I’m not entirely ignorant of Archie. I have been living in North America for about ten years now, so let’s face it, there is no escaping it. The “what was your first comic” conversation is a recurring one around me. And Archie is always the most popular answer. Now, what I know does fit on a postage stamp! There is a redhead whose name is Archie. There is a blond girl (the nice girl?...
Every time I pick up a book, I feel this. Why should I be reading when there are children and adults in “detention centers” with horrific conditions? Why should I be flipping through pages when people are being murdered for being themselves? How can I justify a few hours of contentment with a book when the so-called leader of my country is, at a minimum, a blatant racist? The thing is, resistance fatigue is a real thing....
So how, my friend wanted to know, had I already read 13 books this year? Of my 20-book challenge goal? How? “Oh,” I said with a laugh. “I cheat.” I explained that I went on a bit of a comics bender, plowing through trades of my favorite comics, devouring both Paper Girls, dipping into Lucy Knisley’s latest graphic memoir. She nodded. “Ah, okay.” That made sense. Image-heavy, less text, fewer pages....
A post shared by drb (@danbakerisokay) on Sep 19, 2018 at 7:44am PDT Out here, I sit and belong among the world in a way that comforts me with its detachment. It is a safe haven for an introvert who regardless craves proof that other humans are around. It is a slice of world in which the greatest anxiety is remembering to close the window screen so the cats can’t get out....
I’m not an easily pleased reader; over the years I have become, unfortunately, too picky in what I read, and easily bored. I’ve read four of the Game Of Thrones series before deciding that they just weren’t for me: everything from the story to the characters was good, but Martin’s long descriptions drove me up the wall. Four whole pages to describe the scene of a banquet? No thank you....
Welcome to Finale, the final book in Stephanie Garber’s #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series! It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist. Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend. After uncovering a secret, Scarlett will need to do the impossible....
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. She is a famous painter and her husband, Gabriel, is an in-demand fashion photographer. One evening, Gabriel returns home late from work, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face and never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, and she is hidden away at the Grove, a secure psychiatric unit. Enter Theo Faber, a psychotherapist obsessed with unravelling Alicia’s mystery....
The series comes with the blessing of Dahl’s family estate and iconic classics such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and George’s Marvelous Medicine are among the titles that will be included in the series and subsequent specials. Interestingly, titles like James and the Giant Peach and Fantastic Mr. Fox are not included. prayer circle for The Witches to be excluded, as well “Our mission…is for as many children as possible around the world to experience the unique magic and positive message of Roald Dahl’s stories....
The tankōban have sold over 16 million copies in Japan, and as of July 2019 there are 17 volumes in the collection. The story has been adapted into an anime series, an animated feature film, and a web series. There are rumors of a live action film in the works. It has won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and was nominated for the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize. The series has been translated into several languages from Japanese, including: Chinese (the article doesn’t specify which dialect), French, Italian, and Spanish....
But sometimes books aren’t so easy to define. A Wrinkle in Time has science fiction and fantasy elements. Bluets is both an essay and poetry at the same time. A space opera may combine science fiction and romance. Historical fiction and thrillers can go hand in hand. These are genre-blending novels — or sometimes hybrid novels or cross-genre novels, depending on who you ask. It just means they take elements from more than one genre to make one awesome book....
For starters, I first want to mention that I can’t believe this month marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. It’s about Jack the Ripper, but in this story, he’s a vampire hunter. I read it in high school (lolsob). It seems impossible that I have been telling people it’s my favorite vampire novel for three decades now, but here we are. But that’s a 30-year-old novel....
If you are unfamiliar with Dinosaur Train, here’s a brief summary. The time is around 70 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous. In a nest overlooking the Western Interior Seaway, a mother Pteranodon waits for her eggs to hatch. Three Pteranodons emerge in quick succession whom she names Tiny, Shiny, and Don. But in a twist of fate, a Tyrannosaurus hatches from the fourth egg. Not missing a beat, the mother Pteranodon names him Buddy and decides to raise the merciless predator as her own....
In her short story collection, bestselling author Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) upends genre cliches and revitalizes classic tropes with heartfelt and often pants-wettingly funny social commentary. The stories in this collection, by their very outrageousness, achieve a heightened realism unlike any other. Anders once again proves she is one of the strongest voices in modern science fiction, the writer called by Andrew Sean Greer “this generation’s Le Guin....
I’ve also started listening to audiobooks while working out, cleaning the house, walking the dog, cooking, and other household tasks and errands. It’s significantly bumped up my annual reading numbers. It gives me joy to know that I’m fitting in reading when otherwise I wouldn’t be able to. Performances by amazingly talented voice actors bring a dimension I would never have experienced. There are just so many great things about audiobooks!...
Even though I’m incredibly grateful that I’m not a frontline employee, that my family is remaining healthy, and I do still have a relatively stable job, I’m also practicing greater grace and balance during this pandemic. That means not pushing myself to do things just because I should or in honor of the “productivity” gods or that I enjoyed them when times were less stressful. And one of those things that fell by the wayside early on was reading....
What does that mean, exactly? Are we talking the Nazi puncher and Klan smasher? The earnest Christopher Reeves incarnation? Does it mean Superman can’t get angry or upset or grieve, that he has to be all sunshine and rainbows? Can the Big Blue Boy Scout really find a place in the modern pantheon of heroes? Of course he can. There’s nothing we need more right now than a fundamental optimist to remind us of our shared humanity....
What About Media Other Than Books? Good question! The New Weird genre is seeing a resurgence in the world of video games, actually. If you’re fine with dying quite a lot, I’d recommend Control, a recent release involving a strange office building where residents come under attack from all matter of weird phenomenon. Enjoy your foray into the splendidly absurd, and good luck coming out the other side the same as you were before....
Organization You are never going to find that book again. Do you organize your leaning book towers alphabetically? Do you recall which identical, tilting monolith in which you stowed your favorite N.K. Jemisin book? You do not! I challenge you to find a single thing quickly in your forest of haunted book skyscrapers. Furthermore, even if you do somehow have an organizational system for your stalagmites of literature, you’re going to have a ridiculous time maintaining it....
Want more ideas for what to read next? Try this quiz for summer reads, this quiz for Pride, this quiz for nonfiction, and this quiz for just whatever sounds good.
In the wake of tragedy, neither Lazlo nor Sarai are who they were before. One a god, the other a ghost, they struggle to grasp the new boundaries of their selves as dark-minded Minya holds them hostage, intent on vengeance against Weep. Lazlo faces an unthinkable choice–save the woman he loves, or everyone else?–while Sarai feels more helpless than ever. But is she? Sometimes, only the direst need can teach us our own depths, and Sarai, the muse of nightmares, has not yet discovered what she’s capable of....
