Books I Read - March 2016

I've had a very busy month this month and I travelled to see my parents for a long weekend, so I haven't read as many novel length books. However I have been continuing catching up reading my graphic novels/trade paper backs and I have tried a new manga series which I've fallen in love with and will definitely be continuing with it at some point in the future. I also had another wonderful author interview and  me and my buddy reader finished our second book and are ready to get started with our third in April.

I have more reviews and possibly some more interviews going forward into April, so definitely keep your eyes open for all of that!

On to the books:

1. Batman And Son by Grant Morrison - 3 Stars
2. The Maze Runner Files by James Dashner - 2 Stars
3. This Book Is Full Of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong - 2 Stars
4. JLA: Year One by Mark Waid - 4 Stars
5. Attack On Titan, Vol. 1 by Hajime Isayama - 4 Stars
6. Attack On Titan, Vol. 2 by Hajime Isayama - 4 Stars
7. Attack On Titan, Vol. 3 by Hajime Isayama - 4 Stars
8. Harley Quinn: Preludes And Knock-Knock Jokes by Karl Kesel - 3 Stars
9. Coffee, Tea, The Caribbean And Me by Caroline James - 5 Stars
10. Superman: The Man Of Steel by John Byrne - 4 Stars
11. Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel by Brian Azarello - 2.5 Stars
12. Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 3 Stars
13. JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison - 5 Stars

What did you read in March? Have you read any of the books I read, what did you think?

August 2015 Book Round Up

After a bit of a reading slump, I am slowly getting back into my reading groove. After reading the Gone series and it being so intense I've been reading a lot of quick easy reads to break myself into things but by the end of the month I was ready for more.

Book 1 - Wolverine MAX, Vol. 1: Permanent Rage by Jason Starr - 4.5 Stars
Book 2 - Batman Incorporated, Vol 1: Demon Star by Grant Morrison - 2.5 Stars
Book 3 - Ms Marvel, Vol.1 No Normal by G. Willow Wilson - 3 Stars
Book 4 - Fear by Michael Grant - 5 Stars
Book 5 - Light by Michael Grant - 5 Stars
Book 6 - Elektra, Vol. 1: Bloodlines by W. Haden Blackman - 5 Stars
Book 7 - A Night In Terror Tower by R.L. Stine - 4 Stars
Book 8 - Fright Camp by R.L. Stine - 4 Stars
Book 9 - The Unexpected Occurrence Of Thaddeus Hobble - 4 Stars
Book 10 - Batman Adventures Vol. 1 by Kelley Puckett - 5 Stars
Book 11 - Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid - 5 Stars
Book 12 - Rogues Revenge by Geoff Johns - 3 Stars
Book 13 - X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit by Jeph Loeb - 4 Stars
Book 14 - Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - 5 Stars

I'm thinking about trying a different format of how I do my round ups at the end of next month to make this a little more interesting. If there's anything specific you'd like to see, like recommendations or synopsis of the books, please let me know.

July 2015 Book Round Up

This month I have continued with my slump! I really need to get back into reading more again so I can power through the rest of my 2015 reading challenge. I am determined to complete it before year end. Anyone who has tips to kick a reading slump, please let me know! Anyway onto the books -

Book 1 - Plague by Michael Grant - 4.5 Stars
Book 2 - The Death Cure by James Dashner - 2 Stars
Book 3 - Grey by E L James - 3 Stars
Book 4 - The Art of War by Sun Tzu - 3 Stars
Book 5 - Ultimate Comics Ultimates: Disassembled by Joshua Hale Fialkov - 3 Stars
Book 6 - Red Robin, Volume 2: Collision by Christopher Yost - 5 Stars
Book 7 - Batman: Gordon of Gotham by Dennis O'Neil - 4 Stars
Book 8 - The Assassin Princess by Blake Rivers - 4.5 Stars
Book 9 - Grimm' Fairy Tales: The Complete Collection by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, interpreted by Margaret Hunt - 5 Stars

And that's it. Fingers crossed for more books and reviews in August.

June 2015 Book Round Up

I started the beginning of June with a serious case of reading slump and I didn't read for days as I just didn't know what I was in the mood for. I then decided that I really wanted to read some manga but it seems I've exhausted my local libraries supply and there was only one that I hadn't read, so I ended up with a few graphic novels/trade paper backs as an alternative.

