WHAT ARE YOU READING?

[J.T.]

18 hours ago, Lawful Metal said:

I'm finally reading my signed Hello Darkness My Old Friend by Old School John Pelan. 

John and I were talking about ideas for new tales from the Smoking Leg before he passed away. 

Speaking of horror, I am halfway through The Black Guy Dies First.   It is totally brilliant so far.

Edited June 13, 2023 by J.T.

[Ingobernable]

From reading this thread I think my tastes may be a little different to most here but, all the same, STUFF I FINISHED IN MAY: 

Tracks by Louise Erdich. I picked this up because I read and enjoyed The Plague of Doves a few years ago. I enjoyed this less, though Erdich is great at writing about the lives of indigenous Americans as complex and evolving rather than fixed and binary. There's lots of the stuff I normally love, like multiple narrators and complicated family narratives, but I have since learned that this is the third book in a sequence of four, which kind of explains why I struggled to keep track of some of the main players. Slight recommendation for the novel, full recommendation for the author. 

Close Range by Annie Proulx. A collection of short stories about cowboys in Wyoming, the most famous of which was adapted into the movie Brokeback Mountain. As with most short story collections, some of these were better than others, but overall I thought this was great. Proulx, like Erdich, is able to write about a group of people who are routinely caricatured with sensitivity and credibility. She's particularly good at capturing how cultural ideas of masculinity are in themselves a trap that contain and limit the men who adhere to them. Strong recommendation. 

Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed. A fairly famous eyewitness account of the second Russian Revolution in 1917 (the Bolshevik one lead by Lenin and Trotsky in October of that year). I struggled a little with Reed's prose style here; he's an American journalist who's deeply embedded in the politics of the time so it's quite breathless and assumes a lot of prior knowledge. That said, he does a good job of reporting the genuine optimism and idealism that fuelled the revolution, regardless of what happened next, and the chaos and factionalism that created countless moving parts throughout. Slight recommendation, for its historical value more than its literary.

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley. A really quick and quite emotional read about the broken relationship between a woman and her mother and their repeated failures to engage meaningfully in anything which might allow them to repair it. I found this novel to be really brutal, if never actively violent. The protagonist's childhood is also spent in my home city, which was pleasingly evocative in its own way. Recommendation.  

Edited June 14, 2023 by Ingobernable

[odessasteps]

 

[JLSigman]

I've got new glasses coming in by the end of the month, so I might be able to comfortably read a book again soon.

Slowly making my way through Immortal X-Men vol 2 on Hoopla, and I am going to have to find a collection of this Celestial crossover story at some point, I guess. They led off this volume with Kurt, which means I love it already, but I don't understand half of what's going on.

[odessasteps]

Even Gillen couldn’t get me to care about that crossover.

[JLSigman]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

Even Gillen couldn’t get me to care about that crossover.

Basically I just want to see Magneto's Last Stand and why the fuck they need the person Kurt went to rescue/kidnap at the end of his part. Yes, I could probably read a Wikipedia recap somewhere.

[odessasteps]

I read Paul’s review at House to Astonish so I don’t actuall6 have to read the books themselves.

[odessasteps]

I guess this is the best place for this 

 

[JLSigman]

Got my new glasses, so I need to take myself to the library to get All The Books. Mostly looking for The World We Became by NK Jemisin and to re-borrow the Stephen King one I was reading last year.

Used my last Hoopla borrow to get the collected A.X.E. Judgement (all 6 issues and the 3 one shots). The art is gorgeous. As someone who has never read an Eternals and only has a passing knowledge of the Avengers, they've done a good job of introducing what's going on to lead up to this without info dumping in a bad way.

[JLSigman]

On 6/27/2023 at 9:20 AM, JLSigman said:

Used my last Hoopla borrow to get the collected A.X.E. Judgement (all 6 issues and the 3 one shots). The art is gorgeous. As someone who has never read an Eternals and only has a passing knowledge of the Avengers, they've done a good job of introducing what's going on to lead up to this without info dumping in a bad way.

