Every time I travel to a new city I look for smaller stores to shop at. Boston has plenty of comic book stores, bookstores, and smaller boutiques. Specifically, I visited Brattle Book Shop and Comicopia which by the way if you’re ever in Boston, Comicopia is the best comic book store on the East Coast. I bought plenty of books & comics to last me a while. Since my post was starting to get a little long, I’m going to do two separate posts one for my books and one for my comics. Here were the books I purchased at this classic outdoor bookstore.

Brattle Bookshop is one of the oldest bookstores in the U.S. When the weather is nice, books are displayed on racks and on the shelves in the above two pictures. There were huge shelves with one of those old-fashioned library ladders. There were two full floors of books and on the third floor were rare books. I didn’t purchase any rare books because some sets were close to $200 or more. The prices from this shop are incredibly fair as you can see that there are $1, $3, and $5 books outside. Here are my finds from Brattle Books:

Madhouse by Rob Thurman

This is one of the books I found on the $1 book rack. This book is the third book in the Cal Leandros series which I had never heard. Cal and Neko are half-human brothers who run their own paranormal detective agency in the Big Apple. A malevolent evil being is murdering humans at an alarming rate so Cal and Neko must kill it. Seems similar to the Dresden series which I like.

The Night Manager by John Le Carre

I’m a big fan of Tom Hiddleston’s role in the TV adaptation of this book. I have heard that the TV adaptation is better than the book, but I want to read the book and then re-watch The Night Manager. The Night Manager tells the story of Jonathon Pine working as a night manager at a prestigious hotel. When his former lover is brutally murdered at the hands of Richard Roper, a prominent man who cannot be touched by MI6, Pine goes undercover into Roper’s operations to bring justice to his fallen lover. I believe the Night Manager TV series is six episodes long and is on Amazon Prime.

Serpents in the Cold by Thomas O’Malley

This mystery book takes place in 1950’s Boston where a serial killer is on the prowl for the next victim. Mystery is my second favorite genre to read from because I enjoy the suspense leading up to uncovering the truth. After I finish a mystery book, I always feel like I’m on cloud nine because of knowing how the book ends which I didn’t know a couple hours before finishing the book.

H.P. Lovecraft’s Dunwich Horror

One of my favorite board games is Arkham Horror which is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s horror stories. This is a graphic novel take on some of his classic stories. Lovecraft’s stories are intriguing, but since they were written in the early 1900s, the language used can be dull and hard to interpret at times. This graphic novel makes that easier.

Griff by Christopher Moore and Ian Corson

My final purchase is this graphic novel for a decent price. I read the reviews for this graphic novel and apparently, other comic fans are saying it’s mediocre. I guess I will form my own opinion. The book takes place in NYC where an alien invasion is occurring. A couple New Yorkers are destined to fight back and take back their favorite city.

My book pile is growing bigger which is how I like it. I always like to have something new to read. My comic post will be posted soon enough because there’s a lot of cool stuff I bought I wanted to share. Also, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. Let’s be thankful for Veterans who have fought for so much to give us the rights we have.

This past week I watched The Avengers with my boyfriend to prepare for Infinity War. This movie has a special place in my heart because it helped me get into reading comics. I remember sitting in the theater being a senior in high school and preparing to go off to college that fall. I watched this movie and I was entranced by all of the characters with their backstories and how they worked together. I wanted to dedicate a full post as to how much this movie meant to me and how re-watching it gave me all the feelings.

As I mentioned, I was a senior in high school when this movie was released. Reflecting back to that time in my life, I was insecure. Insecure about my looks, my body, and who I was as a person. My uncle persuaded me, my brother, and my mom, to go to the theaters to watch this movie.

Everyone probably has their favorite Avenger. Most would say Iron Man or Captain America, but my favorite was Hawkeye. I had an obsession with Jeremy Renner for a couple years after the release of The Avengers. I still have two Jeremy Renner Hawkeye posters in my old bedroom at my mom’s house. Hawkeye is an ordinary human being who is forced into this alien invasion by Loki. He’s also the Avenger who I think is given the most crap because he uses a bow. However, his hand-to-hand combat skills are lethal especially when he’s paired with the Black Widow.