Book 1 - The Borrowers by Mary Norton - 3 Stars
Book 2 - Batman: A Death In The Family by Jim Starlin - 5 Stars
Book 3 - X-Men and Power Pack: The Power of X by Marc Sumerak - 3 Stars
Book 4 - Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho Volume 1 Moyamu Fujino - 2 Stars
Book 5 - Hunger by Michael Grant - 5 Stars
Book 6 - Lies by Michael Grant - 5 Stars
Book 7 - Captain Atom, Volume 1: Evolution by J.T. Krul - 4 Stars
Book 8 - Justice League Beyond: In Gods we Trust by Derek Fridolfs - 4 Stars
Book 9 - Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood by Matt Fraction - 3.5 Stars
Book 10 - Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn - 5 Stars
Book 11 - Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman - 5 Stars
Book 12 - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - 1 Stars

Not a bad month, though I really need to get back into it as that last book has put me back into a slump! What's everyone else been reading this month?

My Review of Golden Age Sub-Mariner Volume 1

As part of my Panels read harder comic book challenge, the one category I really thought that I'd struggle actually finding anything to read was the Golden Age (30's to early 50's). However, while deciding on my options I went to the library with my husband and he spotted Marvel Masterworks: Sub-Mariner - Volume 1 (Marvel Masterworks #47) by Bill Everett, Ray Gill, Stan Lee and Mickey Spillane. This was originally written and published individually in 1941, so it fell perfectly right in the middle of that time frame.

Much as I wanted to love this, as this time period was when comics really got started, I really struggled with the stories and the way the text was written. I felt that each story with Namor was pretty interchangeable as each issue followed the same arc of finding the Nazis did something bad and then punishing them for it, usually by punching them in the face. (action was certainly very different in the 40's)

The writing itself felt very formal and stilted, however that could be due to how people spoke in the 40's, but its not all that long ago in the whole scheme of things.

I believe the stories were run as part of a propaganda plan to try and get America involved in the war (I seem to think we saw Captain America fighting in the war too before America officially joined). This does give at least the reason why the Nazis are in every story, however how they are shoehorned in or blamed in some of the stories is quite unbelievable.

Overall with the Namor stories, I got bored after the second one, so it was quite a slog to get through the rest of the book.

Saying all that, there were stories at the end of each issue about The Angel. These stories and this character I absolutely loved and looked forward to getting to his pages. I liked his character, I thought the stories were good and slightly cheeky. I also loved the idea that when he left a scene, he left a shadow of an angel on whatever surface there happened to be (wall, gravestone etc)

I gave the book 3 stars, mainly because of The Angel, however had this been a more modern book, I would have given less.

I started this book on the 14th of February 2015 and I finished it on the 20th of February 2015
I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads

The Good, The Green and The Ugly

I picked up a few graphic novels this week and one of them was Avenging Spider-man: The Good, The Green and The Ugly written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and art by Stuart Immonen

I really enjoyed this book! To me it portrayed Spider-man exactly how he should be, sarcastic, funny and annoying (to the other characters at least). The book was split into three stories in which Spidey teamed up with a different character for one reason or another.

The first story Spidey teamed up with She Hulk. I have never read anything with the She Hulk in and know very little about her, so this was a really nice way to be introduced to her. I really liked the character during this and I will probably go off and find more books to read about her, so that is definitely a good sign about how well this book is written.

The second story follows Spidey and Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) and again this is another character that I have never read before and know little about. This story I feel was the weakest out of the three in the book, though I did still enjoy it and it was good to meet another character I haven't met before.

The third and final story involves Deadpool. I am a huge fan of Deadpool and him and Spider-man teaming up is always good for a good laugh! The story itself is really interesting and well written and the villain is hilarious. Overall I think this was my favourite story in the book.

Other good things I can say about this book include the artwork being great and all the little references to real life things (check out the DB Cooper reference) which are a really nice touch and it makes you feel good when you catch them.

I started this book on the 14th of January 2015 and finished it the same day
I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads

Minimum Carnage Maximum Confusion - My review of Minimum Carnage

I have always been intrigued by Venom and the other symbiotes that come after him, so when I saw Minimum Carnage by Christopher Yost at the library I thought I'd give it a shot and see what Carnage was like.

From pretty much page one I was sat scratching my head, Venom is a "police officer" what is that about? I've obviously missed some important plot development before this book as the Venom I am aware of is a villain.

I really was not a fan of this book, I didn't like the way it was written, I didn't like the story and I didn't like Venom being a "good" guy. I feel that the idea of the microverse could have been done in a much better way and in a way that wasn't so rushed.

I actually feel bad as I can't remember anyone else's name from the story and yet it introduces a lot of people. I'm trying to think of anyone other than the main two characters and I know there was a reporter and a scientist (because every good "hero" story needs a reporter or a scientist and this has both), there was a team of some kind made up of tiny people, but I couldn't tell you more that that and I only read this last night.

I will say that the artwork is fantastic and Carnage looked exactly how I'd imagined so that was a definite bonus for me.

Sadly not for me, however I will try again with a different book at some point in the future.

I started reading this on the 15th of January 2015 and completed it the same day
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads