january's books
BOOKS READ IN JANUARY 2022
- Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes
- Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram
- Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 1 by Tom Taylor & John Timms
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 1: Straight Out of Brooklyn by Saladin Ahmed & Javier Garrón
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 2: Bring on the Bad Guys by Saladin Ahmed & Javier Garrón
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 3: Family Business by Saladin Ahmed & Javier Garrón
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 4: Ultimatum by Saladin Ahmed & Carmen Carnero
- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (reread, buddy read)
- Reign of X Vol. 7 by Ben Percy, et al.
- Reign of X Vol. 8 by Gerry Duggan, et al.
- Nightwing Vol. 1 by Tom Taylor & Bruno Redondo
- Duckling by Kamila Shamsie
- NYX: Wannabe by Joe Quesada & Robert Teranishi
- NYX: No Way Home by Marjorie M. Liu & Kalman Andrasofszky
- Robin Vol. 1 by Joshua Williamson & Gleb Melnikov
- Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 5: The Clone Saga by Saladin Ahmed & Carmen Carnero
- Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider Vol. 1 by Seanan McGuire & Rosi Kämpe
- Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider Vol. 2 by Seanan McGuire & Takeshi Miyazawa
- Ghost Spider Vol. 1 by Seanan McGuire & Takeshi Miyazawa
- Ghost Spider Vol. 2 by Seanan McGuire & Ig Guara
- Hansel and Greta by Jeanette Winterson
- Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 1 by Jason Aaron & Esad Ribić
- Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon by Matt Fraction & David Aja
- Hawkeye Vol. 2: Little Hits by Matt Fraction & David Aja
- Hawkeye Vol. 3: LA Woman by Matt Fraction & Annie Wu
- Hawkeye Vol. 4: Rio Bravo by Matt Fraction & David Aja
- Here and Queer: A Queer Girl’s Guide to Life by Rowan Ellis
- Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 2 by Jason Aaron & Esad Ribić
BOOKS BOUGHT IN JANUARY 2022
- Nightwing Vol. 1 by Tom Taylor & Bruno Redondo
- Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon by Matt Fraction & David Aja
- Hawkeye Vol. 2: Little Hits by Matt Fraction & David Aja
- Hawkeye Vol. 3: LA Woman by Matt Fraction & Annie Wu
Aaaand… that’s it. The books I read in January. Usually, the balance between prose novels and comics would be more balanced, but I think after not having Marvel Unlimited for two months, I kind of was craving comics? I somewhat wonder if resubscribing was a good idea now, because I was starting to really work through my digital ARCs (42 more 2022 titles to go through, according to my ARC spreadsheet!) before I started to just read comics everywhere.
Usually, I would only be catching up with current series I’m following - which would be all of the X books, Captain Marvel, Strange Academy, and Black Widow. But this last month I’ve been rereading some issues (and filling the gap in my reading while I’m at it) of Ghost Spider and Miles Morales. And, having done that, I even started to read Jason Aaron’s Thor: The God of Thunder run because I read the Goddess of Thunder run as it came out, but not the series that led to it. It is so fucking good, btw! I am saying this as someone who normally doesn’t enjoy Thor comics and even gave the first two Thor movies a miss when they were first released. Of course, I’ve seen them a few times now, but yeah, I really wasn’t that interested way back when.
I reread the Fraction/Aja Hawkeye run, just because. This reread made me realise that I love this series so much, I ended up buying the volumes I was missing, because I wanted to have physical copies to turn to, in case I unsub from MU again in the future. It must have been so exciting for the people who were following it as it was being published. The only time I experienced that with a comic I knew deep down was going to be very important, was House of X/Powers of X - that wait every week, knowing that I had the privilege of reading something that is as much of a game changer as God Loves, Man Kills or Days of Future Past. Reading Hawkeye and Thor: The God of Thunder after one another also made me marvel at the fact that two such important books were being released around the same time.
Ghost Spider and Saladin Ahmed’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man were entertaining, but it would be unfair to compare them to the other two.
The NYX books, I read because Patricia mentioned finding her copies of the single issues, and it reminded me that I never finished reading them the first time around. I’m a little torn on these titles because reading them with my 2022 lenses, there’s a lot that’s kind of icky about these two books. But I was a teen in the 90s and a lot of it feels true, so there’s that. It’s like all the weirdness and cultural appropriation in Francesca Lia Block’s Dangerous Angels books, I guess. And Kiden is such an interesting character, I wish she would be included in a future book. I really would love to see her meet Laura again, too.
Anyway! I’m sure this comics stuff is boring to most of you, so - The Goblin Emperor.
This is only my second read of this book, and I remember relating to Maia a lot in the first book, although we technically have nothing in common (other than a childhood in the care of a great aunt who treated me exactly the same way Setheris treated him). This reread, I thought more about why I related to him (outside of the Setheris thing), and I guess it’s the fact that he was so very out of place and uncomfortable in the palace, and nothing truly made sense to him, and there were so many people not speaking plainly and saying things they didn’t mean, and there were so many things that he had to memorise that everyone else seemed to just know - it was a normal thing for him to experience since he was kept away from the court all his life, and he would learn eventually, but for me, this is how I’ve gone through my entire life, so I relate to how anxious and confused he was all the time. So, yeah. This is a very personal book for me, which is why it gets a 5-star rating from me on GR.
Another book that hits on a personal level is Isaac Fellman’s Dead Collections, which makes me wonder how does one get into archiving as a job, because I get the feeling that it’s something I might love doing. These days I think I am pretty terrible at reviews so if you want to know more, check out Charlie Jane Anders’ review of this book on GoodReads - it’s what made me request for the digital ARC I ended up reading. All I can say is that this is a very weird book - weird in a good way for me, but it definitely isn’t for everyone.
It’s a queer book that might offend some queer people, with things that I’ve read being discussed online as “problematic” - like including TERF-y ideology, deadnaming, and so on. I think - like with NYX - it’s my 90s upbringing again that felt at home with this level of discomfort. A lot of the queer fiction I’ve read these days are either not enough - just enjoyable but doesn’t dig deep enough into the issues they brought up - or too perfect in their handling of everything. They do things right, for the most part, and when they don’t, they get called out for it, and the authors do better in the future. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing - I loved many of these books I’ve read, and they do fill many of my specific reading needs. But THIS book, this book is MESSY, and it doesn’t try to be anything else. It’s so heartfelt and earnest in its exploration of gender and the acknowledgement that queer people - and trans people - are not a monolith and these other stories and experiences need to be heard, too. Also, this is a vampire story. Have I mentioned that? The way vampirism works is so different from many vampire stories I’ve read, too, and it’s so interesting, I love this book for it.
And then, there’s Rowan Ellis (+ many contributors!)’s Here and Queer: A Queer Girl’s Guide to Life, which I read as a digital ARC and definitely have to get a physical copy of. If nothing else, because it’s cute af. I’m a lot older than the target audience of this book, and while this book doesn’t erase the existence of those on the aro/ace spectrum, it doesn’t include essays about being aspec or life as an aspec teen (a difficult time, when everyone else are so focused on hooking up with one another). Nor does it include essays on being queer and neurodivergent, although it does include a couple on being queer/disfigured, and queer/Muslim, which are also intersections that are rarely discussed elsewhere. So while it doesn’t speak to me personally as much as I hoped it would, it’s still a really good book full of interesting essays, and one that I am glad my niece will have access to.
I’ve talked about most of the other books in my 2-week wrap-up last month, so I guess I’ll end this here. I really ought to get back to reading my ARCs, though!
Stay safe!