july 2022 reading wrap-up
BOOKS READ IN JULY 2022
Novels
- Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff
- Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardner (Re-Read)
- The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (Re-Read)
- A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
Comics
- Static: Season One by Vita Ayala, et al.
- What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 7 by Yoshinaga Fumi (Re-Read)
- Devil's Reign by Chip Zdarsky, et al.
- Dark Ages by Tom Taylor, et al.
- Maybe An Artist: A Graphic Memoir by Elizabeth Montague
- Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey & Pius Bak
- Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond Vol. 3 by Zeb Wells, et al.
- Black Widow Vol. 3 b Kelly Thompson, et al.
Picture Books
- Nana, Nenek, & Nina by Liza Ferneyhough
- I Can Explain by Yoshitake Shinsuke
- Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem by Melissa Stewart
- My Parents Won't Stop Talking! by Emma Hunsinger & Tillie Walden
So... I had a full on reading slump in July. Of the four novels I did read, one was just one I happened to finish at the beginning of the month (right before I started my reading slump), and one I started at the end of the month (A Marvellous Light basically helped me get out of the slump), and two re-reads, because re-reads are easy, and don't "count" (to my brain, when in a slump).
Everything else I read were comics and picture books.
I already wrote about Different Kinds of Fruit in a previous newsletter, and have sent at least one screenshot from A Marvellous Light to most of my friends while reading, because it's just a good book. I think I wrote to Kevin that I saw it as something like Deathly Hallows if Deathly Hallows was written by a more competent writer - or, I guess, The Dark Is Rising which is already by a competent writer, in that there's a quest for magical objects that the protagonists need to find before those that would misuse them do, mixed with some very Diana Wynne Jonesian character development and story tropes, except that this is an adult fantasy so there is quite a bit of romance and steamy bits thrown in too. Also, I want to be besties with Edwin - he is bookish/scholarly and obsessed with book cataloging and hyperfocuses on stuff and he has to learn social stuff that come naturally to "normal" people, and grew up being constantly belittled and beaten up for it so he had to learn to make himself smaller and invisible and stop talking about the things that interest him just to survive the world... yeah, he's coded autistic af as far as I'm concerned and I love him. And! For a book with two male protagonists and a male antagonist this book is also pretty feminist, so I can't wait to read the sapphic sequel that is coming out this November.
[Note: a day after I logged my review for this book in Edelweiss, Tordotcom approved me to read an arc of A Reckless Truth!]
For the comics, most of my reads are just continuations of series I'm already following, or rereads, except for three titles - Static, Dark Ages, and Devil's Reign. I hadn't planned on reading any of these three when they were first solicited, but I ended up reading Static because the manga-influenced art is SO GORGEOUS and Vita Ayala's writing is so good. I just checked out Dark Ages because it was by Tom Taylor (whose Nightwing and Superman: Son of Kal-El I've been enjoying) and it ended up being pretty addictive, and yeah, despite the darkness, Chip Zdarsky's Devil's Reign was similarly compelling. Both of these Marvel titles are pretty dystopian (one is basically post-apocalyptic), which is something I've mostly gotten very tired of over the years, but both Tom Taylor and Chip Zdarsky do such great character work which gives their stories the heart and lightness that the dark themes they were working with needed. Plus, I wouldn't even mind going back to the Dark Ages universe every now and then because Dani Cage and May Parker get to be TEENAGERS and Gabby Kinney is an ADULT. Seriously, Marvel needs to let these kids grow up (and let their older characters get old and retire) already.
(It's weird that Jon Kent is now college-aged, but May Parker keeps blinking in and out of existence in the Marvel Universe, and Shogo - Jubilee's son - has been a toddler for a decade.)
On the fandom front, The Sandman will be out on August 8th, I Am Groot on August 10th, and She-Hulk on August 17th. Oh, and Paper Girls was out on July 29th, but since it's not on Netflix or Disney+ (it's on Prime Video) and therefore I have to pirate it, it can wait, because there is so much to watch already. (And so far Brian K. Vaughn's awesome comics haven't received great adaptations crying emoji - see Y: The Last Man and Runaways.)
I hope all these stuff will tide me over through September, a month with no new thing to watch as far as I can remember!