Month: January 2021

Thankful Thursday | Battling the Blahs

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I’ve learned a few things in my time of writing these ‘Thankful Thursday’ posts. First off, they do great things for my mental health. Secondly, they can be difficult as all heck sometimes, especially during the blahs. If there’s any time of the year that I feel the blahs the strongest, it’s January and February. The lack of sun gets to me during this time of year and zaps my energy like nothing else. I guess that just makes this whole exercise all the more necessary.

Vitamin D
It was several years of exhaustion malaise before I finally figured out that, especially in winter, my Vitamin D levels dip pretty low. Last year, was especially bad. Something I’m fighting pretty strongly this year. Supplements help, at least, in these times where the sun dips below the hills almost as soon as I get home in the evenings.

Lazy Couch Evenings
Still, as I’ve said, my energy levels during this time of the year suck. Pulling up something to watch with hubby and just vegging on the couch is a highlight of my evenings at this point.

New Old Cookbooks
I don’t run across the Time Life Foods of the World series all that often. Not as often, at least, as some of the other cooking series I’ve seen out there. Still, it’s one of my favorites. What can I say, food documentaries have instilled a love for the crossroads of food and travel. I lucked out the other day at Goodwill and picked up four of the hardcovers and one of the spiral bound recipe books.

Paper Snowflakes
I pull out the same old ones every winter to stick on my window, and try to cut out a few new ones. I’ve always loved how you never really know how one’s going to look until you unfold it.

Nice Pens
As much as I love the scritchy-scratchy sound of pencil on paper, I love a good pen- the sort that just flow without effort, like their floating across the page. There’s something calming in watching the ink form lines on the page.


Book Review | Crank by Ellen Hopkins

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To be upfront, gritty YA fiction like Ellen Hopkins writes is not really my thing. When I was in high school it was practically the only YA available to me, and I swiftly turned to sci-fi and fanfic during those years. Teaching that age group, however, and finding myself writing YA, I’ve tried dipping back in over the past bit. I won’t say that Crank is a favorite of mine, but I’m definitely glad that I read it. 

Crank is the story of Kristina, a straight-A all american girl who, on a trip to visit her estranged father, falls into the world of addiction- specifically meth, otherwise known as crank. Her world swiftly starts to unravel with each new set of choices she (as Kristina and as her alter-ego, Bree) makes. 

And boy is this one a downer. It’s like standing and looking at the train tracks and knowing the train is going to go off the rails, and then watching it unfold bit by horrible bit. Because the thing is that the events are not surprising in the least. You can see them coming from a mile away because of all the poor choices the protagonist (and everyone else around her really) is making, as well as the foreshadowing set up by the author. The cause and effect is realistic, each decision having an affect on the course of Kristina/Bree’s life. You can very much see why this book has been so successful as an anti-drug tool. 

Now, as previously stated, gritty isn’t really my thing. If this was a standard novel I probably would never have picked it up, however, there’s something else that Ellen Hopkins is known for, and that’s the style of her writing. Namely the fact that most, if not all, of her novels are in verse form. If there’s anything that could off-set the grittiness for me it would be poetry. And she mostly succeeded here. The poetry definitely leans free-verse, and some are definitely more effective than others, but it definitely lends something to the narrative. After all, what better way to depict a disjointed experience than with a genre that allows one to simultaneously throw away and embrace form- allows the words to be thrown across the page, the reader forced to follow the line as best as they can.

Unfortunately, this same form takes away a bit from the stories surrounding world. The poems are largely small things, snippet-short moments that, while allowing for vibrant glimpses of Kristina/Bree’s experience, fall short when showing anything else. Dialogue is scant in this book, the exception being a couple of choice characters. In a book that has a sizable cast, that creates a situation where quite a few simply feel like placeholders. Jake, the brother. Sarah, the best friend who just doesn’t fit anymore. While the story is, of course, focused on Kristina and her mental state I feel that the narrative loses a bit in these voices being mostly absent from the story. 

All in all, not one of my favorite books, but it’s definitely a solid piece of writing. I don’t think I’ll be rereading it any time soon, but I can definitely appreciate the story and the artistry of it.

Thankful Thursday | Late again…

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Snow
So it only amounted to a coating, essentially, because it was just above freezing all day, but it snowed for hours the other day. I vaguely wondered if I should have written this as being thankful for the giant window in my living room instead, since it let me stare at it all morning, but really it was the snow I was focused on rather than the window that let me look out…. eh, I’ll call this one a toss-up or a two-for deal.

Surprise four day weekend
so I try not to add in ‘I got off of work’ to these lists, because it feels simultaniously like complaining about work, but an unexpected additional two days off I think is worth noting.

