3 audiobooks, Rouge by Mona Awad (twice) and lots of comics!
November felt more on track for reading but I’ve not had much to show for it on the blog since one book I’ve read twice ahead of a full review with analysis, and two others are Murderbots I’m storing up to review the whole series! And then the rest was all comic books!
3 Audiobooks and 1 e-Book (almost) twice!
Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars
Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells – ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 Stars
As as I said last month, I’m still loving this series but I want to wait to finish them all before I write up a review. I did really enjoy the novel length Network Effect quite a bit!
Rouge by Mona Awad (x2) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars
Yes, I finally read it! And then I decided to read it again right away to look for clues, collect references, and grab lots of quotes so I could write a full-length review and analysis! I don’t know how long that’ll take me to get around to, but it is in the works!
The Woman Who Lied by Claire Douglas – ⭐⭐ 2/5 Stars
This was an audiobook and I didn’t love it, I don’t think Claire Douglas is for me. I found a lot of the same issues in this as I did in Then She Vanishes.
Comic books
November was a tough month for a variety of reasons, and on top of that the US election reason has me avoiding social media so I’ve been replacing scrolling time with reading Marvel Unlimited! I’ve really managed to power through New Avengers, and back to Jessica Jones.
This is what I’ve read as they are collected into the trade paperbacks. The links are to Goodreads.
1. The New Avengers (2010), Vol. 3 (Hardcover) : For some reason Marvel decided to recycle the exact same plot from the Siege/Dark Reign event!
After barely any time in jail, Norman Osborne is back again thanks to his Goblin/H.A.M.M.E.R. cult and he again puts together a team of villains dressed up like Avengers! This time with a Hulk (Skaar) and clone of Thor, and somehow Osborne has super strength and flight. So again he manipulated the media so the world turned on the New Avengers and again Jessica leaves with the baby! Why are we repeating this? I was bored of this story the first time around! I am particularly sick of Norman Osborne at this point! I am very frustrated but the writing is good, and I still enjoy this group of characters together.. I just really really want them to get to do something else for a change!!
2. The New Avengers (2010), Vol. 4: This whole volume is tie-ins for the AvX event which I’ve not read which as a collection makes it disjointed, and I had no idea what was happening between issues. Nothing that happens in this collection seems important or was even interesting. The only event of note was Luke deciding at the end to leave the team, and I don’t blame the Cages for dipping out this series has been in a rut for a while and I’m looking forward to it ending at this point.
3. The New Avengers (2010), Vol. 5: Well at least it’s over. This felt like re-treading the same ground again! Brother Voodoo wants revenge for Doctor Voodoo sacrificing himself to save the world and does this by possessing everyone. The plot hits familiar beats along the way – Hill wants to arrest everyone, Strange tells everyone to get out and nobody listens, and possessed heroes fight heroes for a bit.
There is also some very ugly art, in my opinion. It bothered me no end that Carol’s hair changed from long to the mohawk crop between issues which are set immediately after each other. Did she pop out for a hair cut in the middle of a stand off?!
In the end Strange is Sorcerer Supreme again, and Luke and Jessica have officially left the team.
The only thing to recommend this 2010 run of New Avengers was the cute stuff with them and Doreen becoming their baby sitting. I also enjoyed Daredevil on the team. The rest of the story was an unsatisfying repeat of what came before.
4. Deadpool (2012) #11: I read issue this because Marvel Unlimited had it tagged for Jessica Jones, she’s very briefly in it but still reading a Deadpool issue is a lot of fun! It’s been a long time since I last read any of his titles and this was great – I loved the fight with Daredevil! I might check back to this arc!
5. Jessica Jones (2016) (Issues #1-18): I read the whole run and you can read a review post of my thoughts here! I loved it, it felt like a (slightly more PG) return to Alias.
I’m reading The Defenders (2010) run, which crosses over into the Jessica Jones (2010) one, and then I’ll probably check out the Kelly Thompson digital original Jessica Jones series.
Currently reading
Now I’ve got Murderbot #7 on audio, and I’ve almost finished my second (closer) reading of Rouge.
Adding to TBR
The only eBook I’ve bought is Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa (translated by Alison Watts). I saw it recommended somewhere (maybe BookTube), it sounds like a sweet Japanese story and it was only 99p!
Book Tag/TTT!
I’m really loving joining in with Top Ten Tuesday! I’ve now added a category to my blog for these posts to make them easier to find. It is a really fun way to find new blogs and potential book friends.
- 10 Creatures on the Cover
- 10 Books With A Place in the Title
- The 10 Oldest Books I Want to Read
- 10 Books That Got Me Excited to Read Again
TBR Pulls
Right now I have 48 books waiting on my Kindle in my “to read” collection! Each month I browse through and pick the 3 that are calling to me most.
Last time I thought I might read some Atwood for Margaret Atwood Reading Month, but then I read Rouge and decided to immediately read it again so that took up most of the month! But Mona Awad is also Canadian and writes darkly comic satirical fiction, so I feel I least stayed within the spirit of Margaret Atwood (OMG, they’re both M.A too!).
I don’t know what reading mood will strike in December, but right now these are the three!
Snow Song by Sally Gardner
Women imprisoned by superstition, chained by guilt.
Perched on a mountain in a land of ancient forests is a village, rife with secrets. Cut off from the outside world it is run by the elders, men to whom tradition is all.
Edith lives alone with her alcoholic father who is forcing her to marry the village butcher. But she is in love with a shepherd who promised to return to her.
As the village becomes isolated in a sea of snow, Edith loses her power of speech. And it is this enchantment that will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Edith but for the whole village.
I’ve had this for ages but all the snow recently made me think of it again, and it might be time to finally read it.
The Robber Bridge by Margaret Atwood
Zenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless; a man’s dream and a woman”s nightmare. She is also dead. Just to make sure Tony, Roz andd Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share an indulgent, sisterly lunch, the unthinkable happens; ‘with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation’, Zenia is back…
Still on the list from last month, I would like to read one Margaret Atwood before the year ends, since I failed last month!
Babylons Ashes (The Expanse #6) by James S.A. Corey
A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.
The Free Navy – a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships – has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.
James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.
But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante‘s problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.
It’s been too long since I last read this series, I really want to get back to it and finish it!
What books are you excited to read at the moment?
Hah! That’s funny about their even having the same initials. I really enjoyed Mona Awad’s linked story collection and felt it was worth rereading too, to see all the interconnections between the stories (very different tone from Rouge though). If you have The Blind Assassin in your stack, a couple of MARMers are planning to read that one next November (I’m guessing at least one person will be adding Burning Questions to their stack for next November too.) Enjoy your December reading!
I need to seek out more Awad. I’ve been in love with Bunny and All’s Well. I didn’t think Rogue is as strong as those but I still really enjoy her writing.
Thank you!