The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

It's that time of year! There's only one short week until one of the happiest days on the geek's calendar: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Do you know where to go on May 7th to get your free comic(s)? The Free Comic Book Day Website has a store locator for your convenience, as well as a list of some comics you might see. (not all books are available in all locations) If you haven't read comics in a while, or don't think you're interested, this is your chance to give it a try, for FREE. I'm lucky, because in NYC the comic stores are very generous with their loot. Check out my posts about last year's haul: Part One , Part Two FCBD Comics I'm especially looking forward to this year: (Many of these issues have preview pages up on the FCBD site!) Avatar: the Last Airbender/Clone War s (A:TLA COMIC! WHOOO!!!) Darkwing Duck/Chip n'Dale (This will probably be a reprint of stuff I have, but if you're not reading this yet, pick up the freebie!) ...

This is Follow Friday, hosted by  Parajunkee's View Today's Question is: Q. Keeping with the dystopian and apocalypse theme that seems to be running rampant on parajunkee.com, I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten? Okay, I'm assuming we're talking about physical books, not digital. So, books I am willing to/enjoy reading ad infinitum: The Complete Sherlock Holmes Five Selections from The Vorkosigan Saga: Cordelia's Honor, Miles, Mystery and Mayhem, Miles Errant, Memory, Miles in Love My Husband's two novels, for sentimental reasons: For Love of Children, Facsimile So that's already eight. Let's cap it off with a giant tome on edible and medicinal plants, and a book I saw at the library but can't remember the name of about primitive living/survival techniques. I did in fact see this book and think: "Huh, if soc...

Favorite Issue this week: New Mutants #24 (Age of X Chapter 6) All books new in store on 4/27/11 Age of X Universe #2 Avengers (part 2) Written by Simon Spurrier, Penciled by Khoi Pham, Inked by Tom Palmer, Colored by Sonia Oback Dazzler Written by Chuck Kim, Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta The second half of the alt-world Avengers story was both better and worse than Part One. I think it slipped over the line into too heavy-handed and obvious in its morality, but your mileage may vary. Some of the moments were still very nice, plus the art was great. The Dazzler story was fine in the writing, but it was a style of art I don't really like, so the issue was sort of a wash overall. American Vampire #14 (Ghost War Part 2) Written by Scott Snyder, Art by Rafael Albuqueque, Colors by Dave McCaig Mmmm, another tasty issue of American Vampire. I either read this first or save it for last, it's always good. The art, the tone, the dialogue, all good. Plus my girl Pearl...

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish This Week's Prompt: "Top Ten Mean Girls In Books (all those snotty, annoying girls that you just want to punch)" Hmmm. Stereotypical "Mean Girls"? Who are impressive or iconic enough to make a Top Ten List? They don't tend to come up much in the genres I read... Besides, for me to want to punch a character, they usually have to be a lot more evil, cruel and (most of all) powerful than is generally encompassed by the term "Mean Girl". I need to take a moment here and break down this archetype. Such a character is usually: female, pretty, cruel about shallow concerns, set against the protagonist, manipulative, snarky, sarcastic or just bitchy, often considered popular. She takes pleasure in putting others down. She is usually not in a position of ultimate power, or out to conquer the world; she generally just wants to help herself out. Hmmm... Off the top of my head: 1: Classic: C...

The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood, 1985 I need a hug now. All I can say is Wow. Amazing. Breathtaking. Setting new standards for the word “wow.” They weren't kidding about the whole “instant classic” thing. But it's definitely depressing. I read this book over two days, and on the night in between I had nightmares. Premise: In a future spun off from the rising conservatism and backlash against feminism in the 1980's, human fertility is very low, and social unrest is very high. One conservative group has taken over the government, set up their own compounds, and upended American life. The narrator of this story, called Offred, is a Handmaid, a kind of limited concubine, who is assigned to a high-ranking figure because she is fertile, and his wife isn't. Her husband was taken from her. It was his second marriage, so they said it didn't count. Her daughter was taken from her. She herself was sent to a facility where they attempted to brainwash h...

