March 2021 Reads

 

Comics

Swordquest #1 – interesting story start.  Love the fact that the video game expert is a woman of color.

Army of Darkness/Xena Forever and A Day #1 – I like both these shows, but this was underwhelming. 

Justice League Dark Vol 2 – This is the Wonder Woman lead team.  It is a really good use horror and magic as well as the Justice League.  Great fun.

Thelwell Goes West – A Thelwell cartoon book is always great fun for the horse lover. 

Damage Control #1 – The idea is good but the female characters put me off.

Nailbiter #1 – Nice to see a woman sheriff.

Olympian #1 – Despite the title, the god in it doesn’t seem very Zeus or Ares like. 

 

Children’s Books

Aqua Dog Flames – Nice follow up to the first Aqua dog story.

 

Memoir

Autobiography of Malcom X  - while I had read roughly half of this in various forms, this was the first time I read the book cover to cover.  Well worth the read.  And brutally honest.

Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir – Rebecca Solnit’s memoir is more a reason to have hope for humanity.

Lost Property – Ben Sonnerberg’s memoir offers interesting bits but reads like Holden Caulfield’s diary.

I am I am I am  - The line about women and knowing what it is to give birth is one I am not in the mood for.  However, the writing is glorious.

 

Fiction

The Keeper of Lost Things – Ruth Hogan shows some promise in parts of this debut novel.  However, the plot and the characters tumble into cliches, easily to guess outcomes, and disability insulting tropes.

Miss Jane – Beautiful writing, but a very graphic description of a older man’s attraction to a teenager who is tempting him because she isn’t wearing underwear made me put it down.

Tomorrow They Won’t Dare Murder Us – This short novel is about a true story that occurred during the Algerian War for Independence.

Valentino and Sagittarius  - this collection of two novellas by Natalia Ginzburg is well worth a read.

Things Fall Apart – This is one of the best novels in the world.  The Norton Critical edition includes interviews, criticism (including the Achebe’s essay about Conrad), and historical and cultural information.

Tarka the Otter  -The nature writing in this book is wonderful.  But it is far more realistic and brutal than Bambi.

 

Nonfiction

Sculpture Inuit – This companion to a show from the 1970s is wonderfully done and includes good introductory essays.

Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes – this book about the Benin Bronzes, stolen by the British, is engrossing and addresses the question of returning the bronzes to the people of Nigeria.

The Ride of Her Life – Elizbeth Lett’s recent history of horses in history details a cross country trip.

 

Fantasy

Taste of Marrow – the second novella in the River of Teeth series finds our heroes struggling to reunite.  A nice fun read about hippos in the Mississippi.

Unsympathetic Magic -The third volume in the Esther Diamond series is well researched and respectful of the religion it showcases, but falls a bit flat.

Vamparazzi  - the fourth book in the Esther Diamond series is a different take on the urban vampire story.  It is worth reading simply for the take down of the romantic vampire trope.

 

Science Fiction

William Shakespeare’s The Force Doth Awaken – Even Ian Doescher’s excellent combination Shakespeare and Star Wars can’t make me like this film.  (Doescher’s work is highly recommended however).