Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Another Week, Another Library Loot Post

I had hoped that my time off work with my shoulder would free up oodles of time to read. Unfortunately, the pain medication I was on made it virtually impossible to read. One minute I'd be turning pages of my book, and the next minute I'd be sound asleep! On the bright side, I I caught up on a lot of much needed sleep!! I did, however, check out a couple of season of the Gilmore Girls from the library and a couple of season of Supernatural. And I overdosed on them!

Now, I am back to work again. Not quite 100%, but I do feel a lot better. I have a feeling it will be quite a while before I'm completely healed, but I can't really afraid any more time off at the moment. I had to return a few books to the library without reading them. It always kills me to do that, but I know when I check out 30 books at a time, there's no way I'll be able to read them!! This week, I had a few stray holds come in. That, and I grabbed up some graphic novels that caught my eye. Should make for some interesting reading!



American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang was actually one of the first graphic novels I remember seeing out there in blogosphere. Although it doesn't really seem like my thing, I picked it up to read as a part of Dewey's Reading Challenge.








I think I first saw the Bone Series of Graphic Novels by Jeff Smith over at Chris's blog. I know others have review these books, Chris is the one that made ME want to read them. I was cruising the shelves at Alpha Park and I realized that had the whole series. Figured it couldn't hurt to at least try the first one!








Girl Genius, Volume 1: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank, A Gaslight Fantasty with Adventure, Romance and Mad Science by Phil and Kaja Foglio is another total whim pickup. But come on. Who could pass up anything with a name like that? Doesn't it look like fun? Ana has been trying to take this one from me. I'll let her read it. It's way more appropriate that the Fables GN's she wants to read!!






If you think reading Graphic Novels is new to me, let me tell you a secret. I've never actually read anything that could be remotely labeled as Manga. Fruits Basket is a series they had in my library. It's pretty popular. Thought I would give it a try.











I think I said before that Zombies are the new Vampires. I've seen more Zombie books that ever lately. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters is one of them. It looks interesting. And it IS that time of year!! I think all the rest of the books I've checked out are RIP related!!






The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro is a book that I heard about from Carl. Vampires. What more could a person ask for during RIP? If Carl liked it, then I'm pretty sure I will too!! Besides, Del Toro directed Pan's Labyrinth, and it was fantastic...so this is bound to be good!










The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia is a steampunk fable. I haven't read much in the way of steampunk, but I like the concept. Figured I would give it a go.










Living Dead Girl by Elizbeth Scott is another book that has made it's way around the blogosphere lately. Sounds eerie enough to be a good RIP book.










Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez just has a really cool cover. I've read a couple of reviews and it sounds like fun!










Finally, Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a short little tale by a master of the gothic scary tale. A perfect addition to the RIP challenge.

15 comments:

Renay said...

Oh, oh! I am totally stoked you picked up American Born Chinese! It's really neat and has some great commentary. I also really liked Living Dead Girl (I reviewed it errr a long time ago?). Beware though, because it's....pretty graphic? I know a lot of reviews were like, "but nothing was spelled out!" but really, it doesn't need to be. It's very graphic and very effective, much like Tender Morsels.

Also, a friend has recced They Have Always Lived in the Castle to me and I trust her judgment so I will pass it along to you! :D

CJ said...

Okay, I have to ask - what the heck is steampunk?

cjh

chrisa511 said...

Hope that shoulder completely finishes healing soon Steph!! I can totally relate to pain meds zonking you out...not easy to read on them ;)

So glad you got American Born Chinese :D It's a fantastic GN!! And so is Bone! You'll definitely be continuing with the series after reading that! Looking forward to what you have to say about The Alchemy of Stone too! I have that one on my shelf and I really want to read it..I wasn't crazy about The Secret History of Moscow by her, but there was something about it that left me intrigued enough to read more of her work!

Kailana said...

I have The Strain out from the library, too! :)

Marg said...

I think I am going to have to return a whole heap of books in the next few weeks because my reading time is just not happening at the moment.

joanna said...

wow, some great stuff there! I wish my library had graphic novels, but alas I am forced to maintain my Amazon addiction! :-)

Debi said...

First of all, I'm glad you're healing again, Stephanie! Wish you were back to 100%, of course. I sure hope going back to work doesn't set you back!

And wow...wow...wow...what a fantastic haul!!! You know, I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised by American Born Chinese...I think you'll find out it's more "your kind of thing" than you realized. :D And Bone! It's really, really fantastic...don't give up on it if the first one doesn't completely sell you, okay? And I think Ana would probably really like them, too. Ohhh, and We Have Always Lived in a Castle...you're going to LOVE it! Promise you, it is sooooo good. I have Living Dead Girl, but haven't read it...can't wait to hear what you think!

Andi said...

WOOOOO! American Born Chinese! I hope you like it. If I had to guess, I'd think that you would really like it. We'll see.

I see lots on your list I want to read---especially We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

I didn't like Living Dead Girl at all, but it seems to be a pretty polarizing title. Can't wait to read what you think of it.

Unknown said...

Well, hope you're back to 100% well again soon :-)

You have some great books there. I can only second, third or whatever the others said about American Born CHinese. Great stuff!

And have fun reading Furuba (Fruits Basket)! I am reading that manga series and it is so much fun :-D

Anonymous said...

I remember the Vicodin for my foot surgery knocked me out so splendidly I couldn't read, either. It was kind of annoying, in a way. ;)

I like to see some of the manga you have. I hear such good things of Fruit Basket, but I haven't read it yet because Volume 1 is never available when I look. You've got to love Naperville's Public Library. How it is that they've won first place in library contests is beyond me!

I hope you feel okay as you go back to work.

Bookfool said...

American Born Chinese is awesome. I've read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, too, and enjoyed it. The rest of those books . . . can't get 'em at my library! I had to order American Born Chinese. If my library ever carries graphic novels I'll eat my socks. I can't see it happening inside a decade.

Ladytink_534 said...

I adore Girl Genius! It's the first thing I read Mon. Wed. & Fri.
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php

Generation Dead was a pretty good book and I don't like zombies.

Eva said...

I'll be curious about your thoughts on American Born Chinese! I really enjoyed it. :) I finally tried my first kind-manga book last month (The Dreaming Vol. One by Queenie Chan) and was underwhelmed.

John Mutford said...

I really enjoyed the first Bone book, as did my kids, but we still haven't gotten to the rest yet-- maybe the collection will find its way under the tree this year.

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

Interesting selection of books! I'm really interested in reading American Born Chinese and Living Dead Girl. I somehow own the sequel to Generation Dead, but don't have Generation Dead. Very odd.