Monthly Wrap-Up | April 2015

Is it just me or did April fly by? It went so quickly! It's actually a little scary how quickly 2015 seems to be going, so I try not to think about it too much. Things at work got a lot busier last month, but I still managed to read quite a bit and have a pretty good month!

Ms. Marvel, Vol.2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Jacob Wyatt (4 Stars)

Reviewed here!

Copperhead, Vol.1: A New A Sheriff in Town by Jay Faerber, Scott Godlewski and Ron Riley (4 Stars)

Reviewed here!

Well-Read Women by Samantha Hahn (5 Stars)

Fables, Vol.1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, Steve Leialoha, Craig Hamilton and James Jean (2 Stars)

Reviewed here!

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan (3.5 Stars)

Reviewed here!

American Vampire, Vol.2 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Mateus Santolouco (4 Stars)

Reviewed here!

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (4 Stars)

American Vampire, Vol.3 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Sean Murphy (4.5 Stars)

Reviewed here!

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (2 Stars)

As you can see I'm still loving graphic novels - in fact I enjoyed all the ones I read bar one - and I was able to read a bit more work from Shirley Jackson and Jenny Colgan. Very, very different authors, but I enjoy both of their books!

GAME OF THRONES IS BACK AND I AM VERY NERVOUS.

I'm very, very, very worried about Sansa and I want to take her away from all of the creepy men in her life. I want her and Arya to let Brienne take them to Dorne, and then I want the three of them to stay there in the land where they don't hurt little girls.

STOP HURTING HER!

As always I'm tired of the constant female full-frontal nudity. Do we get to see any dicks? Nope. Now I'm not saying I want to see a dick because, sorry boys, they're not particularly attractive, but I think it's only fair we get male full-frontal nudity, too. I'm sick of the way women are treated in this show, and I know a lot of people wonder why I watch it if there are so many issues with it, but the truth is none of these issues are going to be solved if we all just turn a blind eye. If something's wrong we have to acknowledge it and try our hardest to fix it, not just pretend it isn't there.

On the completely opposite end of the scale, I also watched the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility last month. I'm probably never going to get around to reading all of Jane Austen's books because unfortunately I've never really enjoyed her books that much, but I do enjoy the storylines whenever I've watched an adaptation in the past. I love Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, and it was certainly a nice film to sit back and watch, but honestly I found it a little boring and I didn't particularly like the ending. I feel like both Marianne and Elinor deserved better.

I bought myself the season 2 boxset of Orphan Black and I've been watching that again, along with my Dad, in preparation for season 3 which isn't in the UK yet. Boo! It's such a good show, and so far my Dad seems to be enjoying it, too, which is quite something! I think I get my fussiness about TV shows from him...

This has nothing to do with watching Season 2, this is just one of my favourite Felix quotes.

Oh, and my brother-in-law went to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron. I thought it was alright. It was entertaining enough to watch but I'm not a massive superhero fan, although I do love the new Ms. Marvel comics. I'm more of an X-Men girl than an Avenger girl.

I had a great blogging month in April. I took part in the A-Z Blogging Challenge for the very first time and I did it! I was really proud that I actually managed to schedule my posts so I was never typing something up at the last minute, and though I missed a few days (three, I think - I couldn't think of any authors whose surname began with Q, U or X) I wrote something for the majority of them. The only thing I really failed at was regularly looking at other people's posts, which is very naughty of me, but to be honest I just wanted to take part in the challenge to see if I could do it, and I could!

Because I was on such a blogging high I wrote a bunch of other blog posts, too; not only for April, but for this month, too. I have a lot of posts scheduled already, which is good because May's going to be a very busy month at work.

It was Easter last month - hooray! I had a pretty quiet Easter, not that it's a holiday I've ever done anything special for, it was nice to get a few days off work. My sister and her family came to visit and on Easter Sunday we all went to Folly Farm, which is a diabetes-inducing name of a local zoo/farm. There's everything there from pigs to giraffes to lions to owls, and it was a really nice day weather-wise, too!

I found myself in Swansea a couple of times last month, too. For any of you who might not know I live in south Wales, and one of my friends from my MA course recently moved back to Swansea (she did her BA there, but her MA in Lancaster like me!) so it's been nice to have a friend nearby. The two of us went to a book launch together - the launch of New Welsh Short Stories, published by Seren Books where I work! - and then on the last Sunday of the month I travelled through to Swansea to go to a new book club that my friend has started.

There were six of us in total who turned up - which actually worked out really well because we read The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, which just so happens to have six main characters! - and while I knew two of the ladies already, one of them being my aforementioned friend, I also met some really lovely new people. It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to the next meeting where we'll be discussing Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment!

The book club doesn't have a theme exactly, but those of us who attended the first meeting are all really interested in gender, feminism and sexuality, so if that sounds like your kind of thing and you happen to live in the south Wales area why not join us? You'd be more than welcome! Check out the Facebook and the Twitter.

How was your April?

Review | Ms. Marvel, Vol.2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Jacob Wyatt

Ms. Marvel, Vol.2: Generation Why

by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Jacob Wyatt

My Rating: 

Who is the Inventor, and what does he want with the all-new Ms. Marvel and all her friends? Maybe Wolverine can help! Kamala may be fan-girling out when her favorite (okay maybe Top Five) super hero shows up, but that won't stop her from protecting her hometown. Then, Kamala crosses paths with Inhumanity for the first time - by meeting the royal dog, Lockjaw! Every girl wants a puppy, but this one may be too much of a handful, even for a super hero with embiggening powers. But why is Lockjaw really with Kamala? As Ms. Marvel discovers more about her past, the Inventor continues to threaten her future.

You can find my review of Ms. Marvel, Vol.1: No Normal here!

In Volume 2 of Ms. Marvel we're met with a young superhero who's growing in both confidence and awesome factor. This volume was much more action-packed than the first, including Kamala's showdown with The Inventor and her chance meeting with one of her top five favourite superheroes, Wolverine. Kamala even has a literal out of this world experience when she meets Inhuman royalty.

Basically, this volume was a lot of fun.

The main criticism I had of the first volume was that, while I adored Kamala, the plot felt a little all over the place. Thankfully, I found this volume much more succinct. There was more of a sense that Kamala is slowly but surely becoming more comfortable with her new role in life, though I was pleased to see none of her problems had been resolved overnight; while this volume focused less on her home life it was still made clear to us that Kamala continues to struggle between balancing the person she wants to be with the person she's expected to be. Something all of us face, I think, particularly during our teens.

It was teenagers who made this volume in particular really special. Kamala gives a brilliant speech about the modern generation, how they're judged and how they're made to feel about themselves and their role in society, and I found it incredibly powerful. It was one of my favourite parts of this volume, my other favourite part being Wolverine. Naturally.

I loved that Wolverine was included in this volume. Out of all of Marvel's superheroes, he really is one of the best role models and teachers out there; he has a real talent for taking young people (particularly young ladies - just look at Rogue) under his wing and helping them realise their own potential, which is just what Kamala needed. Their scenes together were so much fun.

I really enjoyed this volume, I love where this series is going, and I can't wait for the next one!

Review | Ms. Marvel, Vol.1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

Ms. Marvel, Vol.1: No Normal

by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

My Rating: 

Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she's suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she's comin' for you, New York! 

What a fun start to a series!

If you've been following my blog for a little while you might have noticed that I've been getting more and more into graphic novels over the past few months, and this year in particular. In January I read all four of the current volumes of Saga as well as the first volume of Rat Queens, so it only seemed right to get my hands on a copy of Ms. Marvel - I'll support anything female-led in the Marvel universe, because frankly the lack of female-led superhero movies is shocking. Thank God for Ms. Marvel and Agent Carter.

Don't even get me started on DC...

Anyway, as much as I enjoy the Marvel movies I don't know if I'd call myself a Marvel fangirl. I'm definitely no expert on the Marvel universe, and Ms. Marvel counts as the very first Marvel comic I've ever read. But hey, I'm not going to let that stop me from giving you an honest review!

I knew from the very first page that Kamala was going to be a heroine I liked a lot. She's a sweetie, and there's something about these stories featuring teenage misfits that call out to the teenage misfit in all of us, whether we're still struggling through adolescence or we left it behind, or so we like to think, years ago. Kamala's an ordinary teenager who's struggling to find the middle ground between being true to who she is, or who she'd like to be, and making her parents proud.

I'm rather ashamed to admit that I don't think I've read a book with a Muslim protagonist before now. That's something I need to change. I loved the way Kamala's family were portrayed; while their religion mattered to them on a personal level, it didn't define them. Kamala's family is a family like anyone else's, and I'm glad they were portrayed as such. That's something all of us need to remember, I think, when we sit down to watch the news.

While there were certain aspects of Kamala's culture that I could understand her frustration with, I loved that her family were still portrayed as likeable people; her relationship with her father, in particular, was very touching, and I look forward to seeing more scenes between the two of them in future volumes.

The only area of this volume that was a little lacking for me was, unfortunately, the plot. Obviously this is only the beginning so I'm sure whatever has started here will continue to grow and grow, but at times this volume felt a little all over the place; Kamala seemed to settle into her new powers fairly quickly, and I expected a bit more freaking out before that happened. Even in a world where the Avengers are real you'd still get a bit of a shock if you woke up with the ability to shoot lasers from your eyes.

All in all, though, I enjoyed this volume, and I'm looking forward to further instalments!

What's Up Wednesday! | 13/08/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

I haven't done any reading in a while because uni stress has been taking over my life, but yesterday I started re-reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, which is a book I first read and really enjoyed a couple of years ago. Honestly it's very rarely that I re-read books, but I was really in the mood for this one.

I recommend it to any fans of witches out there!

What I'm Writing

As always, I'm working on my portfolio.

What Inspires Me Right Now

As heartbroken as I'm pretty sure the whole world is right now after the tragic news of Robin Williams' death on Monday, it's actually been really inspiring to see so many people all over the world, people he never even met in person, pay their respects and mourn him together. He was so talented and he was such a huge part of my childhood; he was in Aladdin, Flubber, Jumanji, Mrs Doubtfire, Hook, The Dead Poets Society, Night at the Museum and so many other films I saw when I was younger, and he'll be sorely missed.

