WIR: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

I picked up Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Cruther somewhere in college when I went on one of my “wild amazon” trips and spent like 60 dollars on books in one go! Exciting! The point of these trips was always to buy something I wouldn’t normally buy. I’d read on some blog that Crutcher was this YA must read and I won’t lie the title stuck out at me.

 

WIR: The Rest Of Us Just Live Here

Patrick Ness has written the perfect response to every teen paranormal trilogy out there. The elevator pitch of this book is that it is about the regular kids living in the town where all the paranormal YA prophecy chosen one shit goes down. It’s about not being special and being awesome anyway. I wish I’d had this book in high school. I’m really glad I have this book now.

WIR: Does Lauren Beukes have an award yet?

Last year just before Halloween I got to devour Broken Monsters which was nothing short of stunning. The way she treated Detroit like a haunted house, a ruin of a town like the ruin of bodies the serial killer left standing in for something greater and more grisly. If you haven’t read it yet you need to. From that preamble I assume you can tell I was excited to pick up The Shining Girls.

The Shining Girls is about a time traveling serial killer but it’s mostly about vulnerable women. The girls on the edge, who seemingly put themselves in harms way because most people don’t realize that to be female is to constantly be in harms way. All of the “victims” in Beukes book are women pushing social norms, whither that means being an abortionist or a social worker, a scientist or a showgirl. The sad thing is that as I was reading I didn’t notice that motif, I just saw the type of women killed everyday because women are killed everyday. Sometimes for something as small as ignoring a cat call. Beukes intentionally wanted call attention to issues of violence against women, partially because, like most people, she knew a victim of domestic violence.

WIR: The Upanishads

I spent a lot of the past few years seeking the faith in physics and the science in religious text. Maybe it’s the whole aging thing. Maybe it’s just the fact that I don’t have kids so most of my thoughts are free to focus on not having to keep a tiny ostensibly drunk human alive. It can get pretty cosmic when you’re bored. Anyway reading the Tao of Physics last year led me here to one of the oldest Hindu Scriptures.

WIR: The New York Stories by Paul Auster

What the fuck did I just read? No really Paul Auster what in the post modern fuck did I just read. I have half a mind to head over to Brookyln Heights to ask him but I’d get distracted by all the houses real people can’t afford to live in. Then I’d get sad and melancholy ok maybe I kind of get where you’re coming from but you’re still a bastard.

WIR Macbeth #killingit

Some times I read cheese ball stuff cause it’s short and I like cheese. Macbeth #killingit totally falls into that category. 

WIR: Jessica Jones: Alias Vol 1

Why yes I have jumped on the Jessica Jones bandwagon and as I was lucky enough to get a copy of this for christmas I just had to devour it in basically one go.

WIR: Nimona

This weeks book is the award winning Internet wondekin Noelle Stevenson‘s Nimona. This book began life as a webcomic that everyone told me to read that I just never got around to. One of the cool things about Nimona is that would actually get to see her talent growing as the comic goes on. The chapters become more meaningful, the art gets noticeably better. It’s a rare thing to see and I think it’s a necessary and inspiring book. It’s proof that beginners can make good art and that practice really does pay off. It’s the kind of thing that can really only happen on a web comic.

What I’m Reading: Hawkeye Vol 3 LA Woman

I know, long title right? Anyway

I was a huge fan of Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye when it premiered. It was a title that actually got me buying single titles again. I loved what most people did, the snark, David Aja’s art, the fact that it was a truly stand alone title. It was really hard not to love.  But somewhere around the time Kate Bishop packed off for LA, I stopped reading. I blamed it mostly on my unemployment and thus inability to keep buying weeklies but after reading LA Woman, I’m not surprised I let my weekly buying habits wane.

What I’m Reading: The LumberJanes Vol. 1

I know I’m late to the ballgame with this one but when my little sister gave me this one for Christmas I had no choice but to sit down and promptly read the whole thing. Even if most of the family was in the middle of a game of Mafia De Cuba.

Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis are people to watch. The Lumberjanes are cartoony without being overly cute. It’s like if Adventure Time went to a girl scout summer camp.

While this comic is certainly meant for a younger audience reading it as an adult was still a good use of my time. It’s one of those fast reads that makes a sick day a little less gloomy.

Lumberjanes vol.1 is my first read of 2016 (good start I’d say) from 2015 I still need to finish:

Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren

The Shining Girls by Lauren Burkes

I also stated Anna Karenina because fuck it, gotta read the classics sometime right?

I want to read a hundred books this year because I like reading more than interacting with people on the subway.

1 book down 99 more to go.