strange and random happenstance

Louise Brooks: Detective by Rick Geary
Published by: NBM Publishing
Publication Date: June 1st, 2015
Format: Kindle, 80 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Louise Brooks was once an it girl. A talented and renowned dancer from the age of sixteen and when Hollywood came calling she answered. On the brink of stardom she recklessly failed to renew her contract with Paramount Pictures and took herself off to Germany. The film she made there with G.W. Pabst, Pandora's Box, became a classic of Weimar German cinema but was dismissed when it was first released due to it's frank depiction of sexuality. In 1930 she returned to Hollywood but it seemed that Tinseltown was no longer interested in a girl primarily known for the cut of her hair. In 1940, at the age of thirty-three, she made a "strategic retreat" back to Wichita, Kansas and the home of her parents. She didn't just view herself as a failure, her family did as well. She also lacked the skills to help out around the home. She just wished to disappear into the stories she loved to read in her room. The family wasn't about to let this happen. In the evenings they all listened to the radio. The city was transfixed by a sensational locked room murder. A wealthy widow had been stabbed. In her locked bedroom. The mystery had Louise itching to play detective. But real life was intruding. The times were lean. People came to the door begging for a scrap of food or an odd job. And that's what Louise needed. A job. She opened The Brooks-McCoy Dance Studio. Louise's name recognition was at least bringing customers through the door yet how long could that last? Soon the class sizes where dwindling and the writing was on the wall. Louise Brooks was a failure. Yet again. Soon she took a final, desperate step, into retail. It got her out of her parents house at least, which was usually only achieved when she went out to lunch with her friend Helen who would regale Louise with stories of her improbably named sweetheart, Walden Pond. Though Louise had a friend and a job her life was dispiriting. She decided something needed to be done. Why not become a writer? And she actually knew one, right outside Wichita to ask for advice! Thurgood Ellis and her corresponded back in the day when Louise was just starting out in New York City. He lived in Burden, just an hour's drive southeast. Louise decided to just drive there, and it turned out her friend Helen was also heading to Burden. She thought Walden was finally going to propose at Grouse Creek Falls. They set out separately but would soon be reunited by a police pursuit. As Helen and Walden had helped a man who repaid their kindness with cruelty. Walden is dead and Helen's hopes are dashed. But Louise can't help but think nothing adds up. It's all the details that are wrong. Will she be able to solve the crime or will she perish as Walden did, in a pond?

Rick Geary is no stranger to my top ten list. In my mind he is the definitive graphic novelist for true crime and his telling of the Halls-Mills murders in particular is sheer perfection. When I started delving into his back catalog the only one of his titles I couldn't get through my local library was Louise Brooks: Detective. So I bought it cheap for my Kindle. And then it just sat on my Kindle. My to be read pile is now so unmanageable I should just call it my to be read oubliette. Books go in and never see the light of day again. But then something happened. I watched the 2018 adaptation of Laura Moriarty's book The Chaperone. I did not like the 2018 adaptation of Laura Moriarty's book The Chaperone. I mean, logically I should, so many people from Downton Abbey were involved, it seemed perfect for me. The problem was the film isn't about Louise Brooks, the film is about her chaperone Norma Carlisle. Yes, I obviously should have guessed the focus because of the title, I just didn't realize how much Louise Brooks would be sidelined. I felt bad for Haley Lu Richardson. She was giving it her all as Louise and instead we're dealing with Norma's abandonment issues and how she's handling her sexual awakening. At least Haley Lu Richardson got the break she deserved four years later thanks to The White Lotus. What all this is saying is that I wanted something actually about Louise Brooks and thanks to Rick Geary I finally found it. While Louise solving a crime when she moved back to Wichita for a "strategic retreat" after the collapse of her career didn't happen Rick Geary, with his history of retelling true crime, sets this story up in such a way that you believe it could have happened. There's a propulsive force to the narrative. We have this great backstory, not just Louise's career, but her diminishment on returning home, and then added to this is a day unlike any other. Louise just sets out to visit an old acquaintance and because of one weird coincidence after another she is able to see what the police don't. First she gets lost, then she misses her turn, then she gets a flat, if all these little things hadn't added up she couldn't have definitively told the police that there's no way in hell the chase continued further west. And because of that they find the body. But Rick Geary is able to make this feel real because he's studied so many classic crimes and he sees that it's the weird coincidences, the tiny details, the almost unbelievable yet unassailable facts that are what make up true crime. This might not have happened, but it feels like it should.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Downton Abbey, Film Star, Graphic Novel, Haley Lu Richardson, Kansas, Laura Moriarty, Louise Brooks, Louise Brooks: Detective, Lover's Lane, Norma Carlisle, Rick Geary, The Chaperone, The White Lotus, Top Ten, True Crime, Wichita

Lovers' Lane: The Hall-Mills Mystery by Rick Geary
Published by: NBM Publishing
Publication Date: July 17th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 80 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

On September 14th, 1922, shots rang out near an old abandoned farm used by the New Brunswick locals as lovers' lane. No one went to investigate and it wasn't until two days later that the bodies of Edward Hall, an Episcopal priest, and Eleanor Mills, a member of the church choir, were found. They were staged side-by-side with their feet facing a crab apple tree. A hat obscured Edward Hall's face so only his calling card propped against his shoe gave a hint as to who the male victim was at first. While both victims were shot, the female multiple times, besides having her hand placed on Edward Hall's thigh her throat was also slit from ear to ear, it was later discovered that her tongue and surrounding organs had been removed as well. Around them their love letters were scattered, an apparent judgment from the killer on this adulterous couple. Edward Hall was a pillar of the community and a favorite with his lady parishioners, though he ended up marrying spinster Frances Noel Stevens, an older woman who happened to be an heir to the Johnson and Johnson fortune and lived with a mentally handicapped brother. Yet most of the community knew of his affair with the talented chorister, who herself was trapped in a loveless marriage. The case soon became a media circus, yet almost everything was badly handled, like Edward Hall's calling card which was handed through the gathering crowd for scrutiny. The crab apple tree was even denuded of branches by souvenir hunters. But the crime baffled the police, who didn't even know who should investigate, the bodies being found in the next county from where the victims lived. But again and again the investigation lead back to Mrs. Hall. Could she, with the help of her wealthy family, have killed her husband just as he was ready to elope with his mistress? For now, the case remains unsolved.

It's a wonderful thing to discover a new author and realize you have their entire back catalog to work through. I was lucky enough to stumble onto Rick Geary one dreary day at the library. I wasn't feeling the best and I wasn't at my local branch, but they had such a lovely display in their graphic novel section featuring several books I'd been wanting to read, from Alison Bechdel to the history of the Carter Family. And there, in between Fun Home and The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song was Adventures of Blanche by Rick Geary. Needless to say I actually took the whole display home with me. Geary's style seemed vaguely familiar but I was soon lost to the narrative, Geary had taken his grandmother's old letters as a starting off point and then lovingly embellished them to be more dramatic and more of their time, with murderers running rampant and famous painters walking in and out of frame. I quickly finished this slender volume and went to look up Geary online. Having worked for both National Lampoon and MAD during my childhood back when I devoured those tomes it's no wonder his style was familiar to me with his people that all look like they have cat whiskers for jawbone definition. He was a part of my past and very soon he was to become a part of my present when I realized that he had written oodles of true crime graphic novels! Nine of which I devoured last year and I can't wait to finish the remaining few.

Here's the thing about me. I LOVE true crime. I went through a period where all I watched was police procedural shows from Homicide: Life on the Street to all the iterations of Law and Order and I especially worshiped Unsolved Mysteries. Because I realized I don't really like true crime that happens now, I like true crime that happened then. I am not joking when I say that if I had a time machine I'd just go back and see who all the famous killers and kidnappers were. Who was Jack the Ripper? What really happened to James Ellroy's mother that turned him into the writer he is today? I don't just want, I NEED to know! When I was in undergrad I saw a very interesting one man play about the kidnapping of the Lindbergh Baby. With all the new speculation about what really happened and Lindbergh's Nazi leanings I decided that the first book I'd check out in Geary's Treasury of XXth Century Murder would be The Lindbergh Child. I couldn't have been happier. This book, this series, combined two things I love, true crime and art. While many people might take issue with how simple his drawing style is, nothing more than line work, there is a place for ALL kinds of graphic novels in the world and this style suits the pared down, spare, clean way he lays out the crime and methodically analyzes it. Maps and cross sections of buildings make Geary the David Maccaulay of True Crime! In each of Geary's books I've read he has told and shown the crime more succinctly than any other author I've ever read. He has a gift for distillation and visualization that is remarkable.