This is Follow Friday, hosted by  Parajunkee's View Today's Question is: Q. What is on your current playlist right now? I've been having a showtunes sort of week, listening to a lot of tracks I haven't heard in a while. I just read Finishing the Hat (review coming eventually), and I've been listening to big chunks of Sondheim on random shuffle, particularly Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Sondheim on Sondheim and Company. The Book Blogger Hop is hosted at Crazy-For-Books.com Today's Question is: "If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?" But of course! It's the quickest way to add to the reading list. I don't necessarily run right out and buy more books that second, but I'll put in a request at the library or check the pricing on my Kindle. I tend to go through phases either of a particular author or a particular genre, where I'll read a bunch of the same style books in...

Favorite Issue This Week: Arrgh! The three books I bought this week were all awesome, but so different in tone, it's almost impossible to compare them. My favorite might be Avengers Academy #12 , for the way the issue interacts with the continuing series, but it's very close. All Books new in stores on 4/20/11 FYI: Graphic Novel in stores this week: Darkwing Duck 2: Crisis on Infinite Darkwings (Collects Second Story Arc) If you were a fan of the cartoon show, you need to be reading this comic. Avengers Academy #12 Writer: Christos Gage, Penciler: Tom Raney Inker: Scott Hanna, Colorist: Jeromy Cox This was a fantastic issue. Carina (cosmic chick) has temporarily given the students the appearance and abilities of their older selves, and not everyone is pleased with what they learn about their possible futures. Everyone got some nice character moments, plus a brutal battle. Some of the best writing of teenage characters in comics is in this book, although the art...

Storm Over Warlock Andre Norton, 1960 At some point I realized that a handful of Andre Norton's books had somehow fallen out of copyright in the US.  Don't bother with the crummy formatting done by the people selling them on the Kindle Store, just check manybooks.net for free copies. Premise: Although he had been the lowliest member of the expedition to the planet Warlock, Shann Lantree is the only survivor of the attack. After humanity's rivals, the insectoid Throgs, take over the survey camp, Shann has to decide if he can strike back, and how. Of course, the situation is complicated when it turns out that Warlock isn't an uninhabited planet after all. This was a fun, fast-paced read, and I really enjoyed it. The bits of Shann's backstory are all we really need; no time is wasted on early exposition. His perspective is not always noble, his plans are not always clear even to himself. Also, he's accompanied  by two trained wolverines. I found Shan...

Bright of the Sky (Book One of The Entire and The Rose) Kay Kenyon, 2007 Premise: Two years and a bit ago, Titus Quinn, starship pilot, vanished, along with wife, child and ship. A few months later he was picked up on another planet, raving about having spent ten years prisoner in a parallel dimension. Now the company he worked for suddenly thinks there might be something to this theory, and Quinn is going back, ostensibly to negotiate for routes that humans can use for travel, but really to look for his lost family. I picked this up as a Kindle Freebie. I'm not sure it was worth free. The “Entire,” the other dimension, is an interesting construction much of the time. Ruled by the alien Tarig, it seems to be a universe entirely composed of one twisty landscape. The sky is not a sky, but a river of ever-burning energy, and the “storm walls” keep the Entire structural where it touches our universe. (The whole thing is based vaguely on brane theory. It even cites the na...

Favorite Issue this Week : Birds of Prey #11 All books were new in stores on 4/13/11 Batgirl #20 Writer: Bryan Q. Miller Artist: Ramon Bach, Colorist: Guy Major Overall this was a good issue, although it didn't quite wow me. Stephanie is competent as well as funny and charming, and the scene with her and Babs is cute. The fact that she has a transforming combat vehicle is...odd. I will happily admit, this book does badass-girly better than almost anything else, and the climax of this issue was awesome. Birds of Prey #11 Writer: Gail Simone Artist: Pere Perez, Colors: Nei Ruffino It's the Huntress/Catman crossover issue! And it's almost note perfect from panel one. The very last page lost me a little, not sure why. I guess it was merely good, rather than great, but I enjoyed everything else about this. Huntress is in her element, busting ground-level thugs, rescuing hostages. Catman is his conflicted self, while Babs and Dinah are delightful in their sid...

