This past week I saw a tweet that had been passed around in which the question was “how do you read so many books?” and the response was “I avoid all other responsibilities.” For as humorous as it is and how much I’d love for that to be true, everyone has responsibilities, so my waking hours aren’t spent solely on reading (however glorious that would be), but I do try to squeeze in every opportunity to read that I can.
Plus, it’s summer! Reading is basically a requirement which means there were a lot of fabulous books for July some of which I’ve already discussed this month in other posts and on my Instagram account. Which ones were the hottest for the hottest month of the year???
Salt Magic by Hope Larson
The Weirn Books, Vol. 1: Be Wary of the Silent Woods by Svetlana Chmakova
There will always be the diamonds in the rough, there will also be plenty of average books when you read a lot. So it feels special when in a weekend, you get a few five-star books.
This retelling of the Medusa myth was a book I read in one sitting. Partly because the storytelling was engrossing as was the bittersweet romance between Perseus and the isolated Medusa and the unique addition of illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill. Without giving too much away, Burton turns the myth around and encourages deep thought about the cruelty of the gods but also about our pasts.
This is Ogle’s third memoir, the first Free Lunch was groundbreaking, the second was equally heartbreaking and hopeful, and this third one is groundbreaking, heartbreaking, hopeful, and gut wrenching. As tweeted minutes after finishing the book, of the thousands of books I’ve read I can still only count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried while reading. This is one of them by the time I got to the last page in which Ogle’s command of verse and his lived experiences collide to express the deep gratitude he has for his abuela.
I will continue to think about the book long after I’ve finished it. And thank you go Ogle for being as open and forthright about his experiences for this audience.
How did I miss this superhero graphic novel when it came out several years ago? Either way, I’m glad I read it and everyone needs to get themselves a copy of the swapped bodies trope. Two very different girls end up in each other’s bodies and have to learn to collaborate in order to both 1) fix the current situation, and 2) attain their goals as superheroes.
The entertainment factor is high as is the colors and character sketches. Also a book I read voraciously in one sitting.
I did not grow up reading comics and definitely didn’t know where the local comic book store was. I am now an adult and read comics and definitely know where the local comic book store is. All of this was firmly solidified over Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga series.
Now, I had been reading graphic novels for some time, but almost exclusively as original novels or trade paperbacks. I didn’t know the world of serialized issues and a weekly or monthly stop to the store to pick them up. Heck, I came to Saga dozens of issues in because my first experience (thankfully, because I couldn’t get enough) was the trade paperback volumes 1-7 or 8. Then though I still waited for volume 9 and that’s when I realized I knew better and needed the stories issue by issue. Well, a hiatus and pandemic sure didn’t help.
Joyously, issue 55 came out in January to return me to the monthly pickup. The endorphin hit of knowing what will unfold mini-story by mini-story is the best kind of reading and the most painful. The lesson? Patience. For all the comic fans, especially the ones who were living this life way before I now do, what a lesson to learn.
Yesterday, I walked into the store to pick up issue 60 with my son– leaving with a big smile and the delayed gratification of sitting on the couch with a cup of tea to indulge in the next story that evening. I settled in for which I was rewarded with a phenomenal story and the next “please be patient” author’s note that issue 61 will hit stores in January 2023. Deep breath in, deep breath out. I can be patient. I do have the entire collection to re-read for the fourth time.
In fact, the best defense is a good offense. So as I count down to the release of volume 10 in October, I’ll backwards plan a re-read of the series. Then maybe in between October and January I’ll finally start working on cosplaying Alana or Izabel to stay connected to what is one of the most epic series of all time. Now, coming from a bookish gal like myself, a statement like that might seem devalued because I love all books, but no really, Saga is truly one of the most epic series of all time. As in, each of these cliches is true:
If I were trapped on a desert island and had to choose only a few books to bring, the Saga series would be one.
Every re-read of the series offers new insight. I would know, since I rarely re-read anything and I’ve re-read this series three times so far.
Authors and illustrators are my rock stars and thus, I look forward to the day where I can meet Staples and Vaughan.
