Book Logging
Sep. 21st, 2014 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckGiants Beware! - I had a little trouble with this one because I tend to empathize more with the parents than with the kids who want to venture into trouble in the name of adventure. I still had fun watching the kids overcome obstacles and discover that their goal wasn't quite what they were expecting. I just empathized with the parents.
Iron West - This reminded me of nothing so much as a Doctor Who episode-- Killer robots in the old west seemed like something that show would do. Admittedly, the protagonist isn't at all Doctor Who-ish. He's a liar, a cheat, and a thief who tries repeatedly to run away from the robot army, never mind all the people he's leaving behind. Still, this was fairly charming, even with the high body count.
Korgi, Book 1: Sprouting Wings - This was purely wordless. The art was gray and white. It follows the adventures of a girl and her dog, both magical creatures. There are monsters in the world beyond their village, but they explore anyway.
The Last Airbender, Prequel: Zuko's Story - GoodReads thought I'd like this. I'm not sure I would have touched it if I'd realized that it was a movie tie-in rather than a TV series tie-in. That said, it wasn't bad. It fits with the canon of the TV series perfectly well. It's just that the art is different enough that I didn't recognize all of the characters (I've never seen the movie, so I don't know to what extent the character designs were based on the actors). This is exactly what it says in the title, covering the early days of Zuko's quest to find the Avatar, starting from when he was expelled from his father's palace.
The Losers volumes 1 & 2 - This is all the library has, but I have the impression that more was published. I'm not sure I care enough to pursue this through interlibrary loan (and I know I don't care enough to buy anything). I had a lot of trouble with the art. I couldn't reliably identify the characters. The story moved along at a rapid clip and started in the middle of events, so I didn't really connect to the characters as people. I picked this up for the same reason I watched the related movie-- People I know who are in the fandom urged me to try it. Unfortunately, I don't think this is my sort of thing. I might read plotty fic about these characters, but I wouldn't be interested in anything shippy.
Meadows, Daisy. Azafran, el hada amarilla - I could have gotten through this without a dictionary, but I would have been leaving gaps where I couldn't get some words from context. I wish the library had more of the Rainbow Magic books in Spanish because they are at the right level of difficulty for me. There are four or five words a page that I don't know and no more. I'm not sure that I'm learning those words when I look them up, but hopefully I am. If I had a vast amount of money to spare, I'd buy them because they're useful for me. Unfortunately, we're needing to economize right now, so that's not going to happen.
Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer - This was almost entirely wordless. I was actually startled when bits of text turned up because I thought there wouldn't be any. The two stories were very sweet.
Princeless, Book 2: Get Over Yourself - I still really like this comic. In this volume, Adrienne's quest to rescue her sister, Angelica, proves more complicated than she expected, and her father sends a bunch of knights out, hunting the mysterious knight that he believes killed his daughter.
Riera, Michael. Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers - I found another of Riera's books useful, so I thought I'd try this one (the only other one the library has). There was some repetition, but I think the material was still helpful. This one actually started off talking about middle school which is where Cordelia is now. A lot of what I read doesn't apply yet, but I think I'll need to start working on some of the techniques now (Cordelia's already reluctant to talk to us, so I can see needing to pull out some new approaches). I did skip the chapter on divorce and blended families.
Read but not finished:
James, P.D. Death Comes to Pemberley - I think I was really looking for more Pride and Prejudice. I wasn't really interested in the murder mystery and simply put the book down when that part started. I shall have to investigate P&P fanfic. I'm sure there's plenty out there that I'd enjoy.
Kuhl, Herbert. Should We Burn Babar? - I read most of this. I'm not sure why I stopped. Well, actually, I think part of it was getting depressed about how much I've failed to teach Cordelia to be a critical reader. It's too late; she won't listen to me about the things she reads now, won't discuss them (or much else) with me. I would have liked to see more analysis of different children's classics with an eye toward where the issues are. I know I miss a lot, and I'm trying to be better about it. Plus, it's fascinating to see what's threaded through these narratives.
Riley, James. Half Upon a Time - This one read pretty easily, but I could see the characters hurtling toward disaster, and I couldn't handle that. I may still pick up the second book (the library has that and the third book) just to see what happens, but I don't know. This is one of those series where the characters spend a lot of time trying to fix the mistakes they made in book one. I'm not sure I can cope. (Which is not a reflection on the book in the least.)
Thorpe, Helen. Soldier Girls: the Battles of Three Women at Home and at War - I simply didn't find the style of this engaging. I believe I put a hold on this because I saw the author on The Daily Show. I thought the stories sounded interesting and like something I should know more about. I got a few chapters in and just couldn't get myself to pick up the book again.
