Books

Firethorn by Sarah Micklem- (amazon) Well written first novel of a trilogy, but I wish the heroine hadn’t spent such a large portion of the book as a camp follower.

Playing With Boys by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez - (amazon) If you liked the Dirty Girls Social Club and want to read the same book again with a slight change of characters and setting, this is the book for you.

Lisa Maria’s Guide to the Perplexed by Susan Hubbard- (amazon) Better written than you might expect from a Red Dress Inc book, partly because the characters are quirky but not as generically quirky as is typical of a book of this type. I was really wondering how things would turn out, even though the ending was predictable.

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt - (amazon) A very well written book about friends, family, art, and scholarship. But there is a dark subplot that unfolds towards the end that is a bit jarring at times with the more reflective tone that is established earlier in the book. I’m going to try to avoid books that feature vivesection for a few weeks. This and Out were a bit too much for me.

The Girlfriend Curse by Valerie Frankel - (amazon) I’ve been reading way too much chick lit recently, mostly to destress because I have been crazy-busy at work. But sometimes I tend to read particular genres for a period of time and then I get sick of it and can’t read it anymore. This book put me over the edge, I’m declaring a chicklit moratorium for the next few weeks.

First Have Something to Say - I was happy to win the “name Walt’s blog” contest, even though he didn’t end up using my name
This book was my prize and it is full of sensible advice about writing for the library profession. I’m not sure if I’m going to put any of the advice into practice and do any more library writing than what I manage to do with my blog, but I’m glad I have the book for future reference.

Foul Play: The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics by Grant Geissman - Good stuff!, I’m going to post a longer review of this soon.

Manga & Graphic Novels

Vagabond #1 Very beautifully drawn samurai manga

Sin City vol 3: The Big Fat Kill

Imadoki #5 Ah young love!!! I’m glad Genbu Kaiden comes out in June so I don’t have to suffer Watase withdrawl.

Prince of Tennis #6 - Those Tennis guys keep playing tennis. And a pivotal character faces the dreaded tennis elbow. Oh the horror! Will the boys be able to win their tournament?

Tsubasa #4 - It is formulaic and fluffy, but sometimes that’s what I look forward to reading!

Ray #1 - Didn’t like this so much, but the premise (underground surgeon girl) was interesting.

Rg Veda #1 - First series from CLAMP, you see glimmerings of their art style but it is pretty rough. I am reading so much stuff by CLAMP anyway currently (X/1999, Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC) so if I read later volumes of this I will just try to check it out of a library. Or read it in the bookstore

xxxHOLIC #4 - Fab. This is rapidly becoming my favorite CLAMP series.

Trinity by Matt Wagner - I usually like Matt Wagner’s work but I haven’t read much of his DC comics stuff. I enjoyed this story about Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. I don’t pick up any monthly comics that feature these characters, but I’ll read an occasional contained story like this.

Tramps Like Us #1, #2 - Great series! I want to read the rest of it!

Othello #3 - The plot thickens as Moriyama tries to protect Yaya and deal with Nana, knowing they are different aspects of the same girl. Meanwhile Shohei wants to develop Nana’s talents as a singer. But is that the only thing he wants to “develop”?!

Threads of Time #2 - Mongols invade Korea!