1sweetiegherkin
November is getting away from me -- we're almost halfway through already! What is everyone reading?
2sweetiegherkin
I've been reading a bunch of kids' comics, mostly geared for upper elementary or middle school-aged children.
The New Girl about Lia who moves from Bulgaria to Canada and struggles to adapt. It was fine enough but I feel like there's been a bunch of graphic novels exploring this theme already (e.g., Parachute Kids, which I liked even better), and this one didn't really stand out from the pack.
Cassi and the House of Memories about a child and her grandfather who has dementia. This one was unique and bittersweet. (I also felt like it was more for adults than children, but it had a fairy-tale quality to it that I guess transcends ages.)
Next Stop about a child traveling without her parents on a road-trip bus tour to see all the bizarre side-stops along the American West, such as a cactus-themed amusement park. This one was surreal and tragic, with a backstory that unfolds in flashbacks that travel further into the past each time. I wanted to like it more than I did but there was something very unsettling about it all.
Viewfinder about a nameless astronaut traveling to an abandoned Earth and exploring the empty landscapes. This was an entirely wordless graphic novel in the style of Shaun Tan's The Arrival but it didn't quite have the same impact for me. It was ultimately a warning about climate change but I felt a stronger story could have done that better.
How It All Ends about Tara who is advanced enough that her school recommends she skips eighth grade and goes right to high school, which makes her very nervous. This was a fun read with a limited color palette supplemented with lots of imagination and humor.
Fresh Start about a child of a diplomat who therefore has had to move a lot but views it as an opportunity to forget about past mistakes and make new friends without baggage each time. Slightly different trappings but similar enough to The New Girl except with an even more obnoxious main character, in my opinion.
Warriors: The Prophecy Begins about a bunch of cat clans that fight with one another over territorial claims. I never read the chapter book series so I can't say if it's a fair adaptation of the source material, but I did not care for the scheming and violence. I probably wouldn't like it in prose but I definitely didn't like it with illustrations of bloodied, injured, and dead cats.
Knots about a child of two prison guards who move all the time for their jobs so she has to keep making new friends and adjusting to new schools (sound familiar yet? I mentioned it was a common theme...). The glimpse of her life we see here focuses on a time when her parents are so wrapped up in work that she basically has to fend for herself to arrive at school on time, have clean clothes, be fed, etc. Throughout, her hair -- which she tries and fails to bleach/dye a shade to her liking to increasingly disastrous results -- serves as metaphor of the struggles she's going through.
Just in case you thought I was rocketing through books this month, I'll clarify that I actually read most of these in October but didn't get back to the group until today.
The New Girl about Lia who moves from Bulgaria to Canada and struggles to adapt. It was fine enough but I feel like there's been a bunch of graphic novels exploring this theme already (e.g., Parachute Kids, which I liked even better), and this one didn't really stand out from the pack.
Cassi and the House of Memories about a child and her grandfather who has dementia. This one was unique and bittersweet. (I also felt like it was more for adults than children, but it had a fairy-tale quality to it that I guess transcends ages.)
Next Stop about a child traveling without her parents on a road-trip bus tour to see all the bizarre side-stops along the American West, such as a cactus-themed amusement park. This one was surreal and tragic, with a backstory that unfolds in flashbacks that travel further into the past each time. I wanted to like it more than I did but there was something very unsettling about it all.
Viewfinder about a nameless astronaut traveling to an abandoned Earth and exploring the empty landscapes. This was an entirely wordless graphic novel in the style of Shaun Tan's The Arrival but it didn't quite have the same impact for me. It was ultimately a warning about climate change but I felt a stronger story could have done that better.
How It All Ends about Tara who is advanced enough that her school recommends she skips eighth grade and goes right to high school, which makes her very nervous. This was a fun read with a limited color palette supplemented with lots of imagination and humor.
Fresh Start about a child of a diplomat who therefore has had to move a lot but views it as an opportunity to forget about past mistakes and make new friends without baggage each time. Slightly different trappings but similar enough to The New Girl except with an even more obnoxious main character, in my opinion.
Warriors: The Prophecy Begins about a bunch of cat clans that fight with one another over territorial claims. I never read the chapter book series so I can't say if it's a fair adaptation of the source material, but I did not care for the scheming and violence. I probably wouldn't like it in prose but I definitely didn't like it with illustrations of bloodied, injured, and dead cats.
Knots about a child of two prison guards who move all the time for their jobs so she has to keep making new friends and adjusting to new schools (sound familiar yet? I mentioned it was a common theme...). The glimpse of her life we see here focuses on a time when her parents are so wrapped up in work that she basically has to fend for herself to arrive at school on time, have clean clothes, be fed, etc. Throughout, her hair -- which she tries and fails to bleach/dye a shade to her liking to increasingly disastrous results -- serves as metaphor of the struggles she's going through.
Just in case you thought I was rocketing through books this month, I'll clarify that I actually read most of these in October but didn't get back to the group until today.
3amberwitch
So far in November I’ve read Howls moving castle, which is not as good as I wanted it to be. The ways it diverges from the original Diana Wynne Jones book generally does not improve the story. And in a lot of cases makes it weaker - why even change the villain? And there is a lot of things that does not make sense. Some of the drawings are very beautiful, but some of them are very hard to decode.
I also read Franquins Idées noires, which is pretty good. Amazing artwork, black humour.
Both in Danish translation.
I also read Franquins Idées noires, which is pretty good. Amazing artwork, black humour.
Both in Danish translation.
4Stevil2001
I am working my way through Black Panther comics, Justice League International comics, and Star Trek "Kelvin timeline" comics; right now I'm in the middle of Into the Heartlands, a YA Black Panther comic, while I just finished Superman and Justice League America, Volume 1 and wait for Superman and Justice League America, Volume 2 to arrive in the mail, and I am also working on Star Trek: The New Adventures, Volume 2.