Sara Bareilles
Sara Bareilles isn’t typically an artist I can binge on. Her music is gorgeous, but very often I just can’t quite get hooked in enough to listen to her albums all the way through. Sometimes, however, I find a particular song and it’s all I can listen to for hours, it seems.

Fanfiction
Familiar characters and storylines, lovely (and sometimes horrifying) fandom tropes… Sometimes you just have to let yourself binge fic.

Leftovers
One of the best part about eating out is having enough to eat on the next day. Especially when its several hours ’til dinner but you feel half-starved.

Book Review | The Adventure Zone- Petals to the Metal by Pietsch & McElroy

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Ah, another Adventure Zone graphic novel. These hadn’t let me down in previous installments so I had my hopes set pretty high for this one, and I’m happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

There’s a lot that happens here, but a quick sum-up would be that Merle, Taako, and Magnus (have they gotten the moniker tres horny boys yet?) are sent to retrieve The Gaia Sash, an artifact that has the power to control nature. In attempting to do so, however, they run into The Raven, a thief who now controls the Gaia Sash. In order to take the sash back they team up with Hurley, a member of the Goldcliff militia and The Raven’s former battlewagon racing partner, racing (literally) to take back the Gaia Sash and rescue Hurley’s partner, and lost love, from its power.

Okay, so there’s a lot to like about this story, but first and foremost I’ll say that it’s well-paced. There’s a lot that happens in this book, from a foreboding and mysterious presence looming large over the moon base, to a bank-heist, to an undercover mission, to the race itself, and none of it feels as if it takes up too much space in the narrative. If anything, there’s a small portion that I would have liked to see more of (the undercover section was much-shrunk in this version compared to the podcast), as the brevity created one of those short little ‘did-I-miss-something’ moments that I found in the first volume. However, given the space allowed in which to tell the story I understand the decision. What’s important is that the story never drags, with the normal amount of humor throughout, and the important parts of the narrative are given the emphasis they deserve.

Notably this is the case with Sloane (The Raven) and Hurley. One of the things The Adventure Zone does well is its secondary characters and that’s no exception here. It’s not always easy, inserting a new character in and balancing them with the established cast, but Hurley’s interactions with the normal group are fun. She’s got just enough chaos to fit in with the crew while still maintaining herself as the sane one. We see less of Sloane, but the comic does a pretty good job of showing some pre-gaia-sash moments and I found myself genuinely really loving those two characters and rooting, throughout the story, for them to find their way back to each other.

Okay, so spoilers here for those familiar with the podcast but not the comic, but I fail to see how I can accurately review this book without mentioning this. If you want to avoid that, skip this paragraph. There was a problem that the McElroy’s ran into, when originally creating the podcast. A problematic (I hate the word but it is what it is) decision in the way the story was resolved, that was not done to be hurtful but ultimately still was. It was a relief to find that they, in adapting the story to graphic novel, managed to simultaneously stay true to the original story that they created while fixing the problem. My favorite part about this comic, actually. Yay for opposing toxic tropes!

Ultimately, I think this is my favorite Adventure Zone Graphic Novel so far. The story and humor are there, with a splash of drama and mystery to go along. Plus, WLW romance!

Thankful Thursday | Help, I want to get off this ride

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Well, this has been a week, hasn’t it everyone? I don’t know about you, but I feel like the world’s been spinning topsy-turvy and just won’t stop. It’s important, however, I think, to not dwell beyond what’s helpful.

Self-Awareness
I’ve learned, through the years, that my brain will soak in all the negativity its offered if I’m not careful. Doomscrolling is so hard to turn away from sometimes, but I know it’s not good for me. So I’ve made sure to try to step away when I notice myself lingering a little too long. Not easy, but definitely healthier.

Lord of the Rings
So, I haven’t hit the slower parts of the book yet- Hubby’s warned me about a few spots ahead of time- but so far I’m enjoying reading a bit at a time in the evening. It’s been my ‘I need to step away from the computer now’ tool.

New music
Well, this has become a nearly weekly thing at this point… but I’ve been listening to these on repeat for the past few days.

Honestly not sure if I just hadn’t run across “Patricia” before, or if it just didn’t resonate as much for some reason…

A Clear Living Room
I’m awful at cleaning up after Christmas. I hold off on putting up the tree as long as I can, largely because its such a headache. It is nice, however, having a larger amount of sunlight coming in the window after I finally stuff the thing back in its box. Plus, the living room is small enough that the absence of the tree really makes a difference.

Softness
Just… the existence of softness. Soft pajamas, soft blankets, soft songs, soft words. Pillows and couches and fluffy stories that wrap you up as surely as a hug.

