly Snow White’s change in circumstances. It felt rather like a transition story, getting us from the end of the battle to the set-up for the next book. This isn’t really one you can skip, but it didn’t really do much for me.

44. Fables Vol 6: Homelands - Bill Willingham
Blue Boy has been largely and office lackey up until now and in the odd moments when we’re told about his adventures back in the homelands, it’s been hard to imagine him as the adventurous warrior that he’s supposed to be. Having read this volume, though, I am no longer mystified and it’s going to be hard seeing him as ‘just’ the office lackey anymore. Adventure, bravado, big fights and rather more self-rescuing than I ever imagined made this a compelling tale. The events back in our world tied in well and it’s good to see Beast and Charming settling into their new roles and doing a decent job of it. Beauty still feels like the one out of her depth and I’m surprised by how much I like the slightly more responsible side of Charming. I didn’t figure out who the Adversary was until the same time that Blue Boy did and I have to say, although there were a few hints that I can now see were hints, it was not something marked with massive “Adversary is this guy!” arrows for pages and pages before the big reveal. Some of the questions that I’ve had were answered by this volume, which always feels good, but Willingham also gives us a whole load of new questions so that I am looking forward to the next volume. In all, a very strong volume and much more satisfying than the previous one.

Just went to see the Avengers last night. Woohoo! That was seriously fun. :D

I also really enjoyed The Avengers!

#62 I haven't read the Agatha novelisation but I did read most of the comic via the internet a couple of years ago when I was ill. It's a fun series but I haven't kept up to date since.

I really want to read Among Others now.

#64> It really was. I may have gone again...

#65> It was such a fun movie :-D Agatha was a fun book, not really taxing on the brain but good entertainment. It feels like the comic would be better, though, so I plan to track it down.

You should definitely read Among Others. I cannot say enough good things about it.

I am flailing like a very flaily thing because I leave for my trip to England tonight. Eeee! There is a suitcase on the floor of my bedroom with stuff in it. No guarantee that it's the right stuff, but at least I've got some stuff.

Most importantly, I've got the Kindle and iPad loaded up with books and comics because there is going to be a lot of plane, train and automobile travel. No guarantee that I'll get through this lot, but this is what's going with me:

Huntress by Malinda Lo
Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett
Feed by Mira Grant (Hugo pre-read)
Deadline by Mira Grant (Hugo nominee)
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (Hugo pre-read)

New Avengers Breakout
New Avengers Sentry

Plus the latest couple of issues of Batgirl, Nightwing, Demon Knights, Stormwatch, Saucer County, X-Men and Wolverine, Avengers Assemble and the new Black Widow prequel. I've also got three issues of Asimov's to catch up on.

I think that will suffice for a two week vacation, right?

There are going to be so many new books coming home with me, hopefully. After all, with Hay on Wye, Foyles and Forbidden Planet all featuring in my plans, it would be silly to return with no new books :-)

And just to prove that I'm doing some kind of reading, I've finished my first Hugo nominated graphic novel:

45. Unwritten Vol. 4: Leviathan - Mike Carey
This may be my favourite volume yet of this series. It continues some of the plot points from previous issues, gives equal page time to all of our heroes and has some wonderful thoughts on where and how the characters can move between the different books they’re negotiating. I am particularly fond of the idea that the ocean is the same ocean in all books featuring oceans and so it can be used to travel between certain books. Tommy was initially a fairly selfish character but he’s grown a lot and I’m getting very intrigued about the hints that are coming through about his background and why he is Tommy Taylor. A couple of things were sort-of tied up but the volume left me itching for the next one to find out what happens next.

Have a wonderful bookish time in England! Someday I'll get there, so save a few books for me. :)

I'll try :-)

Have a great and safe trip!

Have a great time!

Safe trip!!! Enjoy :)

Welcome to the land of watery sunshine, warm beer and weak tea! Hope you enjoy our green and fairly pleasant land, and more importantly, hope the bookshops yield lots of great finds!

Hope you are enjoying your trip and taking lots of pictures!

I'm back! Thanks for all the good wishes, I had a fantastic trip :-)

Somehow, I didn't read as much as I thought that I would, largely because I got stuck on A Storm of Swords, although I did make it through most of the comics and a fair chunk of Feed after GRRM finally ended.

There was a substantial book haul. Oops? I'll list them all after I've got the cataloging done. It was impressive.

Importantly, I ate many cream teas, which was a big goal. Canada just doesn't have the right cream for a proper cream tea.

Mmmm almost a full day later and no pictures yet?! ;)

:-) I'm still trying to settle in! And remember where my card reader is! And stuff!

I feel so post-trip disorganized still.

I also have three holds in at the library (so far), for Fables volumes and a Black Widow thing. The next couple of weeks are going to be comic-heavy, I suspect.

Yay for cream teas and the book haul!

I haven't cataloged them properly in LibraryThing yet, but I have listed them and this is what followed me home from England:

Hay on Wye (bookshops noted in brackets where I remembered)

1. The School at the Chalet - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (hardcover, partial dust jacket, Rose's Bookshop)
2. The New House at the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (hardcover with dust jacket, The Children's Bookshop)
3. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Trans. G. N. Garmonsway (Richard Booth)
4. The Whole Man - John Brunner (Richard Booth)
5. Time and Stars - Poul Anderson (Richard Booth)
6. Cat Among the Pigeons - Agatha Christie (Murder and Mayhem)
7. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
8. Autumn Term - Antonia Forest (Rose's Bookshop)
9. The Naughtiest Girl in the School - Enid Blyton (The Children's Bookshop)
10. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
11. A Murder is Announced - Agatha Christie (hardcover, red binding, Murder and Mayhem)
12. The Naughtiest Girl Again - Enid Blyton (hardcover, blue binding, no dust jacket, The Children's Bookshop)
13. Phule's Company - Robert Asprin
14. Darkover Landfall - Marion Zimmer Bradley
15. The Forbidden Tower - Marion Zimmer Bradley
16. The Poems of Wilfred Owen (hardcover, blue binding, no dust jacket, inscription inside dated 1947)