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish This Week: Top Ten Books I'd Like to See Made Into Movies  As usual, in no particular order: 1. The Warrior's Apprentice (Miles Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold) Come on! SPACE OPERA SERIES! 2. The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle) Yup, there's already an animated movie, but there was almost a live action one. It was rumored that it would star some of the same cast and everything. Angela Lansbury! Christopher Lee! I saw CGI tests online... and then something must have fallen through, because I haven't heard anything about it since around 2005. 3. The Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard (Arthur Conan Doyle) Period Comedy Adventure! This could be the next PotC, people. 4. X:Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga ( Chris Claremont and John Byrne) Grrrr....Only it's never going to happen now, because they wasted the decent setup Singer had going with that horrible terrible no-good very bad ...

Bone (Complete Series, Volumes 1-9, Scholastic Printing) Jeff Smith, (collected editions released 1995-2004,  colored editions released 2005-2009) I am one of a very small number of people who bought the Disney Adventures magazine in the mid-90's. (Yes, I was a teenager. I was still into all things Disney.) At the time, my favorite part were the comic snippets at the end. I saved the pages of Bone that were printed there for years. It took me way too long to get around to actually reading the whole thing. I found my excuse this month: a local comic shop had a huge sale, and I bought most of the series there, grabbing the rest on Amazon. Premise : Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone have been chased out of their hometown of Boneville, but they stumble into a valley where strange and wonderful creatures live. They quickly make both friends and enemies, but it soon becomes clear that there are factions in the valley with dark plans moving against the inhabitants, an...

This is Follow Friday, hosted by  Parajunkee's View Today's Question is: Do You Judge a Book by its Cover? Yes, much of the time. I mean, a poorly done cover isn't a guarantee I won't read the book, but if I'm in a store or the library, it means I probably won't pick it up. Online or on the Kindle Store, I more use cover art as a quick judge of genre if I'm not sorting by genre. For example, when I'm clicking through cheap or free books, I won't click on any romance or lit-fic looking covers.  For ebooks I'm more likely to buy/read based on the description than the cover, but I'll still judge the cover. If it looks like complete crap, that could be an indication of the quality of the writing, so it has to be a consideration.

No books I wanted enough to buy this week, although I do want to mention the new graphic novel collection for Star Trek: Khan - Ruling in Hell . It's in comic shops starting today, or you can pre-order it on Amazon. I have the issues, and it's a lovely miniseries. Issues below were new in stores on 4/6/11 Batman Beyond #4 Writer: Adam Beechen Pencils: Eduardo Pansica, Inker: Eber Ferreira I'm happy with my decision to drop this book, although this seemed to be an okay issue. For one thing, the regular artist was off this month! YAY! The art was so much better in this issue. More interesting, better facial expressions, more kinetic, just better. The characters are still awkward and poorly written, and I hate the connections to current DC continuity. Constantly name-checking things that are going on now, 2011, in DC books misses the entire point/opportunity of having a book set in the future. Did Not Purchase. Fear Itself #1 Writer: Matt Fraction, Artist: Stuart ...

The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us Tanya Lee Stone, 2010 I should mention something here at the top. I like Barbie dolls. I display the fancy Collector dolls on my shelves. I turn other Barbies into original characters , or pop culture characters , for display. However, I bought my first Barbie at age 23. My mother used to say that they promoted poor body image, and I accepted that... until I decided I wanted to make doll clothes, and started exploring them for myself. Now I think Barbies can be problematic, but they are too often used as a scapegoat. This is why occasionally you'll see me defending Barbies around the internet, and why I read this book. Premise: The history and culture surrounding the most famous doll in the world. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in this book. I guess I was hoping for something more in-depth. As a coffee table book it's fine: the pictures are very nice, and it's a good overview o...

This is Follow Friday, hosted by  Parajunkee's View Today's Question is: What is the book that you really don't want to admit to loving? Hmmm... I'm generally pretty open about the books I love, even the silly ones. I used to be embarrassed by still enjoying sword-and-sorcery novels like I read in high school, or what I affectionately call the  vampire porn  series, but now it seems silly not to just own my tastes. The Book Blogger Hop is hosted at Crazy-For-Books.com Today's Question is: "Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?" I'm not much of a prankster myself; I'm a terrible liar and I don't like hiding things. I witnessed a great number of pranks, both funny and not, when I worked at one particular theater several years ago. I think my favorite one might be the following:  At this theater there was a long st...