What I’m reading in January 2021

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So, it’s probably a little late for a TBR post. Honestly, I thought it was late when I’d initially decided to post it, back on the 6th. It was just sitting there in my drafts, ready to publish and… well, you may be able to guess why the post slipped my mind. Be that as it may, here’s the books I picked out as maybes for this month.

Lord of the Rings Part one – The Fellowship of the Ring – J. R. R. Tolkien
So, I’ve read the Hobbit. I’ve watched the Peter Jackson films and the Rankin/Bass films. I’ve never, however, actually read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and it’s about time I fix that. 

Crank- Ellen Hopkins
I have a small collection of this author’s work, thanks to a local thrift store, but this will be the first I’ll get to if it gets pulled out of the pile this month. It deals with some pretty heavy subject matter, but I love stories told through poetry, which is this author’s thing. 

The Fool’s Girl by Celia Rees
So I had intended on picking this one up last month, but it got pushed off a bit. So far I’m really liking the writing style. It veers between first and third person narration, which I don’t see very often.

Looks Who’s Back-  Timur Vermes
A few years ago I saw the film adaption of this book and found it… well, a story about Hitler, without explanation, winding up in present-day Germany? I like weird stuff like that sometimes, especially when it’s trying to make a point rather than being absurd simply to be absurd.

Honestly starting to rethink this one at this point…

The Case for God – Karen Armstrong
Afraid I didn’t make it very far in the book in December. Got a bit bogged down by the early Christian theologians and the creation of the trinity. Hitting slow spots is pretty normal for me in regards to nonfiction works though. I’ve found I just have to read a bit of them at a time. We’ll see how it goes in January.

Critical Role Vox Machina origins Vol 1
So I’ve already read this one once, but I received Vol 2 for Christmas which means it’s time for a reread!

Critical Role Vox Machina origins Vol 2
I love Critical Role. Seriously, it was my main obsession for over half a year at one point- the second campaign at least. If you’re familiar with it you’ll know how much of a time-sink the show is, so campaign one… well, I’m slowly getting there. Very slowly, so I’m looking forward to getting a more manageable chunk of Vox Machina this month.

Book Review | The Fool’s Girl by Celia Rees

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There are times in which I feel, for a person with an English Lit degree, terribly under-read. Reading a YA Shakespearean retelling and realizing I have only cursory knowledge of the source material is one of those times. 

The Fool’s Girl essentially continues the story of Twelfth Night through the eyes of Violetta, the daughter of the play’s protagonist, after their country has fallen apart. She, along with Feste, the fool, search for an ancient relic, stolen by Malvolio- in a scheme entangling a London playwright by name of William Shakespeare.

Well, there certainly is enough drama to keep the story going. Politics, familial betrayal, ghosts… all of this and more come about in the story Violetta tells Will, taking the reader along for the ride. Rees flips between 3red and 1st person to do so, which I find interesting.

I find myself much preferring the 1st person however- the voice is much more compelling, the language richer, the descriptions more vibrant. The writing in the 3rd person sections are still good, but it feels flat somehow in comparison. There’s an awful lot of ‘telling’ going on here, where some description, some sense of internal life, would have done wonders. It’s in these 3rd person sections that the story drags.

Other than the first person sections, I had difficulty connecting to Violetta. She just doesn’t seem to come off the page as much as I would hope. This goes doubly for most of the minor characters, including the love interest. Feste, however, I greatly enjoyed. He’s tricky and biting. Despite caring for people (well, his specific people), he’s not nice, which in my opinion makes him one of the best sort of fools.

Speaking of Feste and other characters taken from Twelfth Night, however I will say that those readers who have a fondness for them won’t find this the most cheerful read. Rees decides in this story to flip genres on this poor cast of characters, shifting the story of Twelfth Night from comedy to tragedy as time goes on and the story continues past the dropping of the metaphorical curtain. Such is the way with retellings, twisting and turning the original story to make something new, still I must admit that the turn was pretty drastic and in several occasions I would argue a poor decision regarding characterization.

Thankful Thursday | I forgot…

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It’s been… well, it’s been a week. I honestly didn’t feel like writing this up after the whole mess, but I figured if there’s a good time to write one of these posts it’s when things aren’t that great. There’s a lot of stress in the world right now, and I’m not going to say too much about it, because this is supposed to be my happy place, but nevertheless I’m thankful for-

Voices of Reason
We need them now, more than ever.

Soft blankets
When the world is out of control, sometimes you just need to curl into a ball and wrap up in a layer of warm and snuggly.