But all this could apply to any one of his books I picked up from The Borden Tragedy: A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892 to The Murder of Abraham Lincoln. Here I want to talk about his handling of the Hall-Mills double murder that happened in the fall of 1922. This book just struck me so forcibly I can't quite understand why. It's almost as if I have a weird connection to the crime. It felt familiar somehow and yet, I'm sure I'd never heard of this crime before. While it lead to a media circus what I was drawn to was the more personal nature of this story. So many of the great unsolved crimes are serial killers who were never caught, yet here it's just an adulterous couple at the center of the media firestorm. Plus, the way the crime was committed, the removal of the organs that allowed Eleanor Mills to sing, plus having her favorite song removed from every copy of every hymnal in the church, I agree with the victim's daughter, it sounds like a crime committed by a woman. In fact, that's one thing I really like about this series by Geary, he shows that despite public opinion, women are just as capable of committing really heinous crimes. While this case was never solved, and was very much muddied by an attention seeker known as "the pig lady," Edward Hall's wealthy wife and family were tried and found not guilty. And yet the tale does have a sense of closure. Because a woman had to have committed the crime, and whether it was Frances Noel Stevens or another female parishioner whose advances were spurned by the priest, you have a handle on the probability of who the culprit was. Yes, Frances could have used her money to walk away from a crime she committed, she did act very oddly over the days following her husband's disappearance. But unlike Jack the Ripper, you can clearly see the motive if not the culprit.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adultery, Adventures of Blanche, Charles Lindbergh, Comics, Homicide, Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, Lovers' Lane, Murder, Rick Geary, The Hall-Mills Mystery, Treasury of XXth Century Murder, Unsolved Mysteries

I think I jinxed myself when last year I said that 2017 had a lot riding on it... because it decided to turn into the biggest dumpster fire you can imagine. Yes, suck it 2017, may I NEVER have a year like you ever again for as long as I live. I know a lot of you probably feel this way as well, but after multiple family deaths and all the chaos and cleaning that followed, I felt like most of my time wasn't my own, except when I could escape into books. Therefore once again I have to say thank you to literature, without you I wouldn't have kept my sanity, or at least kept a small sliver of sanity. So now let's look back on what I read in 2017 and see if I remember any of it!  

1) No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer: I read this book solely so I could read the sequel which is supposedly a really great Christmas murder mystery. This was NOT a great murder mystery and in fact I was rage reading near the end, which is when the murder finally happened and sadly was only one of the many unlikeable characters. 

2) Creature Comforts by Charles Addams: It's Charles Addams, he's my go-to happy place. Don't judge me that my happy place is dark and macabre, because it also has a wicked sense of humor. 

3) The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: Interesting fact, I still haven't finished this series. Could it be because the first book is the best and it's all downhill from there? Yes. Yes it is. 

4) Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu: I can totally see why everyone is talking about this series. Not only is the art amazing with the anthropomorphized animals, but the mythology is wicked cool. Can't wait to read more because I have a feeling once I'm more in the world I won't be as confused as I was on this first reading. 

5) The Pirates!: In an Adventure with the Romantics by Gideon Defoe: It's the Pirate Captain! It's Mary Shelley and her obsession with monsters! It's just awesome. Read it. READ ALL OF THEM! PS, Gideon Defoe, I need more.

6) The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab by Gideon Defoe: This was a re-read to write a review because this second adventure was all about whales and seafaring jokes and I loved it so much it was one of my top books of 2016!

7) Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie: Don't trust old ladies. Except Miss Marple. But Miss Marple isn't supposed to be in this one, grumble stupid TV adaptation, so read the book don't watch the TV movie, and don't trust old ladies!

8) Lumberjanes, Vol. 5: Band Together by Noelle Stevenson: Who knows what happened in this one, hijinks and bad spelling and grammar errors is my guess. 

9) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: I had MEANT to finish this re-read back in October, but I kept forgetting, so this wonderfully atmospheric re-read didn't get finished until 2017.

10) A Treasury of XXth Century Murder: The Lindbergh Child by Rick Geary: This was the first and SO not the last of the crime graphic novels written by Rick Geary which I just fell in love with this year. While I don't agree with his conclusions, I really liked HOW he told the tale.

11) Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie by Anne Martinetti: All I really remember about this is that a young Agatha was reading The Hound of the Baskervilles at the same time I was, so it was neat synchronicity.

12) Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #4 by Chris Roberson: A whole comic "season" of Firefly that could have easily been one episode.

13) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A House Divided (Season 11, #3) by Christos Gage: Dragons, government, blah blah blah.

14) Squirrel Power (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, #1) by Ryan North: Squirrel Girl is AWESOME! Mainly because she deals with baddies with psychology and only slightly kicking butts, but with eating LOTS of nuts. 

15) Squirrel You Know It's True (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, #2) by Ryan North: But THE BEST thing about Squirrel Girl is how she trolls Tony Stark on Twitter. 

16) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Artur Conan Doyle: Really, if you read one Sherlock Holmes story ever, make it this one. It's a classic for a reason.

17) Angel: Out of the Past, Part 1 (Season 11, #1) by Corinna Bechko: Bugs, Fred, Angel, traveling through the past, whatever. Season 11 has been pretty lame.

18) The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song by Frank M. Young: While a great grounding in the Carter family, I felt that it didn't do a proper job of showcasing their legacy. So in other words, a second volume is needed STAT!

19) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré: I think this is easily the most overrated spy novel of all time. It's dense and oblique and confusing, and seriously, not much happens. Maybe for my next le Carré I'll try The Night Manager. I loved that adaptation, so who knows... but if that book sucks to I don't think I'll ever read le Carré again.  

20) The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 3: Squirrel, You Really Got Me Now by Ryan North: Is anyone else just really annoyed with the fan mail being included? It's just so intrusive to the narrative AND just seems to be too self-congratulatory.

21) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: It's amazing that, given how many times I've read this book that it still hooks me and makes me totally worried that Catherine and Henry won't get their happily ever after.

22) Sunny, Vol. 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto: Bleak graphic novel about kids in foster care. I'm glad the library didn't have any more volumes because I might have felt obliged to read them.

23) Tony and Susan by Austin Wright: Ugh, how did this book get published? Just bleak death and more death. Also, it was weird in how the book wasn't a hit in the US but was in the UK so when it was republished here to coincide with the movie based on it that they kept all the Anglicizations in.

24) Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, #10) by Patricia Briggs: OK, who else was totally psyched that Mercy got out of the US AND got to meet the Golem of Prague!?!

25) The Uninvited by Cat Winters: Weird WWI tale about a small town where basically everyone died but they didn't know they died so they're going about still trying to live their lives. I didn't like it. 

26) Clean Room, Vol. 1: Immaculate Conception by Gail Simone: I literally have no idea what I read here, it was weird and dreamlike and I think I need to read the next volume to even get a grasp on it. 

27) DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 2: Allies by Marguerite Bennett: Yeah, the Bombshells aren't doing much and it's just all jumbled. Shows you can't write a series based on pinups of Superheroes... 

28) Angel: Out of the Past, Part 2 (Season 11, #2) by Corinna Bechko: Angel has sucked (haha) ever sense the writing team that made season 9 so good left to write Buffy. 

29) Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #5 by Chris Roberson: Again, this could have easily been told in a far more concise manner.

30) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Desperate Times (Season 11, #4) by Christos Gage: Interment camps, magic is dangerous, too much politics, it's like The Initiative in season four, just too much real stupid shit, I read comics to escape. 

31) Angel: Out of the Past, Part 3 (Season 11, #3) by Corinna Bechko: More blah Angel. 

32) A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) by V.E. Schwab: Regency England and magic!?! You KNOW I'm down for this!

33) The Saga of the Bloody Benders by Rick Geary: Oddly enough I had heard about these murderous innkeepers before... what I didn't know is how their "inn" was basically a spare bed in their house or that they literally just disappeared.

34) The Mystery of Mary Rogers by Rick Geary: The murder of a young New Yorker and how it grabbed people's attention. This sure grabbed mine.

35) Lovers' Lane: the Hall-Mills Mystery by Rick Geary: There was something about this murder of an adulterous couple in New Jersey that seemed so familiar to me. What really struck me was the destruction of the bibles in the church.

36) The Case of Madeleine Smith by Rick Geary: IF you're going to poison someone, be a little more clever about how you get your poison OK?

37) The Borden Tragedy: A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892 by Rick Geary: What I have found interesting is that in the last year or so there's been a real shift toward Lizzie Borden being innocent. This graphic novel makes a compelling argument for a different killer. 

38) A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) by V.E. Schwab: And this series went downhill fast. I feel like she was told only trilogies sold and just made up this very long and boring magical duel to fulfill her contract.

39) Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4) by Ursula K. Le Guin: Yes, I got sucked into Earthsea this past year... of the back end of the cycle this was easily my favorite focusing on Tenar's new life, but the ending was too rushed and sloppy for me to give it my full seal of approval.

40) Tales from Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #5) by Ursula K. Le Guin: Ah, short stories, what a mixed bag... as in some I liked and some were just WTF did I just read.

41) The Murder of Abraham Lincoln by Rick Geary: I totally didn't know that Lincoln had a dream that he was going to die. In fact this graphic novel would be great for schools, because I learned more about Lincoln's assassination than I knew before.

42) The Other Wind (Earthsea Cycle, #6) by Ursula K. Le Guin: Time for magic to change, women to get power, and people to turn into dragons... OK...

43) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: Again, how can I become so invested in Austen knowing the outcome? What's interesting to me is how each time something else strikes me, this time it was that the "old man" Colonel Brandon was about my age!

