What Ya Reading in 2022?

[JLSigman]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:37 AM, JLSigman said:

Finished the first of the 30th anniversary collections, Preludes and Nocturnes. I loved the bits with DC characters, especially the couple pages with the Martian Manhunter. I'm interested enough in the world building to want to read more, although this was very much stand alone and ended on a good note.

Finished "The Doll's House". Didn't like it quite as much but it's still good. The next volume is 4 one shots, of which I've read the first two. First one is meh, the cat story is cute.

[odessasteps]

5 hours ago, JLSigman said:

Finished "The Doll's House". Didn't like it quite as much but it's still good. The next volume is 4 one shots, of which I've read the first two. First one is meh, the cat story is cute.

I think the cat issue is the one I got a letter published about, back in the day. It was either the cat issue or Calliope, iirc. 

[JLSigman]

At this point I've read through the first 5 collected volumes, and I think I'm done with Sandman for now. It's wildly uneven, both in writing and in art, and I'm more annoyed with it than enjoying it.

[odessasteps]

6 hours ago, JLSigman said:

At this point I've read through the first 5 collected volumes, and I think I'm done with Sandman for now. It's wildly uneven, both in writing and in art, and I'm more annoyed with it than enjoying it.

Did you get to The Kindly Ones? I know people were not crazy about Hempel’s art on the book. (Charles Vess can’t draw every issue, people.) 

[username]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:37 AM, JLSigman said:

Finished the first of the 30th anniversary collections, Preludes and Nocturnes. I loved the bits with DC characters, especially the couple pages with the Martian Manhunter.

When I read this I immediately went "oh no you're gonna bounce off this hard" but said nothing as I didn't want to jinx it. For most of the issues in the first collection the comic is still finding itself and it very much does not go in that direction once it does.

[Kang]

I'm gonna read Dragon Ball SD (Super Deformed), in this ongoing remake everything is cuter and less violent. I didn't know a woman makes those books.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

I've only read two books this year, which is sad because, for years, I used to average a book or so a week.

I have been reading a lot of graphic novels this year.  Not much interest in current-ish comics, but I haven't been much into comics since the early 90's, so there's a lot out there I'd like to read.  Been reading an awful lot of good collections this year.  John Ridley's The American Way minis, Alan Moore's WildStorm and ABC work, decent bit of Mark Millar, entire Secret Six run, Morrison's Seven Soldier's, Remender's wacky Franken-Castle run, etc.

Basically, there's a long list of comic writers - mostly guys who have been in the industry since the 80's or 90's and mostly write for Marvel or DC - who wrote an awful lot of good stuff after i drifted out of comics.  Gaiman's Marvel work, Simone, Grant Morrison, James Robinson, Waid, etc.  Just cherry-picking their best work will keep me busy for a long time.

I'd like to think I'm reading "literate" comics, but honestly, I'm mostly reading Marvel/DC and their imprints.  And, my favorite comics writer is Geoff Johns in a walk.  I rarely dislike Johns' writing and he almost always works with a great artist.  I love Morrison's work with Superman, but Johns is the definitive Superman writer for me.  

Just finished Johns' second Justice Society run - the one with Dale Eaglesham and Alex Ross - and it's probably in my personal top 10 "mainstream" superhero runs.  New 52 Justice League is up there too, for that matter.

Reading some indies but not a huge fan and a lot of the indie books are written by someone I wish was still writing a Marvel/DC book instead (Rick Rememder, for example).  

Edited July 2, 2022 by Tarheel Moneghetti

[JLSigman]

18 hours ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

I have been reading a lot of graphic novels this year.  Not much interest in current-ish comics, but I haven't been much into comics since the early 90's, so there's a lot out there I'd like to read. 

 

That's been the majority of what I've been reading with my library's Hoopla service. The only thing I haven't tried to catch up on yet are the X-titles, because good lord they're all over the place and I only get 6 borrows a month.

[odessasteps]

I'd say read the two Hickman Hox Pox books and then just skip to the end of his run.

[JLSigman]

Slowly working my way through the first collection of Umbrella Academy, and I'm beginning to understand the reviews that said the Netflix series is better than the comic. It's not BAD, but so far it's almost boring, and I'm once again complaining about how much I hate most modern comic book art.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

23 hours ago, JLSigman said:

Slowly working my way through the first collection of Umbrella Academy, and I'm beginning to understand the reviews that said the Netflix series is better than the comic. It's not BAD, but so far it's almost boring, and I'm once again complaining about how much I hate most modern comic book art.

