Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Rev. Bob]

I kicked off the new year by reading the second and third graphic novels in the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns series: The Dark Knight Strikes Back (technically a reread, but I didn't remember much from it) and The Master Race. I'd acquired both at the end of a DC Comics collection sale, and $10 was a fair price for the pair.

Looking at the three stories as a unit, and considering the length of time that passed between their publications, I'm somewhat surprised by how well they work as a trilogy. In that light, it works very well as a maturing and rejuvenation of a heroic age - going from a shattered state in the original tale to showing how everything fell apart in the middle and bringing the gang back together with a renewed sense of purpose at the end. There were certainly elements I disliked - for instance, I find Frank Miller's art distractingly ugly and was glad to see it substantially sidelined in the third arc - but overall, I enjoyed the ride.

As I'd read the first two years' worth of Injustice: Gods Among Us in December, some comparison between the two is perhaps inevitable. Both stories feature versions of the same apocalyptic event - the destruction of Metropolis and the death of Lois Lane, at the hands of a villain - as well as Superman's reaction to it. I'm not sure what this means in a larger sense, but Superman's reactions are very different between the two stories, yet somehow both felt "true" in context. There are also echoes of Kingdom Come in the Miller treatment, with Superman at one point retreating from the world and refusing to engage with it until he's dragged back into action.

tl;dr - I like reading and comparing alternate-future DC Universe stories.

[ReadingManiac]

I'm about to start Hard Times by Charles Dickens. I thought I'd start the year high brow and work my way down from there.

[Fbone]

To try out Libby I borrowed a public domain title Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson. Basically, this is about the happenings of an English village in the 1910s. Humorous and silly. It's really surprising the topics that concerned people back then. Rated C [3 stars].

Next TBD

[orlok]

It was March last year that we read and reviewed Queen Lucia, if you are interested in seeing what other MR readers thought of it?

[Dngrsone]

So, I started listening to Ringworld by Larry Niven. But the reader is somewhat soporific, so I had to switch over to Princess Diarist written and read by Carrie Fisher. I will resume Niven after that, I think... just not during the longer drives.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by orlok

It was March last year that we read and reviewed Queen Lucia, if you are interested in seeing what other MR readers thought of it?

Thanks. I was unaware it was chosen. The audio version would have been fun.

[MickeyC]

Just finished The Wanted by Robert Crais and it was a typically great Crais read with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike doing their thing.

Next up, The Leper of St Giles by Ellis Peters; a reread from that great series.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Just finished The Wanted by Robert Crais and it was a typically great Crais read with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike doing their thing.

It's lined up as my next read once I finish Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown. Glad to hear The Wanted was up to scratch.

[astrangerhere]

Finished up Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Slouching Towards Bethlehem and am almost done with Honeymoon to Nowhere (Japanese noir).

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by orlok

It's lined up as my next read once I finish Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown. Glad to hear The Wanted was up to scratch.

Great! Let me know what you think.

[Dngrsone]

So, I finished listening to Princess Diarist. Interesting, but for half the book I kept thinking it was Joan Cusack talking. Weird, huh? But then, Carrie was somewhere int eh area of 59 when she wrote, then read this...

Anyway, back to the Ringworld...

[astrangerhere]

I had a massive reading day yesterday thanks to my wife having a minor oral surgery. The doc does not permit the next of kin to leave the waiting area so I had a day of nothing but books, making some mashed potatoes for her, and sitting quietly while she recuperated. This is what I got through:

• David Joy's Where All the Light Tends To Go
• Naoki Urasawa's Master Keaton Vol. 5
• Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang's Paper Girls: Book One
• Amber Benson's Clueless: Senior Year

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I actually started Man-Kzin Wars III by Larry Niven et al.

Which was the usual fun read.

Next up: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. The 2016 Hugo winner was on offer, so I thought I see what it was like. I don't like the style at present, but I'm willing to continue and see where it goes for a bit.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was the usual fun read.

Next up: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. The 2016 Hugo winner was on offer, so I thought I see what it was like. I don't like the style at present, but I'm willing to continue and see where it goes for a bit.

My daughter recommended it to me. I've been waiting for some time in the queue at the library.

[astrangerhere]

Part of my 2018 goals are reading non-American, non-male authors. To that end, I started Min Jin Lee's Pachinko this morning. Enjoying it very much.