44) Giant Days, Vol. 4 by John Allison: College trials, blah blah blah. Giant Days is amusing in the moment but easily forgettable.

45) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: What's interesting about Pride and Prejudice is that I think the book entirely hangs on Mr. Collins. He is the humorous glue that holds the whole book together.

46) Baltimore, Vol. 2: The Curse Bells (Baltimore, #2) by Mike Mignola: I don't remember how many Baltimore comics I read this year... so this might have been the one with vampire nuns, but I can't be sure...

47) A Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium: Including: Jack the Ripper, The Beast of Chicago, Fatal Bullet by Rick Geary: Oh look, proof that H.H. Holmes IS everywhere. Though oddly it was the assassination of Garfield and the creation of air conditioning that I found most fascinating.

48) Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: Seriously, I don't know why this is Austen's most maligned novel. It's seriously one of my favorites and I related to it on a whole new level as I'm suffering from Caregivers Syndrome.

49) The Circle by Dave Eggers: If Google had more nefarious plans... the parody of tech was spot on, and that ending packed a punch, but that doesn't save it from being a very uneven book.

50) Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #6 by Chris Roberson: Again, this story is going on too long. 

51) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Desperate Measures (Season 11, #5) by Christos Gage: I believe this is in the camp for magical people...

52) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Back to the Wall (Season 11, #6) by Christos Gage: And this is Buffy being a cop in that camp...

53) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Disempowered (Season 11, #7) by Christos Gage: And then having her power removed so that she could get out...

54) Angel: Out of the Past, Part 4 (Season 11, #4) by Corinna Bechko: I can only justify buying these comics for their amazing covers, because what's between the covers is barely worth reading. 

55) Angel: Time and Tide, Part 1 (Season 11, #5) by Corinna Bechko: Cover lust, that is all. 

56) Haddon Hall: When David Invented Bowie by Néjib: While I take issue with the title, because David was already calling himself Bowie at this point, there were things I loved, like the house being the narrator and how David took care of his mentally ill brother, the one who eventually killed himself. I'd actually like to read more of this, as in follow the house, not the people. Though I did read a book like that once and the house lacking a voice made it a slog.

57) Lumberjanes, Vol. 6: Sink or Swim by Shannon Watters: I'm assuming this is when they went to sea and it was all selkies and seafaring and rather meh. 

58) Harrow County, Vol. 4: Family Tree by Cullen Bunn: OMG! Emmy's family has totally taken this series to another level. Their "home" is like some Twin Peaks Black Lodge that comes and goes and they are all freakin' insane and evil! I. AM. LOVING. THIS!

59) Emma by Jane Austen: Huh. Last time I read Emma I wanted to beat her to death, this time I enjoyed it... which is why people should always re-read books! They change depending on who we are and our circumstances at the time.

60) Angel: Time and Tide, Part 2 (Season 11, #6) by Corinna Bechko: Angel/Angelus, I bought it for the cover.

61) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ordinary People (Season 11, #8) by Christos Gage: Buffy is powerless and yet I still think she'd have a little more power than this... she's been trained to fight almost all her life and even without the magical strength she still has her training!

62) The Daughter of Odren (Earthsea Cycle, #6.5) by Ursula K. Le Guin: I can literally remember NOTHING of this short story... 

63) Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by H.P. Lovecraft: OK, I get why he's considered a master now. While the more famous stories didn't grip me, At the Mountain of Madness kind of left me cold, some of his shorter stories are so memorable I think I'll never forget them. Especially The Rats in the Walls and The Shunned House. Though they do get a little repetitive. 

64) Black Dahlia by Rick Geary: While I thought I knew about the Black Dahlia from various things I've seen or read over the years, this added a lot of new detail I didn't know, such as her having different military men to lean on...

65) Persuasion by Jane Austen: Seriously, so good. How was Austen able to balance the truth of love and life with such humor. Again it's these humorous characters, AKA ALL Anne's family that make this book so perfect.

66) Angel: Time and Tide, Part 3 (Season 11, #7) by Corinna Bechko: Blurg, more Angel that I basically feel compelled to read at this point.

67) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Great Escape (Season 11, #9) by Christos Gage: I think this was Buffy and Willow going to get their powers back...

68) The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems: Pigeon is kind of a dick who doesn't want to share now does he? The best part of the Pigeon books are the front and end papers are different showing how he has progressed through the story.

69) The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems: The best part here is when Pigeon finally gets in the bath we have a montage of how he never leaves it and all the fun he has. 

70) The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems: Duckling annoys me with the over cute and sweet disposition. Maybe Duckling is secretly a serial killer? One can hope.

71) The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems: This is the one I related to the most. Because my cat LOVED horses, but I think he thought they were like an inch tall. The scene where Pigeon meets a puppy is EXACTLY how I always thought Spot meeting a horse would go.

72) Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems: It all rhymes! Also it's 3-D with the drawings and assemblages, but in the end it felt too try-hard.

73) A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1) by Madeleine L'Engle: God, this book really has no plot. The preview for the movie made me basically go, "I know I've read this book many times and yet I have no idea what happens." So I picked up the book and realized how shit it is. What annoyed me the most you ask? Aside from there being no ending? That Meg's stupid ass little brother would NEVER talk like that. I spent July hanging out with my friends kids who are that age and he's too unrealistic to bear.

74) There is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems: I'm guessing there was a bird on Gerald's head?

75) We Are in a Book by Mo Willems: I love the meta nature of this one with breaking the fourth wall and talking to the readers. Too cute. 

76) Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems: I might relate a little too strongly to Gerald who spends so much time debating sharing his treat that it melts and he has no treat to even share.

77) I'm a Frog! by Mo Willems: Piggie thinks she's a frog... and that's about all I remember, what I can gather from the front cover.

78) Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willems: Yes, waiting isn't easy. At all. 

79) The Thank You Book by Mo Willems: Why did the Piggie and Elephant books ever have to end? 

80) The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville: Yeah, this wasn't a good book to introduce me to Miéville. He came across as so smug with how he knows so much about abstract expressionism and art and then humble brags later that he doesn't really. It could make a wonderful little animated film with the two leads wandering through a shelled out Paris with their artwork come alive. But as for a book it's a fail. 

81) Snotgirl, Vol. 1: Green Hair Don't Care by Bryan Lee O'Malley: Trying too hard to be woke. Also, I'm missing Bryan's drawings. It doesn't feel like his voice is coming through with just the writing. It's making me question if I really like his writing...

82) Snotgirl #6 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: Starting to like the characters, but still, more forward momentum needed, less just wasting time. Especially as this comic only comes out every other month they should at least try to make an effort at advancing the narrative.

83) The English Wife by Lauren Willig: Best part of this blog? Getting to read books, like Lauren's latest months early! It's twisty, it's turny, it has shades of Du Maurier, and this January when it comes out is the PERFECT time to read it!

84) Harrow County, Vol. 5: Abandoned by Cullen Bunn: The best stories are when things happen that you didn't in the least expect. Holy shit! She's had family nearby all along!?! 

85) Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand: I didn't expect to like this little Gothic tale about 70s folk artists so much. Yes, it ended abruptly and awkwardly, but it was the perfect book to read in the waning days of summer.

86) Angel: Time and Tide Part 4 (Season 11, #8) by Corinna Bechko: Eh, more Angel. 

87) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Crimes Against Nature (Season 11, #10) by Christos Gage: Was this when Buffy took her power back from the other slayers? Because that is easily my most favorite part of this season! 

88) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: I hate Offred. Really, she's not a nice person. BUT I find the story itself about women losing all their rights eerily relevant and I just keep thinking about it more and more.

89) The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman: The best of the original trilogy. Full of snow and magic and armored bears! You can see why this book captured so many peoples imaginations. There's something about it that made it an instant classic.

90) Kill or Be Killed, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker: Guy kills other bad guys in order live because otherwise a demon that saved him will destroy him. But is the demon real? Now THAT is what I'm most interested in at the moment. Our antihero's mental state.

91) Giant Days, Vol. 5 by John Allison: Is this the one where they move off campus? Because having never lived in a dorm, this is more the college life I can relate to!

92) Once Upon a Time in the North (His Dark Materials, #0.5) by Philip Pullman: Lee Scorsby's first meeting with Iorek! But that doesn't happen until the end of the story. Before that we have manipulative politicians, interesting characters, and the true gentleman that is Lee Scorsby!

93) The Collectors (His Dark Materials, #0.6) by Philip Pullman: Two cursed artifacts in our world from another. I liked how this shed light on the differing timelines between worlds, but more importantly, while Mrs. Coulter was evil, with her daemon she had an everlasting bond that is almost sweet in how sinister it is. 

94) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Revelations (Season 11, #11) by Christos Gage: Buffy now fighting the baddies? I think that's what is going on now... also, the Big Bad as what, secretary of state? Lame.  

95) Angel: Dark Refelections, Part 1 (Season 11, #9) by Corinna Bechko: Angel tries to change his past. Don't be stupid Angel. But then again, Angel was always kind of dumb, Angelus was the smarter of the two.

96) Clean Room, Vol. 2: Exile (Clean Room, #2) by Gail Simone: Confusing, jumbled, bad people trying to take over the world, but is there redemption, it's very muddled, and yet I can't stop reading it!

97) Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies by Nick Frost: I NEVER want to read about a kibbutz EVER again. Because while Frost's stories about his family are great as are his later stories about meeting Simon Pegg and how they shot to stardom together, there's just so much boring routines on a kibbutz in between that it drags down the narrative. Though his ghost story is top notch and makes up for a lot of failings. In fact can we get a book of just him and Simon ghost hunting? Or maybe a TV show!

98) In The Pines by Erik Kriek: Taking old murder ballads and making them into a graphic novel? I would have been like, I don't think it will work, and I would have been wrong. This was just so well done, and dark, and showing that grim glimpse of Americana. Everyone should read this. EVERYONE.

99) Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged! by Brian Michael Bendis: So Jessica is now being dragged into that whole stupid Hydra/Captain America thing? No thanks. This is where I and the Jessica Jones comics forever part ways. They're nowhere near as good as the TV show anyway. And not just because of David Tennant.

100) Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez Gomez: A girl's drawings come to life as nightmares who want her to draw more? Seriously, I am not joking that if I had read this as a young kid I would NEVER have drawn again. It's nightmare inducing, that's for sure.

101) Harrow County, Vol. 6: Hedge Magic by Cullen Bunn: OK, so I read this after getting my flu shot, so my memory might be even more fuzzy, but this was more about Emmy's friend and how she balances Emmy in Harrow County. Just please, let them stay friends and fight evil together, not each other!

102) Harrow County #25 by Cullen Bunn: Read the same day as the TPB so not quite sure what part of the narrative this covered...

103) Harrow County #26 by Cullen Bunn: But I know this covered that bitch Kammi coming in and deciding to kick Emmy's ass for killing her.

104) How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman: The drawings in this were so weird. The characters looked like overly garish glam rock stars who don't know how to pluck their eyebrows. As for the story... I haven't read the original short, but there was hardly any dialogue. Exactly how did they make this into a film?

105) The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2) by Philip Pullman: I don't like how Will kind of forces his way into being the protagonist with Lyra taking a backseat. But there are so many moments that are amazing that I am able to forgive a lot. Though Lee Scorsby's death STILL haunts me.

106) Thornhill by Pam Smy: Half the story is diary entries and half the story is drawings and all the story is lame. It's too obvious what's happening, the foreshadowing is so heavy handed that I felt like Smy was bashing me over the head with that Susan Hill poster. Those who are bullied can become bullies and become evil. Thanks for that uplifting message Smy.

107) The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3) by Philip Pullman: And so, for now, Lyra's journey comes to an end with most of the story being about Wheeler like creatures, and I HATE Wheelers. 

108) Lyra's Oxford (His Dark Materials, #3.5) by Philip Pullman: What I love SO MUCH about this little short story is how Oxford as a city looks to protect Lyra from whatever harm might come her way.

109) La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1) by Philip Pullman: I tried to rein in my expectations for this book and I really didn't need to. Pullman has delivered the BEST book he has written about Lyra yet. It was so perfect, from Malcolm and his lovely life with his boat, to the spycraft of those working against the Magesterium. If it wasn't for all the Austen I read this year this book had a chance at the best read of the year. Though it is still totally on my longer list!

110) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One Girl in All the World (Season 11, #12) by Christos Gage: And Buffy gave the other slayers their power back!?! NO! ALL THE NO IN THE WORLD! One Girl! ONE GIRL! They had finally got it aligned back up with Fray and now this!?! NO! PS, I am OK with Faith having her powers because she has really redeemed herself in the comics, probably because I don't have to actually listen to Eliza Dushku.

111) Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Vol. 1: The Crucible by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa: This was just odd. It wasn't really spooky or weird and had lots of random cannibalism. I will be interested to see how Netflix makes it into a series though.

112) Angel: Dark Refelections, Part 2 (Season 11, #10) by Corinna Bechko: Angel and Ilyria!?! NO! NO! NOPE! She would never. NO!!!!!

113) Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood (Monstress, #2) by Marjorie Liu: Oh, the story is getting more interesting. Off to a mysterious island to learn the truth about gods!?! Yes, it's coming together nicely, though not so nice for me is that I've caught up! There's no more to read until the end of January!!!

114) Monty Python's Book of Silly Walks by David Merveille: Pointless book. A drawing of John Cleese in one of his silly walks poses in different situations. Also there was a MAJOR typo in the sparse text.

115) Snotgirl #7 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: It's always difficult merging different groups of friends, sometimes they hate each other, sometimes they get along, and sometimes they use their very embarrassing nickname for you in front of everyone and then you're forever screwed.

116) The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter: The main story, a retelling of Bluebeard was spot on, and was obviously such a source of inspiration for the movie Crimson Peak, the rest... the rest fell pretty flat. Again, why I usually don't like to read books of short stories, they are too uneven, and here kind of repetitive. 

117) The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost: I HAVE ANSWERS! I know things now that the Twin Peaks cliffhanger left up in the air! Annie! Ed and Norma! Also, Laura really didn't die now! WTH, I SO want another season, but so many of the cast died and I don't think they can all be teapots.

118) Harrow County #27 by Cullen Bunn: Just fucking kill Kammi. KILL HER!!!

119) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick: A true science fiction classic. Such a wonderful way to explore an alternate ending to WWII through the eyes of a few characters we grow to love. Plus the wonderful TV series that was based on it. Seriously, so much awesome has come into my life with this book.* 

120) The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley: The blurb doesn't do this book justice. It makes it sound stolid and boring, when it's about magic and myths still existing when you get off the beaten track. While I've never really wanted to go to Peru, this made me for sure never want to go, altitude sickness would kill me. I am not joking. 

121) The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero: I read this book in three sittings, and at each sitting the book got worse. It became less Gothic, more stupid secret society, until the ending was basically a whimper not a bang. Start strong, end strong, that's how a book should be. Also I was really looking forward to this author's new book, now... not so much.

122) Snotgirl #8 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: Time for the "girl" or in this case, "girls" to take a break and let the guys have an issue, wherein not much happened, but that's kind of the slow way this series is playing out... 

123) Angel: Dark Refelections, Part 3 (Season 11, #11) by Corinna Bechko: And they're back from all the time traveling and everything is still fucked. Stupid season eleven. Oh, can I send Eleven after the writers to kick their asses?

124) FukuFuku: Kitten Tales 2 by Kanata Konami: Oh, kitties! I love cats so much, but now the kitten is all grown up so there's no more adorable tales for me to read until Kanata Konami decides what to do in the post-Chi world!

125) Kill or Be Killed, Vol. 2 by Ed Brubaker: So, we're leaning towards crazy right? Right!?! Also, that new girlfriend had NO right to do that gallery show, even if it provided our antihero with his "oh shit" moment. Also, the whole manhunt seems to be played out IMO.

126) Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Vol. 1 by Ichirou Ohkouchi: Yeah, this was just so dumb I've basically forgotten everything and I literally just read it! 

127) Herding Cats (Sarah's Scribbles, #3) by Sarah Andersen: Sarah Andersen is a genius, a national treasure, she somehow is able to read my mind and my soul and make it into art. How does she do that!?! So TOTALLY be sure to pick up this book when it comes out later this year.

128) Bandette, Volume 1: Presto! by Paul Tobin: Like French Adam West Batman with the soul of Amelie. I adored this slim volume about a master thief and can't wait to read the next two volumes!

129) Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield: Why does this book have no plot!?! HOW WAS THIS BOOK PUBLISHED WITH NO PLOT!?! It's 100 pages of Bellman working in a mill, another 200 pages of him making his own "Mr. Selfridge's of Death" and then he dies. That isn't a book! No matter that it's bound and printed and all that, that isn't a book!!!

130) Harrow County #28 by Cullen Bunn: Kammi's dead let's do a dance of joy! Oh shit, Hester's back and I'm not getting a new issue for a few months!?! How will I survive!?!

131) The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2) by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling: After reading the first book I at least knew this series is more about the characters than the crimes, and I do genuinely care for Cormoran and Robin... the rest of it all? It dragged and in the end I couldn't care less who the killer was. But I still enjoyed reading it. Like the journey was better than the destination.

132) Bandette, Volume 2: Stealers Keepers! by Paul Tobin: Nice finish to the Finis storyline (see what I did there!) I'm seriously in love with this series I want it to last forever! 

133) Bandette, Volume 3: The House of the Green Mask by Paul Tobin: If I thought the first two volumes were awesome, they were NOTHING compared to the awesomeness of this volume. Secret societies, art history, chocolate! Everything a girl could want.   

134) Bandette #14 by Paul Tobin: Oh, a new adventure, and one involving art that was used to convey secret messages! It's like this series was written just for me. If only Pimento was a cat, not that I'd ever suggest to Pimento that he should be a cat!**

135) Bandette #15 by Paul Tobin: I don't really remember what happened here just because as I was about to write my review I found that Goodreads had removed my previous review for #14 and thrown down the "comics aren't books" gauntlet once again and I saw red.  

