More Late Reviews
Hurray!
Four Weddings and a Sixpence, Julia Quinn et al
Regency romance short story collection woot woot.
The conceit of the overall anthology is pretty good: four friends find an old sixpence in a mattress, and decide that it will bring them good luck in finding husbands (apparently the rhyme used to run "something old/something new/something borrowed/something blue/and a sixpence in her shoe"). Each story, then, is the story of one of the friends meeting and marrying her husband. So, to the individual stories:
Something New, Stefanie Sloan: This one I loved. Anne has to marry before her twenty-first birthday, and because of some childhood issues, she doesn't want to marry for love. The Duke of Dorset doesn't care much about marriage one way or another but he does want to spend a lot of time around Anne. I enjoyed this (except for the sex scene, which was pretty unnecessary) because it was a lot of pining and denial and then adorableness, all of which is my kryptonite.
Something Borrowed, Elizabeth Boyle: Meh. I was expecting to like this, but it just ended up too silly for me. Cordelia made up a fiance to get her aunts off her back, but now that her friend Anne is getting married, she has to produce him or deal with her aunts again. So she asks her old friend Kipp to help her out. Sounds fun, but, yeah, just ended up kind of silly and strange.
Something Blue, Laura Lee Guhrke: Lady Elinor is trying to marry a gent in order to protect her father from possible prosecution. The prosecutor (and her old flame) Lawrence thinks this is a terrible idea and wants her to marry him instead-- and also wants to maybe get her father hanged-- so he steals her sixpence. Elinor spends most of the story trying to get it back, and trying not to investigate her father. I think there's the seeds of a good story here, but it really needed to be a novel. As is, it's kind of unbelievable, forced, and again, the sex scene was not necessary.
...and a Sixpence in Her Shoe, Julia Quinn: My second favorite. Fourth friend the astronomically-minded Beatrice almost literally runs into Lord Frederick, who is partially blind, hermiting in the country, and somewhat understandably grumpy. Now, feature for me, but possibly a bug for others: there isn't much conflict in here. Bea and Frederick fall in love pretty easily and sweetly, and mostly just by interacting and talking about their lives. I think it's a very sweet little story (and for bonus points, Frederick proposes to Bea after taking her to an observatory) but others may think it lacks interest and/or plot. Still, definitely one of my favorites.
Overall, cute book, worth reading, maybe not worth buying.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. Women have interior lives, and one character is disabled, but everyone's white, upper-class, and well-off.
Good Riddance, Cynthia Copeland
I've been reading a lot of graphic novel memoirs recently, it seems like. Anyway, this is Cynthia Copeland's graphic memoir of her divorce.
Copeland, as far as she knew, had an ideal family life with her husband, "TJ" (all names have been changed), and their three kids. And then, one May afternoon, she found love letters to him. That weren't from her. After questioning, TJ admitted that he loved the other woman, and Copeland asked for a divorce. This is all in the first five or so pages.
The majority of the memoir is the aftermath of this moment: the long process of the divorce, the anguish of parenting three children whose father seems unable to turn up places on time, the heartbreak of learning your husband of twenty-odd years no longer loves you and maybe never did. It's beautifully written, and both heartbreaking and affirming to read. Divorce can be survived, by everyone involved. You can leave the past behind, even if you'll never forget it. You can be okay again.
If it has a flaw, it's the art, which is weird and sometimes cartoony and always rather sketchy. That said, it doesn't detract from the story, it just doesn't support it as well as I'd like. Recommended.
Fuck Fascists Factor: Eh, I don't know. It's about a (white and relatively wealthy) woman's inner life... so I guess 2--fascists have slight problems.
Cold-Hearted Rake, Lisa Kleypas
I read this to check off a line on my reading challenge, namely, read a book where a character has your first name, so, yeah, that was weird for me.
Devon Ravenel has just inherited an earldom. He's not thrilled about that. The earl's widow, Kathleen Lady Trenear, is even less thrilled about that, because Devon intends to just sell off the estate and forget about it, instead of trying to fix it up and take care of the people it supports. The book is mostly a long meditation on the responsibilities of an aristocrat and a sort of coming of age for Devon, which I think is why I don't like it so much? Most romance novels that I enjoy are about the heroine more than the hero, who's there to be hot and supportive.