Also, can I just say one of the very first OTPs I had was Black Widow and Hawkeye. I have always wanted to know what the hell happened in Budapest!?!?!?!. I was shocked when Black Widow was paired with Hulk because it seemed odd to me. I feel bad for Hawkeye because I felt he really didn’t get the attention that he deserves in the Marvel universe and I know other fans agree with me.

I didn’t visit a comic book store until the summer of 2013 when I brought my ex-boyfriend to Mead Hall Comics & Games in Minneapolis. I bought a few single issues without really knowing what I was looking for. Now, I buy mostly trades because it’s difficult for me to keep up with single-issue comics. I wouldn’t have even started buying comics if it wasn’t for seeing The Avengers in the theaters.

To wrap up this post, I wanted to say how The Avengers has really transformed me into the geek girl I am today. It helped broaden my interests and put me deep into the Marvel Comics fandom. I’m excited to see where Marvel movies will head and I’m looking forward to reading more superhero comics and enjoying free comic book day this year.

One of the more recent books I read, The Postmortal by Drew Magary, had an interesting premise that made me think. In the book, there was a “cure” for aging discovered and almost everyone in this book received “The Cure”. They would stay the same age and their organs wouldn’t deteriorate. The planet changes as people are living way longer than they used to. The question is, if the cure existed where you wouldn’t age any longer, would you take it?

I don’t think I would want to receive “The Cure” for aging. I try and take care of my body so that as I age I’m able to use it for longer. In the book, the government eventually goes to extreme measures by sanctioning the killing of elderly people. There’s also a lot more divorce because people enter into what’s called a cycle marriage. Cycle marriages are contracts where each person says they want to be together for 40 years and then divorce to find someone else to marry. I would like to think the person I end up with will be by my side forever, not just as a placement holder.

For the record, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the book for a few reasons. The main character was annoying and the book moved too slowly for me. I will say I did like some of the themes the book presented as to whether or not we deserve the right to live forever. I look at Wolverine as another good example of this. He has lived through decades, but he isn’t happy because he has seen everyone he cares about perish while he has to suffer through his life. That’s not a life worth living.

Even though I didn’t like this book, it allowed me to be able to read something that I normally wouldn’t have. Let me know in the comments whether you would receive the cure for aging if it ever became available.

I have been having a fantastic day. I got off of work two hours early, cleaned the kitchen, and reviewed my health goals with my personal trainer/coach. With the newly available free time, I wanted to check into my Goodreads account and see how I’m doing with my 2018 reading challenge. I have been reading so many books & comics that I haven’t been able to post reviews as quickly as I have been reading, which is a good thing. This post is more, to sum up what I read that I hadn’t had a chance to review on this blog yet.

Good as Gone by Amy Gentry

CONTENT WARNING: Rape, sexual violence, and sexual assault. 

I randomly stumbled upon this book at Barnes & Noble. I included the content warning because there are some graphic scenes in this book.

Eight years ago, Julie was kidnapped out of her bedroom in Houston, Texas. On a random summer day her mother, Anna answers the door and sees an older Julie on her doorstep. Anna is overjoyed by the return of her daughter however, Anna starts to doubt Julie’s story. Out of the blue, a private investigator contacts Anna about his suspicions about Julie’s kidnapping. Julie’s story unravels and the reader is left to grapple with whether or not Julie is actually Julie and if she’s an imposter, what does she want with Anna?

I’m not going to spoil the book, but my major complaint was how the story was told. “Julie’s” story is told backward while Anna’s story is told moving forward. It made the story confusing and I felt I had to read back into the book to remember Julie’s story. I felt the book kept me on the edge of my seat without really knowing what would happen. I ended up giving it three stars on Goodreads.

Moonstruck Issue #3 by Grace Ellis & Shae Beagle

Image Comics is a powerhouse company with some of my favorite comics including Papergirls, Nailbiter, and Sex Criminals. It features magical creatures, fancy coffee drinks, and female friendships. Chet is a centaur who lost her legs in a magic show, can Julie return them and defeat the magician? Honestly one of the best comic series I have read, I gave this Five stars on Goodreads.

Manhunter Volume #1

Kate Spencer is a hard-assed, cigarette-smoking, attorney. She is angry when a criminal she’s prosecuting gets let back into the city. She steals weapons from a police locker and takes on the mantle of Manhunter. Think Daredevil, but the DC Comics version. This came out in 2005, so it does feel a bit dated, but it didn’t bother me when I read it. I gave this four stars on Goodreads and I do intend to buy the other volumes.

Rogue One Book Adaptation by Alexander Freed

I don’t know what I was expecting, but this read exactly how it plays in the movie. I did like that parts of the book were told from the perspective of Bodhi, Cassian, and KTSO. Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film. I would recommend this if you love Rogue One as much as I do. I gave this three stars on Goodreads.

I have read eleven books out of my challenge to read twenty. I mentioned this in another blog post, but I always start my Goodreads challenge at ten and I increase it every time I meet that goal. That way instead of feeling defeated because I didn’t read as much as I wanted to, I get encouraged because I can increase my goal if needed. Let me know what you’re currently reading in the comments below!

As I was updating my Goodreads account with everything I had been reading in 2018, this dawned on me. I had been entering the trade paperbacks and comics I had been reading as “books” for this year. I figured if you can read something, it could count as a book. I absolutely adore Goodreads because it keeps my online bookshelf organized and I can follow my favorite book vloggers and see what they shelve. I’m not sure if there’s something that’s like Goodreads, but for comics. If there is a site that exists, I should create an account to keep my comics separate from my books. For now, I have been putting my comics under my books. Is this appropriate?

To answer this question, I decided to look up the definition of a book. Here are a couple that I found:

Book

/book/

noun 

1. A written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers.
2. A work of fiction or nonfiction in an electronic format
3. A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers.
4.  A printed or written literary work

It’s interesting how the definition of a “book” has been modified over the years. With the internet, eBooks have had to be written into the definition of a book since that didn’t exist 30-40 years ago. Looking at the above definitions, it seems like a comic would be a book. Technically it’s a printed work with images and they are put together, probably not sewn.

Let’s take a look at the definition of a comic then and see what the difference is:

Comicbook

noun 

1. a magazine that presents a serialized story in the form of a comic strip, typically featuring the adventures of a superhero.
2. A magazine containing sequences of comic strips
3. of or relating to or marked by comedy (definition of a comic)
4. of or relating to comic strips

The definition of a comic versus a book is slightly different. Notice how comics are described as magazines. You can still “read” a magazine so does that mean a comic is a book?

I personally have no problem listing my comics on Goodreads. It helps me remember series I want to keep up with and since I have no idea if there’s a site specifically for comics, it helps to have everything in the same place. Should comics be classified as books?

I discover new books mostly from other book bloggers. They give me first-hand knowledge about new books to read that peak my interest. I have been reading Super Space Chick’s blog ever since Kristin appeared on Syfy’s Fangasm TV series. Her blog gives me book inspiration and whenever she posts a review, I always read it. This book sounded good and even though I never read a book by Marie Lu, I knew she had written other successful series. Warcross was everything I wanted it to be and more. It featured a fantastic female heroine, diversity among the characters, and a shocking twist I hadn’t seen coming. I will keep this review spoiler-free because I want everyone to know this book exists.

Warcross is a successful virtual reality game almost every gamer plays around the world. Emika Chen is one female gamer who plays Warcross in between her work as a bounty hunter in NYC. During the Warcross Championships, Emika accidentally hacks into the gameplay. Instead of being arrested, she’s flown to Tokyo to meet Hideo Tanaka, the designer, and creator of Warcross. He offers Emika a job for a bounty on a mysterious hacker named “Zero” who is interfering with the championships. Emika must use her skills as a hacker and as a gamer to identify Zero and prevent major consequences for the Warcross empire.