Cottage Bookshop (local second hand)

17. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
18. The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge
19. The Island of Adventure - Enid Blyton
20. Goggle Eyes - Anne Fine
21. White Boots - Noel Streatfield

Presents from family

22. The Jesus Wars - John Philip Jenkins
23. Green and Black’s Ultimate Chocolate Recipes - Micah Carr-Hill

The Blytons, except for the hardcover, are presents for a friend's daughter as is The Little White Horse. The rest are all mine :-D

I'm particularly pleased with The School at the Chalet, which was cut a lot for paperback so I'm finally getting to read the full text, and with the C.S. Lewis because it completes the set that I've been collecting. But it's all lovely and currently piled next to the computer for proper cataloging when I have a couple of spare hours :-D

I should also probably confess that Mercedes Lackey's newest arrived yesterday, Home from the Sea, and it has been given over to my mother's custody temporarily so that I don't read it until I've got some more Hugo reading done.

Mount TBR is terrifying. I'm not sure that I'm even going to want to see the number when the catalog has been updated :-D

wow, your luggage must have weighed a ton on the way home!

My luggage squeezed in under the weight limit...because some of the books were in my mum's luggage, who came back with me for an extended visit :-)

Extended as in I'm hosting my mother for nearly six months. Um? Good thing I've got lots of books to hide in.

I've finally got my Storm of Swords review finished! This was a difficult, long book and I blame it for my relative lack of finished reads over the vacation. It was my last May book so I will wait a couple of days before putting up my review of Feed, which I finished last night. I want to do the terrible May stats before I start noting June's books.

I've got a potentially insane number of graphic novels to pick up at the library. Next week is going to be very GN focused :-D

46. A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin
I knew these books would slow down a bit eventually and this is the one that feels like I got a bit lost and overwhelmed. It’s the longest so far in this series (973 pages!) and it felt like it. That is not to say nothing happens: it’s packed with changes and events, Martin makes a good attempt at killing half the cast and the reveal in the epilogue is terrific. However, the sense of brooding darkness is so strong at times that it’s a difficult read and the length and periods of slow pacing only work to enhance that.

May stats time!

Total: 5 books

Source
Kindle: 1
Digital comic: 0
Library: 3
My shelves: 1

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count Feburay 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133
Mount TBR count May 31: 143

That big jump in Mount TBR is entirely due to Hay on Wye. As I bought a number of books that I had read at some stage and there were a couple of non-ficiton books (not included in Mount TBR) it really could have been worse :-)

Now I can start updating with June's reviews at last.

OK, I am never letting a build-up of reviews like this happen again! It's taken me a couple of hours to write them all. At least June is turning to be a more productive reading month than May :-)

So, first batch!

47. Feed - Mira Grant
After the dark, slow pace of my previous read this was a refreshing change. I’m not normally a horror reader so I’ve never read zombie novels. This is the first part in the Newsflesh trilogy, the second part of which has been Hugo-nominated and so I felt that I needed to read this for completeness. The story moves along at a great pace and the characters - particularly George and Shaun - feel real and alive as you read about them. The reader is thrown into a world twenty years in the future, where a zombie plague has changed many of the ways that the world functions and is a part of daily life in more ways than I ever could have imagined. The focus of the novel, however, is on media and politics so it never felt like a traditional horror novel. It would not be possible to tell this story without the zombie element because it dictates so much about how and why the characters are doing what they are doing, but the zombie plague is not the main focus. Despite being an avowed horror and zombie avoider, I genuinely enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading the next one.

48. Fables Vol 7: Arabian Nights (and Days) - Bill Willingham
If most other fictional fairy tale-type creatures appear in Fables, then it is only appropriate that the characters from the Arabian Nights tales also make an appearance. This was a shorter volume that felt like a bit of a fill-in, but it did set up a number of interesting things for future volumes.

49. Fables Vol 8: Wolves - Bill Willingham
Bigby hasn’t been seen for a while and it is thankfully time to bring him back in this volume. It includes the 50th issue, which was a beautifully long one appropriate for such a milestone. Although a lot of this volume is about Bigby, Snow and their family there is still a lot going on in Fabletown and the battle with the Adversary isn’t forgotten. I really enjoyed the mixture of happy, good things happening against the background of big events. Bigby’s store is, as always, interesting and unexpected. Willingham is really building up a detailed, fascinating world in these books.

50. Black Widow: Deadly Origins - Paul Cornell
After loving Black Widow in the Avengers movie, when I saw this on the shelf at the library I had to get it. The book was written a couple of years ago and gives a good introduction to the basics of Natasha Romanov’s comics background. It switches between a modern storyline and various periods in her life, with the threads gradually coming together into a conclusion that I didn’t see coming. One of the things that I really liked in this was the artwork: the modern panels are gorgeous, near-photograph quality pieces of art and each backstory section is done in the illustration style of comics from that period. It was a handy way to work out where we are in Natasha’s history as well as enabling a variety of styles and illustrations. It’s a good introduction to the character in the comics and I now understand references that I have been seeing around much better.

