Rusty Brown (by Chris Ware)

This was part of my challenge to read 10 physical books this year - this one is a 700-page comic and quite unwieldy so it was taking up a lot of shelf space! 

Ware's comics are beautiful depictions of depressed, toxic masculinity and sad people with circumscribed lives, this time set in small-town Nebraska. Mostly reading this was tiresome and unlike with Building Stories, which I loved, it wore out is welcome with me.  I think my favorite part was the novel-within-a-novel called Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars which, yes, is depressing and about toxic masculinity (and you don't want to know what happens to the dogs) but was inventive.

Sounds like damning with faint praise, doesn't it? I appreciate the achievement of Rusty Brown but it's definitely one that I'm passing along to the next reader, and don't need to keep on my shelf.  (Also this was my 10th physical book of the year! Although only 6 have left my house, so I'll try to read a couple more before the year is out.)  

Shubeik Lubeik (by Deena Mohamed)

Read for the RHC category "a comic in translation." This was originally written in Arabic and is presented back to front, right to left. It was nominated for a Hugo, among other awards, and takes place in Egypt, in a world where wishes are real and can be bought and sold.

The book follows three "first-class" wishes and the stories of who uses each one.  A woman who has lost her husband, a college student (majoring in wishes) who is dealing with depression, and the man who sells wishes and, for religious purposes, doesn't believe in using them. 

Fascinating glimpse into a culture I know very little about and a unique premise. I didn't think the stories were all super successful - the second one, about Nour, resonated with me the most. I hoped the final story would end a bit more satisfyingly, but maybe the point is - life is life, and there is no perfect way to use a wish.   

Park Bench (by Christophe Chabouté)

For the RHC category "read a wordless comic." This is a graphic novel about a park bench and the lives that intersect with it. The author is French and you do see a word or two of graffiti, for example, which has been translated.  But this is largely wordless. 

 It's fun to follow all the small stories along the way.   From the old couple who shares a pastry on the bench every day to the unhoused man who sleeps on the bench to the skateboarder who rides his board along the bench.  But the ending is pretty sentimental (the ending of not just one of the vignettes, but all of the vignettes). If you don't mind that, it's sweet.  

I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up (by Naoko Kodama)

Read for the "manga" category in the RHC.  It's a short manga about a girl who marries her best friend "to shut her parents up" and then ends up developing romantic feelings for her.

There are a lot of flashbacks, which made this choppy and confusing to read. (This may partly be because I'm not used to reading manga, but I had no issues with My Brother's Husband.)  There is some weird sexual harassment going on, flashbacks that don't pay off, a weird focus on the main character's giant boobs?

I mean, it's cute - the grumpy/sunshine dynamic is there and this could have been adorable. But it lacked pacing and depth, for me.

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World (by Pénélope Bagieu)

For the RHC category "a comic that has been banned."  I'm so glad I got this on paper because the illustrations are absolutely stunning. This is an anthology of stories about brazen women around the world, from little known figures (like the woman who saved the Montuak lighthouse) to world-famous figures like Josephine Baker.

I'm guessing it's banned because it features at least one transgender woman and mentions sexual assault, murder, and other difficult topics in some of the (true) stories of these women's lives. But it's wonderful. Bagieu includes a list of more Brazen women at the end and it just made me long for another volume of this amazing book!

Get it for the Brazen women (and girls; my 12-year-old loved it) in your life.

What I Read On My Summer Vacation

Spoiler alert: it was 17 books, so buckle up. I'll include the tags in the little blurbs below so you don't have to wade through the one zillion tags I'm about to slap on this bad boy.

The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom (by Allison L. Bitz) young adult, romcom

Loved the character growth and focus more on being a better person than the romance elements. Felt organic, theater kids are the worst and the best. I loved how everyone was casually bisexual, with sexuality not even mentioned. Very Big Reveal-esque in its boarding school setting. One of my favorite of these 17 reads.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (by Talia Hibbert) young adult, romcom

Super great chemistry, rich characters and ADORABLE. My only two critiques: Katharine Breakspeare is a dumb/fake name, and this random dude Nick showed up as a winner at the end when it could have been any of a handful of other characters we actually knew.) But loved this read and hope Hibbert writes more YA!

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears (by Michael Schulman) nonfiction

Juicy and detailed, got more interesting (for me) as it moved into Oscars I remember watching. I'm a faithful Oscar viewer still ,although I don't make the effort to watch all the nominees that I used to. Ends kind of abruptly but look forward to an expanded edition in five or 10 years!

The Helpline by Katherine Collette women's contemporary, litficL

Like a lighter Eleanor Olifant which is always an absolute delight. I love reading about rigid, literal characters who find happiness with a ragtag group of people who don't give up on them. Germaine is so loveable! Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed Eleanor.

Darkhearts (by James L. Sutter) young adult

I'm a sucker for "turns out I'm gay for YOU" stories but this had a couple of issues.  The best friend was clearly a girl written by a dude (she was unrealistically crude, and in general the book was fairly crude with a lot of poop humor when I would prefer zero poop humor). The character development for our MC (who needed a LOT of it) was too abrupt and the ending really didn't work. But did I keep reading until the end? You bet I did.

The Smitten Kitchen (by Deb Perlman) nonfiction, rhc 2023, cookbook if I had a cookbook tag which I don't because why would I ever do this to myself again

The only reason I read this was for the Read Harder category "read a cookbook from cover to cover" and I kind of hated this challenge. I don't really cook, reading lists of ingredients is boring, and even though her writing is very good, she uses the word "dollop" 38 times, which is probably fine if you're dipping in and out of the cookbook like a normal person but got annoying for me. Just felt very pointless. I always love her recipes though!

Evelina (by Fanny Burney) classics, rhc 2023

The category was "read one of your favorite author's favorite books" and since part of my vacation was a Jane Austen pilgrimage, I decided to read one of Austen's favorites. It was actually a page turner, with some very horrible characters that are overly mean to our poor heroine, but I was glad in the third volume when that subsided and the plot got exciting. Reading about the London season and imagining all the ways Burney influenced Austen made this really fun to read. As opposed to the cookbook thing, I was really glad this challenge was on the list.

Check, Please! (by Ngozi Ukazu) comic, graphic novel, rhc 2023

For the category "read a completed webcomic." This is a webcomic about a college hockey player, with a very sweet grumpy-sunshine romance. Kind of missing conflict and comics will never be my favorite, but quite adorable and joyful. 

Cupid Calling (by Viano Oniomoh) romance, rhc 2023, world literature

Category is: "read an independently published book by a BIPOC author." This is a self-published M/M romance about two contestants on a Bachelorette-like show who meet and fall for each other in a slow-burn romance.  It's very high-quality considering it's self-published, would not have guessed that. Loved the characters, who are both British-Nigerian and have different, complex relationships with their cultures. Definitely includes some fanfic-like sex scenes at the end that are very explicit. But they were well done and fit the characters, so it was fine. My only quibble is that it's supposed to be a reality show made by an Ava Duverney type director but it's got the same format as basically every dating reality show, so talking about how this would be "different" kind of fell flat.

The Aosawa Murders (by Riku Onda) mystery, world literature, translated

This one is all about the atmosphere! Really enjoyed the structure of multiple points of view, and the mood overall.  And the ambiguity - except that it was a shade too ambiguous! I would have liked a little more (though not perfect) resolution at the end. Still, it's eerie and gothic in a specifically Japanese way and I enjoyed it a lot.

Northanger Abbey (by Jane Austen) classic, reread, on paper

I hadn't read Northanger Abbey since I was a teenager, so when I found an adorable pocket copy at the Jane Austen House, I had to get it! really loved having my solo meals in England while accompanied by some chapters from this delightful Austen novel. Oh, and I had apparently forgotten like 80% of the plot because I haven't seen any adaptations either! I'm clearly falling down on the job.

It Goes Like This (by Miel Moreland) young adult

About a fictional "girl band" called Moonlight Overthrow that has broken up and gets back together for a reunion show. Very well written, liked the complexity of the ending, but I did think that everyone treated Eva extremely poorly and did not do enough penance at the end of the book to make their rapprochement satisfying. Gina in particular was underdeveloped, which is especially unfortunate since she is the one Black character. Enjoyable, not amazing. And I strongly suspect this is a gender-swapped rewrite of some former One Direction fanfic.

Plus One (by Kelsey Rodkey) young adult, romcom

Has a main character that somehow gets less and less sympathetic as the book goes along, culminating in so much awfulness that I almost couldn't really get back on her side anymore by the end.  All very well written and I love a confidently plus-size main character. The supporting cast was absolutely fabulous. But oof, once again not enough penance at the end, and that makes it especially hard when it's the character you're supposed to be rooting for. 

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl (by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum) young adult, romcom

Love the concept and the characters (which gave me Amelia Westlake vibes, one of my favorite sapphic ya romcoms ever) but the viewpoints of the two point of view characters were both not differentiated enough in the writing style (surprisingly, since there were two authors) and not cohesive enough in the characterization (Margo's character in particular.) Disappointing execution, ultimately.

A Line to Kill (by Anthony Horowitz) mystery, series

This is the third book in the Hawthorne series, which starts with The Sentence Is Death. I saw an ad for the fourth installment in the Tube and realized I had missed #3 so checked them both out! This was really good as always, I love Horowitz's metafictional and self deprecating take on Sherlock and Watson and it was a really good mystery. 

Going Bicoastal (by Dahlia Adler) young adult, romcom

One that I saved for the plane because I knew it would be good! Sliding Doors-esque, bisexual, and absolutely charming. Loved the cleverness of the structure and shoutouts to other YAs... including It Goes Like This! Dahlia Adler is as always, really great.

A Twist of the Knife (by Anthony Horowitz) mystery, series

The aforementioned fourth book in the Hawthorne series. I finished this on the train home, half-asleep due to jetlag, so my notes just say "breezy! not as tight as #3 but enjoyable mise en scène." Not even convinced I used mise en scène correctly but there you have it. 

Phew! There you have it, the 17 books I read on my six-week vacation.

Ghost World (by Daniel Clowes)

This was a fun category that I had to think about for a bit: "Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book)." Ghost World is a movie I've seen many times, but I'd never read the original comic collection, until now. 

Something about these disaffected, posturing teenagers trying to navigate a complicated adolescence really resonates with me, both in the book and in the graphic novel. Yes, Enid and Rebecca are sometimes monstrous and cruel, but they are also in pain and dealing with complex feelings about each other and other people and themselves. Their world is fascinating and perfectly sketched.

Often, I feel like I don't read graphic novels "correctly" in that I read them too fast without really looking at the artwork. (Check out Ken Parille's essay about the comic, which goes into some of the subtle touches included by Clowes here.) It's worth slowing down and appreciating all the details in this one and maybe a re-read is in order.  Very happy with the challenge giving me the excuse to pick up this book.

Your Black Friend (by Ben Passmore)

Picked up for the Read Harder Challenge, this comic is only 11 pages long, but still packs a punch. It's a message to white liberals from "your black friend" and serves as an illumination of the black experience as well as a call to action to actually use your privilege in ways that help black people. 

It reminds me of The Hate U Give in some parts, where Passmore talks about being too black for white people and too white for black people.  It's also personally challenging to me as I think about how movements like #MeToo and #NeverAgain have effected real change, while we still have black men getting shot in their backyards in California.

11 pages, but thought-provoking for sure.