october 2022 reading wrap-up
BOOKS READ IN OCTOBER 2023
Novels
- Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues by H.S. Valley
- The Lost Girl King by Catherine Doyle
- Chester and Gus by Cammie McGovern
- The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Comics
- Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 1 by Jason Latour & Mahmud Asrar
- Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 2 by Jason Latour & Robbi Rodriguez
- Catch These Hands Vol. 1 by Murata
- Lemon Bird Can Help! by Paulina Ganucheau
- X-Factor Vol. 7 by Peter David & Valentine De Landro
- X-Factor Vol. 8 by Peter David & Valentine De Landro
- Harley Quinn: The Animated Series Vol. 1 by Tee Franklin & Max Sarin
- Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit by Samira Ahmed & Andres Genolet
As the year goes on, I seem to be reading less and less. Only four novels last month, three of which are middle grade, and two are very quick reads (Chester and Gus and The Lost Girl King.) I enjoyed everything, though!
I guess it’s obvious that I’ve been in a comic-reading mood, and especially in an older comic reading mood. I started on Wolverine and the X-Men wanting to reread Jason Aaron’s run, but my search landed me on Jason Latour’s first, and I was like, “eh, might as well, I haven’t read these before anyway.” This run seemed to get a lot of hate online, but… I kind of really like it? It’s Quentin-centric and it fills in a lot of gaps in my other 2014-2015 X-Men reading. And I read these particular volumes of Peter David’s X-Factor because… I suddenly remembered that Ruby Summers existed and wanted to read every comic she’s appeared in. Which is sadly not a lot.
Please, X-Men gods (Jean?), give us more Ruby Summers. Although I guess if it was Jean, she might not want Scott and Emma’s daughter running around Krakoa.
Tim Te Maro reads like someone just pulled out my idea of a perfect YA fantasy romance out of my head. It’s contemporary, it’s NOT set in the US, it’s a magic school book where the kids actually learn magic AND normal school curriculum shit, it’s realistic in terms to how teens are really like AND in terms of diversity, it acknowledges classism and racism and lots of other isms in a sensitive manner, without making it an issue book. And it’s so casually queer and the romance is cute and the MC, Tim Te Maro, is just the kind of annoying li’l shit I usually like.
The Lost Girl King is a fun middle grade fantasy with strong mythological elements, which is my thing, so I liked it a lot. And I read The Last Olympian for my buddy read with Patricia, of course. As for Chester and Gus, it’s a book I’ve been kind of interested in when I looked up MG books with ND characters. I was tuning the shelves and looked at the first page when I came to it, and just kept on reading until I was two chapters in, and immediately decided to buy and finish it. I generally don’t read animal stories for obvious reasons, but I knew this one’s safe, and it’s just a sweet read about a dog who just wants to be a service dog, and his nonverbal boy. There is a minor character named Amelia that reminded me so much of myself as a kid and there’s a book focusing on her and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
This last week, I subscribed to Dropout (College Humor’s paid channel thing) and I’ve been watching a few shows on it every chance I get. I got it because of Make Some Noise and Game Changer that I keep watching clips of on YouTube and Instagram, but after starting on Dimension 20, their D&D show, I got hooked. I really miss playing, tbh. Also I’m way more into D20 than Adventure Zone (which I also love but haven’t listened to past their Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign), probably because I’m familiar with the players and I already liked them all of them a lot prior to watching the show.
I’m also even more into the X stuff than usual, if you couldn’t tell with the X-Factor and Wolverine & the X-Men rereads. I’m catching up with X-Men Unlimited on Marvel Unlimited, and it’s now one of my favourite online comics. I love how the digital nature of this series mean that the creators could take more risks with the types of stories they tell, and the characters they use. There’s an arc with Maggot (of all people!) as the MC and it was good. And the long, loooong arc with Nature Girl going all Eco-terrorist is probably one of the best X stories I’ve read and it doesn’t even feature any X-Men for the most part.
Stay safe!