Emika Chen is probably one of my favorite female characters in a book. Without giving spoilers, she’s someone who won’t sacrifice her values for the sake of someone else.  A lot of female characters will abandon a part of themselves for someone they care about, and Emika doesn’t do that. She has rainbow-colored hair and a sleeve of tattoos which makes her appearance unique.

The ending though, holy shit. I read the last 20 pages and I thought I knew how this book would end, but I was wrong. I like not being able to predict how a book will end.

One criticism I have been seeing with this book is that it’s too similar to Ready Player One. My counter-argument is Ready Player One takes place in a dystopian society? I don’t know for sure, I haven’t read the book. Warcross takes place in a future society still in the U.S. and I wouldn’t put it in the category of being a “dystopian novel”.

I wanted to end my review with a quote from Marie Lu which can be found in the acknowledgments section of Warcross: To all the Gamer Girls out there, you inspired this.

Finishing a trilogy is always bittersweet. You get sucked into this world while getting to know every character. The Steelheart trilogy is still one of my all-time favorite book series I have read to date. I was super excited to read this book because I wanted to know how this series would end. Would David and Megan end up together? Would David be able to save Prof while unlocking the answers to Epics? Unfortunately, I felt I was left with more questions than answers and I expected the book to conclude everything with a neat bow, but I was wrong. I will try and keep my review spoiler free, but there will be spoilers for the other books in the series. It’s best to avoid this review if you plan on reading this trilogy, which you should.

Briefly recapping the Steelheart trilogy; this version of the United States is home to beings titled Epics. Epics have superpowers that they received when a red star in the sky arose called Calamity. These Epics are almost always evil and David Charleston has made it his mission to end them and restore humanity to what it was before Calamity rose into the sky. David teams up with the old team (Abraham, Cody, Megan, and Mizzy) to invade Knighthawk, an intelligent inventor who once knew Prof before he turned into his evil epic form. This plan goes to shit when David and his team are caught by Knighthawk. Ultimately, he invites them into his bunker and tells stories of his time knowing Prof.

Based on intel provided by Knighthawk, David & the Reckoner’s head to Idithia otherwise known as Atlanta. I will say out of all the places the team could end up, this was my least favorite world. It was a world made of salt which is bland considering the other places Brandon Sanderson envisioned in the previous novels.

David and Prof do go into a big fight at the end of the book which is a little too long. The plot twist behind “Calamity” surprised me, but still left me confused. I’m left with many more questions about why Calamity exists and where this “star” came from. I wish I would have more answers instead of coming up with my own theory.

There is a touching scene with David on the very last page of the book that was rather heartwarming. I am not going into detail on what happened because I do want to keep this mostly spoiler free. I did write a very detailed review on my Goodreads page, so check that out if you want more spoilers.

Overall, I liked the book, but I felt let down. I think this book had a slower pace than the other books in the series. I’m not going to let my opinion of this book ruin how I feel about the series as a whole. As much as I’m going to miss the world in Steelheart, I’m looking forward to decreasing my book pile in my bedroom. There’s so much to read and so little time to do so.

Firefight is a rarity in trilogies in the sense that it was better than the first novel Steelheart. The best way I can describe the Steelheart series is if the X-Men existed, but everyone with mutant powers is evil. Steelheart tells the story of David’s revenge on Steelheart while Firefight reveals more about where Epics came from and why they exist.

Firefight takes place immediately after the events of the first book. David Charleston is lost, he spent his entire life preparing for Steelheart’s demise, but when it actually occurs, he doesn’t know what to do now. In the meantime, the Reckoners have been hunting Epics coming to Newcago. Prof has his suspicions that these epics are being sent to kill the team since all of the epics originated from Babylon Restored (formerly known as Manhatten). Prof, David, and Tia go to Babylon to team up with another Reckoner’s cell to fight a common enemy, Regalia who has ultimate power over the seas. Will David be able to stop her from destroying the city?