Ballet
On a happier note, I fell down a bit of a fine arts rabbit hole the other day. Having a character whose a dancer, every now and then I wonder into the dancing side of youtube, but somehow I hadn’t landed on the full ballet performances before. Weirdly surprised at how much I remembered from the first part of Swan Lake, which my dad had a video of when I was a kid.

A Clean(er) House
I took the last bit of time from Christmas Break to tackle the mess that is our house. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it feels a little easier to breathe without the clutter.

Frosted Tips
We had more snow. Not like the amount we had around Christmas. Really just a little more than a coating, but for some reason this batch was very persistent in clinging to the tree-tops, so the mountains had this silver-white gleam this morning that’s still clinging to the very highest trees, even as the snow has began to mix with rain.

December Wrap-up 2020

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Well, I had a feeling that my December TBR wouldn’t remain static, and it didn’t. I got through…. I think two of the books I’d originally pulled out for myself and the month kind of collapsed in on itself after that. I blame fanfic. I should say the holidays- that would make more sense, wouldn’t it? But no, it was fanfic.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Having enjoyed the movie, I perhaps had too high of hopes for this one. Unfortunately the humor that worked so well in the film wasn’t that great on paper and the protagonist (and about every other character in this book) soured an interesting concept.
full review

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt
This was an okay read, overall. It was vaguely Christmassy, at least, though you really can’t judge a book by its cover here. Totally different vibe going on in the book. I just don’t really think I’m the biggest fan of legal thrillers, though, despite my childhood love of Matlock.
full review

The Adventure Zone Vol 1- Here There be Gerblins by Pietsch and McElroy
I was pleasantly surprised by how well this first volume is put together. Anyone who’s listened to TAZ Balance (what the comic is based off of) will know that this arc was…. well, it was very McElroy-brand manic at times. The comic smooths that out a bit while leaving in the humor, creating a great start for this comic series. /
full review

The Adventure Zone Vol 2 – Murder on the Rockport Limited! by Pietsch and McElroy
I’d already read and reviewed TAZ vol 2 before, but I was thoroughly ready to pick it back up again after reading Here There be Gerblins. Having read three volumes now of the story, I can still say this is my favorite one yet- high praise considering this wasn’t one of my favorite arcs in the podcast.
full review

The Adventure Zone Vol 3 – Petals to the Metal
And once again, a wonderful adaption of the podcast. It’s a crazy mess of a story featuring crazy plant powers, illegal racing, and romance. The side-characters were great in this one, and I was thrilled to see that a particular issue that the McElroys stumbled into was fixed in this version of the story.

full review

Aggretsuko – Metal to the Max by Barnes, Williams, and Hickey

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Okay, first off, thank you to netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For those of you unfamiliar with Aggretsuko it is an animated series, both online and on netflix, focusing in on Retsuko, the day-to-day aggravations of her job, and her heavy metal habit- the way she deals with said job. On paper that sounds…. well, kind of weird, but the results are a great blend of cute and satire that is really unique. Recently Oni press has created a comic book series based off of the story and this graphic novel collects the first three issues.

What I love about this comic is how well it manages to translate the animated series into graphic novel format. The same brand of humor is there, with inconsiderate coworkers and bosses slowly building Retsuko’s stress levels. The strange mixture of true-to-life and exaggeration is ever-present, with both a head-cold-zombie chase through the office as well as social-media-fame shallowness being the fuel for Retsuko’s ire.

Interestingly, each comic was created by a different author/illustrator. The stories all fit well together, forming a cohesive tone, if not an overarching story. My favorite of the three is probably the first, “Down with the Sickness”. It’s by far the lowest regarding amount of dialogue, but the mad race through the office, mop-wielding and avoiding their fallen co-workers, is a thoroughly pre-covid take on infectious disease- which I really think I needed in all this craziness. Second favorite would probably be “The Visitor”, in which an overly enthusiastic worker from Canada is sent on an exchange in order to grow worker morale. Cultures clash, obviously. The addition of a new character is always fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed this Karen (yes that’s her name).

I do, however, feel they may have almost played it too safe in regards to the art style at times. As previously stated, there’s a cohesion present among the different stories, and while that works, one of the advantages of having multiple creators work on a series is the open-possibilities, seeing the different ways the world can be interpreted artistically. While there was some variation in styles, notably a softer, rounder look in “Down with the Sickness” (the first comic), they mostly remain a match for the netflix series. All of the art is great, but I would have appreciated a wider variety.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Aggretsuko, you wouldn’t be remiss in picking up the graphic novel. The stories, additionally will make sense if you’re not familiar with the Netflix series, and may be a good way to get a taste of the characters and story, if you don’t mind a few minor spoilers.