Iron West - This reminded me of nothing so much as a Doctor Who episode-- Killer robots in the old west seemed like something that show would do. Admittedly, the protagonist isn't at all Doctor Who-ish. He's a liar, a cheat, and a thief who tries repeatedly to run away from the robot army, never mind all the people he's leaving behind. Still, this was fairly charming, even with the high body count.
Korgi, Book 1: Sprouting Wings - This was purely wordless. The art was gray and white. It follows the adventures of a girl and her dog, both magical creatures. There are monsters in the world beyond their village, but they explore anyway.
The Last Airbender, Prequel: Zuko's Story - GoodReads thought I'd like this. I'm not sure I would have touched it if I'd realized that it was a movie tie-in rather than a TV series tie-in. That said, it wasn't bad. It fits with the canon of the TV series perfectly well. It's just that the art is different enough that I didn't recognize all of the characters (I've never seen the movie, so I don't know to what extent the character designs were based on the actors). This is exactly what it says in the title, covering the early days of Zuko's quest to find the Avatar, starting from when he was expelled from his father's palace.
The Losers volumes 1 & 2 - This is all the library has, but I have the impression that more was published. I'm not sure I care enough to pursue this through interlibrary loan (and I know I don't care enough to buy anything). I had a lot of trouble with the art. I couldn't reliably identify the characters. The story moved along at a rapid clip and started in the middle of events, so I didn't really connect to the characters as people. I picked this up for the same reason I watched the related movie-- People I know who are in the fandom urged me to try it. Unfortunately, I don't think this is my sort of thing. I might read plotty fic about these characters, but I wouldn't be interested in anything shippy.
Meadows, Daisy. Azafran, el hada amarilla - I could have gotten through this without a dictionary, but I would have been leaving gaps where I couldn't get some words from context. I wish the library had more of the Rainbow Magic books in Spanish because they are at the right level of difficulty for me. There are four or five words a page that I don't know and no more. I'm not sure that I'm learning those words when I look them up, but hopefully I am. If I had a vast amount of money to spare, I'd buy them because they're useful for me. Unfortunately, we're needing to economize right now, so that's not going to happen.
Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer - This was almost entirely wordless. I was actually startled when bits of text turned up because I thought there wouldn't be any. The two stories were very sweet.
Princeless, Book 2: Get Over Yourself - I still really like this comic. In this volume, Adrienne's quest to rescue her sister, Angelica, proves more complicated than she expected, and her father sends a bunch of knights out, hunting the mysterious knight that he believes killed his daughter.
Riera, Michael. Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers - I found another of Riera's books useful, so I thought I'd try this one (the only other one the library has). There was some repetition, but I think the material was still helpful. This one actually started off talking about middle school which is where Cordelia is now. A lot of what I read doesn't apply yet, but I think I'll need to start working on some of the techniques now (Cordelia's already reluctant to talk to us, so I can see needing to pull out some new approaches). I did skip the chapter on divorce and blended families.
Read but not finished:
James, P.D. Death Comes to Pemberley - I think I was really looking for more Pride and Prejudice. I wasn't really interested in the murder mystery and simply put the book down when that part started. I shall have to investigate P&P fanfic. I'm sure there's plenty out there that I'd enjoy.
Kuhl, Herbert. Should We Burn Babar? - I read most of this. I'm not sure why I stopped. Well, actually, I think part of it was getting depressed about how much I've failed to teach Cordelia to be a critical reader. It's too late; she won't listen to me about the things she reads now, won't discuss them (or much else) with me. I would have liked to see more analysis of different children's classics with an eye toward where the issues are. I know I miss a lot, and I'm trying to be better about it. Plus, it's fascinating to see what's threaded through these narratives.
Riley, James. Half Upon a Time - This one read pretty easily, but I could see the characters hurtling toward disaster, and I couldn't handle that. I may still pick up the second book (the library has that and the third book) just to see what happens, but I don't know. This is one of those series where the characters spend a lot of time trying to fix the mistakes they made in book one. I'm not sure I can cope. (Which is not a reflection on the book in the least.)
Thorpe, Helen. Soldier Girls: the Battles of Three Women at Home and at War - I simply didn't find the style of this engaging. I believe I put a hold on this because I saw the author on The Daily Show. I thought the stories sounded interesting and like something I should know more about. I got a few chapters in and just couldn't get myself to pick up the book again.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-22 02:24 pm (UTC)Your entry reminds me that I should look at Princeless, too.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-22 02:40 pm (UTC)Korgi and Owly are both sweet. It was really nice to see something where I didn't feel worried that something terrible was going to happen. (Though there are hints of villainy in Korgi. I suppose I'll see what happens with those in the next two volumes.)