Co-signed.  The artists who can sell me a trade collection right now are largely the same artists who could have sold me on a book 20 or 30 years ago.  Alan Davis, Carlos Pacheco, Yanick Paquette, Bagley, Dale Eaglesham, Starlin, etc.  I find myself flipping through a lot of books by writers I like (Remender, Lemire) and just not being interested because of the art.  
 

To be fair, I have much the same reaction to a lot of Marvel/DC books.  Generally feel like artists have become too cartoony/sketchy/stylized.

[JLSigman]

59 minutes ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Co-signed.  The artists who can sell me a trade collection right now are largely the same artists who could have sold me on a book 20 or 30 years ago.  Alan Davis, Carlos Pacheco, Yanick Paquette, Bagley, Dale Eaglesham, Starlin, etc.  I find myself flipping through a lot of books by writers I like (Remender, Lemire) and just not being interested because of the art.  
 

To be fair, I have much the same reaction to a lot of Marvel/DC books.  Generally feel like artists have become too cartoony/sketchy/stylized.

I know I'm spoiled, because my favorite comic artist for decades was Wendy Pini. I know she is a huge outlier in the field, I  know very few people will draw like that (especially these days). But if I'm looking at a comic and thinking, despite 35 years of rheumatoid arthritis eating the soft parts of my wrists and fingers, "I could, with a small amount of effort, draw something that looks the same, or even better!", then there's a problem.

 

Anywhoo, finished up Umbrella Academy, was not impressed, will not read the rest of them.

[J.T.]

My daughter bought me these books this past Father's Day:

  

I am about halfway through Volume One.  I remember OSJ making fun of me for not owning some of the high fantasy novels that I was familiar with through casual reading as a youth. "A man without a well-seasoned library is not a man," he'd say.  I am slowly correcting that injustice.  The memories of our conversations are bittersweet.   I miss my old friend every day.

My copy of BleakWarrior is on the way.   I can now give my brother his copy back.

Edited July 12, 2022 by J.T.

[Kang]

Dragon Ball Super Goku has a giant energy avatar form now.

Gas the villian was destroyed.

[JLSigman]

I'm starting in on the collected Dawn of X, because I made the mistake of reading X-Men: Phoenix Endsong and remembering how much I loved those characters. Endsong was gorgeous and cheesy as hell. Dawn is a touch confusing, but I can look up what I don't get.

[odessasteps]

29 minutes ago, JLSigman said:

I'm starting in on the collected Dawn of X, because I made the mistake of reading X-Men: Phoenix Endsong and remembering how much I loved those characters. Endsong was gorgeous and cheesy as hell. Dawn is a touch confusing, but I can look up what I don't get.

Did you end up reading HOX/POX ? 

[SirSmUgly]

Some stuff I audiobooked:

• Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring. I love the '90s NBA, so I liked it. I can't see how you wouldn't enjoy this if you were a fan of that era of pro basketball. EDIT: Well, the reader was awful, so you might not enjoy the audiobook version, but otherwise...

 

• The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. I've read this before and have just been listening to it in a re-read because Tartt can write the fuck out of a sentence. People are down on this book, and I disagree with them for reasons that I can't talk about without spoiling the book. I'll say it: I prefer this to The Goldfinch, and I do love The Goldfinch. It's because Theo's trauma is dealt with so straightforwardly, and Harriet's trauma isn't. Harriet is complex in a way that Theo isn't. She's definitely the richest main character that Tartt's ever written and, with maybe the exception of someone like Camilla or Charles or Boris, is possibly the richest character that she's written period. I also think that Harriet's inner thoughts match mine to some degree when I hit around her age and began to realize that key rules that I was told society runs on actually don't matter for a lot of people. The rules aren't the same, necessarily, for both of us, but I deeply identify with how she feels about finding out that the stated truths don't match the reality. It's astonishing to learn that the adults whom you trust don't actually know what they're doing a lot of the time, and Tartt definitely captures that astonishment in this story. 

Some stuff I read for the first time:

• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White has been one of my favorite books for YEARS, literal DECADES actually, Jesus, I'm old. I have no idea why I never got around to The Moonstone, but it is likewise fantastic. Collins is the rare author who is funny when he attempts to be, and this book is genuinely funny a lot of the time, especially anytime Drusilla Clack's phony ass starts proselytizing and gets unceremoniously shut down. The mystery itself is wonderful and twisty-turny (and I can go where the book goes without too much incredulity), but there's a lot of excellent class critique weaved into the mystery that elevates this work quite a lot. It's definitely a must-read if you like mysteries (though I'd assume that people who REALLY like mysteries will have already read this). 