I'm going to leave a link here to a list of worldwide suicide hotlines, because it's a sad truth that when a celebrity commits suicide then suicide rates rise. If you're contemplating suicide then please confide in anyone you trust and/or feel comfortable with. You're not alone.

What Else I've Been Up To

On Friday I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy with a few of my friends and I think it might be my new favourite Marvel movie. I loved it so much! Groot is so damn adorable and I think Rocket might be my spirit animal - he's short and angry, just like me!

I haven't laughed so much throughout a film in such a long time, and it was really nice to just laugh for a couple of hours. I love films that take you away from all of your worries like that. I definitely recommend going to see it if you haven't already!

What's new with you?

What's Up Wednesday! | 04/06/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

I feel like this past week has flown by, it feels like only yesterday I was writing last week's WUW post, and as a result I haven't done any reading this week. I'm still in the middle of Deadline by Mira Grant, somehow I just haven't found the time to read!

What I'm Writing

Today I'm working on more of my novel, but these past few days I've actually been returning to a few pieces of short fiction and some poetry! There's a couple of competitions I'd like to enter - I want to get more of my writing out there! - and there are quite a few short stories lying unfinished in my documents folder that I'd really like to finish. Some of them have been there for over a year!

What Inspires Me Right Now

Yesterday I spent more time than I should have on Pinterest. I love gathering story inspiration there, in fact I have a board for my novel that I fill with pictures and photographs - it's a lot of fun!

Also, shout out to Pinterest who, when I searched for pictures of a noose, put a phone number and website at the top of the page for anyone who might be considering suicide. I know a lot of websites probably do that now, but it still makes me glad when I see it there.

(Don't worry, I'm not suicidal - there were just a lot of nooses in the 16th century!)

What Else I've Been Up To

This week I have not one, but two cinema trips to tell you about!

Last Thursday I went to see Maleficent with a couple of friends, and to be honest I had a very similar experience seeing this as I did to seeing Godzilla: I can't decide how I feel about it yet. I was really hoping for a story that was about a villain that was evil because she liked being evil, I'm a little bored of villains being 'misunderstood'.

That being said there were some elements of the film that I really enjoyed, and even if the story isn't the most original I've seen you should definitely see it for Angelina Jolie's performance. She was a fabulous Maleficent.

Then on Saturday one of my friends came to visit me. We went to Bella Italia for dinner - I had the most amazing cheese and chicken pasta dish that I would have taken a picture of if I hadn't been starving - and then we went to see the new X-Men film. I enjoyed it, but I think I like X-Men: First Class just a little more.

I also recently heard Channing Tatum has been cast as Gambit, and I'm not impressed. Gambit's always been one of my favourites and I'm still not over the fact that he wasn't in the original films. Hopefully Tatum will surprise me with a Gambit-worthy performance.

I've had a very nostalgic week, too. After we went to see X-Men, my friend and I decided to watch The Road to El Dorado; it's one of those films I always seem to end up watching with her, and we know it that well that I'm pretty certain we can quote the entire film at each other. Then I discovered that it's 14 years old this year!

On Monday I made another one of my friends sit down and watch The Lion King because she had a Disney-deprived childhood, and that's when I remembered that The Lion King came out in 1994, making it 20 years old this year. I feel so old!

What's new with you?

What's Up Wednesday! | 30/04/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

Sadly I haven't really done any reading since I got back to uni - I'm already quite busy - so I'm hoping to start reading again soon. I was going to carry on reading Mira Grant's Feed last night, but when I got into bed I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

But in a couple of week's time I'm going to be taking part in the 10th Bout of Books read-a-thon, so I hopefully I'll get plenty read then!

What I'm Writing

I'm still working away on Bloodroot and Bracken. I did practically no writing over my Easter holiday (which is really bad, I know) but now I'm getting back into it and I feel like my writing skills have gone severely down hill. Right now everything I write is pretty much: 'and then she did a thing, and it was good'. I just need to shake off the last of the laziness that's still clinging to me after those three weeks away from uni.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Being back at uni means I'm once again surrounded by other writers, and that's pretty inspiring - it's certainly helping me to get my arse into gear!

What Else I've Been Up To

On Saturday I got back to uni after a very relaxing Easter holiday - so relaxing, in fact, that I almost wasn't ready to come back to uni - and then on Saturday night a friend and I went to see the new Spider-man movie. I'm definitely more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan, and next to the X-Men my favourite Marvel comic/cartoon when I was younger was Spider-man.

I especially love these new films because it's finally seeing Spider-man being done well. Andrew Garfield is a brilliant Peter Parker/Spider-man - he's the witty, sarcastic Spider-man I remember from my childhood - and Emma Stone is a wonderful Gwen Stacy, too.

I really enjoyed this film, but be prepared to be sad if you go and see it!

Earlier this week (or possibly at the weekend, I can't remember) I also submitted a short story into a competition, so we'll see how that goes. To be honest I never win anything but I thought it would be fun to try anyway, plus this year I'm trying to get more of my short fiction out there while I work on longer projects.

So what's new with you?