I also don't particularly like our main characters. They're combative and aggressive, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's not a quality I enjoy reading about. Their romance is also resolved very abruptly, and a large part of the second half is taken up with setting up for the sequel. That said, the book is written with Kleypas's trademark humor, and the plot is concerned to a large extent with horses, which I love. Also, Devon's brother West is SO MUCH FUN, and I did actually enjoy the setup for the sequel.
So, you know. It was fun, but I probably won't reread it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. It's about rich white folks, but a large part of the message is "poor people matter" so yeah.
Poe Dameron Vol 1: Black Squadron, Charles Soule and Phil Noto
Poe Dameron is my cute, sweet, ridiculous space son, so naturally when I saw a graphic novel about him, I picked it up. This volume collects the first six (? maybe four?) issues in the series and two separate story arcs in one long quest to find Lor San Tekka. It's essentially a prequel to The Force Awakens, and explains how Poe got to Jakku in the first place. Sort of. Part of the way there, anyway.
I have to admit, the first arc is ehhh. We see Poe hanging out with a strange sort of egg cult, trying to get Lor San Tekka's location from them, and then the First Order finds him. His squadron tries to protect him while he tries to get out. The action is kind of unconvincing and standard.
The second arc is much better, or at least I enjoyed it a lot more. Lor San Tekka's next stop was a Hutt on a prison planet. Unfortunately for Poe, the First Order arrived there at roughly the same time, and the Hutt proposes a contest: whoever breaks him out of the prison will get the information. Cue prison break movie. It's a great deal of fun.
Finally, they added a short little comic at the end that is essentially "BB-8, MATCHMAKER" and it's perfect. Love it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 4--fascists have major problems. It's Star Wars. Also Poe is a space Latino!
El Deafo, Cece Bell
EL Deafo is Cece Bell's memoir of growing up with hearing impairment after a bout with meningitis as a toddler, and it's really good. Bell's art can be a little cartoony for me-- she portrays herself and her friends as anthropomorphic animals, in her case a rabbit-- but that's a mileage may vary situation, and anyway it's what you do with it. Her memoir focuses mostly on trying to fit in, to find friends who treat her as a person instead of a disability, and along the way we get to watch her grow into a talented and dedicated kid. Well worth the read, for everyone.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 3--fascists have problems. Representative characters, main character is a little girl, and *gasp* disabled people are people.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/424660.html. Please comment over there if possible.
Four Weddings and a Sixpence, Julia Quinn et al
Regency romance short story collection woot woot.
The conceit of the overall anthology is pretty good: four friends find an old sixpence in a mattress, and decide that it will bring them good luck in finding husbands (apparently the rhyme used to run "something old/something new/something borrowed/something blue/and a sixpence in her shoe"). Each story, then, is the story of one of the friends meeting and marrying her husband. So, to the individual stories:
Something New, Stefanie Sloan: This one I loved. Anne has to marry before her twenty-first birthday, and because of some childhood issues, she doesn't want to marry for love. The Duke of Dorset doesn't care much about marriage one way or another but he does want to spend a lot of time around Anne. I enjoyed this (except for the sex scene, which was pretty unnecessary) because it was a lot of pining and denial and then adorableness, all of which is my kryptonite.
Something Borrowed, Elizabeth Boyle: Meh. I was expecting to like this, but it just ended up too silly for me. Cordelia made up a fiance to get her aunts off her back, but now that her friend Anne is getting married, she has to produce him or deal with her aunts again. So she asks her old friend Kipp to help her out. Sounds fun, but, yeah, just ended up kind of silly and strange.
Something Blue, Laura Lee Guhrke: Lady Elinor is trying to marry a gent in order to protect her father from possible prosecution. The prosecutor (and her old flame) Lawrence thinks this is a terrible idea and wants her to marry him instead-- and also wants to maybe get her father hanged-- so he steals her sixpence. Elinor spends most of the story trying to get it back, and trying not to investigate her father. I think there's the seeds of a good story here, but it really needed to be a novel. As is, it's kind of unbelievable, forced, and again, the sex scene was not necessary.
...and a Sixpence in Her Shoe, Julia Quinn: My second favorite. Fourth friend the astronomically-minded Beatrice almost literally runs into Lord Frederick, who is partially blind, hermiting in the country, and somewhat understandably grumpy. Now, feature for me, but possibly a bug for others: there isn't much conflict in here. Bea and Frederick fall in love pretty easily and sweetly, and mostly just by interacting and talking about their lives. I think it's a very sweet little story (and for bonus points, Frederick proposes to Bea after taking her to an observatory) but others may think it lacks interest and/or plot. Still, definitely one of my favorites.