This was actually really good. I never felt out of my depth, and the only thing I ended up looking up was who had the Phoenix mantle (Echo?????). Bit of a cop out at the end, but then again you couldn't leave everyone dead, so.... they've got a reset button tucked away now with the new God that everyone will forget about by the end of the year.

[odessasteps]

Thanks to mark waid, ijust learned there’s a book about Bill Cullen.

edit: author said new edition hopefully by xmas.

Edited July 6, 2023 by odessasteps

[Ingobernable]

On 6/14/2023 at 9:38 AM, Ingobernable said:

From reading this thread I think my tastes may be a little different to most here but, all the same, STUFF I FINISHED IN MAY: 

Tracks by Louise Erdich. I picked this up because I read and enjoyed The Plague of Doves a few years ago. I enjoyed this less, though Erdich is great at writing about the lives of indigenous Americans as complex and evolving rather than fixed and binary. There's lots of the stuff I normally love, like multiple narrators and complicated family narratives, but I have since learned that this is the third book in a sequence of four, which kind of explains why I struggled to keep track of some of the main players. Slight recommendation for the novel, full recommendation for the author. 

Close Range by Annie Proulx. A collection of short stories about cowboys in Wyoming, the most famous of which was adapted into the movie Brokeback Mountain. As with most short story collections, some of these were better than others, but overall I thought this was great. Proulx, like Erdich, is able to write about a group of people who are routinely caricatured with sensitivity and credibility. She's particularly good at capturing how cultural ideas of masculinity are in themselves a trap that contain and limit the men who adhere to them. Strong recommendation. 

Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed. A fairly famous eyewitness account of the second Russian Revolution in 1917 (the Bolshevik one lead by Lenin and Trotsky in October of that year). I struggled a little with Reed's prose style here; he's an American journalist who's deeply embedded in the politics of the time so it's quite breathless and assumes a lot of prior knowledge. That said, he does a good job of reporting the genuine optimism and idealism that fuelled the revolution, regardless of what happened next, and the chaos and factionalism that created countless moving parts throughout. Slight recommendation, for its historical value more than its literary.

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley. A really quick and quite emotional read about the broken relationship between a woman and her mother and their repeated failures to engage meaningfully in anything which might allow them to repair it. I found this novel to be really brutal, if never actively violent. The protagonist's childhood is also spent in my home city, which was pleasingly evocative in its own way. Recommendation.  

I only got through one book in June because when I was done with it I picked up a few big boys and they're still underway. Also Tears of The Kingdom came into my life. All the same STUFF I FINISHED IN JUNE: 

The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye. This was a stark read but Faye's unapologetic style is incredibly engaging and she is able to talk about a whole range of disparate political issues with sensitivity. She's also really skillful in not turning this into a memoir and acknowledging her own privileges (white, middle-class, educated, supportive family) when detailing the structural oppressions faced by trans people in the UK specifically. Not a fun read but really important to recognise how confected moral panics obscure the social and structural barriers faced by trans people of all kinds, and not only trans women, who a lot of the focus is generally placed on. Strong recommendation.  

Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg. I read this in translation because I do not have Italian. I enjoyed this but not as much as I thought I would. It's a memoir/novel about growing up in Italy alongside Ginzburg's father - a noted linguist and histologist. The most interesting thing about it was the way in which the events of the Second World War and the rise of Italian facism are treated as a sort of backdrop to more mundane elements of family life; a helpful reminder that ordinary life continues and that the historical record tends to be able to create defined points at which events start or cultures change whereas in reality that's a much more gradual process that sneaks up on us. A short read, so mild recommendation.  

Edited August 31, 2023 by Ingobernable

[JLSigman]

5/5 stars to "Spider-punk: Battle of the Banned". I love this. I want another 100 issues of this. Absolutely perfect, the kids are all right, etc.

[JLSigman]

The mail person brought me joy today!

