The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Favorite Book This Week: Huh. All the books had highs and lows this week. Favorite Writing: American Vampire. Favorite Art: Justice League Dark. All Issues new in stores on 9/28/11 American Vampire #19 Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Jordi Bernet, Colors: Dave McCaig Darn, this issue was not as good as I was hoping it would be. It has some very strong bits of dialogue, although I think adding extended early history between Skinner and Book at the very start of the issue is unecessary and just clogs up the story. Once the plot gets going it gets pretty good, but I really dislike Bernet's art. The cover is pretty, but totally misleading for what's inside. The final splash page, in particular, is awful. I mean, maybe they're trying to evoke a sort of oldfashioned cartooning style, but it doesn't match anything, even in this issue, and I just think it takes a moment that should be scary and awesome and makes it WTF? Avengers Academy #19 Writer: Christos Gage...

Elric: The Stealer of Souls Michael Moorcock, collection published 2008  (Stories originally published between 1961-1965) Moorcock is one of those authors that as a fantasy fan, I know I was 'supposed' to have read. Somehow I had missed him until recently, so when I saw this book on the used shelf at The Strand , I decided it was time. Premise: This volume collects the first stories written about Moorcock's angtsy albino anti-hero: Elric, Last Prince of Melniboné. He was hugely influential for many modern fantasy writers, and a lot of  darker anti-heroes have their genesis in these tales. In this book, we follow Elric through several loosely connected adventures, then the second half of the book is four novellas that fit together into a full story that expands the sweep of the character and the world. First off, the cover is fairly silly, but the internal illustrations are quite nice. It took me a little time to be drawn into this world, but I expect tha...

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy Welcome to the Third and Final part of Fellowship of the Ring. Part One   Part Two I'll respond to a few of the discussion suggestions below, but first, another anecdote: Once upon a time, in 1999, in the lands known as Massachusetts, there was a shiny new college student who lived in a dorm. Many such students lived in single rooms in this dorm, and the halls were filled with bright decorations. One day this particular student was walking with some new friends, and they went one floor higher than they normally did, to stop at one particular door. On a piece of white paper, mounted on this door, was printed: Pedo Mellon a Minno. The student who lived behind this door asked if the others remembered the phrase, and joked that they had to know the password, which, of course, was "Friend". The new student thought this was marvelous, because while she loved Lord of the Rings, she h...

This is Follow Friday, hosted by  Parajunkee's View  and  Alison Can Read Today's Question is: Q. Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it? Anyone who's been around here for a while knows my answer to this. I own Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga in both print and ebook. Recently I've been making my way through at least 12 out of the 14 books (plus short stories) every 8-10 months or so. I love this series not only because it's well written, exciting, moving, and extremely fun, but because every time I read them, I notice new things. I normally read very quickly, so with books that can take the scrutiny, re-reading can be very enjoyable for me, as I pick up on subtle details and turns of phrase that I missed the first time. Also, as time has passed I become obsessed with different parts of the series. I mentioned in a recent post that Memory , a book in th...

Favorite Issue this week: Supergirl #1 (Close run with TMNT, Batman and Darkwing Duck, though) All books were new in stores on 9/21/11 Batman #1 Writer: Scott Snyder, Penciller: Greg Capullo, Inker: Jonathan Glapion, Colors: FCO Plascencia I was actually won over on this one by the art, more than the writing. Yeah, with the twist in the first sequence the writing was pretty awesome. (The ending twist is silly.) But what I really enjoyed was the tone set by a Batsuit with a bit of an old-fahioned touch, combined with "cute" style Bruce. Also, despite my eternal love for the ladies of Gotham, a panel that highlights the clannishness of Bruce and his troop of sons always makes me smile. Cloak and Dagger #2 Writer: Nick Spencer, Artist: Emma Rios, Colorist: Javier Rodriguez Not quite as much fun as Issue #1, but still a beautiful, haunting book. Technically a Spider-Island tie-in, but you can read this mini-series alone. It's got real style. Darkwing Duc...

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at  The Broke and The Bookish This Week's Prompt: Top Ten Books It Feels Like Everyone Has Read But Me Let's See... 1: The Hunger Games is in the category of "Books I'll pick up one of these days if I see an available copy at the library and I don't have anything else I want to get and I'm all caught up with my other reading." I just don't feel the need to go out of my way. 2: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo  I heard a little about this book and shrugged, then I heard a little more and got interested, and then a little more, and it went back into the "maybe, eventually" category. 3: The sequels to Twilight I read the first one so that I could criticize it fairly, but I am not subjecting my brain to the rest. 4: A Feast For Crows/A Dance With Dragons Nope. Not enough hours in the day to read another of these doorstoppers. Not going back to this series unless I hear that it ended and the ending wa...

The Rogue (The Traitor Spy Trilogy, Book Two) Trudi Canavan, 2011 Recent Release, Copy Provided by NetGalley Premise: Sequel to The Ambassador's Mission (review here) . Lorkin is adjusting to life among the so-called Traitors, trying to find a way to trade for new magical techniques without falling afoul of the faction who wants him killed. Back in Kyralia, Sonea worries about her son, but her hands are full tracking the unknown Rogue magician and dealing with two novices who stumble into dangerous knowledge. Meanwhile, Ambassador Dannyl continues his search for the lost history of magic. I continue to really enjoy this series, but I don't think it's amazing, just solidly good. In this volume, everyone is distracted by potential romantic complications, either old flames or new love. I think my favorite plot thread was the one about a pair of new characters: the novices Lilia and Navi. Lilia gets a lot more trouble than she bargined for when she becomes infat...