WEEKEND LIBRARY READING is a feature of Reading In Winter! If YOU make use of your local library, feel free to participate. I work in a library that has a HUGE selection of awesome books, and even when I’m not working I seem to come home with a TON of them, so it only makes sense to showcase some of the beauties I plan to read from my local library over a weekend.
This week was a little more succesful with my library book reading, though I still am trudging through The Taker. Don’t get me wrong — I’m totally enjoying it. I think part of me thought it’d be a little YA book, but it’s a lot longer than I anticipated. I’m still hooked on the graphic novels and branching out into more manga. I promise that soon I’ll have more non-picture books. :)
Here’s what I got last week:
My thoughts:
Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom (Deathnote, #1) by Tsugumi Ohba
Since I didn’t like my choice of manga from last week I was a little reluctant to start this week’s. I figured that maybe manga just wasn’t my thing (as a side note, I always say ‘man-ja’ not ‘man-ga’ — clearly I’m out of the loop.). However, Kelsey over at Kelsey’s Cluttered Bookshelf recommended this one, so I thought I’d give it a go. And it was great! It might have been a little too simple and predictable, but it was still a really fun read that had me wanting to keep going until the end. I liked it so much that I have already requested the second volume from the library. It actually made me think of all those Japanese-made-American movies, like The Grudge, or something, since the whole premise is that you can write the name of someone in a notebook and they’ll die. But this has a bit of a superhero, God-thirsty slant. I’m hooked!
Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, illustrated by HyeKyung Baek (The Infernal Devices – Manga, #1 and #2)
Now, I really loved the Infernal Devices series. I probably enjoyed it more than The Mortal Instruments which I gushed over for weeks on end after finishing. When it came to the manga books, however, I wasn’t the biggest fan. It did have its merits, since a Cassandra Clare book is close to 600 pages, but these are just over 300. With pictures. It was kind of a great way to remind myself of the story I loved so much without having to devote hours upon hours to actually reading all the detail Clare puts in her books. The thing that kind of irked me with this series is the pictures. I felt like there wasn’t a lot of variation with the characters as the images progressed, AND there was some wonky bits where the characters were drawn like little kid versions of themselves, which was just weird. I’ll still pick up Clockwork Princess when it comes in to the library, but like I said, the original long-form version of this story will still remain my favourite.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
I had been on the lookout for more memoir, true story graphic novels and this one popped out at me. Since I had liked Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis book, I was drawn in by the comparison. This one was okay, I guess. I liked parts of the storyline, but right when I felt like the story would be about one thing, it changed, and it focused more on the sexuality of Bechdel than her upbringing. I thought that the parallels between Alison and her father were interesting, but at times it felt like Bechdel was just trying to use big words. There were a few sentences I had to read over again because all of a sudden it was like she was showing how educated she was, whereas I was just looking for a good story. I know. That sounds so petty. Along with the big words, there were so many references to literature that I felt like the story was dragged down. Yeah, you’ve read Proust and love Joyce. I get it. Can we move on? I know lots of people love this one and think that it’s brilliant, but it was just kind of mediocre to me.
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NOW … onto this week’s books!
1. The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston was a book I found when I was trying to find more books like Chopsticks. I kind of love the idea of books that aren’t quite graphic novels, but not quite novels. Something told scrapbook, picture-style is just really appealing. This one is based in the 1920′s so I’m really looking forward to it!
2. Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants by Matthew Inman (a.k.a. The Oatmeal) is another one of those laugh-out-loud books that I really hope I like. I’ve read three other Oatmeal books AND I love the webpage, so this one should be pretty good.
3. American Vampire, Volume 1 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, and Stephen King is another one of those graphic novels that everyone is giving a super high rating to. I actually haven’t read a lot of vampire books recently (mainly because they were waaaay overdone once Twilight turned into a hit) so I’m looking forward to giving this one a whirl. It’s also kind of a horror book, which I love. Will I be scared? We’ll see!
A little lighter this week, but I just can’t stop requesting books! It’s great to be loving the library again. :) Other than that, I think it’s supposed to be warm this weekend, but the little one and I will probably just relax inside. We tend to go out all week and socialize, so our weekends are spent hibernating. I can’t wait for the snow to melt!
Have you read these books? What are your weekend plans?
