Top Ten Tuesday | They #$@&%*! you up, your mum and dad...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Books That Feature Characters...' and I've decided to talk about books with protagonists who are parents, because so often parenthood is the end of someone's story and I've never been entirely satisfied with the idea that a person's life comes to an end as soon as they have a baby. You're still you, you just have an extra responsibility and that doesn't mean your life and your interests have to come to a stand still. Isn't it much more interesting for children to be raised by parents that actually have personalities?

Five of these books I've read and five are on my TBR!

The title is a line from This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin.

Books I've Read

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin: I think Essun is the most bad-ass mother I've come across in fiction. There's not much I can say about this book, and this series, without giving too much away, all I will say is that you should read it.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: The main conflict of this series is that a child has been born to two people who should be on opposing sides of an intergalactic war. That the series is narrated by that child is a lovely touch, I think.

Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman: Noughts & Crosses is one of my favourite books and the series continues to get darker and darker. Again there's not much I can say about Knife Edge without spoiling the series, but its honest depiction of early motherhood has always stayed with me.

The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin: I don't love this series but, when I'm in the mood for an easy to read historical thriller, I do find myself turning to it. Set in the middle ages, protagonist Adelia is one of the earliest working single mothers I've come across in fiction!

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: One of the driving forces behind this novel is protagonist Mrs. Ross's search for her teenage son who is suspected of murdering one of their neighbours. Really the book is about the town as a whole but it's an interesting read and one I'd recommend for the winter months!

Books on My TBR

The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss: I've heard nothing but amazing things about this novel, told from the point of view of a stay-at-home dad which isn't a perspective you see often in fiction.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry: Cora, recently widowed and glad to be rid of a husband who wasn't particularly nice, decides to use her widowhood to pursue her love of science, with her lady's maid and young son in tow. I'm determined to get to this one soon.

Timeless by Gail Carriger: Another one I'm aiming to read by the end of this year so I can finally finish the series and move on to Carriger's other books set in this world. I'm just about to start Heartless, in which Alexia is heavily pregnant, so by Timeless she'll have a mini-Alexia to keep her eye on. It's a nice change to come across a series that doesn't leave the characters behind as soon as they 'settle down' - Alexia's married and pregnant, but she's certainly not ready to settle!

The Untold by Courtney Collins: I'm not 100% sure but I believe this one is based on a true story. I've realised this year just how little I read about Australia and it's something I want to rectify, starting with this book!

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë: I've read bits of this book but still need to sit down and read it from beginning to end. I really should get to it soon. Like Cora in The Essex Serpent, the heroine of this novel also has a young son to think of and, considering the time in which she lives, it's pretty damn admirable what she does to keep him safe.

What did you talk about this week?

2016 Releases I've Pre-Ordered

So I went on a bit of a pre-ordering spree in the last couple of months of 2015 and January. I want to try and buy less books this year (hahaha) but now that I'm working I don't see why I shouldn't pre-order the books I really want to get my hands on! I know amazon is kind of evil in the bookworm, if I could afford to I wish I could buy all of my books from bookshops, but I do really like to pre-order stuff from amazon. Why? Because they don't charge you until they dispatch your order, so rather than spend a ridiculous amount all at once, my book buying is just as staggered throughout the year as it usually would be.

Anyway, here are the ten books I've pre-ordered this year. I also pre-ordered Stars Above, which has already arrived, and there are a few others I want to pre-order but haven't been able to yet, so these aren't the only books I'll be pre-ordering. It's most of them, though!

So Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Seanan McGuire (also known as Mira Grant) are releasing new books this year, and considering Signal to Noise and Feed are two of my favourite novels of all time, it's to be expected that I've already pre-ordered these two. Certain Dark Things is about vampires and drug lords in Mexico City, and it just sounds brilliant, while Every Heart a Doorway sounds like a darker and better version of Narnia.

