November was a pretty slow reading month for me. My parents came to visit for over a week and I usually don’t read when family is in town. I like to focus on them instead of having my nose in a book. I did have a really fun time while they were here though. We went to our favorite garden which is always beautiful and we got to go to the thrift store! Where we bought a bunch of books. The paperbacks are only fifty cents! I couldn’t resist getting a few. I found a cozy mystery that takes place at a crossword puzzle competition, how could I not get that. Anyway, I hope that you guys had a fun Thanksgiving! Now onto the books!
The first book that I want to talk about is John Scalzi’s latest book, Starter Villain. This book follows Charlie, whose uncle Jake just died and left him a very large and somewhat unorthodox inheritance. But Charlie hasn’t seen Uncle Jake since his mom’s funeral many, many years ago. The inheritance comes with a few stipulations, the first, is that Charlie has to stand for his uncle at his funeral. Since Charlie doesn’t have much going for him at the moment – he’s a divorced substitute teacher with a cat living in a house that his siblings are actively trying to kick him out of so they can sell it – he decides to do it. Thus begins Charlie’s introduction to his uncle’s world, which just happens to be filled with supervillains. Turns out, Charlie has also inherited his uncle Jake’s supervillain business, including his secret volcanic base.
I loved this book, but then again I love most things that John Scalzi writes. Charlie is a great character but honestly, the supporting cast was my favorite. His bodyguard/assistant/chaperone, Til is my favorite but I love love love the spy cats. Persephone is great and I love that she stays with Charlie for the whole book. The pacing of this is really fast which I loved. It takes off at a breakneck speed and never really lets off the gas. Something is always exploding or people are getting killed or the talking dolphins are striking, there’s always something happening for or to poor Charlie.
Up next is Lord Hades’s Ruthless Marriage vol. 1 by Ueji Yuho. This is yet another book about Hades and Kore/Persephone. While I do like this book I really wish we could get away from that particular couple and explore other gods and goddesses from the Greek pantheon. I would love a manga about Artemis or literally anyone other than Hades and Persephone (I know that there is Record of Ragnarok that mentions a few of the Greek gods but they are gone by the time their fight is over.).
This was an interesting take on Hades and Kore. I think at this point we all know the myth and I liked what this author did with it. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but I do like to see what different authors do with the same story. Seeing how they change it and make it their own while keeping the central story alive is always a fun read.
The next manga that I really loved in November was Rocopon vol. 1 by Chicchi Yukinaga. This was such a fun manga! I loved this volume and I will 100% be reading more of this series. In this, we follow Rocopon, an alien, who came to Earth eight years ago (we don’t know why and neither does he). To the public, it looks like Rocopon has done nothing and doesn’t contribute to society. But he is actually a secret assassin for the government cleaning up all of the worst people in society. After doing this for years, Rocopon is getting lazy and not doing his job super well. Will he finally meet his match and actually have to try?
Next up we have Innocent vol. 1 Omnibus by Shin’ichi Sakamoto. This is all about executioners in 18th-century France. Our main character, Charles-Henri Sanson, is the heir to be the Royal Executioner of France. We follow him as he grows up and grows into being the next Royal Executioner. At the beginning he was such a gentle and sweet boy and he gets totally wrecked by his family and their obligations.
This was such a gross book. And I say that with all the love in my heart. I enjoyed this so much. But I would warn you if you are not a fan of blood and guts, then probably skip this one. I loved how flawed all the characters are, especially Charles’ mom. They don’t really change either, there’s no redemption arc or saving grace with these characters. They’re just horrible people through and through.
Cursed Bunny is a collection of Korean short stories by Bora Chung. The stories are The Head, The Embodiment, Cursed Bunny, The Frozen Finger, The Snare, Goodbye, My Love, Scars, Home Sweet Home, Ruler of the Winds and Sands, and Reunion. My top three favorite stories were Home Sweet Home, The Snare, and Cursed Bunny. I think the one that sticks out to me the most is the Snare. Just because of the sheer brutality of it. But all of the stories were fantastic. The author is really able to take something ordinary, like a bunny lamp, and make it into something terrifying and unsettling.
Transitions follows author Élodie Durand as she wrestles with coming to terms that her child, Alex, is a transgender man. We start off going through Alex’s younger years up until they come out. After that, it’s a lot about the author’s struggles with Alex’s decision. We see them talking and arguing and going to therapy together. At times it seems like they’ll never reconcile. But we see them both trying to come back together and eventually they do. It did seem to me though that Alex was doing the heavy lifting and their mom was being purposefully obtuse sometimes. Also, this book felt like it was going on for an eternity (it’s under 200 pages though). It seemed like the author was just rehashing the same issues over and over and over and then eventually changing. Honestly, there were times reading this that I was very frustrated by how Alex’s mom spoke to them and about them. Aren’t you supposed to be your child’s biggest ally and protector? It seemed like she was putting conditions on her love at times. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy this book. But half the time I wanted to reach in the book and throttle her. How hard is it to love your child and support their decisions? This isn’t rocket science anymore. It’s not hard to respect someone’s pronouns and new name. Maybe this is something that I don’t understand because I don’t have children – and never will.
The last book that I want to talk about is Mothman’s Merry Cryptid Christmas by Andrew Shaffer. This was such a cute little book! I was already a fan of this Mothman cartoon so I was really excited to see this book come out. This is a really fun book if you or your kids are a fan of cryptids or monsters.
That is it for November! I hope that you guys had a great month and got to eat some good food. My next post will be my big year end round up, so look forward to that!
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