New characters are introduced to help David battle Regalia. There’s Excel, a former mortician. Val who’s edgy and mysterious and Missouri who’s fun and upbeat. Missouri is my favorite character introduced because she reminds me of me. I’m usually a pretty positive person no matter what the circumstance is and so is she. 

Babylon Restored is such an intricate and beautiful city compared to Newcago. Most of the former NYC is underwater with the buildings being spray painted in luminous colors. The citizen’s party into the hours of the night because they don’t know if Regalia will kill them now or later. The atmosphere is very different from Newcago, but I like it way more.

I like Megan and David’s relationship and how it evolved from the first book. Their relationship is much more complicated in this book and I don’t want to say why because that would be a huge spoiler. 

Regalia’s final plan was not what I was expecting. I don’t want to detail the plan, but I promise all readers will be surprised. Also, there’s a secret about Regalia and who she actually is. 

This book gave me the feels and I can’t wait to read Calamity.

Every year I participate in Perpetual Page Turner’s Annual End of Year Book Survey. You can find my 2016 recap here: End of Year Book Survey 2016. I like being able to recap what I read while also looking ahead to 2018. This year, I found myself reading more comics than books. I do love my comics, but in 2018 I want to read more books. I started the year strong, but graduating from college, moving to the cities, and starting my new job kept me from reading. Since I now have stability, I’m hoping to make reading a priority next year. I recommend any bookworm to fill out this survey because it’s incredibly detailed. I also ended up cutting out questions I didn’t have an answer for to keep this post from getting too long. Here are my answers:

Number Of Books You Read: 46
Number of Re-Reads: 2 < This is really great for me because I usually never do re-reads. 
Genre You Read The Most From: Comics & Graphic Novels

1. Best Book You Read In 2017?

I nominated this book because it was thrilling and one of those books I ended up finishing in 5-6 hours. Five boys went hunting and only four returned. The murder of Grant seems to be an accidental shooting, or is it? Kate Marino is determined to uncover the truth of the shooting that day in the woods. This is one of the best mystery books I have read.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

I thought I would enjoy this a lot more, but I thought it was okay. Granted I’m not a huge Black Widow fan so I think that’s why I didn’t really enjoy it. If you are a fan of the character, I think you will enjoy this series. Personally, wasn’t my favorite.

3. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

I usually don’t read nonfiction, but this book caught my eye at Barnes & Noble. Andrea & Sophie were two teenage girls enrolled in a coding class in NY. They created a game titled Tampon Run to help alleviate the stigma behind periods. This book detailed their process of learning how to code the game. I have always been intrigued with code and I liked how they used their final project to bring awareness to a huge issue.

 4. Book You Read In 2017 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

I nominated Geekerella by Ashley Poston. Any woman who identifies as a geek should read this book. It’s a geek girl re-telling of Cinderella and in many ways, I identify with Elle and her obsession with her favorite TV show. This book is so endearing.

5. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2017?

I’m nominating Geekerella again for this award. What’s cooler than a princess leaning up against a food truck? Absolutely nothing.

6. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

David Charleston & Megan from the Steelheart series by Brandon Sanderson. Every time I talk about books, I bring up this series. Seriously, this is my favorite book series I have read in a while. I’m currently reading Calamity the third book in the trilogy and I’ll genuinely be sad once I finish it.

7. Best Comic Book Series in 2017 < I added this question it doesn’t appear in the original book survey

I cannot narrow it down so I nominate these series as any comic book fan should read them.

1. Paper Girls (Image Comics)
2. Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur (Marvel Comics)
3. Cassian & KTSO One Shot (Marvel Comics)
4. DC’s Rebirth (DC Comics)
5. Moonstruck (Image Comics)

8. Worst Book Read in 2017 < I added this question because it doesn’t appear in the original book survey. 

Killing Kate by Julie Kramer. This book was so boring, as I mentioned I do love a good mystery book, but I struggled so heavily getting through this book. It was somewhat depressing. Plus this book took place in Minnesota which made me more intrigued to read it.