Greg Keyes is probably known to most of y'all as a Star Wars and Babylon 5 author, but I have had the first three books in his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone books for nearly 15 years. Well, today I FINALLY got my hands on a hardcover copy of The Born Queen for my very own! I've re-read the first three in the last year or so, and just re-re-read the last 50ish pages of the third book (despite someone messing with my mass market paperback copies and shrinking the font)  (that's my story, I am not getting old) to refresh my memory.

[odessasteps]

Thorn and Bone? Sounds like Jeff Smith. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Just out of curiosity, I read Fantastic Four #102, which was the last issue Kirby handed in before he quit, and Fantastic Four #103-104, which were penciled by John Romita. According to interviews, the Marvel Bullpen went through the entire gamut of emotions when Kirby quit with some Bullpenners convinced that they couldn't continue the Fantastic Four without Jack. Those emotions eventually turned into defiance and a batten down the hatches approach to continuing with the title. Romita has openly said that he tried to draw in the style of Kirby to make the transition appear seamless. That proved impossible, as you can no doubt imagine. It's difficult to compare the issues story-wise as Kirby handed in the first chapter of a three part story, but you can clearly see a difference in the layouts. Kirby uses far less panels and even draws a awesome looking Namor splash page/pin up, whereas Romita uses far more panels and his two issues are tightly plotted and feature far more dialogue than the Kirby issue. The impression I received was that Stan was far more hands on with the Romita issues given the circumstances. I didn't notice a discernable drop off in quality. If I'd been reading the book as a kid in 1970, I would have kept reading the Romita issues. According to the artist, it was an incredibly stressful experience, but I think he did the best he could under the circumstances. The story pales in comparison to the prime Kirby/Lee years, but Jack had been mailing it for a while before he quit. It's not bad, it's just kind of generic. It's always weird for me to see Magneto as a one dimensional villain, and Namor often comes across as pompous in the Silver Age. It's worth noting that the story ends with a classic Stan-ism about how humans have landed on the moon but still can't achieve peace on Earth. Interesting to see Nixon make an appearance as well, and immediately clash with Reed. 

[zendragon]

Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore 1994 - 2007 

really interesting book that follows bands suck as Green Day, Rise Against, Jimmy Eat World as they make the jump from indy label to major label

[JLSigman]

On 7/7/2023 at 4:17 PM, JLSigman said:

Greg Keyes is probably known to most of y'all as a Star Wars and Babylon 5 author, but I have had the first three books in his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone books for nearly 15 years. Well, today I FINALLY got my hands on a hardcover copy of The Born Queen for my very own!

Finished that up. A well written 4-part series, that ends right where it should. George R. R. Martin could never.

Went to my local library and picked up Bloodlines by Claudia Grey and Fairy Tale by Stephen King, and grabbed Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Cultures by Anthony Aveni off of their free table.

[ohtani's jacket]

Fantastic Four #105-106 concludes Romita's caretaker stint on the book. According to Romita, he sweat through the four issues he penciled, desperately trying to emulate Jack's style. He must have been relieved when Buscema took over. Romita gets flak for his pencils not being Kirby-esque, but he's not the type of artist who can draw crazy machinery, and there's no way that anyone could emulate the panel layouts that sprang from Jack's imagination. Romita's pencils are tight and heavily focused on storytelling. The script is detailed, but there aren't a lot of dynamic looking panels. The "villain" in the second story isn't a heavy hitter, and Romita doesn't get a lot to work with in terms of producing a story worthy of the World's Greatest Comic Magazine. The women look good, though. Crystal gets written out of the series quick as a flash. I wonder whose decision that was. Reed is constantly shouting at everyone. I can't understand how such an incredible genius as Reed can have these sudden emotional outbursts. It makes it seem like he's frustrated by how stupid his wife, brother-in-law, and best friend are. He even tears strips off a fellow scientist in issue #106. World's biggest asshole? Stan chucks in an obligatory anti-war message without exploring the theme too much beyond a couple of lines about powerful weapons not being the solution to ending wars. So, where are we at? The book hasn't nose-dived since Jack left, but the artist is under immense pressure and there's no evidence that Stan can come up with new characters going forward. It will be very interesting to see how Lee handles the book the rest of the way. 

