Review: Captain Marvel Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick

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Captain marvel I didn’t know much about Captain Marvel besides she is soon to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. OK, maybe not that soon since she has yet to be cast and her movie keeps getting pushed back.  (Thanks a lot Spider-Man!) So, I thought I would give her a shot. If I’m going to start reading comics, I figured I might as well start with a character that I don’t already have a history with and start fresh.  Not to mention I wanted to read a story with a female lead.

At first I felt I was a little bit behind.  In the early chapters (or is it issues?) there were references of things that happened before the action of the story began.  A previous Avengers mission, for one, Captain Marvel’s ex and why she wasn’t ready to move forward with her relationship with Rhodey, aka Iron Patriot from the Iron Man movies.  So, I feel like someone needs to recommend me comics to read that might explain what happened before.  We open on Captain Marvel and Iron Patriot retrieving an unknown vessel that is hurtling towards New York.  Inside is an alien from a planet that has been destroyed.  Later that night, Iron Man finds Captain Marvel, or Carol Danvers, at home. Which is the Statue Liberty. That’s right, she lives in the Statue of Liberty.  As someone who lives in New York and knows how much rent is, I can’t even imagine what rent would be to live in the crown of the Statue of Liberty!  There has to be a story about how she got such a prime spot.  Just another perk of being an Avenger?  Anyway, Tony Stark has decided that they need an Avenger in space and Carol immediately volunteers. So, she and her cat go into space in take back the Alien, Tic, to her people.  The problem is that Tic’s people are refugees from a destroyed planet.  They were resettled on to an uninhabited planet but now they are getting sick so are being forced to leave and without their sick.  This doesn’t sit well with them. They have lost most of the their loved ones, they were not going to leave behind more.  While in Space, Carol meets up with the Guardians of the Galaxy.  You know, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot.  This leads to one of the funniest moments between Rocket and Carol’s cat.  It also leads to the real problem of the story which surrounds Peter Quill’s father, who is not a good man.

Carol Danvers is a great character.  She’s smart, brave and little head strong (but who isn’t).  She believes in the missions of the Avengers and will go to great lengths to accomplish those goals, even putting her self on the line.  She’s also pretty funny. I like that.  This was a very fun book.  I’m looking forward to read more about her.  I’m also happy because this helps my Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives reading challenge.  I’ll admit, I’m a little behind.

 

This Month in Reality: Tidying Up

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When I get home tonight I’m going to take off my shoes and thank them (they are super cute and have done the hard work of keeping my feet out of the mud today). My wallet, essential oils bag (yes, I’m that kind of dirty hippie that brings her own aroma therapy with her everywhere she goes), my planner and the notebook I always carry with me will be taken out of my purse and I will thank them and put them in their new spots. I will hang my purse up and thank it. Then, I will feed my hungry, hungry monsters. Finally, I’ll try not to feel silly for expressing gratitude to inanimate objects. Hey, you know how I said I was done reading self-help books? Well, I lied to both of us. I read The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. All of this thanking is Kondo’s idea. I’m down with expressing gratitude as a regular practice. It’s allegedly good for you. Thanking things isn’t a problem. (It feels weird, but I do all kinds of weird things so what is one more?)

So, I read this book and now I feel like I need to divest myself of half of my possessions. Which, on the whole, is probably not a bad thing. I am kind of a pack rat so I hang onto things longer than I need to. (And, I’m on the job market expecting that a move is in my future if I want to stay in my field, so having fewer things to move would be pretty awesome.)

The Konmari method seems to work as follows: Go through all your possessions one category at a time and get rid of anything you don’t need. Don’t move it to your Mom’s. Don’t put it in storage. Straight up give it away or sell it or throw it away. No longer have it within your reach. Keep the stuff that makes you happy. Not the stuff you feel like you should keep, not the stuff that you have “just in case”. Just the stuff that makes you happy. If you use your stuff as a barrier between you and the world to keep you safe, this is going to be an awful process. However, she gives you something to deal with the anxiety-inducing trash-fest. She wants you to start by thinking about what you want from life. How do you want to be seen? How do you see yourself? What are trying to radiate? How does your space reflect that? So, the life-changing art of tidying up is not just about divesting yourself of possessions. It is also about divesting yourself of ideas, thoughts, and patterns that no longer serve you.

In short, this is going to be a rough ride.

I think this is a great way to approach tidying up your space and your life. But, I also think that confronting your feelings and thought patterns is rough work and that it might be easier when you have Kondo there in the room with you. So, I recommend this book. It was an interesting read. But, if you’re going to use the Konmari method to get rid of stuff in your life you may also want to be in therapy or keep a journal of the process so you can work out your feelings as you throw out your stuff.

 

 

This book counts as my book by an Asian author in the Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge.