I want to continue to read more non-fiction this year, and these two sound great. Firstly, the cover of The Geek Feminist Revolution is fantastic, and it sounds like a book that's going to be right up my alley; this is probably my most anticipated non-fiction book of this year! The View from the Cheap Seats is a collection of Neil Gaiman's essays, and considering Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers I'm looking forward to reading some of his non-fiction - other than Make Good Art, I haven't read any.

Unicorn Tracks is Julia Ember's debut novel that involves LGBT+ characters and unicorns. Naturally I've been ancticipating it for a while, and I can't wait to get my hands on my copy of it! Paper Girls is the first volume of a new series written by Brian K. Vaughan, the writer behind Saga, and illustrators Cliff Chiang and Matthew Wilson. It's been described as Stand By Me meets The War of the Worlds, so I'm there!

An anthology of female-led historical fiction is what awaits me in A Tyranny of Petticoats, featuring authors such as Marissa Meyer, Robin Talley and Elizabeth Wein. Needless to say, I'm excited. The last anthology I read was My True Love Gave to Me, and because I enjoyed it so much I decided I might as well go ahead and pre-order Summer Days & Summer Nights - I'm hoping there'll be a UK edition that matches my edition of My True Love Gave to Me.

Robin Talley's As I Descended and Anne Tyler's Vinegar Girl are both Shakespeare retellings, and as 2016 commemorates 400 years since Shakespeare's death I imagine we're going to see a lot of those. I really, really enjoyed Talley's debut Lies We Tell Ourselves, so I'm really looking forward to her modern day lesbian retelling of Macbeth, and while I haven't read any Anne Tyler before I think her retelling of The Taming of the Shrew sounds wonderful.

Have you pre-ordered any 2016 releases?

This Week in Books | 16/09/15

This week I'm joining in with Lipsy @ Lipsyy Lost & Found to talk about the books I've been reading recently!

NOW: Right now I'm reading Robin Talley's debut novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves, set in 1959 Virginia where, for the first time, black students are being admitted to a previously all-white high school. It's tough to read. I'm really enjoying it so far, but it's so awful to know that black people were treated this way and that, in some places, they still are. I don't think I'm ever going to understand racism, and I don't want to, but stories like this one are so important. It's also an LGBT* novel, so our protagonists have homophobia to deal with too. 

THEN: My copy of Saga, Vol.5 arrived yesterday so I read it last night and now I have to wait for the next volume. Le sigh. I enjoyed it, I love this story and the art so I'm always going to enjoy it, but it felt a lot more bleak than some of the other volumes. Obviously this is a story about war so it's never going to be sunshine and rainbows, I just hope it's a story with some sort of happy ending at the end of it all.

NEXT: Continuing on my Sarah Waters binge I think I'm going to pick up Tipping the Velvet next. I recently bought myself the BBC adaptation on DVD but I want to read the book first, plus I've heard it's Waters' most fun novel. If I don't go for this one I may read either Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist or Lucy Ribchester's The Hourglass Factory - they're both debuts I want to cross off my TBR!

What are you reading?

Top Ten Tuesday | Mum's the Word

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is a freebie, and I'm always a little reluctant when it comes to freebies because I feel like there's so much pressure to do a really cool topic, but it's only pressure that I put upon myself because I'm actually insane.

It was my mum's birthday on Saturday, so this week I thought I'd share my top ten mothers, and mother figures (because let's face it, so many characters have dead mothers), from fiction!

Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Come on, Molly is the ultimate mother. She's a Mother with a capital 'M'. She'd mother the world if she could, and she certainly gives it a good go throughout the series. I love her.

Kat Hall from If I Stay by Gayle Forman: I thought Kat and Denny were such fun, fantastic parents. Kat seems so laid back and wise, and I love how she was portrayed in the film adaptation, too.

Auntie Barbara from Lola Rose by Jacqueline Wilson: I loved this book when I was a little girl, and I have such fond memories of Auntie Barbara. I almost feel a little cruel putting her on this list when Jayni - or Lola Rose, as she prefers to be called - has her mother, but Auntie Barbara is amazing.

Marmee from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: Like Molly Weasley, I think Marmee is another staple of fictional mothers. She wants her daughters to do well and grow into accomplished young women, but she wants them to find their way in the world their way; she supports Jo when she wants to write, she supports Meg when she chooses to marry for love over money, she supports Amy when she decides to pursue art in Europe, and she supports Beth by letting her take each day at a time, and never forcing her into anything that will make her uncomfortable.

Alana from Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: What I love about Alana is that she's the heroine of the story, not the heroine's mother. Just because Alana has a child it doesn't make her any less Alana, and it's good to see the struggles that come with parenthood (especially if half the galaxy is trying to murder you) rather than a saintly mother figure.

Grace Goodwin from The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe: I love Grace because at first it seems like Katherine Howe is doing something stereotypical with the hippie, new age mother and the studious daughter who just doesn't understand her, and then it's revealed that Grace is a lot wiser than people assume, she just shares her wisdom in a different way.

Hannah Thornton from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell: She might not be particularly likeable, but any woman who can survive in the 19th century, and raise two children well, after her husband loses all the family's money and then commits suicide is a pretty good egg in my book. This woman's got steel in her blood.

Miss Honey from Matilda by Roald Dahl: Who doesn't love Miss Honey? I always loved that Matilda ended up with the kind of family she deserved, and that Miss Honey did, too.

Narcissa Malfoy from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: I think Narcissa's a fascinating character, and I love that we can never quite place her. She's not good or bad, she's many, many shades of grey, and she's a pretty fantastic mother.

Michelle Benoit from Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: I really wish we'd learned a little more about this lady! When I realised Marissa Meyer would be doing a sci-fi retelling of Little Red Cap I was curious about how the grandmother would be handled, and the fact that she used to be a military pilot is just so cool. Michelle was amazing, and I thought her relationship with Scarlet was lovely.

What did you talk about this week?

Books I've Pre-Ordered

It's only in the past year or so that I've started to pre-order books. I've pre-ordered books before - my dad pre-ordered the final Harry Potter book for me so it'd be delivered to me on the release day and I could read it without being spoiled - but for the most part I'd just wait until a book appeared in the shops before I bought it, or I'd just put it on my birthday and/or Christmas list.

Now that I'm earning my own money, though, I spend the majority of it on books, and I'm glad I do. I love books, and even though I'm running out of room I like building up my own personal library. Besides, I like a bit of organised chaos so the slowly encroaching clutter doesn't really bother me.

So today I thought I'd share with you some of the books I've pre-ordered!

Winter

by Marissa Meyer

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

I mean, of course I've pre-ordered Winter. It's my most anticipated book of 2015, and I can't wait to read it!

The Birds and Other Stories

by Daphne du Maurier

A classic of alienation and horror, The Birds was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of Monte Verità promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd...

Don't Look Now and Other Stories

by Daphne du Maurier

A married couple on holiday in Venice are caught up in a sinister series of events. A lonely schoolmaster is impelled to investigate a mysterious American couple. A young woman loses her cool when she confronts her father's old friend on a lonely island. A party of British pilgrims meet strange phenomena and possible disaster in the Holy Land. A scientist abandons his scruples while trying to tap the energy of the dying mind. 

Collecting five stories of mystery and slow, creeping horror, Daphne Du Maurier's Don't Look Now and Other Stories showcases her unique blend of sympathy and spinetingling suspense.

Earlier this year I collected all of du Maurier's novels that have been released in the VMC Designer editions - Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, and My Cousin Rachel - so when I saw they were releasing two of her short story collections in the same editions I just had to order them. I haven't read any of her short fiction yet, but I'm looking forward to reading it!

Dumplin'

by Julie Murphy

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

The minute I read the synopsis of this book I knew I had to have it. It's so rare to come across a book with a plus size protagonist where the story doesn't revolve around them losing weight, and that's so important. All bodies are different; I have friends who are slim and who will always be slim even if they ate their weight in food, and I have other friends who are plump and will always be plump no matter how much they exercise. I think we have this poisonous way of seeing 'thin' and thinking 'healthy', but that's not always the case. Everyone should be able to feel confident in their own skin, no matter how big or how small they are, and I'm really hoping this book doesn't disappoint!

Demon Road

by Derek Landy

Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in...Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves.

Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be…

I love Derek Landy - the Skulduggery Pleasant series always makes me smile - so I couldn't let the opportunity to pre-order a platinum, signed edition of his new book pass me by. I know very little about this book, but I'm looking forward to reading it!

Descender, Vol.1: Tin Stars

by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nyugen

Young Robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. Written by award-winning creator, Jeff Lemaire, Descender is a rip-roaring and heart-felt cosmic odyssey. Lemaire pits humanity against machine, and world against world, to create a sprawling epic. Collecting issues #1-6 of Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Trillium) and Dustin Nguyen's (Little Gotham) critically acclaimed, bestselling new science fiction series!

If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know I've been reading a lot of graphic novels this year, and I've really enjoyed it! This one was recommended to me over on amazon and it was available to pre-order for only £5 so I thought 'why not?' So far it's gotten some great reviews on Goodreads and apparently the art is beautiful, so I'm looking forward to reading it!

Saga, Vol.5

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Multiple storylines collide in this cosmos-spanning new volume. While Gwendolyn and Lying Cat risk everything to find a cure for The Will, Marko makes an uneasy alliance with Prince Robot IV to find their missing children, who are trapped on a strange world with terrifying new enemies. 

I've been eager to get my hands on Volume 5 of Saga ever since I finished Volume 4. I managed to plough my way through the first four volumes at the beginning of this year, so I'm looking forward to getting back into this world and seeing these characters again.

I've also pre-ordered the second volume of Copperhead, but it still doesn't have a complete title, a cover or even any information about all of the artists who've worked on it. Soon I'll be pre-ordering Volume 7 of American Vampire and Volume 4 of Ms. Marvel, too; I know American Vampire, Vol.7 has already been out for a little while, but I collect the paperbacks rather than the hardbacks, so I have to wait a little longer for my copies!

Have you pre-ordered any books?

V is for Vaughan | Blogging from A to Z

Saga
by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I've gotten really into graphic novels this year - I've been reading a bunch of them - and I was super pleased when, at the start of this year, I was finally able to get my hands on Saga. Why? Because I started my job in December, and at the beginning of 2015 I got my first lot of wages - huzzah!

I ended up buying the first three volumes of Saga from Waterstone's in York while I was visiting my best friend for New Year's, and after I got home I read all three of them in one sitting. After that, I naturally ordered Volume 4 and read it pretty much as soon as I got my hands on it, and now apparently I have to wait for Volume 5 which, frankly, can't get here fast enough.

I'm not sure if Saga is my favourite graphic novel series - I also started Rat Queens this year, and unfortunately Rat Queens is very, very hard to compete with - but it definitely comes in at a close second. Vaughan's dialogue is witty and natural, and Staples's art is just beautiful; she has such a fantastic imagination for science fiction, so even if you don't think Saga would be your kind of thing you should pick up a copy just to see the way she's designed the characters.

Bring me Volume 5!

ORIGINAL | The Brontë Tag!

Hi everyone! Today I'm here with something pretty exciting: my very own tag! I've always wanted to create a tag, but I'd never been able to think of one. Until now!

I feel like I've been posting a lot of tags lately, so I apologise to any of you who are sick of the sight of them - and to my blogging friends who I so regularly tag, hopefully you guys don't mind...

So without further ado, here's the Brontë tag!

Jane Eyre

A Book/Series with a Twist You Didn't See Coming

Which book took you completely by surprise and left you reeling?

Will I ever be over Feed? Who can say? Probably not. It's so hard to talk about how much I love this book because there's so much I can't say without spoiling the book for people who haven't read it yet and want to. You'll be sick of me saying this by now, but just read it.

Shirley

A Book/Series with More Than One Protagonist

This could be anything from a book with a dual narrative to a companion series!

I love The Lunar Chronicles for many reasons, and one of them is for the fantastic selection of heroines the series offers. There's a heroine for everyone, and none of them are pitted against one another. We need more books - especially in YA - with positive friendships between women.

Villette

A Book/Series Set at School

This can be boarding school, normal school or even college/university, and the main character doesn't have to be a student, either. Maybe there's a book about a teacher or professor you'd like to talk about.

I'm cheating a little here because I haven't actually read Gail Carriger's Finishing School series yet, but they're on my TBR. I just had to mention them because these covers are so gorgeous - not to mention they're set in the 19th century, so they felt rather fitting for the Brontë tag. I'm hoping to finally cross Etiquette & Espionage off my TBR soon!

The Professor

A Book/Series You Didn't Like by an Author You Love

We all have our favourite authors, but did any of yours ever release a book that ended up disappointing you?

I didn't dislike Stardust entirely, but I didn't like it anywhere near as much as I was hoping to. I think I'm in the minority, though, because I know a lot of people who love this one!

Agnes Grey

A Book/Series with a Positive Female Friendship

Spread the womance! What's your favourite all female friendship in a book/series?

I love this series so darn much. If you haven't read Rat Queens yet - regardless of your view on graphic novels - I can't recommend it enough, it's just brilliant. As I'm sure you know by now I love positive relationships between women in books, particularly friendships, because so often women are pitted against one another or the main character feels the need to distance herself from other women by claiming she's 'not like other girls'. Breaking News: all women are different, and this series illustrates that beautifully.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

A Book/Series with a Protagonist Who is a Parent

So often the books we read feature relatively young protagonists who still rely on their parents a lot, and it's a lot rarer for us to read books which feature a protagonist with a child of their own - particularly if you primarily read YA. You can use books such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games if you really can't think of any other books, but I'd love to see some books with main characters who are parents at the beginning of their story!

For this I decided to go with Saga, because the whole storyline so far has primarily revolved around this couple who are trying to keep their child safe from both sides of an intergalactic war. Plus these two are perfect examples that a person's life doesn't end when they have children; these two are still Alana and Marko, not just Mum and Dad.

Wuthering Heights

A Book/Series with a Problematic Love Interest

I hate to say it, but YA in particular is a genre brimming with love interests that make my insides squirm, whether they're being possessive, abusive or hiding behind their daddy issues to excuse their rubbish behaviour. Which love interest - YA or not! - do you hate most?

I feel like I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but I don't like Peeta Mellark. The epilogue of Mockingjay left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and to be honest it's not entirely Peeta's fault. I don't hate Peeta entirely, but he is bordering on a "nice guy". He makes Katniss feel guilty about her lack of feelings for him just as much as Gale does in Catching Fire, and poor Katniss, who is struggling with PTSD, the fact that she accidentally started a rebellion and the knowledge that Snow will kill her family if she doesn't do something to stop it, is constantly getting told how much she doesn't deserve someone as nice as Peeta. It drives me up the bloody wall.

Tales of Angria

A Book/Series that Reminds You of Your Childhood

This can be a book from your childhood, or a book you've read since becoming an adult that's made you feel nostalgic.

I didn't get around to reading The Secret Garden until I was in university, but the 1993 film adaptation was a favourite of mine during my childhood. When I did finally read the book it filled me with nostalgia, especially as I grew up in the Yorkshire countryside myself.

I hope you like this tag, and whether you're tagged or not feel free to do it and tag other people! Though if you do I'd really appreciate it if you linked back to this original post. Happy tagging!

(I'm gonna tag quite a few people in the hopes of spreading this tag around a little - I hope you like it!)

I tag:

Mallory @ The Local Muse

Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight
Deanna @ Deanna Writes
Chrissi @ Chrissi Reads
Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
Michelle @ In Libris Veritas
Leah @ Uncorked Thoughts
Cynthia @ Afterwritten
Allie @ Little Birdie Books

Reading Wrap-Up | January 2015

I'm very pleased to announce that January was a brilliant reading month for me, meaning I got the new year off to a fantastic start! I read ten books this month, and enjoyed all of them.

Burial Rites

by Hannah Kent

My Rating:

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. 

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard. 

A stunning debut novel and a stunning piece of historical fiction. If you'd like to see more of my thoughts on it, you can find my review here!

White Ravens

by Owen Sheers

My Rating: 

Based on the fable of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, this interpretation revives one of the most action-packed stories in the whole myth cycle. Moving this bloodthirsty tale of Welsh and Irish power struggles and family tensions into the 21st century, this retelling retains many of the bizarre and magical happenings of the original. After being wounded in Italy, Matthew O’Connell is seeing out WWII in an obscure government department, spreading rumors and myths to the enemy. When he is assigned the bizarre task of escorting a box containing six raven chicks from a remote hill farm to the Tower of London, he soon finds himself ensnared in an adventure that leaves him powerless.

My first retelling of the year was White Ravens, a retelling of one of the tales from The Mabinogion. I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading more of these retellings!

Saga, Volume 1

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe. 

This month I finally started Saga, which I've been meaning to read for a long time now. I loved it. I love the originality of the character designs; I love Prince Robot IV, and despite being terrified of spiders I really love The Stalk, too. The chemistry between Alana and Marko is perfection and I just love this series so much. I love it!

Saga, Volume 2

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

Did I mention I love this series?

Saga, Volume 3

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple's multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

Like, really love it.

A Room of One's Own

by Virginia Woolf

My Rating: 

A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers of and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled "Women and Fiction", and hence the essay, are considered non-fiction. The essay is generally seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.

I've been meaning to read this for the longest time, so I finally got myself a copy and read it during my bus rides to and from work. I loved it; there are entire extracts from this I'd love to print out and stick on my wall.

Saga, Volume 4

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

Visit new planets, meet new adversaries and explore a very new direction, as Hazel becomes a toddler while her family struggles to stay on their feet.

When do I get Volume 5?!

The Meat Tree

by Gwyneth Lewis

My Rating: 

A dangerous tale of desire, DNA, incest and flowers plays out within the wreckage of an ancient spaceship in The Meat Tree: an absorbing retelling of one of the best-known Welsh myths by prize-winning writer and poet, Gwyneth Lewis.

An elderly investigator and his female apprentice hope to extract the fate of the ship's crew from its antiquated virtual reality game system, but their empirical approach falters as the story tangles with their own imagination.

By imposing a distance of another 200 years and millions of light years between the reader and the medieval myth, Gwyneth Lewis brings the magical tale of Blodeuwedd, a woman made of flowers, closer than ever before: maybe uncomfortably so.

After all, what man has any idea how sap burns in the veins of a woman?

Next I read another Maginogion retelling. I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed White Ravens - it's very weird - but it was still an entertaining and original read.

The Crown

by Nancy Bilyeau

My Rating: 

Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favourite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London.

While Joanna is in the Tower, the ruthless Bishop of Winchester forces her to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic—a crown so powerful, it may possess the ability to end the Reformation.

With Cromwell’s troops threatening to shutter her priory, bright and bold Joanna must decide who she can trust so that she may save herself, her family, and her sacred way of life. 

I was craving some historical crime in January, and as the latest Matthew Shardlake book isn't out in paperback until March I decided to pick up the first book in Nancy Bilyeau's Joanna Stafford series. It was just what I was in the mood for, and it was great to read some female-led historical crime. Look out for my review!

Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass and Sorcery

by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch

My Rating: 

Who are the Rat Queens? 

A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they're in the business of killing all god's creatures for profit. 

It's also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack! 

I really want to read more graphic novels this year, and I think reading five in January has certainly gotten me off to a good start. I really enjoyed Rat Queens; I adore Violet and Dee Dee in particular, and I'm looking forward to the animated series!

What did you read in January?