[twiztor]

23 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Fantastic Four #105-106 [...] So, where are we at? The book hasn't nose-dived since Jack left, but the artist is under immense pressure and there's no evidence that Stan can come up with new characters going forward. It will be very interesting to see how Lee handles the book the rest of the way. 

how long does Stan stay on the book? possibly relatedly, how long are you looking to follow it for?  i will admit that in my read earlier this year, i stopped at 104. i'll be interested to read your takes on the continued run.

[ohtani's jacket]

My plan for now is to keep reading until Stan leaves the book with issue #125. 

[odessasteps]

Think Stan being regular writer around 120 or 125

[ohtani's jacket]

John Buscema takes over the penciling duties with Fantastic Four #107, and it seems like he's making a concerted effort to draw Kirby faces (or perhaps it's Sinnott trying to keep the look of the book consistent.) Issues #107-109 are built around a Kirby story that Stan had rejected for unknown reasons. Kirby's pencils are reworked into a flashback story in issue #108 with Romita and Buscema working on the framing sequences. It's a bit of a mess, as you can imagine. The original story was later published as Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure in 2008. Naturally, there are folks who are skeptical about Marvel using a Kirby inventory story just as New Gods was about to debut, but personally, I'm more skeptical of whether Stan had any original ideas up his sleeve. I doubt very much that Big John Buscema is going to produce stories on the level that Kirby did. Buscema does a terrific job of penciling the action sequences, and his women look just as attractive as Romita's, but aside from some of the work he did on Conan, I don't think Buscema has a tremendous reputation as a plotter. Stan is well aware that the story's a mess, as he keeps adding captions apologizing to the readers about how confusing the story is. It's interesting that after the short-lived policy of one and done stories that Lee is stretching this out over three issues. That lends weight to my theory that Stan was struggling for ideas. Jack's original story was a one issue deal and pretty forgettable by Kirby standards. In fact, it's fairly typical of late period Kirby Fantastic Four. Jack was clearly saving his best ideas for the Fourth World. Sometimes I imagine how incredible it would have been if those characters had been part of the Marvel Universe, but I digress.

Ben can now change into the Thing at will, which leads to disturbing panels where he's midway through the transition and becomes the Thing with Ben Grimm's hair. It's making him act like a jerk, though. Johnny suddenly remembers that Crystal has left and is tormented. Reed is a complete asshole to Sue and goes on a sexist rant that's pretty common during the Stan Lee years. Sue mentions how strangely everyone is behaving lately, but it's not clear whether it's a plotline. It's kind of weird that Reed and Sue leave their son with creepy Agatha Harkness. Lee is struggling with how to write Sue as a mother. She gets left behind to fret when the boys go off on an adventure in the Negative Zone and loses her shit when Harkness scolds her for skipping her visit with Franklin. I thought this was the reason Crystal replaced Sue in the team in the first place? Sue as damsel in distress is tough reading these days. Annihilus gets shoehorned into the plot, but that's okay as I suspect he scared the crap out of most children.

These issues aren't terrible, they're just messy. This isn't going as well as Spider-Man post Ditko, that's for sure. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by ohtani's jacket

[JLSigman]

On 7/18/2023 at 8:04 AM, JLSigman said:

Went to my local library and picked up Bloodlines by Claudia Grey

For some reason I just don't enjoy her writing. It's not bad, it's just.... there. I had the same reaction with her Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan Master and Apprentice book a few years ago. 2/5 stars, I won't remember 99% of this by next week.

Also read Saladin Ahmed's Quicksilver: No Surrender, which was short and sweet and very much written like his Black Bolt comics. Too bad the art was mostly blehg.

[odessasteps]

Funny, I just ordered Rob Walton’s Bloodlines TPB, which he remastered from his 80s comic.