9. Worst Comic Book of 2017 < I added this question because it doesn’t appear in the original book survey. 

I’m tied between Moonshine shown above and an Iron Fist comic book I borrowed from the library. Moonshine wasn’t something that kept my interest. Maybe I’m biased, but I’m not a fan of Iron Fist as a character. I think this comes from the fact that I’m not a fan of the Iron Fist TV show, but I was hoping to be impressed with the comic book instead and I wasn’t.

10. Favorite review that you wrote in 2017?

My Dietland Review is my favorite review of 2017. I liked that I reviewed the book and talked about an important topic which is not assuming someone’s health status based on their weight. I was watching a series of videos from a vlogger and she was so toxic with saying that “fat acceptance” is promoting obesity. That’s not the case at all. It’s just saying you’re allowed to feel proud of your body even if it’s not where you want it to be. The diet industry can be toxic and Dietland is a book that discusses this in detail.

11. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

I didn’t participate in anything book related, but I did attend three comic conventions where creators were selling comics. I brought around $80 of spending money so I could buy as many comics from creators as I could.

12. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

My biggest challenge with reading is fitting it in. I usually would read before bed, but I ended up being too tired and falling asleep before reading my book. Now I make a point to set a time to go to my bedroom and read before I get so tired that all I can think about is sleep.

13.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Absolutely! I always set my good reads goal at 10 books and increase it every time I finish a book. Instead of feeling disappointed at the end of the year, I’m elated because I increased my goal each time I hit it.

14. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2017 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2018?

I don’t have a specific book, but my bookshelf is overflowing with books I bought and haven’t read yet. I have even banned buying any more books until I read what I already have. That’s what I’m looking forward to in 2017.

15. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2018?

Making reading a priority again. This year wasn’t my strongest reading year because of so many big life changes occurring in a short amount of time. I have been bringing a book to work to read on my break and that helps me fit in reading.

 

Yay, I’m finally writing a book review! I used to write book reviews quite frequently on this blog, but somehow I have gotten away from that. I think it’s because I’m finishing books at a slower rate due to my chaotic work week. Normally, I never do re-reads of books, but I made an exception with the Steelheart series by Brandon Sanderson. This series is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi trilogies! Six months ago, I bought the last book in the Steelheart series titled Calamity. It was collecting dust on my bookshelf which led me to just re-read the series once again to be more in the mood to finish Calamity. If you haven’t touched this book series yet, you are missing out on one epic sci-fi adventure.

Imagine a world where X-Men exist, but they are evil. In Steelheart, the mutants are called Epics born out of the rise of a bright orange star called Calamity. Once this star rose into the night sky, humans were given powers. David Charleston as a young boy witnesses his father murdered by a high epic known as Steelheart. Every epic has a weakness that can be used to destroy them. Steelheart’s weakness is unknown which makes him more powerful. David ultimately joins the Reckoners, a group of humans whose ultimate goal is to end the Epics and encourage the human race to fight back. This book details David’s taste of revenge to burn Steelheart along with his work alongside the Reckoners.

David as a character is just a cute, nerdy kid. He’s incredibly smart at detecting the weakness of epics. He’s also fearless; he puts his life on the line multiple times to get more information or to save a team member. Steelheart is absolutely brutal in his rule over the city of New Cago aka. Chicago. He’s the ultimate foe and it’s so satisfying to read about David and Steelheart’s showdown in the last couple of chapters of the book.

Besides David, the Reckoner’s team are great side characters. Megan is the one who puts herself at risk. Tia is the genius who constantly is chugging Coca-Cola. Prof is stoic, cold yet caring. Abraham is the weapons expert while Cody brings the humor with a mix of a Scottish / Southern accent.

There are multiple twists in this book I didn’t see coming. Re-reading the book was more enjoyable this time because I could pick up certain clues to lead to the twist at the end. I’m not going to spoil anything because it’s worth reading about for the first time.

Steelheart blew me away with its story, setting, and character development. This series is great for any comic book fan because I felt a lot of correlation between the X-Men comic book characters. Now, onto re-reading Firefight.