The best things come to those who wait. I’ll be over here patiently waiting for the issues… and that meet-up.
The creativity, artwork, writing, story arcs, characters, social commentary, and allusions to name a few elements are the building blocks of great reading. Heck, the fandom seeped it’s way into a Taco Bell commercial. People have tattoos of characters. Hats-off to this winning team. I’ll be over here in your cheerleading section… patiently waiting.
Read As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh and The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson when they come out in September, Tin Man by Justin Madson, Dumplings for Lili by Melissa Iwai, and Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki.
With dozens of books read, these sparkling gems shined the brightest.
Field trips give me grey hairs, but they’re worth it. It’s also been a minute because the pandemic had put events on a shelf. And actually, when it hit in March 2020, I was ready to take a busload of students to another Con at a local college. Before that I had taken them to an inaugural one close by as well. To say that we live in an area that appreciates the Comic Con culture is an understatement now that I’m writing this out. There are many options to enjoy the company and costumes of others who love to cosplay in addition to the vendors selling their wares and panels featuring celebrities and celebration.
Therefore this weekend’s Saratoga Comic Con in Saratoga, New York left most of the students I took from our high school in a frenzied state– feasting on the sights, sounds, and paraphernalia of the Con. We weren’t even off the bus, tilted to one side as they all rushed to shout out the windows to costumed attendees for their fabulous attire. As we waited in line, another student kept shouting that this was the best day of his life. Then don’t get me started on their excitement once we got in. I needed to count them once again and hand out their wristbands which was akin to herding cats. They were itching to get moving and no one knew that more than the two gentlemen standing at the front doors pulling security. Throughout the day they joked with me about my Mother Hen clucking and said a warm goodbye after I corralled them on the stairs for one last post-Con picture.
Circling our photo were a handful of former students who were also Anime Club members that I ran in to throughout the day warming looking on the 28 students that bussed it up from thirty minutes south. We caught up on what they were doing now and posed for pictures. My homemade outfit was a hit though with the temperature getting up to 80 degrees, I left the tights and boots at home. Nonetheless, I got shouts and posed for pictures with the best of them. But mine paled in comparison to other epic attire including some of my own students.
The Con wasn’t just about dressing up and being around like-minded individuals, but learning and being entertained. The bus was close to coming back to pick us up, but many of them finished the day with me in the ballroom at a dance showcase of J-pop, K-pop, Asian-themed dancing that featured the emcee of many of the panels of the day who also happens to be employed at our high school and helps with Anime Club. Her knowledge and personality made our high school proud and the students definitely made her more social media famous as they recorded away as she performed.
I’ll be ready for more grey hairs next year seeing how happy they were by days end.
Signing off as Ms. Marvel for the day which as I was on my way home, I realized, no one was going to pump my gas for me. Back to the real world. I guess even superheroes have to do that.
… and by vacation I mean staycation,. I have no picture of a book sitting on my sunkissed thighs with a drink to my left. This past week was our spring break from school that’s typically associated with the Easter holiday however it also coincided with Passover and is the monthlong celebration of Ramadan. For me that did include a handful of religious and family obligations plus a visit from my mother-in-law, but she was going to be flying out by early in the week and I would be able to tackle some to-do items like cleaning and organizing certain parts of the house but also hang with my kids also on break, and of course, read.
I had amassed quite a few galleys via Edelweiss and Netgalley, plus I have an upcoming author panel I’m moderating, and then other print books on my shelf and from the library that I wanted to dive in to. I certainly got my reading time in with several gems in my favorite subcategories. Here were some highlights:
What in particular do I like about vacation reading? I think it’s the relaxed reading atmosphere, the deft movement between audiobooks and print or ebooks when I take a quick break to walk the dog in the middle of the day or decide it’s time to tackle that downstairs closet. The choice is all mine. And it feels extra special because it’s vacation time and it’s my choice and that’s what I choose to do. After all, Jung got it right– “you are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” I am a reader.
