The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

For anyone who missed our holiday experiment: Mainlining Christmas For your consideration: I present this FREE ebook, containing a series of cynical seasonal shorts. Download at Smashwords , or from Erin's website . Contains five short Christmas-themed stories Of course by Christmas-themed, I mean horror, suspense, tragedy and dark magic. Cover, editing and formatting by yours truly.  Enjoy!

I feel that this should be a person I've read more than one book by, so I won't say Stephenie Meyer, or Audrey Niffenegger, both of whom wrote books I didn't like. I want to think of someone I kept giving a chance to, and they kept letting me down. I might have to nominate Laurell K. Hamilton, because I've read and enjoyed many of her books, but there have been plenty of books by her that are nothing but inconsistency and failure. Her relationship with criticism is just weird, I think editors stopped editing her work, and nothing gets proofed before print. That all makes me crazy. Another possibility is David Weber. I have loved a lot of his books, but the more I read, the more disappointed I became in the way he's started to just pump out endless numbers of useless volumes. James Patterson I've only tried once, but once was more than enough. Really any of them qualify for this answer. More information and the schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

So one thing I did this year was really get into comic books. I've been into specific titles off and on before (Buffy, Mouse Guard), and collected graphic novels for a long time, but this is the most in-depth week-to-week I've personally been. Last weekend I posted my 2010 books retrospective , but I was inspired this week to write a comics retrospective as well. Bear in mind, I didn't really get into collecting issues until well into the year, I may have missed some great stuff early on. Favorite Cover: The Last Unicorn #1 This made me dance with happiness in the store. It's so gorgeous, and thick with detail. It captures the whole story. Here: I'll post it upside down as well so you can really see the other half. Favorite Ongoing: American Vampire To the surprise of no one who reads this blog, my favorite book this year, part of why I got back into collecting issues, is American Vampire . Come on, it's got history, and action, and bad-...

Currently? Lois McMaster Bujold, for consistent joy, Laurie R. King, for style, Raymond Chandler, for flair, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for vision. More information and the schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

This was a pretty poor week for comics, not much I was interested in came out.  Also, Diamond's website led me astray on what to expect from IDW this week, and I was sadly disappointed. Favorite Issue This Week: Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers #2, but it's only the best of two mediocre books Tomorrow I'll post my Comics 2010 look back with more favorites. Batman Beyond #1 Writer: Adam Beechen, Pencils: Ryan Benjamin Inker: John Stanisci Sigh... I broke down and picked this up because a book I really wanted wasn't out this week. There are good moments, but so many missteps in the writing and clumsiness in the art.  Poor choices in layout.  Moments filled with dialogue that would be better served with silence.  The tone just overall bothers me.  The cover by Dustin Nguyen is quite nice, though. Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers #2 Writer: Ian Brill Artist: Leonel Castellani, Colorist: Jake Myler This issue was not as good as the first one.  The...

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King. It was just awful, a complete waste of time and paper. I chose this one because I feel that it's worse to read a bad book by an author you otherwise love. Reading a terrible book by a author you don't know isn't as bad of an experience. Introduction and information about the Reading Meme Here .

No Fair. There's just no choosing. Ask me again in a year and you might just get a completely different answer. Today, though, I'll choose The Last Unicorn . It's lovely start to finish, but also feels like lightning in a bottle. What I mean is: the story flirts with meta storytelling, plays with different tones and purposeful anachronisms, and generally seems like it shouldn't work, but it somehow does. Honorable Mention: Watership Down ( Review ), The King of Elfland's Daughter (Review) Introduction and information about the Reading Meme Here .