Reading List

I've been a little preoccupied (as hinted at in earlier post). But just in case you were wondering, here's a list of books I've read and been meaning to review (for SAWWC or otherwise)

1. Rajdeep Paulus' debut novel, "Swimming Through Clouds"
2. Samhita Arni's, "Sita's Ramayana"
3. Samhita Arni's, "Missing Queen"
4. Saladin Ahmed's, "Throne of the Crescent Moon" (not for SAWWC, but a fantastic read anyway)
5. Kuzhali Manickavel's, "Eating Sugar Telling Lies"
6. Kuzhali Manickavel's, "Insects Are Just like You and Me except Some of Them Have Wings"

Reviews to follow, shortly.

Saga (Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples)

You know how, sometimes, you find a book that is so delightful, so compelling that it simply must be read, like right now? Saga is one of these books.

After hearing Tansy talk about the book on the Galactic Suburbia Podcast, I could not resist picking it up (New parents, warriors, warring alien races - Come on!). I say "pick it up" to mean "I put aside everything else I am reading to go through ten issues of the graphic novel in one night.


There is so much that I absolutely *love* about this book.
Fiona Staples' illustrations are brilliant. They're bold and engaging without being over the top.
The cover of the first issue (below), whatever the Dave Dorman story, is brilliant. I'm both surprised and appalled that breastfeeding would be construed as vulgar and / or unnecessary. The cover beautifully captures the Epic nature of Saga (how cool is it that we can say that and not be entirely circular!).




The other art in the book that completely swept me off my feet is from Issue #7 - a 'memories of the soil' sequence. Woo! Spectacular!
Best of all, though, Staples' work and BKV's speak to each other so perfectly (seriously, get to #8).

And starting the readers out in the middle of the war, at a childbirth - well played, Vaughan. The rest of the series, so far, has followed through on this compelling opening issue. The characters are delightful -

I love that all the women so far as smart, competent, and  awe-inspiring. They're real and their equal footing (so far) is not at all forced or self-conscious. And Best of all, they're not infallible.

For me, the realness of these characters along with the meta fiction at work (the D. Oswald Heist novel-in-a-novel) refresh even themes (war without purpose, star-crossed pairs) that have been hashed to shreds by now. It helps, I think, that the graphic novel itself is self-referentially sardonic with these ideas.

For now, the thing that I don't like about Saga is that it is a new graphic novel.
Let me rephrase that. It is an ongoing graphic novel which means I have to wait patiently for the next issue to be out.



And while I do that, I insist that you wait with me. So go, go read this. Now!

Day 4

This year, I don't have to grade while trying to squeeze in a post a day. I don't have schoolwork. I don't have deadlines to meet and papers to write* And so I've been diligently reading the posts of everyone who signed up to do this.

And...Oh My Goshiness of All Goshinesses, Y'all.

I'm overwhelmed - first, by the sheer commitment to this madness of writing every day and next, by the things that are being written. This year especially, so much of what I'm reading is making me think about my own stances / views / preoccupations (see my last post) and keeping me honest (see zugenia's post for the day)!

(In a related aside: You should go order stuff from Jumbo Jibbles' store. If you do it in the next half hour, you can use that fantabulous 40% off discount she's running right now.)

And for all that - this is a very public thank you, just four days in. We're a little over a sixth of the way there. Woot!

*Because, you know, I've taken time off school for the moment.

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Writing everyday is making me mentally sift through things that I want to talk about on the blog. This is good because it keeps me from ranting endlessly. But it is also frustrating because sometimes, I mentally find the perfect way to say what I want but can't get to a writing device on time and so that phrasing evaporates. (Aight, just because I'm not in school doesn't mean I'm free, etc. My hours are otherwise filled with things that need doing.)

And one of these things I managed today (see, segue!) was to finish reading Stupefying Stories December 2012.

I'm wary of doing a full-fledged review (S.B. just did one of a different book on her blog).
I enjoyed the read - although several of the stories tread a predictable path - humans exploiting other worlds, invasion of the body-snatchers, hope in a post-apocalyptic world, that sort of thing.
On the whole, however, the writing of the eleven stories is engaging.

Jon David's "We Talk Like Gods" is delightful.
And despite its rushed ending, I also loved Mark Wolf's "Tiny, Tiny Hungers".
Both, Shaun Duke's "In the Shadows of the Empire of Coal" and Joel V. Kela's "The Gods of Sand and Stone" have some pretty evocative imagery.

A. A. Leil's HoPE does interesting things with narrative voice - although, again, the idea in general put me in the mind of Justina Robson's, "Natural History".

The one story that I absolutely loved, however was Lou Antonelli's "The Relic" with its little tongue-in-cheek commentary about decontextualization of history.

I'm undecided on how I feel about only two of the stories having female protagonists ("MoonBubble" by Eric Cline and "Avocado, Rutabaga, Aubergine" by M. Benardo).

But in all, you should pay a Dollar ninety-nine and get the kindle version of the book and read it.

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Oh Deary, Deary Me. It's past midnight and my carriage has turned into a pumpkin, apparently.
Well, time for some pie, then.