Using Edelweiss and Netgalley are useful tools as a school librarian: to gain perspective on new things that are coming down the pike in publishing, a get ahead of books that I should be ordering, to get to hype books and authors before their next bestseller comes out.
I was so excited to request a graphic travelogue called Uniquely Japan: Discover What Makes Japan The Coolest Place On Earth by Abby Denson because I was going to be taking almost twenty of my high school students to Japan this summer. A trip that had been postponed several times due to the pandemic. So what better way to discover the coolest things about Japan from this graphic story?
Then within the span of two weeks, I received the approval for the request and downloaded it to read then found out that our travel company would not be able to send us to Japan because of the continued restrictions.
But I wanted to read it still though it would be painful. We chose to cancel the trip altogether since many of my students were seniors who had held on through three postponements and because it is exhausting to have to continue to wait. I cancelled the day before we were to go on our winter break and decided to rip this one off like a Band-aid, reading Denson’s book first. And how my heart broke because Denson’s approach was as unique as the title implies in how she presents the information but also in what she chose to present. I had fun on each page while feeling little pinpricks of sadness that it was not going to happen for us this summer.
One day I’ll get there, hopefully with students, and I know the book that I will have by my side.
The end of month brings a brief pause to reflect on what I’ve read over the past month. I’ve usually always worked toward identifying that one book that made me pause. I also read a lot so one book each month is difficult and why I generally break the one book rule I’ve self-imposed, hence why I changed the title of the month’s-end post to readers advisory.
This month I decided to pull my favorite children’s book, young adult, and adult title. In order, a nonfiction, a graphic novel, and the audiobook.
Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes ‘the French chef’ written by Alex Prud’homme and illustrated by Sarah Green was an easy choice for a book everyone should read because children’s biographies are superbly informative in addition to capturing (when done right) the essence of the topic at hand. In this case, the nephew of Child, writes a celebratory story of how Child didn’t become ‘the French chef’ until very late in life, proving that you can do anything you set your mind to and have a passion for. Using Green’s bright and vivid illustrations to compliment the story, it is a feel-good story that’s food-centered.
Yasmeen written by Saif A. Ahmed and illustrated by Fabiana Moscolo is a graphic novel with a hard truth to face. That many girls were kidnapped, raped, tortured, and maimed as part of the unrest in the Middle East. Yasmeen is an Iraqi girl whose family settled in Texas after leaving their war torn home but without her because she had been captured and used as a pawn. The graphic novel does not sugarcoat her trauma and the fight she gave to break free. But what levels this graphic novel up is the intricate use of time in the panels and on the pages which takes an astute reader of the format because of the level of understanding of the story, characters, and setting. A passive reader will not understand the story completely. And it’s powerful. You do not want to miss anything.
I listened to the audiobook read by Michelle Zauner, the author and subject of Crying in H Mart: A Memoir. While I did not know who she was and had only downloaded the audiobook because of it’s popularity and subject matter (you’ll often find that I read and share about food memoirs or food stories). I recognize that there is wide general appeal, but it went deeper for me as I’m sure that others who feel like they do about the book can attest; it’s Zauner’s relationship and caretaking of her cancer-stricken mother and simultaneously about the food of her life through the lens of her now suffering mother. Food is balm. Food is love. Food is history. Food is memory. I don’t often reread books, but because I had listened to the audiobook, I’ve considered rereading it in print because I remember several times stopping in my tracks while listening to a poignant phrase or sentence or scene.
There is just one more day left in December that will be an homage to the reading and blogging in 2021, but for today I am finishing up the top tens– today graphic novels and manga.
What’s not to love about graphic novels and manga? Whether it’s a standalone or series, the varied abilities and styles of the illustrators and artists are equally matched by the writing of the authors (unless they’re one and the same to which hats-off for talent and skill. All of these titles bring sometimes special to readers from middle schoolers with Huda F Are You? to adults with In Love and Pajamas. There were superheroes and super sleuths, mysteries, and adventures. Plus one adaptation of a wildly successful historical fiction novel with Between Shades of Gray.
Readers Be Advised 