136) Brian Kesinger's Inked Tales by Brian Kesinger: Oh, how I love Brian's art, but here, reading this book, I had totally forgotten how obsessed I used to be with mermaids. I think mermaids are FAR more of a universal phase girls go through than ponies... All the little jokes, all the amazing varieties! Brian you are a genius, I can't wait until I get my hardcover copy this year!

137) Brian Kesinger's Penned Dragons by Brian Kesinger: How funny that I backed this project for the Dragons and yet it's the mermaids I was drawn to reading first... But I still totally want a dragon. Maybe I want to be a dragon? One with a nice big book horde...

138) Angel: Dark Refelections, Part 4 (Season 11, #12) by Corinna Bechko: And THANK Illyria that's over with. I mean, seriously, this was a BAD season. Nothing redeeming it. And the fact that the stuff they brought back with them was needed to destroy the creature? Lame. So they HAD to go back in time to then destroy it? Nope. Doesn't make sense to me.

139) Burn Bright by Patrica Briggs: While I love me my Mercy Thompson, I just relate more to Anna and Charles. Their newest adventure might just be my favorite. Not just because it's thankfully almost horse free, but because it digs into pack politics and also works on healing Anna's wounds. Also art and magic and witches! Seriously, I adore this series.

140) Giant Days Vol. 6 by John Allison: Daisy gets the girl! Sigh, this makes me very happy. Even if the girl is a crazy German...

141) Giant Days #25 by John Allison: Christmas! Very timely no? Also, Susan makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE when seen through the lens of her family.

142) Giant Days #26 by John Allison: Dean Thomas (no, not that Dean Thomas) finds love in a MMORPG! Of course things don't go according to plan. Hehe.

143) Giant Days #27 by John Allison: Esther gets woke. Which, yeah, it kind of works, but still, kind of unbelievable...

144) Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer: Start the year with a shitty Heyer, end the year with a great Heyer! Just what I needed to fit my holiday mood. A humorous and snarky holiday murder, where yes, I did see who the murderer was from a long way off, but the banter kept the story going for the most part. Perhaps a wee bit of editing could have helped and maybe gotten the book into my top ten... 

145) Clean Room, Vol. 3: Waiting for the Stars to Fall (Clean Room, #3) by Gail Simone: Huh. For a series which kind of prided themselves on being almost inscrutable this was oddly a clean and concise wrap up of the first arc. Though it oddly did give me nightmares. Literally.

*This is where my number count is off from Goodreads because The Man in the High Castle was in an omnibus where I didn't read the other three books. 

**This is where my number count gets even more divergent from Goodreads due to our continued disagreement on comics being books. I believe they are, they believe they aren't. I'm hoping time will prove me the victor, like it did with our Terry Pratchett numbering fiasco. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Every year I feel like I say, well that year really sucked, here's hoping next year will be better, and then it isn't. But there is seriously no way that 2020 could be worse than 2019. I'm not joking. Only two months in I had had two colds AND two outpatient procedures at the hospital, and that was the high points... it's been downhill from there. I was occasionally so sick I couldn't read!?! I mean, is there any worse kind of sick? Reading is the ONLY benefit to being sick. Curling up with a blanket and a hot beverage and just losing yourself elsewhere because the here and now suck. Plus side, I did lose myself a lot to the here and now with reading the most ever books I've EVER read! Suck it to those who say the average person reads six book a year, I read two hundred! Not my most pages total, but most books, heck year! So here's to leaving 2019 and all the sucky years of the past decade behind and a clean slate, a new start for 2020. Now let's see what I remember about the TWO HUNDRED books I read this year!  

 1) Newbury and Hobbes: The Undying, #1 by George Mann: As I've said before, I read A LOT of comics in a year. Not as much as some, but still a significant amount. So remembering what happened in specific issues is hard, but I'll try my best to give at least my overall opinion. So George as taken his beloved Newbury and Hobbes series to the pages of comics and while I like the visuals, the little prose piece at the end of each issues proves to me I will always love his prose more.

2) Newbury and Hobbes: The Undying, #2 by George Mann: Sewers, evil things lurking, you know, what happened during Victorian times.

3) Newbury and Hobbes: The Undying, #3 by George Mann: Could old foes I kind of don't remember from the book be responsible? In other news, re-read the books.

4) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Under the Spell by S.M. Vidaurri: No memory, just meh...

5) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #6 by Simon Spurrier: Something happened, it was cool and very new but still in tune with the Labyrinth brand.

6) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #7 by Simon Spurrier: Something to do with the soldier friend?

7) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #8 by Simon Spurrier: More things happening in the Labyrinth.

8) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #9 by Simon Spurrier: A ball throwback? Damn I love the ball scene in the movie... 

9) The Steel Prince #1 by V.E. Schwab: Solid start to the prequel to V.E. Schwab's Regency Magic series. Like seeing the parents origin stories.

10) The Steel Prince #2 by V.E. Schwab: Continued solid, is this where the pirates showed up?

11) The Steel Prince #3 by V.E. Schwab: If the pirates weren't there in the previous issue they have to be by now... though maybe they were even in the first issue...

12) Snotgirl #12 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: Seriously, I should just logically cancel this from my pull list because nothing ever happens and at this point I really don't anything ever will.

13) Giant Days #4 by John Allison: I wish I could say this series went out on a high... it was middling to mediocre though... 

14) Dr. Horrible: Best Friends Forever by Joss Whedon: This was unnecessary and truly showcased the worst of what Joss Whedon is capable of.  

15) Firefly #1 by Greg Pak: Oh yeah! These take place before Joss killed Wash for NO REASON in the movie. NO REASON!

16) Firefly #2 by Greg Pak: Damn I wish this were an episode of the show. For the first time these comics actually feel part of the show's universe and not some fever dream by other authors...

17) The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang: An adorable book about acceptance that I read for book club which ended way too abruptly and I felt slightly restrained.

18) The True Death of Billy the Kid by Rick Geary: Oddly the only book by Rick Geary I openly disliked. It just didn't have the same allure as all his other true crime comics which I've devoured.

19) Miss Mink: Life Lessons for a Cat Countess by Janet Hill: I was a little worried about this book. Janet Hill is an amazing artist but her similar book about dogs left me flat and I'm a cat person so the stakes here are higher. I wasn't disappointed in the least, I adored this book. ADORED IT!

20) The Summer Country by Lauren Willig: There is NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, this book just shows that Lauren can write epic sagas with the best of the historical author pantheon. Though I did miss seeing her humor shine through. But I figured, not to whinge because this was here big, serious, years in the making epic, and epics sometimes don't have much of the funnies. Especially during outbreaks of diseases...

21) NOS4A2 By Joe Hill: Started this for a holiday read but it's kind of more a summer read and it was just too long, too depressing, and not scary enough for me.

22) Locke and Key Slipcase Set by Joe Hill: I re-read because this series was on my best reads last year and it so holds up. Just an amazing series that has so many levels and so much more to see and absorb with each reading.

23) Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, #1) by Robin LaFevers: A re-read of a favorite LaFevers book in anticipation of her new connected duology. I still can't believe how much I love this book. Assassin nuns! 

24) Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin, #2) by Robin LaFevers: I didn't really like this book the first time I read it, and was surprised by how much I loved it on this re-read. It just clicked this time around, even if Sybella isn't my favorite character.

25) Robin by Dave Itzkoff: A bio on Robin Williams that was read for book club which had a really strong start, great insight into Robin's early career, but then kind of was just listing his later work without any depth. Also has a weird coda that kind of turned me against the whole book. But it did make me appreciate how much Robin Williams was in my life growing up and I even re-watched some movies. 

26) Giant Days #47 by John Allison: Don't remember.

27) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 by Jordie Bellaire: I had SO many reservations about this and they are all gone. LOVE THIS MODERN REBOOT!

28) Firefly #3 Greg Pak: If this were an episode of the show it would have been better edited for time. Don't drag your storyline over too many issues people! 

29) Newbury and Hobbes: The Undying, #4 by George Mann: Still solid, still loving the prose story at the back the most.

30) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #10 by Simon Spurrier: Is this where the worm with a rapier tries to overthrow the patriarchy? Because an anarchy driven female worm is an AWESOME character addition to this series.

31) The Steel Prince #4 by V.E. Schwab: Is this where the whole fight club entered in? Why always fight club?

32) Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin, #3) Robin LaFevers: I have MAJOR issues with this third volume. For years I didn't read it because I loved the series so much I didn't want it to end, but with a new book I thought, hey, now it doesn't end. Shouldn't have read it. For a series so invested in consent to strip it away from any character just to save a country is wrong.

33) Courting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology, #1) by Robin LaFevers: Um, so yeah, this was not that good. The problem was spending too much to repeating information from the previous trilogy and focusing on Sybella when it should have focused on the new characters, whom I actually liked.

34) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #2 by Jordie Bellaire: This series is AWESOME! I HAVE to focus on this fact in going over my reading for the year knowing how the series is now kind of tanking...

35) Firefly #4 by Greg Pak: Too. Drawn. Out.

36) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #11 by Simon Spurrier: This would have made a very solid 8 issue run, because it feels like that's when it ran out of ideas...