Overall, cute book, worth reading, maybe not worth buying.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. Women have interior lives, and one character is disabled, but everyone's white, upper-class, and well-off.
Good Riddance, Cynthia Copeland
I've been reading a lot of graphic novel memoirs recently, it seems like. Anyway, this is Cynthia Copeland's graphic memoir of her divorce.
Copeland, as far as she knew, had an ideal family life with her husband, "TJ" (all names have been changed), and their three kids. And then, one May afternoon, she found love letters to him. That weren't from her. After questioning, TJ admitted that he loved the other woman, and Copeland asked for a divorce. This is all in the first five or so pages.
The majority of the memoir is the aftermath of this moment: the long process of the divorce, the anguish of parenting three children whose father seems unable to turn up places on time, the heartbreak of learning your husband of twenty-odd years no longer loves you and maybe never did. It's beautifully written, and both heartbreaking and affirming to read. Divorce can be survived, by everyone involved. You can leave the past behind, even if you'll never forget it. You can be okay again.
If it has a flaw, it's the art, which is weird and sometimes cartoony and always rather sketchy. That said, it doesn't detract from the story, it just doesn't support it as well as I'd like. Recommended.
Fuck Fascists Factor: Eh, I don't know. It's about a (white and relatively wealthy) woman's inner life... so I guess 2--fascists have slight problems.
Cold-Hearted Rake, Lisa Kleypas
I read this to check off a line on my reading challenge, namely, read a book where a character has your first name, so, yeah, that was weird for me.
Devon Ravenel has just inherited an earldom. He's not thrilled about that. The earl's widow, Kathleen Lady Trenear, is even less thrilled about that, because Devon intends to just sell off the estate and forget about it, instead of trying to fix it up and take care of the people it supports. The book is mostly a long meditation on the responsibilities of an aristocrat and a sort of coming of age for Devon, which I think is why I don't like it so much? Most romance novels that I enjoy are about the heroine more than the hero, who's there to be hot and supportive.
I also don't particularly like our main characters. They're combative and aggressive, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's not a quality I enjoy reading about. Their romance is also resolved very abruptly, and a large part of the second half is taken up with setting up for the sequel. That said, the book is written with Kleypas's trademark humor, and the plot is concerned to a large extent with horses, which I love. Also, Devon's brother West is SO MUCH FUN, and I did actually enjoy the setup for the sequel.
So, you know. It was fun, but I probably won't reread it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 2--fascists have slight problems. It's about rich white folks, but a large part of the message is "poor people matter" so yeah.
Poe Dameron Vol 1: Black Squadron, Charles Soule and Phil Noto
Poe Dameron is my cute, sweet, ridiculous space son, so naturally when I saw a graphic novel about him, I picked it up. This volume collects the first six (? maybe four?) issues in the series and two separate story arcs in one long quest to find Lor San Tekka. It's essentially a prequel to The Force Awakens, and explains how Poe got to Jakku in the first place. Sort of. Part of the way there, anyway.
I have to admit, the first arc is ehhh. We see Poe hanging out with a strange sort of egg cult, trying to get Lor San Tekka's location from them, and then the First Order finds him. His squadron tries to protect him while he tries to get out. The action is kind of unconvincing and standard.
The second arc is much better, or at least I enjoyed it a lot more. Lor San Tekka's next stop was a Hutt on a prison planet. Unfortunately for Poe, the First Order arrived there at roughly the same time, and the Hutt proposes a contest: whoever breaks him out of the prison will get the information. Cue prison break movie. It's a great deal of fun.
Finally, they added a short little comic at the end that is essentially "BB-8, MATCHMAKER" and it's perfect. Love it.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 4--fascists have major problems. It's Star Wars. Also Poe is a space Latino!
El Deafo, Cece Bell
EL Deafo is Cece Bell's memoir of growing up with hearing impairment after a bout with meningitis as a toddler, and it's really good. Bell's art can be a little cartoony for me-- she portrays herself and her friends as anthropomorphic animals, in her case a rabbit-- but that's a mileage may vary situation, and anyway it's what you do with it. Her memoir focuses mostly on trying to fit in, to find friends who treat her as a person instead of a disability, and along the way we get to watch her grow into a talented and dedicated kid. Well worth the read, for everyone.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 3--fascists have problems. Representative characters, main character is a little girl, and *gasp* disabled people are people.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/424660.html. Please comment over there if possible.