Quick Review: Deadfall by Anna Carey

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deadfallThe sequel to Blackbird was satisfying as the first book.  Deadfall picks up right where Blackbird ended.  “Sunny” is reunited with Rafe, the boy from the island on the train to New York.  Rafe memories have already come back to him and has made contact with other victims of the hunt in New York. Together they try to connect with the others and figure out how to bring them down.  Things get even more complicated when Ben is sent in to try to bring her back but instead chooses to side her.  The twists and turns go back and forth and we find out deep the game goes and far people will go for the ultimate thrill.  The scariest part is how easy it is for people to look at others people as less then human.  The hunters don’t see these kids as kids but as targets.  To them these are just runaway kids with no futures and no one will miss so it’s totally okay to hunt them for sport.  This novel is also written in second person like the first and lends itself to the urgency and the paranoia of our characters.  In the end our heroine finds out who she is.  Her memories are not fully back but for the first time in a long time she can be herself.  For mystery and action fans, this duology is worth checking out.

Review: Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

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stars above As you may have noticed.  Kate and I haven’t posted much lately.  I’ve been on vacation and had every intention of updating while I was gone but I was too busy enjoying doing nothing but hanging out with my parents and friends that blogging didn’t happen.  Oops.  Let’s try to make up.

Stars Above is a collection of short stories that takes place in the world of Lunar Chronicles.  Most of the them are prequels, giving readers more insight into who the characters were before the action the novels.  In the case of the first story, The Keeper, it fills in the story of how Cinder came to earth and how Michelle Benoit and Scarlett fit into her life before she became a cyborg.  Glitches follows Cinder as she meets her step family for the first time and how she went from the great hope to the just the mechanic.  In the Mechanic we get to read Kai’s first meeting with Cinder from his perspective and the final story, Something Old, Something New takes place a few years after the end of Winter where the whole gang comes back together for the wedding of two them.  I won’t say who because I don’t want to spoil it but you will be happy.  My favorite story was The Little Android. It’s the only story that doesn’t star anyone from the Lunar Chronicles but does feature a cameo by Cinder.  It’s about an Android like Iko that wants to be more then just an android.  She starts to have feelings with a human and buys an escort android body to pass herself as human to get closer to him.  The problem is that the man is in love with someone else.  We get a better view of what life is like for people living in New Beijing before Cinder’s revolution for androids, cyborgs and humans.  It’s a very bittersweet story but beautiful written.  This collection is worth it just for this story alone even if you are not a fan of the Lunar Chronicles.  For the fans, it’s a must read.

Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

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I am late to The Martian party, people. I was told by every person I know (and a few people I didn’t) that I would LOVE this book. And, I said, “Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. I’ll put it on the list.” And, I did put it on the list. Then, they made a film out of it and I thought, “Oh, I’ll read it before I see the film.” And, then the film was released and I thought, “That really does look good.”

And, then my friend gave me the audio book to listen to on a road trip. R.C. Bray read the audio book and he nailed the main character. I’m in love with Mark Watney. Seriously. If Mark Watney were a real dude I’d have his poster in my office. He’s like the Chris Hadfield of fictional astronauts. Mark Watney might be my new book boyfriend.

In case you don’t know the story, it’s like this: We’ve gone to Mars! And, Watney is an astronaut on a Mars mission who accidentally gets stranded on the planet. Oops. The whole novel is about how we works to survive on the surface. How he feeds himself, how he makes contact with NASA, how he’s eventually rescued. There were so many tense moments and so many funny moments and so many wonderful, “let’s work this problem” moments. This book reminded me why thirteen year old Kate wanted to work for NASA. (She didn’t want to be an astronaut. She wanted to be one of the nerds on the ground that runs eleven thousand different scenarios so that things don’t explode or go wrong (and so there is a back up plan when things do explode and go wrong.) Thirteen year old Kate, much like [redacted] year old Kate is claustrophobic and could never be an astronaut. Riding on the subway freaks out her a little. Especially when it stops between stations, for the love of god.)

So, this was a really excellent book and I want to sing the praises of the narrator of the audio book for a moment. I can’t say enough good things about them. Bray did such an amazing job that two things have happened. 1. I’ve looked for other audio books they’ve narrated just because they narrated it and 2. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m never going to see the movie because Matt Damon isn’t Mark Watney. He won’t sound right.

I highly recommend this book. If you somehow also missed the hype and you’re interested in space, suspense, and occasional comic relief, she should pick this book up!

This counts as my Audiobook for the Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge.

#Bookreaderproblems

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The Glass Sword came out yesterday.  I preordered my copy over a month ago thinking I would get it by today because that is what I was told to expect it.  Well, it wasn’t shipped until yesterday and I’m not supposed to get it until Friday.  FRIDAY! I finished Deadfall on my commute home last night.  So what do I read now?  This is my dilemma. Do I read something new and run the risk of not finishing it by the time Glass Sword gets here? And then do I finish reading the new book or do I start Glass Sword because that’s what I really want to read? I’ve never been a fan of stopping and starting books.  I like to read them all the way through.  It’s part of why I mostly only read one back at a time, though I have done the two books before. So my other option is to read something I’ve already read before.  It won’t be that hard for me to stop in the middle if I don’t finish because I’ll know how it ends.  That would make the most sense but then I’ll lose my momentum on my book challenge.  Not that my challenge is all that difficult since I know I can read 65 books in a year but I do hate to lose.  Do you have this problem?  What do I do?