37) Lethal White (Cormoran Strike, #4) by Robert Galbraith: Damn. How does J.K. do it? You think it's one kind of mystery and it turns into another, with all this twists and turns and why can't I get a new Cormoran Strike book every year?

38) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3 by Jordie Bellaire: Not as strong, but still hanging in there... currently.

39) Giant Days #48 by John  Allison: Nope, no idea...

40) The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe: This was just weird. Three loosely connected stories where the middle one was just awful, and the other two only middling. Sometimes early science fiction has me scratching my head because someone somewhere thought this was a classic.

41) Sorcerer to the Crown (Sorcerer Royal, #1) by Zen Cho: Prunella is the bomb! I also love how it takes my favorite subject, Regency Magic, and turns it on it's head.

42) Delilah Dirk and the Pillars of Hercules (Delilah Dirk, #3) by Tony Cliff: I should learn that if I didn't like the first two volumes in a series I should NOT pick up the third out of some weird desire to complete everything.

43) Famous Players by Rick Geary: Not my favorite, but I did really like seeing this glimpse into old Hollywood that I knew nothing about.

44) Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White by Rick Geary: Again, not my favorite, but if you're thinking, hey, I want to know what happened in the book Ragtime but don't want to read it all, here's the comic for you!

45) The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans by Rick Geary: I knew a little about this from American Horror Story, but I don't think that show captured the sheer panic the city was in with these random attacks.

46) The True Queen (Sorcerer Royal, #2) by Zen Cho: Not so much a followup as a companion piece to Sorcerer to the Crown. I loved the setting but I felt that it fell a little short just because the twist was a little predictable.

47) The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen, #1) by Alison Goodman: Oh my, where has THIS Regency Magic series been all my life!?! It's Regency Buffy and I am in love! 

48) Lusus Naturae: A Lord Carlston Story (Lady Helen, #1.5) by Alison Goodman: Cute little POV change for Lord Carlston and Lady Helen's meet cute.

49) The Dark Days Pack (Lady Helen, #2) by Alison Goodman: Normally I'm not one for the whole dressing a girl in breeches and having her fight undercover trope, but Alison proves that sometimes it can't just be effective, but awesome.

50) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #4 by Jordie Bellaire: Oh, are they going to make Xander a vampire? I totally think that would switch things up well!

51) Angel #0 by Bryan Hill: Not sure if this reboot is going to work. HAS to be separate from Buffy. HAS TO.  

52) Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #12 by Simon Spurrier: And it's over... quite a few issues later than it should have been.

53) Giant Days #49 by John Allison: I've got nothing.

54) Snotgirl #13 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: For all the times I occasionally like this series I think perhaps someone should stage an intervention and tell me I no longer need this series in my life... 

55) The Dark Days Deceit (Lady Helen, #3) by Alison Goodman: And boom! That's how you end a series. With weddings and fights and Bath! I kind of want more but at the same time it ended so well... in other words, RE-READ!

56) Through the Woods by Emily Carroll: Some of the art is amazing. Some of it really really isn't. There is no middle ground and therefore it falls flat.

57) Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Jason Rekulak: This was like a Golden Books baby Buffy and it failed SO HARD! I mean, the message that monsters are OK? That is not at all true to the show! So so so many issues...

58) Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: I'm a huge fan of Terry and Neil separately and years ago when I first read Good Omens in anticipation of the Discworld convention I was going to I was a little let down. Knowing what it was this time around I enjoyed it far more. Though I will say the TV series, aside from Frances McDormand,fixed all issues I had. 

59) The High Street by Alice Melvin: An adorable and very British book on the types of shops the exist on a high street. I hope with the rise of all the big box stores and malls that we will still be able to preserve small little downtown areas that cater to our needs. They're part of our history!

60) David Bowie by Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara: I HATED this picture book on David Bowie. I get that these are to give kids a glimpse into great people, but at least get your facts right! Like eyes and hair! Gaw, this is STILL pissing me off!

61) Storm Cursed (Mercy Thompson, #11) by Patricia Briggs: Another solid entry in the Mercy Thompson series that has quite a gut punch of an ending, but I forgive the emotional roller-coaster the Patricia Briggs took me on because of the miniature zombie goats.

62) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: You know when you have a favorite book where you're almost afraid to re-read it because you don't think it could possibly live up to what you remember. Third time reading it and The Night Circus is still magical and a favorite. 

63) Giant Days #50 by John Allison: No idea.

64) Firefly #5 Greg Pak: No idea either.

65) Firefly: Bad Company by Greg Pak: Let's have the women join forces and kick ass. Only make it not as good as it should be... Also why would anyone trust Yo-Saff-Bridge at this point? Even if they're planning on double crossing her.

66) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: I kind of get the love for this book, I mean, it's well written and all, but it's not for me. I really didn't like it. I just felt that instead of creating a fictional comic writing duo Chabon picked the corpses of the best writers and artists of the time and made his own, therefore taking away the credit that they had long tried to cling to and fight for. Not cool.

67) The Black Dahlia: The Crime Graphic Novel by Matz: I detested the comic. It had almost nothing to do with the crime, so there was that, but the drawing style didn't work. ALL the men looked the same so you had no idea what was happening. Also, seeing as this had been made into a film prior to a comic, doing it as a comic seemed redundant because it's already in ta visual medium now...

68) Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron (Shades of Grey, #1) by Jasper Fforde: Much like The Night Circus this is a favorite book to re-read with unneeded apprehension. I just love all the new levels I find in the dystopian color drama and LONG for a sequel. Also, I think Jack Whitehall should star if they ever adapt it for television. It would have to be TV to do it justice.

69) Kiss Number 8 by Colleen A.F. Venable: What's weird is while I gave this book three stars now all I'm remembering is the bad stuff, like how her friends all turned against her when she was discovering she was bisexual leaning towards lesbian. Proves that sometimes a book read at the time can later leave a sour taste in the mouth. Likewise sometimes thinking on a book improves it. 

70) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) by Agatha Christie: I don't know what gave me such a fever to read what is dubbed "the greatest locked room mystery ever" but I picked it up and as is usually the case with Christie thoroughly enjoyed it. I would say I have read better locked room mysteries (The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne) and I did see the twist coming. But it was still fun.  

71) The Glass Ocean by Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig: I didn't really like the three W's first collaboration and thus waited awhile to pick up their newest volume. I think their first book, The Forgotten Room, worked out their kinks, and they wrote more evenly so it was harder to discern who was who. Yes, I knew the ending from a long way off, but it was still very enjoyable.  

72) The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware: From the description I was expecting more Du Maurier's Rebecca, instead I got... well, too much griftering with a laughably obvious conclusion.

73) The Golden Tresses of the Dead (Flavia de Luce, #10) by Alan Bradley: This supposedly final adventure of Flavia de Luce just didn't do it for me. There was no closure and as for the book's mystery about a finger in a wedding cake, I felt like there were too many threads left dangling. In fact I'm still not sure who the killer was or if there was one!

74) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5 by Jordie Bellaire: Why can't they make Xander a straight up vampire instead of muddying the mythology?

75 Angel #1 by Bryan Hill: Meh.

76) Firefly #6 by Greg Pak: Why is it with comics in the Whedonverse it's either awesome or meh? Thankfully only occasionally truly awful.

77) Night of Knives #1 (Shades of Magic Graphic Novels #5) by V.E. Schwab: Slow setup to new arc, which means I really think I haven't read any additional issues and am WAY behind...

78) Giant Days #51 by John Allison: Let's rip out McGraw's heart by killing his dad and instead of dealing with it thoughtfully and compassionately, just hurry through it in the rush to the end of this series so that we can have hit the "dead parent" milestone that is needed in all coming of age tales.

79) Born to Be Posthumous by Mark Dery: I love Edward Gorey, I DO NOT love this biography. Everything seems so second hand with the author trying to push his gay agenda (the agenda being that Gorey was gay yet this was never confirmed nor denied by Gorey.) I wanted insight, instead I got meh.

80) Amphigorey (Amphigorey, #1) by Edward Gorey: My dissatisfaction with the biography on Edward Gorey DID lead to me getting all his books from the library and just living in his dark, bleak world, and boy did it make me happy.

81) Amphigorey Too (Amphigorey, #2) by Edward Gorey: If you were wondering, the Amphigoreys are compilations of ALL Gorey's work in four volumes. Because so many of the little books are out of print this brings them all together. Of course, they work better as little books you can hold in your hand, but at least having so form of his books is better than none.

82) The Iron Tonic: Or, A Winter Afternoon in Lonely Valley by Edward Gorey: As mentioned above, while the Amphigoreys are nice, the reproduction quality and the intimacy and Gorey's exquisite line-work show to far greater advantage if you can get the original or reproduced books.

83) Amphigorey Also (Amphigorey, #3) by Edward Gorey: Another divine Amphigorey.  

84) The Haunted Tea-Cosy by Edward Gorey: A funny and skewed retelling of A Christmas Carol.

85) The Headless Bust: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium by Edward Gorey: The characters from The Haunted Tea-Cosy return in a very pointless story...

86) J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography by Rick Geary: Damn, Hoover was such a screw politician and such a horrible human being. I hated this book, not because of the job Geary did on it, but because of it's subject matter. Though in the final season of The Man in the High Castle, John Smith shooting Hoover brought an extra level of joy.

87) The Artist Who Loved Cats: The Inspiring Tale of Theophile Alexandre Steinlen by Susan Schaerfer Bernardo: Eh. Love the artist but was uninspired by this supposedly inspiring tale.

88) The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Veronica Mars, #1) by Rob Thomas: Read in preparation for the new series and I was surprised and how much I liked this prose form of Veronica Mars and was wondering why there were only two books...

89) Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars, #2) by Rob Thomas: And then I read the second book which was just dark and bleak and full of nope. I'm sorry but just because Veronica is a survivor of a sexual assault doesn't mean that every story about her has to deal with it. These are other cases!

90) The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist: Volume 1 by Michael Chabon: So, yes, I'm weird, even if I don't like a book I double down on it and end up reading ancillary books, such as these comics, that just make me hate the original book all the more because I could be reading something I actually liked!

91) Harry Potter: A Journey Through Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts (Harry Potter: A Journey Through, #1) by Pottermore: This was... dull doesn't even cover it. The driest textbook in the world? I can see why Harry and Ron never read their books if they were actually like this! 

92) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6 by Jordie Bellaire: HATED THIS ISSUE! And didn't I just say they are rarely so bad as to hate... but every once in awhile, like that stupid episode in season five of Angel where Spike and Angel go to Italy, every once in awhile there's something so awful you want to pretend it never happened.

93) Angel #2 by Bryan Hill: I've noticed whenever Buffy is bad Angel is good... so decent issue here...

94) The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1) by Daniel O'Malley: It's like a British version of The Initiative from Buffy if it was snarkier!

95) The Magicians: Alice's Story by Lilah Sturges: WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS BOOK!?! No really, I want to know. I was thinking it would be about Alice's time as a Niffin, but no. It's just the whole first book seen through her eyes. We know this story! We know everything! There is nothing new here and it's just a slog to read!

96) Circe by Madeline Miller: OK, I KNOW this book isn't about Odysseus, but for a feminist retelling of a character from his tale there's just WAY too much of him. And that ending? Defining her life by a man? AGAIN!?! Yeah, didn't like that either.

97) The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist: Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan: Written by Brian K. Vaughn so not as bad...

98) The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist: Volume 3 by Michael Chabon: But then Chadon comes back and it's shit.

99) Elephant House; or, the Home of Edward Gorey by Kevin McDermott: I LOVED this glimpse into Gorey's home. Seeing the four walls that surrounded him made him more real. Also I loved how he decorated his windowsills, something I'm totally going to copy. Still have to get myself a copy of this book as I borrowed it from the library.

100) The Escapists by Brian K. Vaughan: Brian K. Vaughn is back and therefore it's good again! Also, I liked that this was a modern tale about new creators who were fans of the original series. Meta and oddly the best of all the comics AND the original book.

101) The New Deadwardians by Dan Abnett: I have this to say to Dan Abnett: WRITE MORE BOOKS IN THE SERIES! It's a stand alone zombie story and the art and the worldbuilding are so fabulous I wanted to live in it. Though not as a zombie. I really don't want to ever become a zombie.

102) Southern Bastards, Vol. 4: Gut Check by Jason Aaron: Is this the end of this series? I can find no more info and this really just ended an nothing... a series going for a slow death perhaps?

103) Firefly #7 by Greg Pak: Yeah, no idea...

104) Firefly #8 by Greg Pak: They're reunited in Serenity Valley, this won't end well...

105) Giant Days #52 by John Allison: Better than I thought it would be considering I disliked the holiday special that initiated this arc.

106) Amphigorey Again (Amphigorey, #4) By Edward Gorey: And I FINALLY got to read the final Amphigorey, damn library system and there only being two volumes! Again, solid, but seeing how his work got sloppier as he aged was more than a little sad.

107) Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 1: Aphra by Kieron Gillen: WHERE AS DOCTOR APHRA BEEN ALL MY LIFE!?! She's what I hoped the new Star Wars films would be. She's a female Han Solo, or as my friend said, who Han Solo wishes he was. I ADORE HER! New favorite Star Wars character!

108) Stiletto (The Checquy Files, #2) by Daniel O'Malley: What's weird about this second Checquay book is that it's so amazingly tonally different than the first but works in a different way following two new female leads. Makes me even more excited for the third volume because who knows what it will be like?

109) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by  J.K. Rowling: Last year I re-read all of Harry Potter for my birthday. I decided to do the same this year, only instead of starting on my birthday I started on Harry's, AKA two weeks before mine.

110) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2) by  J.K. Rowling: It's weird that every time I re-read these books I find something new...

111) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3) by  J.K. Rowling: Now that I've cast Aidan Turner as Sirius in my head I'm having far less problems with him.

112) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4) by  J.K. Rowling: Because of how I timed things I ended up reading my favorite Harry Potter book on my birthday!

113) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5) by  J.K. Rowling: I felt extremely affected by the ministry scenes this time around.  

114) The Woods, Vol. 4: Movie Night by James Tynion IV: I love this new society the school kids have built wherein they are trying to bring a little taste of home with movies.

115) The Woods, Vol. 5: The Horde by James Tynion IV: But then it went to hell and I didn't think I could make it to the end but I had all the books from the library so it was time to suck it up!

116) The Woods, Vol. 6: The Lost by James Tynion IV: No idea what happened here.

117) Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel by Kieron Gillen: And now, thanks to my library, my Doctor Aphra worship begins in earnest. I liked her messing up Luke, but I don't think the payoff was worth it.

118) Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 2: Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit by Kieron Gillen: Always looking for an angle on the monies.

119) Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 3: Remastered by Kieron Gillen: I love the murderbots. I shouldn't. They're evil. But I SO do.

120) Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 4: The Catastrophe Con by Simon Spurrier: Haunted prison ship? HELLS YA!

121) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6) by J.K. Rowling: I think the more I re-read this series the more in love I become with this sixth volume.

122) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #7 by Jordie Bellaire: Let's do evil Willow, but evil Willow light... no thanks.

123) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen Ones #1 by Mairghread Scott: Basically Tales of the Slayer, new tales.

124) Angel #3 by Bryan Hill: And Angel gets awesome while Buffy gets worse. Especially the art on Buffy, it's horrid.

125) Angel #4 by Bryan Hill: More awesome Angel!

126) Giant Days #53 by John Allison: No idea.

127) Snotgirl #14 by Bryan Lee O'Malley: Seriously, is NO ONE going to stage an intervention to stop me reading these!?!

128) The Woods, Vol. 7: The Black City by James Tynion IV: Creepy deserted city, now this I like.

129) The Woods, Vol. 8: The Final War by James Tynion IV: This I don't like. 

130) The Woods, Vol. 9: The Way Home by James Tynion IV: And then it ended with a whimper. I wanted to see them trying to reintegrate back into society, but the second they arrive home the comic ends. I feel cheated!!! 

131) Sleepless, Vol. 1 by Sarah Vaughn: A gorgeous and original Fairy Tale that felt fresh and timeless all at once about a princess and her knight.

132) Sleepless, Vol. 2 by Sarah Vaughn: And it's not that I didn't like the ending, it's that I felt that two volumes wasn't enough, I wanted more. But better a small near perfect run that what happened with the roller-coaster ride of quality that was The Woods!

133) Underland by Robert Macfarlane: This nonfiction book about the world beneath our feet was interesting in that it's a book you can talk to others about and you learn all these interesting facts without fully loving it. My issues were that it triggered my claustrophobia, some sections just didn't work, and I really wanted Macfarlane to tackle in some way the literary and Fairy Tale importance of the underland... which he didn't which is odd because he is a very literate man.

134) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7) by J.K. Rowling: And I almost went back to the beginning and started over...

135) Giant Days #54 by John Allison: And the graduate with a whimper. Though I liked the spinster part...  

136) Cheshire Crossing by Andy Weir: A mashup of famous precious girls from literature, Alice, Dorothy, and Wendy, and it just doesn't work. There are too many errors and inconsistencies that made me feel that Weir just thought it was a good idea without delving too deeply into the source material.

137) Hilda and the Stone Forest by Luke Pearson: The cliffhanger I've been waiting a year to see resolved!

138) Hilda and the Mountain King by Luke Pearson: And it's resolved! And it's wonderful, and there are trolls, and fun madcap adventures, and damn I love these books. MORE!

139) H. P. Lovecraft: He Who Wrote in the Darkness: A Graphic Novel by Alex Nikolavitch: This was shit. That is all. Oh wait, Benioff and Weiss are going to adapt it. I couldn't think of a better project for those who totally ruined Game of Thrones.

140) Uzumaki by Junji Ito: Oh, pitch perfect Japanese horror manga. READ IT! Because I don't want to spoil your enjoyment in any way.

141) Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven (Harley Merlin #1) by Bella Forrest: This book is nothing by trashy fun. It uses every trope from every fantasy series and does it gleefully with a hint of snark. Just what I needed at the time I picked it up.

142) The Book of Dust (The Book of Dust, #1) by Philip Pullman: While I was worried it wouldn't live up to my first total adoration of it, there's something about the leads and their tenacity that makes you love them even when the narrative starts to flounder near the end. 