And the second batch:

51. Leviathan Awakes - James S. A. Corey
This is one of the Hugo-nominated novels that has been in my stack and it is definitely one that I would not have picked up without the Hugo project. It’s more of a pure sci-fi novel than I usually read, lots of space ships and gravity wells and so forth. For the first half of the book, I could not really understand why it had been nominated. It felt very much like the kind of noir-ish mystery sci-fi that I’ve seen a lot of over the years. Then things took a turn for the different and I understand now why it is on the Hugo list. The central characters are not always likeable, but I found them sympathetic and understandable. It is a novel that is very much building towards an idea, contemplating the nature of humanity and change, but Corey does not forget to build a believable world populated by ‘real’ people. It is not my usual read, but it’s definitely a good one.

52. Fables Vol 9: Sons of Empire - Bill Willingham
Most of this volume is dedicated to two plots: Bigby, Snow and family visiting Bigby’s estranged father and the Adversary holding a “what do we do next” summit. Both plots are equally fascinating. Although the Fables are a smaller, less powerful group in some ways it is becoming obvious that in many ways they are equally matched to the Adversary. War is coming and there is now a time-limit on when things will start. At the same time, finding out a bit more about Bigby’s background was very interesting. It gives us a better understanding of him and I’m starting to really enjoy watching the way that the cubs are growing. In all, a solid and compelling volume in the series.

53. Fables Vol 10: The Good Prince - Bill Willingham
Flycatcher has been kind of a running joke through much of the Fables series. He spends his life working off endless community service orders by acting as janitor for the Woodlands, mild mannered and often a bit clueless. This is the volume where we finally understand exactly what he is and I have to admit, I loved this. It maybe my favourite volume so far. His background before the Adversary, what he had done since and how the entire population of Fabletown have acted to protect him from his past was obvious once it was explained but I had no idea before this. His actions as he recovers his memories and finds a different way to combat the Adversary were just brilliant. It think that I was holding my breath with Blue Boy and the others each time his story was on the page. Willingham didn’t forget about the rest of Fabletown in the meantime and his solutions to the problems of how they can fight the Adversary are quite brilliant. The heart of the story, though, is Flycatcher and it was wonderful.

54. Chicks Dig Comics - Ed. Lynne M. Thomas
From the same editors that brought us Chicks Dig Time Lords, this is a book of essays by and about women and comics. The essays are written by both comics readers and comics creators, which gives a wide variety of perspectives. There are a couple of essays or interviews by male creators who are well-known for their female character as well, which adds an extra dimension. All manner of subjects are tackled, from the serious to the humorous, and as a relatively new comics reader I really appreciated that the writers took the time to explain the backgrounds to the things they were writing about. I feel a bit more knowledgeable about some of the female comics characters, a lot more knowledgeable about the feminist side of things, and I have a list of stuff that I need to track down and read. It was a thoroughly fascinating book that could be dipped in and out of and also just read straight through, if you wanted.

This week I'm taking a break from my Hugo reading. I've got Vegan Virgin Valentine on the Kindle to read and I've got an X-Men novel The Dark Phoenix Saga sitting on the coffee table from the library.

I've also got pretty much every Fables volume remaining sitting on the coffee table (thank you, library) but I won't be picking any more of those up until the weekend. I'm taking the week off :-)

That's a lot of reviews! Feed and Leviathan Wakes both sound interesting - they're on the long-term wishlist.

They are both every good and worth wishlisting :-D

I've got more reviews building up...

And yet again, a fair few reviews due to a backlog. Apparently June has been a big reading month!

As so, batch 1:

55. X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga - Chris Claremont
This is an arc that I had vaguely heard about for years, but then I saw that the trade was at my library so I had to put it on hold. It is a key part of the X-Men history, bringing together threads that had been playing out for years and resolving Jean Gray’s storyline permanently. It was a complex, involved novel but it was written so well that even though there were characters and references that I hadn’t seen before I was able to follow everything. My heart was in my mouth towards the end even though I knew how it would turn out and Chris Claremont’s writing of the final few pages is perfect. Highly recommended.

56. Fables Vol 11: War and Pieces - Bill Willingham
This is it, the war between the Fables and the Adversary finally begins. It’s an intense, brilliant volume and I had to admire the ruthlessness and brilliance of the Fables’ plan. Prince Charming finally showed why he is a great tactician, all the elements of the last few volumes came together and I was gripped throughout. As always, Wallingham didn’t go where I expected him to go with some of the storylines and the final reveals surprised me. It is one of the things that I have been loving about Fables, the inability to predict what will happen next. Various characters were given their moments of glory - not always the ones that I expected - and it was both an intense and hopeful end to this arc of the Fables story.

57. Vegan Virgin Valentine - Carolyn Mackler
After several intense reads, I needed something fairly light to give my brain a bit of a break. This hit the spot just right. There is nothing particularly deep or thoughtful here, but it did pull me in and keep me reading. Although I found myself rooting more for V than for the central character, all the characters grew on me and I was grinning at the end. A nice, light break from the darker things that I have been reading.

And batch 2:

58. Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages - Bill Willingham
The Adversary has been defeated but that isn’t the end of the story by a long way. This volume is dark, horrific in places, and sets up a number of threads that I think are going to be played out in the future. There is a lot to clean up after the war and we learn quite early on that although the Adversary was evil, he may have been doing some good after all by keeping much worse things at bay. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting any of this and hadn’t been sure how the series could keep going after the last volume. None of this feels like stretching things out, more like the previous eleven volumes have been the prelude to something much bigger.

59. New Avengers Vol 1: Breakout - Brian Michael Bendis
A prison breakout at one of SHIELD’s supposedly secure facilities is the trigger for Steve Rogers to begin trying to form a new Avengers team. It’s a good dropping in point in the series, almost rebooting things so that we get an idea of who each of the characters are and why they are there. I am aware (ish) of why the original Avengers dissolved and that is referenced here without relying to much on it. Instead we get introduced to the new team gradually and Bendis does a good job of combining a volume-level storyline with the introduction of some plots that I think will be played out in a larger arc. This is my first Avengers novel and I’m looking forward to really delving into it further.

60. The Death of Captain America Vol 1: The Death of the Dream - Ed Brubaker
The Death of Captain America storyline was recommended to me as something important to read and I can see why. Steve Rogers’ actual death is early in the storyline and what this is really about is the reactions. The public, his friends, the various superhero and villain teams, they are all important to this storyline. I wasn’t particularly aware of this at the time it happened but I can only imagine how the general public reacted to it. The first volume provides a lot of hints about who killed him and why. It is important to know something of the history of the Marvel universe and the Civil War storyline but I found it readable and gripping with only what I have gathered from (er, extensive) reading around on Wiki and various comics forums. The artwork is amazing, absolutely gorgeous, and the volume ends on a cliffhanger that makes me glad to have the other two volumes to hand!

I now have a long weekend (Canada Day!) and I'm halfway through Deadline and have the rest of the Death of Captain America books to read :-)

I also picked up Throne of the Crescent Moon at the library. Er, oops? I know that I need to focus on the remaining Hugo books but I've heard great things about this one and it was there so I couldn't resist.

Happy Canada Day (early)!

A belated welcome back and good luck with hosting your mom. That is a looooong time. I hope the two of you get on well.

Lots of good stuff -- thanks for the blurb on Chicks Dig Comics -- it looks like something that I need. :)

Hope you had a good Canada Day weekend!

#93> Thank you!

#94> Er, so far we've disagreed over most things including the correct washing up methods and the acceptable consistency of porridge. I'm hoping we'll get better at this as time goes by. Only another, er, five months *sigh*

Chicks Dig Comics is great and you definitely need it :-D

#95> I had a pretty decent weekend! Good weather, some great Tour de France watching, and plenty of reading. So it was very nice indeed. Hope yours was also good :-D

I spent Saturday reading these because they were too gripping to put down :-)

61. The Death of Captain America Vol 2: The Burden of Dreams - Ed Brubaker
This was another very strong book, with good writing matched by fantastic artwork. The who and the how are starting to become more apparent and the question is now turning more to the why. Brubaker does such a great job of showing how Steve Rogers’ death devastates his friends and I cannot imagine how anyone was able to read this over the course of months without going slightly mad. The cliff-hangers are incredible and the layers of motives and double-crosses need real thought. I was just grateful that I could pick up the final volume as soon as I finished this!

62. The Death of Captain America Vol 3: The Man Who Bought America - Ed Brubaker
This is the conclusion to the story arc and it is a brilliant, satisfying, and gripping end. Although certain elements are resolved in this volume, there are story-lines set up that I can tell would have had consequences for years. Just thinking about Carol Danvers’ story gives me shivers. This is the first time that I’ve really read much about Bucky, although I knew the outline of his background, and he’s a much more interesting character than I expected. In the first volume I could not understand why he would be the man who took on the Captain America mantle but they end of this book, I could see why he was a good choice. I suspect that I’ll now be tracking down all the trades for the books that followed this arc so that I can find out what happened to everyone, particularly Danvers and Bucky.

Those are my last completed works for June so at some stage I should start doing the June recap. At the moment I'm very nearly done with Deadline and then I think it will be back to GRRM. I've got a couple of Fables books due back at the library on Friday so those will be occupying my time as well and then I think that I'll be digging into Throne of the Crescent Moon as that's due back next week. So, July is going to be busy for reading and I've got a lot of Tour watching to do as well!

June stats time!

Total: 16 books

Source
Kindle: 3
Digital comic: 1
Library: 11
My shelves: 1

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count February 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133
Mount TBR count May 31: 143
Mount TBR count June 30: 144

On the one hand, wow I read a lot of books.

On the other hand, wow I read 12 graphic novels and only 4 actual prose novels. Heh.

Mount TBR grew despite me reading something from the shelves - Chicks Dig Comics was non-fiction which I don't count in the Mount TBR stats. So the Mercedes Lackey book that is now my post Hugo reading reward only added to the Mount TBR problem.

This month I've got a lot of priority reading. I've still got two GRRM books to finish for the Hugo reading plus a couple of novellas. I've also got three volumes of Fables to finish. Voting for the Hugos closes on July 31st.

There is also a large stack of stuff from the library (primarily graphic novels) to work through before the due dates. Last night I also picked up Blackout for the Kindle because I loved Deadline so much and can't stand the thought of not finishing that series.

That will also be on my post-Hugo reward list.

In other words, it's the final four weeks of mad Hugo reading plus a lot of library stuff because my Avengers obsession produced one heck of a lot of holds that all came in at once. July is going to be busy.

First completed book for July and it's a doozy. It's one of the Hugo nominees and I can see why. I'm now very conflicted in what I want to vote for!

63. Deadline - Mira Grant
I recently read an interview with Seanan McGuire (the lady behind the Mira Grant pseud) in which she talked about the Newsflesh trilogy, describing the first book as a political thriller with zombies and the second book as a medical thriller with zombies. The descriptions are completely accurate: these books wouldn’t work without the zombies but they are not zombie novels in the traditional horror sense. Deadline is the second book, the medical thriller, and it’s just as good as the third book. The focus is on Shaun Mason it really works to have him as the POV character for this one - George (who is temporarily unavailable) would have had too much medical knowledge already so it would have been harder to keep the reader in the loop without many “as you know, Bob...” moments. The pacing on this was great, keeping the action moving at the right moments and slowing down every now and again to give the reader time to catch your breath. McGuire’s research is obviously thorough and the reason this entire set-up works so well is because the virus behind the zombie plague is so plausible. She has also shown us that she’s not afraid to kill off characters, which makes each encounter with the living dead that bit more tense. The main focus is the investigation into research that the CDC may be trying to suppress and it’s fascinating. There are fewer outright zombie mob situations and yet that actually ramps up the tension. I was gripped throughout the book but the final two or three chapters had me absolutely glued as everything I knew got turned on its head and I immediately had to buy the final book in the trilogy even though I won’t be able to read it until after the end of the month. Terrific book and I can see why it’s a Hugo nominee.

A slightly disappointing read, particularly coming after such a brilliant read, but this is due at the library on Friday so it had to be finished:

64. Fables Vol 13: The Great Fables Crossover- Bill Willingham
This one was really, really weird. It’s a cross-over with the Jack of Fables books, with Snow and Bigby helping out with a Jack-originated problem while Jack causes chaos on the Farm. I don’t read the Jack of Fables books, largely because Jack was a character that I was happy to see leave the Fables books, so there was a fair bit that I just didn’t get. Add in the amount of page time that Jack got and the book as a whole didn’t really work for me. There was also very little going on in terms of the ongoing Fables story-lines so that side of things didn’t hold my interest well. I can see that Rose Red’s depression is a set-up for something interesting further down the line and I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out, but I suspect that this is a book that can be easily skippable without missing too much of the Fables story. Not a big hit for me.

Deadline sounds pretty good! I already have Feed on my wishlist

It is excellent and I have high hopes for the final book living up to it. I'd nudge Feed up the list, if I were you :-D

One more book this week and it's a Hugo nominee from my list.

65. Fables Vol 14: Witches
After the disappointment of the previous volume, this was the complete opposite. It was dark, intense and completely enthralling. The only bad thing was that it left the main story on the worst cliff-hanger imaginable! The focus of the story is on the witches, both Frau Totenkinder and Ozma. Getting to see more of Frau Totenkinder and finding out how powerful she might be was great. You get hints of it through the other books, but this is the first time that we’ve really seen the real Totenkinder. I also loved the idea of Ozma being ambitious and determined, entirely unlike her appearance. Mostly, I just loved that this volume was so rich and detailed. It left me itching for the next, which I thankfully already have from the library! It definitely makes sense that this volume was nominated for a Hugo this year.

I've finished a couple of graphic novels as well as this, but I need to think of a way to phrase my commentary on those before I post about them. They were...weird.

66. Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed
There has been a lot of buzz about this book on certain book blogs so when I saw it at the library I had to pick it up. This is Ahmed’s debut novel and it’s great. Unlike many fantasy novels, he does not borrow from medieval Europe for his settings and instead populates his world with ideas and mythology rooted in the Middle East. It makes for a fascinating book that stands out from the rest due to the unique settings and culture. The magic and fantastical creatures that populate the book are refreshingly original and Ahmed draws it all vividly with his words. His central characters are nicely fleshed out and I’d love to see more of them. Several of them are older characters, which is another element that you rarely see in epic fantasy. I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen to them and what new thing we would be shown. This is the first in a planned trilogy and I will definitely be picking up the next one when it comes out.

And more comics reading, as I'm currently bogged down in the fourth GRRM book and starting to suspect that I'll never have another prose book finished again.

I exaggerate because it's a good book, but it's loooong and I'm itching to move onto something lighter soon.

67. The Ultimates Vol 1: Super-Human - Mark Millar
68. The Ultimates Vol 2: Homeland Security - Mark Millar
69. The Ultimates 2 Vol 1: Gods and Monsters - Mark Millar
I’ve spent the last week trying to decide how the heck to describe these. The only thing that I can come up with is this: someone took a concept that would be too weird and twisted for the average fanfic writer to touch with a barge pole and actually published comics based on it. These are the Avengers in a way, but changed and folded and contorted into something very odd indeed. I’m conflicted about how I feel about this series. Mostly, I didn’t really enjoy it but I had to keep reading which is why I’ve got the second volume of Ultimates 2 on hold at the library. Not something that I’d recommend although at least now I know what people are talking about with these!

I've been terrible at keeping this thread updated, probably because I've been in a big graphic novel phase and reading fewer actual prose books. So this little lot completes July and I'm already one and a half novels (actual novels!) into August:

70. Fables Vol 15: Rose Red - Bill Willingham
Rose Red is becoming one of my favourite characters and this is her book. Lots of terrific stuff on her background, some great stuff with the witches and their attempts to capture Mister Dark and really just an incredibly compelling, absorbing addition to this series.

71. Avengers Vol. 1 - Brian Michael Bendis
I’m still working out where and how all the bits of the Marvel universe fit together. This is post-Civil War, post-Invasion, with Steve and Stark setting up a new team of Avengers and getting plunged straight into a huge adventure. OK, yes, I admit that I have a growing love for Hawkeye and this is part of the reason that I grabbed this at the library but I also loved the team dynamic, adored Spiderman in this set-up and found the entire book a lot of fun.

72. New Avengers Vol 2: Sentry - Brian Michael Bendis
It’s slightly disconcerting to be reading this at the same time as the newer Avengers line because this is well before the Civil War and the New Avengers are just settling into their new dynamic. The storyline is fascinating in this one, trying to work out what is real and what isn’t, and there was some unexpected (to me) and brilliant Emma Frost stuff in here as well.

73. Hawkeye and Mockingbird: Ghosts - David Lopez
74. Hawkeye and Mockingbird/Black Widow: Widowmaker - David Lopez
As I mentioned, I have a growing love for Hawkeye and these two books are great. They’re a lot of fun, because this is Hawkeye, but there are some more serious ideas here about how his life is going and how he fits into the two worlds of Mockingbird’s spy group and the Avengers.

75. New Avengers Vol 3: Secrets and Lies - Brian Michael Bendis
Back into the pre-Civil War series and the title of this volume is appropriate. Everyone has secrets, various people are lying to each other and I couldn’t put this down. Getting some information on Spiderwoman - her background and her current status - was particularly good because she’s a character that I knew nothing about until I started reading these books.

76. Avengers Vol. 2 - Brian Michael Bendis
And back to the more recent Avengers (as opposed to New Avengers) books. I read the first part of this a couple of months ago because the first issue was put out as part of Free Comic Day. I didn’t know that at the time that I requested this from the library, so it was a nice surprise because it meant that the little 12 page thing that I’d read finally tied into something and I got to find out what it was about. There was a lot to like about this volume - it was fun, dramatic and provided a bit of information about the way that the world sees the Avengers now. I hope my library gets volume 3 quickly.

July stats time!

Total: 14 books

Source
Kindle: 1
Digital comic: 2
Library: 11
My shelves: 0

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count February 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133
Mount TBR count May 31: 143
Mount TBR count June 30: 144
Mount TBR count July 31: 145

On the one hand, only one new book (John Scalzi's Redshirts) entered the house.

On the other hand, I read nothing off my shelves and so Mount TBR hasn't shrunk. My Kindle reading has been ploughing through the fourth GRRM book and it's been going slowly, which may explain the intensive library usage. Distraction. I'm determined to finish the GRRM even though the Hugo voting is now over and my votes are in. Then I'm going to give myself a few months break before starting A Dance with Dragons.

I've already got one book off the shelves in August and I'm halfway through Redshirts (brilliant book) so Mount TBR may actually shrink this month. Woo!

However, I did a boo-boo and fell down on the Pottermore site so now I have all the Harry Potter books on my Kindle to re-read. Oops?

When GRRM is finished I plan to read the final Mira Grant book and one other Kindle book (either Melinda Lo's Huntress or the The House on Durrow stree) and then I can start my Harry re-read.

So August should be a fairly bookish month and I may, for the first time in months, read nearly as many prose novels as graphic novels. Maybe.

Don't you just hate it when you accidentally trip and then suddenly find yourself with a whole pile of Harry Potter books? Yeah, it's such a problem. :D

I know, it's torture to find myself with a big stack of books (metaphorically speaking) that need re-reading. How will I cope? *weeps dramatically*

Skimming through your thread; and now you've hit me with book bullets.

Uh oh, sorry about that :-D

And I haven't even entered August's books here yet. Oops.

OK, having failed to enter any of my books in August here they all are. Yikes!

77. Fables Vol. 16: Super Team - Bill Willingham
As can be seen from the cover and the title, this volume pokes some gentle fun at the current surge in popularity of superheroes while at the same time dealing with a lot of the storylines that have been chugging away for the last few volumes. It resolves a few things and I really enjoyed the way that things were resolved, but as always the solution to one thing just allows a lot of other problems to surface. Hopefully volume 17 will be added to my library’s shelves soon!

78. Home from the Sea - Mercedes Lackey
This is the first in my post-Hugo voting stack of treat books. Lackey is one of the authors that I preorder without checking at all because I know that I’ll love her stuff. It’s an Elemental Masters book so it is loosely based around a fairy tale, this time one that I’m completely unfamiliar with and involving a lot of Welsh mythology. I didn’t feel that it was as strong as the previous Elemental Masters book, but the protagonists were likable and I very much enjoyed catching up with grown-up Nan and Sarah from The Wizard of London. They were an interesting pair of characters because their powers are so different from most of the other ‘magical’ characters and they are just as good as adults. In fact, I’d be quite happy to see more of them if Lackey was to write another. It’s probably the weakest book in the series but still made for a great weekend read that was a good antidote to the darker, more difficult books that I’ve been going through for the Hugos.

79. Redshirts - John Scalzi
It's slightly embarrassing how much I loved this book. The prologue had me giggling in the queue at the bookshop when I bought it. Scalzi pokes loving fun at the tropes and amazing coincidences of certain sci-fi shows throughout, but in the manner of Galaxy Quest rather than some of the crueler parodies. On the surface it's a parody, but it's also a well-constructed story with strong characters that the reader grows to care about as the book progresses. Scalzi describes it as a story with three codas. The basic book can be enjoyed without the codas, but they are what add the extra layers to everything. Redshirts is definitely on my "favourite books of 2012" list.

80. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seaon 8 Vol 1: The Long Way Home - Joss Whedon
I've been hearing about the Buffy comics for years so I finally put the first few on hold. I enjoyed this and it sets things up for later volumes, but the first two thirds of the volume felt patch and choppy and following the narrative wasn't easy. Thankfully the final section is much stronger and I'll be carrying on.

And the rest...

81. Huntress - Malinda Lo
I loved 'Ash' last year so when I was looking for something light and interesting to read as a break from Game of Thrones I picked this up. Unfortunately I found it disappointing. A lot of the more thoughtful touches were missing and the air of dreamy unreality that I enjoyed so much in 'Ash' is nowhere here. Not one that I would recommend.

82. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Vol 2: No Future for You - Brian K. Vaughan
Much stronger than the first volume! Faith is a character that I loved because she was so complicated, damaged and unusual. Here she is given a task and a future that I thought suit her well. Her relationship with Giles has always been difficult and it was nice to see that explored in favour of rehashing all the tensions she has with Buffy (not that we didn't see her with Buffy, but that wasn't the focus point) because that has been done so many times. I found the story back with Buffy's crew a bit more forgettable but I'm getting intrigued by what has happened to Dawn and by Willow's story.

83. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling
Re-read and every bit as fun as I remember!

84. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Vol 3: Wolves at the Gate - Drew Goddard
The return of Dracula, some unusual vampires, Buffy's crisis of confidence and crisis of sexuality - there is a lot going on in this volume. It all works and by the end of the volume I was left feeling a bit drained but in a good way.

85. Y The Last Man Vol 4: Safeword - Brian K Vaughan
I am still not quite sure what to make of this. There were elements that were very odd, not least the pseudo-dominatrix stuff, which didn't completely sell me. It felt like the first half was doing something that didn't entirely work. When the story moved on to the women blockading the main route across a key American state things picked up and seemed to flow better. It felt very much like a bridging volume from one idea to another so I'm looking forward to seeing where the next volume is going.

Ooh, Faith. Was she the one played by Eliza Dushku, who played Tru in Tru Calling?

August stats!

Total: 9 books

Source
Kindle: 2
Digital comic: 0
Library: 5
My shelves: 2

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count February 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133
Mount TBR count May 31: 143
Mount TBR count June 30: 144
Mount TBR count July 31: 145
Moubt TBR count August 31: 143

Mount TBR actually got shorter in August! Woo! It's still way too high but I'm taking this as a win. Hopefully September will also see a drop despite having added one to the count at the weekend - that book is currently being read and I've got my eye on two others to read this month.

I've been struggling to settle at anything for the last few weeks, which is why my reading has suffered a lot. However, I've got a backlog of comics sitting on my iPad to read, a couple of different things from the library and I'm in the mood for some school stories which should help with Mount TBR.

Goal for year's end: get Mount TBR down to January levels. That shouldn't be too hard, right?

And the first book for September:

86. Pardonable Lies - Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs is growing to be one of my favourite sleuthing characters. So far, all of her mysteries have had their roots in the events of World War I and this one is no different. Although some elements were predictable (I had worked out why Ralph and his father were estranged before Maisie did), it's often the way that she finds things and the way that she handles her findings that are the interesting element. There are three mysteries in this book, two of which converge in places and all with different resolutions. I would have liked a bit more about the young girl that Maisie was trying to help early in the story, but with so many other threads in the book I can see why this was the one that got less attention. Overall a strong entry in the series and I'll be picking up the next one soon.

#114

Faith was indeed played by Eliza Dushku

Good catching up on your reading! And yay for Mount TBR decreasing slightly. Mine has increased this morning. C'est la vie!

#117> You got there before I could :-D Eliza Dushku did such amazing things with that character.

Mount TBR never stays shorter for long. My mum gave me a new book at the weekend and I've just realised that a book I preorderd will arrive later in the month. I may be making it September's goal just to maintain the status quo!

Good to see you enjoying the Newsflesh trilogy. I've just devoured the trilogy in three days, and thoroughly enjoyed it all.

I've got the final one sitting on my Kindle waiting for me :-D It's a great series and I found it very difficult to decide between Deadline and Among Others when I was filling out my Hugo ballot.

I quite liked Maisie Dobbs but haven't yet found the time to get back to the rest of the series. Sounds like I really should. Also, hooray for Redshirts! I love Scalzi. :)

So far, the Maisie Dobbs books are getting better with each one. Admittedly, I've only read three now but that's definitely a good sign.

And Scalzi is awesome :-D

I also agree about Redshirts, definitely one of the best books I've read this year.

Keep hearing good things about Redshirts - don't think it's been released here yet but I'll look out for it.

#124> I don't think it's out in the UK until November but it's definitely worth watching for!

I've actually been doing some reading! Including an actual book or two in addition to a bunch of graphic novels!

87. The Head Girl of the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
I picked this up during my visit to Hay-on-Wye and it’s a hardcover from 1952, so the full text is here. It didn't take me long to realise that this is one of the books that I've never read in either paperback or hardcover so it was quite a treat! Unusually, this covers two terms rather than one, which means that it goes through Grizel's full tenure as Head Girl. She's always been a hard character to like and she's one of the few that Brent-Dyer doesn’t completely rescue from a bad start. However, I liked the way that she grew and matured through the book and Brent-Dyer sent her off to the next phase of her life as someone who could be a decent, functional adult which she wasn't at the beginning of the book. Jo vacillates a lot between being a mischievous young girl and a more mature teen, but it's nice to see this transition period. I can see that I've missed a fair bit by not having read this book before and I thoroughly enjoyed my return to the Chalet School.

88. Truth: Red, White and Black - Robert Morales
I grabbed this at the library because it looked interesting and it was definitely that. The subject matter is quite disturbing at times and I'm not sure quite where/if it fits into the Marvel canon. The illustration style is very different from most of the Marvel books, much more exaggerated and at times close to caricature. It's not a book that I can say I enjoyed, but it's one that I'm glad I've read.

89. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
With a movie apparently in production and a bunch of my friends raving about this, I thought it was time to find out what the fuss was all about. Happily I can say that I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed Twilight earlier this year! It's not a great work of classic literature, but it's compelling and the writing kept me gripped. I liked Clary a lot: she felt real and normal and although she freaked out at appropriate moments, it never felt like she was passively waiting for things to happen to her. She had her moments and then she'd pick herself up, dust off and figure out what to do next. Alec, Isabelle, Jace and Simon all grew on me and I'm intrigued by Magnus Bane. I'll definitely be grabbing the rest of these from the library so that I can find out what happens next.

90. Nightwing Vol 1: Traps and Trapezes - Kyle Higgins
I read this earlier in the year but only just got around to remembering to log it. Oops! It's a good introductory book (I read it as separate issues) and I liked Dick Grayson a lot by the end. The art style is gorgeous and one of the things that keeps impressing me about it is how well it conveys the fast, acrobatic fighting style of Nightwing. I've got the last couple of issues of the next volume to read and it's a series that I really enjoy.

91. Stormwatch Vol 2: Enemies of Earth - Peter Milligan
This is another New DC line with gorgeous, amazing artwork and a good plot. The characters are all terrific and I'm really loving the growing relationship between Apollo and Midnighter. Some of the history of Stormwatch is revealed in this issue and we get a lot of hints at what Tanner is up to. The final issue tied up a few threads but also left a giant cliff-hanger so I'm waiting impatiently for the next issue!

haha I just set City of Bones aside. I've heard lots about it too and thought to try it. I still might pick it back up sometime later but at the moment I was having a hard time getting into it.

>126 archerygirl:: Isn't Dick Grayson 'Robin' from Batman?

I grew up with the Chalet School, and I'll read the books whenever I can snag 'em, but I must confess I found Jo a bit wimpy for a heroine :) . I've just re-read Little Women, and I think - because of their names - I got the lead characters mixed up. I think Jo March is much more of a tomboy, especially given the time period she grew up in.

Dick Grayson grew up and became Nightwing. Several others have now taken his place as Robin in various Batman series.

But as far as many of us are concerned, Dick Grayson will always be Robin in our hearts. :)

Or maybe that's just me?

(I love Batman.)

I've actually read more of Dick Grayson as Nightwing than as Robin - I'm not a Batman fan.

Loving Batgirl, my local comic store girl just got me hooked on Batwoman, but Batman has never caught me.

#128> I find that Jo varies a lot. Sometimes she's a bit wimpy and then she runs off to rescue princesses on mountains. Her delicacy as a child does mean that she's less of a tomboy than other comparable girls because she can't do as much running around and being tough. I did like the way that she gradually grew up despite not wanting to and Jo Returns to the Chalet School is one of my favourite Chalet books.

I've been very lax in my record keeping over here. Oops!

Here's the last batch of books (with really brief thoughts) from September:

92. Batwoman Elegy - Greg Rucka
Gorgeous artwork and a really good introduction to the character.

93. Batgirl Vol 2: Knightfall Descends - Gail Simone
This is one of my favourite New 52 lines and this arc has been fascinating.

94. Enna Burning - Sharon Hale
It didn't keep my attention as well as it the other Hale books have, but the second half sucked me in.

That puts my September stats at:

Total: 9 books

Source
Kindle: 1
Digital comic: 3
Library: 3
My shelves: 2

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count February 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133
Mount TBR count May 31: 143
Mount TBR count June 30: 144
Mount TBR count July 31: 145
Mount TBR count August 31: 143
Mount TBR count September 30: 143

And here are all of October's books with brief thoughts:

95. Hex Hall - Rachel Hawkins
Weirdly compelling in a "this is not a good book but I can't stop reading!" kind of way. The other books in the series have been put on hold from the library.

96. New Avengers Vol. 4: The Collective - Brian Michael Bendis
This dealt a bit with the consequences of House of M (which I need to read!) and it was fun. The most exciting part for me, though, was seeing the hints of what is coming up in the Civil War arc and how early those elements were planted.

97. Batman: Knight and Squire - Paul Cornell
Just a really fun romp that was weird (as only Cornell's work can be) and completely brilliant.

98. Jinx - Meg Cabot
Not much to say because I really didn't enjoy this book. The characters never came alive for me and I never felt much urgency about their dilemmas. Definitely not one I'll be going back to.

99. Young Avengers & Runaways: Civil War - Zeb Wells
I absolutely loved this. I've heard so much about Billy and Teddy so it was wonderful to finally get a glimpse of them. I've been reading Kate Bishop in the new Hawkeye books so seeing an earlier version of her was great. Now I need to hunt down all the Young Avengers books!

100. Plain Kate - Erin Bow
This was the highlight of the month for me. The tone was just beautiful, I loved the characters and Bow left me feeling both sad and content with the way she ended the book. Highly recommended.

And my October stats:

Total: 6 books

Source
Kindle: 0
Digital comic: 0
Library: 5
My shelves: 1

Mount TBR count January 31: 136
Mount TBR count February 29: 133
Mount TBR count March 31: 134
Mount TBR count April 30: 133
Mount TBR count May 31: 143
Mount TBR count June 30: 144
Mount TBR count July 31: 145
Mount TBR count August 31: 143
Mount TBR count September 30: 143
Mount TBR count October 31: 144

It's been a bit of a library month. And books kept walking into the house. Oops?

And finally, the first book of November:

101. Avengers Assemble Volume 1 – Brian Michael Bendis
This was written as a good dropping in place for people who have seen the Avengers movie and want more of them. It's within the Marvel canon but features the team from the movie. I'd already read a fair bit (including the main Bendis Avengers books) so a lot of the backstory that they occasionally reference is familiar to me. However, they are a great jumping on point for new readers. The most recent issues include the Guardians of the Galaxy, who were a lot more fun than I expected and I don't actively hate the fact that we're getting a move for them instead of Black Widow anymore. I'm still disappointed, but I can live with it. I guess.

"And books kept walking into the house. Oops?"

Yep, that happens to me all the time. :)

It's the curse of a book collection. It behaves like a black hole, sucking books into the house without conscious direction from the hapless collector.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :-D Particularly as Captain Vorpatril's Alliance should be arriving soon and there will be birthday books later this month!

>136 archerygirl:: I know exactly what you mean. It's inexplicable.

Glitterfy.com - Christmas Glitter Graphics

I want to wish you a glorious celebration of that time of year when we all try to unite around a desire for Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward All. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Kathy - wishing you a wonderful new year and a properous 2013 and beyond.

Here's to a great new year ahead, Kathy!

Happy New Year!