 

• Sparring Partners by John Grisham. Grisham actually writes a sequel to a short story that he wrote in Ford County in this new collection of short stories, and it serves as a giant reward for people who have read not only that work, but all of his works set in Ford County. That was neat. There's nothing else to say about this except if you like Grisham, you'll like this, and there many of the common Grisham tropes and themes that you'd expect as a consistent reader(bugged meetings, people traveling to exotic locations, illustrations of how inhumane the death penalty is, I'm pretty sure someone says DAMMIT when under stress, etc.). 

Some stuff I re-read:

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I really love Tartt's work, obviously. Every time I re-read this book, I pick up something else. This time, it was the way that she alluded to a certain romantic relationship that was hidden in plain sight for most of the book. She basically litters clues throughout, but they're all like the clues you get in Victorian novels that had to sidestep all that icky immoral sex stuff. Like "The candle went out! Nine months later, we had our firstborn!" type stuff. I love it. This is one of my favorite books ever, an easy desert island pick for me. 

I also re-read three Tintin volumes because I wanted to stare at cool pictures while reading an adventure story. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by SirSmellingtonofCascadia

[Justin877]

On 7/12/2022 at 8:02 AM, J.T. said:

My daughter bought me these books this past Father's Day:

  

I am about halfway through Volume One.  I remember OSJ making fun of me for not owning some of the high fantasy novels that I was familiar with through casual reading as a youth. "A man without a well-seasoned library is not a man," he'd say.  I am slowly correcting that injustice.  The memories of our conversations are bittersweet.   I miss my old friend every day.

My copy of BleakWarrior is on the way.   I can now give my brother his copy back.

I need to add these to my collection as well.  I am glad they are super accessible in this format.

[JLSigman]

12 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Did you end up reading HOX/POX ? 

I didn't, and I'm pausing my Dawn of X read this morning to go see if they're available through Hoopla yet. The Hickman run has been available all out of order through my library (X of Swords was available before Dawn of X), so I'm not sure if it's up there.

[JLSigman]

On 7/25/2022 at 7:45 AM, JLSigman said:

I didn't, and I'm pausing my Dawn of X read this morning to go see if they're available through Hoopla yet. The Hickman run has been available all out of order through my library (X of Swords was available before Dawn of X), so I'm not sure if it's up there.

It was, and I've consumed it in 36 hours.

Well, that was dark as FUCK, my gods.

[JLSigman]

On 7/24/2022 at 6:23 PM, JLSigman said:

I'm starting in on the collected Dawn of X, because I made the mistake of reading X-Men: Phoenix Endsong and remembering how much I loved those characters. Endsong was gorgeous and cheesy as hell. Dawn is a touch confusing, but I can look up what I don't get.

Finished that. So, I'm kinda mixed on it:

Yes: Marauders, The New Mutants
Maybe: X-Force, X-Men
Probably not: Fallen Angels
No: Excalibur (no Kitty, no Kurt, no Rachel, no interest)

I'm out of borrows until Monday, then I can start on vol 2.

[odessasteps]

That pretty much mirrors the conventional wisdom.

[Justin877]

I read The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx for a Bourbon and Book Club that I have with some friends (truthfully not interested in Bourbon one bit but the snacks are good ).  Currently reading  the Bret Hart biography as well as Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs  by Hunter S. Thompson (figured this was a good enough spot to start a dive unto the world of HST and Gonzo journalism).  

 

[JLSigman]

On 7/30/2022 at 4:54 PM, JLSigman said:

Finished that. So, I'm kinda mixed on it:

Yes: Marauders, The New Mutants
Maybe: X-Force, X-Men
Probably not: Fallen Angels
No: Excalibur (no Kitty, no Kurt, no Rachel, no interest)

I'm out of borrows until Monday, then I can start on vol 2.

I've just finished volume 3. Fallen Angels has now fallen into the No category, it's just not grabbing me at all. The rest are still pretty good.

Taking a break from comics and reading Beren and Luthien. Lots of neat stuff from Christopher Tolkien about how the story became so integral to the rest of the Silmarillion, and how much it changed from the first inklings of it in 1917.

[Kuetsar]

On 7/30/2022 at 7:36 PM, Justin877 said:

I read The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx for a Bourbon and Book Club that I have with some friends (truthfully not interested in Bourbon one bit but the snacks are good ).  Currently reading  the Bret Hart biography as well as Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs  by Hunter S. Thompson (figured this was a good enough spot to start a dive unto the world of HST and Gonzo journalism).  

 

Do Fear and Loathing in vegas next.