143) The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman: So I devoured The Book of Dust so fast in anticipation of it's sequel that I thought, maybe I'll re-read all of His Dark Materials too...

144) The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2) by Philip Pullman: The last time I re-read this book I felt it was a little weak in the series, aside from a certain death scene, but this time I loved every second of it!

145) The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3) by Philip Pullman: Still the weakest in the series at least it wraps everything up nicely.

146) Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman: I am SO glad I re-read this short novella before the new book. Seriously, you NEED to read this before The Secret Commonwealth. 

147) Gideon Falls, Vol. 1: The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire: If you want to read a boring comic that is just ripping off Haven, here you go.

148) The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust, #2) by Philip Pullman: So many conflicted feelings. Damn, Pan is my favorite character! Lyra, get a freakin' backbone, it's what made you you! A CLIFFHANGER!?! I need the final book now! Not two years or more from now!

149) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8 by Jordie Bellaire: Ugh, please just keep Buffy and Angel apart. PLEASE!

150) Angel #5 by Bryan Hill: And Angel did something...

151) Welcome Back to the Hellmouth (Hellmouth #1) by Jordie Bellaire: And I guess Angel and Buffy won't be apart what with this crossover event. Sigh.

152) Firefly #9 Greg Pak: The gang is reunited.  

153) Firefly #10 Greg Pak: And yes, there might be war.  

154) Moth and Whisper Vol. 1 by Ted Anderson: Sometimes a story that wants to be inclusive fails. Miserably.

155) Stumptown, Vol. 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took her Shampoo (But Left her Mini) by Greg Rucka: I know it's wrong that my favorite part was the end with a poster for all the other detective agencies from all my other favorite shows, movies, and books. But it was so awesome!

156) Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 1: Vader by Kieron Gillen: Yes, I need more Doctor Aphra so badly that I'm reading all the Vader and Star Wars books she's in now too.

157) Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 2: Shadows and Secrets by Kieron Gillen: I really didn't think I'd like reading about Vader so much... I like being pleasantly surprised.

158) Star Wars: Vader Down by Jason Aaron: Fabulous. Just fabulous.

159) Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 3: The Shu-Torun War by Kieron Gillen: A slight stumble.

160) Star Wars, Vol. 3: Rebel Jail by Jason Aaron: The Star Wars main line has such better artists...

161) Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 4: End of Games by Kieron Gillen: And I know how Doctor Aphra faked her death now!!!

162) Blacksad (Blacksad, #1-3) by Juan Díaz Canales: I think the new Cats movie and this book would get one well. Creepy looking, overly sexual cats, in a story that doesn't work in the least.

163) Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins (Harley Merlin #2) by Bella Forrest: Seeing as Bella Forrest by her output HAS to be more than one person this book didn't have the same snark as the first one and was therefore not as much fun. Though I will be continuing the series to see if yet another writer in the machine gets the snark back!

164) Bury the Lede by Gaby Dunn: A rather boring and at times randomly overly sexual story about newspapers, criminals, and conspiracies, that never quite clicks. 

165) Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1 by John Allison: Why couldn't John Allison have left well enough alone? I mean, this just sucked. Also this is a man who one time emailed me on Goodreads to complain that I was picking on the new illustrator. Guess what, she got better, you got worse!

166) Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) by Leigh Bardugo: Ugh, I SO wanted to like this book about secret societies at Yale, but instead I really hated it because this is more about glibly handling hot button topics that plague campuses in a perfuctory manner. Alex's roommate is sexually assaulted but is perfectly fine once the frat boy who did it to her is humiliated? Yeah, that doesn't sit right with me and I hope it doesn't with you either. 

167) Upon the Midnight Clear: A Lady Emily Christmas Story (Lady Emily #13.5) by Tasha Alexander: A wonderfully, perfectly, joyous holiday tale about love and forgiveness and the power of a little mystery in your life during the holiday season.

168) The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: Erin Morgenstern's second book is a wonderful complicated puzzle of a book that speaks to the book nerds in us all. Very reminiscent of 1980 epics written for kids which really just traumatized us, The Starless Sea is a book that when you get to the end you'll want to start it all over again.

169) Mary Shelley by Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara: Not as full of errors as the David Bowie book I still think these need to be better researched. Too many errors for my taste!

170) Greta and the Giants by Zoë Tucker: A wonderful picture book on Greta Thunberg. If we could only aspire to be as amazing as she is this would be a better world. 

171) Dewdrop by Katie O'Neill: Adorably cute story from the creator of The Tea Dragon Society.

172) Locke and Key: Dog Days by Joe Hill: An adorable story about man's best friend but more importantly, so THAT'S how they got their house back!

173) Basketful of Heads #1 by Joe Hill: Wonderfully dark with fabulous references to Jaws.

174) Angel #6 by Bryan Hill: Angel is good so will Buffy be bad?  

175) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #9 by Jordie Bellaire: No... Buffy is OK.

176) Welcome Back to the Hellmouth Part 2 (Hellmouth #2) by Jordie Bellaire: It's Welcome Back to the Hellmouth that's boring wandering through caves...

177) The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson: Weird early speculative science fiction that has moments, when pigs are attacking the house, that are wonderful and terrifying, but others that are, time standing still, time speeding up, galaxies ending, yadda yadda... also trigger warning for animal deaths.

178) The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mart Robinette Kowal: I HATED this piece. Mainly because of my situation. I thought it was going to be fun times on Mars, instead it's partner dying on Mars because of disease... too close to my reality. I get that great science fiction should contain human truths, but sometimes all I want is my science fiction to take me away.

179) Gideon Falls, Vol. 2: Original Sins by Jeff Lemire: Oh hey, everything I guessed was right and it's still ripping off Haven.

180) Fresh Romance, Vol. 1 by Sarah Kuhn: Picked this up for Sarah Vaughn's Regency story which is sweet but TOO SHORT and incomplete, but also enjoyed the very nighties witchy stories.

181) Blacksad: A Silent Hell (Blacksad, #4) by Juan Díaz Canales: The completest in me must complete...

182) Blacksad: Amarillo (Blacksad, #5) by Juan Díaz Canales: But damn, these last two volumes, especially the last volume, are kind of shit. Replace "kind of" with "are." 

183) Wimbledon Green by Seth: Eh. I just don't really think Seth is for me. I've tried, but I felt this story's lack of any conclusion as to the fate of the comic collector Wimbledon Green was a cop out. 

184) Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon and Mu by Junji Ito: The story is boring, and how he draws his wife is creepy. Plus the afterword about one of the cats dying was too depressing.

185) Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics by Brian Azzarello: Ugh, rape and torture porn. No. Thank. You.

186) Gyo by Junji Ito: It's Godzilla with fart jokes. Otherwise a book written for my brother when he was nine.

187) Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story by Ed Brubaker: I never thought I'd read something by Brubaker and be like, yeah, that's boring. There's a first time for everything!

188) Angel #7 by Bryan Hill: Fred gets captured? WTF why?

189) Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10 by Jordie Bellaire: All the men are angry and it's annoying. I know it's going to be "something mystical" but I DO NOT like seeing Giles being an ass!

190) Firefly #11 by Greg Pak: No idea... Mal's mom, maybe?

191) The Dollhouse Family #1 by Mike Carey: A dollhouse where the dolls talk to you and want you to come live with them? YAS!

192) Basketful of Heads #2 by Joe Hill: Still very Jaws, but now Jaws with Norse Mythology mixing in.

193) The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton: Ugh. So Kate Morton's book have been successively getting better, and this felt like five steps back. Almost like a truck book that she just pulled out. Nothing feels resolved and the narrator, a ghost, you don't even care about how she became a ghost. Not her best. Not by a long shot. Feel bad for making my book club read it...

194) Stumptown, Vol. 2: The Case of the Baby in the Velvet Case by Greg Rucka: I SO don't care about music crimes.

195) Stumptown Vol. 3: The Case of the King of Clubs by Greg Rucka: And I REALLY don't care about soccer crimes even more. Or repeatedly being told the lack of laws in Oregon relating to scalping tickets. Also the new artist isn't very good... that is NOT what breasts look like.  

196) Stumptown Vol. 4: The Case of a Cup of Joe by Greg Rucka: Better art, snarkier story, THIS is what Stumptown is about, people willing to kill for coffee beans that are actually cat scat!

197) Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas by Lillian and Russell Hoban: After re-watching the TV special for the millionth time, I thought I should re-read the book. It doesn't disappoint after all these years. Both are classics. BOTH!

198) Tomie by Junji Ito: If you want to read hundreds and hundreds of pages of rape, murder, and torture porn without any depth to the narrative, then I have the book for you! Please don't let this be the book for you.

199) Tales from Harrow County: Death's Choir #1 by Cullen Bunn: They brought back Harrow County!?! OMG! My year is finally made!!!

200) Addams' Apple: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams by Charles Addams: A wonderful new Charles Addams book that's coming out in the new year. Seriously, if you're a fan of his, get this. His books rarely remain in print and every library needs at least one Charles Addams book. Also this volume has several comics I'd never seen before, and I own ALL of his books, so that's saying something!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments