Page Turners: Girly

I am currently reading:

Girly by Josh Lesnick

Comics 247 - 503. This is from the Complete Collection that my fiancé bought when Josh Lesnick published the entire comic through Kickstarter, we also got the limited edition statue! I love Girly, it's a weird comic but it's super funny. As long as you're not offended by NSFW humour, same-sex relationships and obscure humour, you'll enjoy it.

Um...I can't really give a blurb because it's part of a long running series, so here's the blurb from the first book, from Goodreads:

Because you demanded it - Josh Lesnick's popular web comic strip is collected in handy graphic novel form Girly follows the adventures of Otra and Winter, a romantic odd couple living in Cute-Town. When Otra isn't busy shooting people into space, she reluctantly acts as Winter's "sidekick" - completely against her will. Wacky comedy, tender romance and surreal oddness abound in this hilarious and off-beat strip

Page Turners: A Storm of Swords Part One

I am currently reading:

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Marting

With the Game of Thrones TV series over for another year I'm reading ahead because I need my fix!

From Goodreads:

The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud, and winter approaches like an angry beast. Beyond the Northern borders, wildlings leave their villages to gather in the ice and stone wasteland of the Frostfangs. From there, the renegade Brother Mance Rayder will lead them South towards the Wall.
Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown in the Kingdom of the North, but his defences are ranged against attack from the South, the land of House Stark’s enemies the Lannisters. His sisters are trapped there, dead or likely yet to die, at the whim of the Lannister boy-king Joffrey or his depraved mother Cersei, regent of the Iron Throne.
And Daenerys Stormborn will return to the land of her birth to avenge the murder of her father, the last Dragon King on the Iron Throne.

Page Turners: The Kissing Game

I am currently (still) reading:

The Kissing Game by Aidan Chambers

Yep, still reading it.

Short stories and I have an odd relationship. As a kid one of my favourite books was Skin by Roald Dahl that was a collection of his short stories, they were so weird and surreal but I adored them and I can remember two of them to this day. But other short stories have failed to really grip me. I can only remember one other, which was read to me during one of my first ever university lectures. I don't remember it very well or who it was by, just that it really annoyed me because it didn't make any sense and it was left without a conclusion of any kind. 

But I've also written short stories and flash fiction, so I understand how it's created and why it is the way it is. But I've never truly loved it, and I sometimes feel like I'm missing something.

So, short stories and I don't always get along, but I'm always willing to keep trying and I thought The Kissing Game sounded really good from the blurb.

So far I haven't really been gripped. I've really enjoyed one story so far, the rest I'm not too bothered about. But I will be reviewing it so I won't spoil anything right now. It is a good book, the stories are good and the writing is good, but it hasn't blown me away yet.

From Goodreads:

United under the banner of flash fiction, this is a collection of stories, or little 'cells', complete in themselves but connected by the overarching themes of betrayal and revenge. All featuring teenagers and often with an unexpected twist, these frighteningly realistic stories will take you to the very edge and beyond.

Page Turners: The Kissing Game

The Kissing Game by Aidan Chambers

I don't read short stories very much, I'm not really sure why, I just don't, so I was really intrigued by this book when it dropped through my letterbox a few months ago. I ditched reading The Pledge to read this instead. I don't like the first story very much, it's a modern take on Cinderella and so far I don't feel like I know the character, Ursula, at all and find it all a bit hard to believe. 

From Goodreads:

United under the banner of flash fiction, this is a collection of stories, or little 'cells', complete in themselves but connected by the overarching themes of betrayal and revenge. All featuring teenagers and often with an unexpected twist, these frighteningly realistic stories will take you to the very edge and beyond.

Page Turners: Making Comics

I am currently reading:

Making Comics by Scott McCloud

Again. I probably re-read this book every few months, it's just so good. Even if you don't want to create your own comics it's an interesting read in regards to storytelling and how comics work. Scott McCloud has also written Understand Comics and Reinventing Comics which we also own and I've also read a few times too, but I love Making Comics the most.

Page Turners: Blue

I am still reading The Pledge and to be honest I've barely made a dent in it. It's taking me a while to get into the world and the characters so I'm hoping that it'll start to grab me soon. It's not a bad book by any means but it's just not really enticing me to keep reading at the moment.

So, today's alternative suggestion is:

Blue is an amazing comic that I found purely by chance one day. I think that another comic artist I follow tweeted about it, but I'm not entirely sure because it was ages back. I love Blue. I love the style and I love the story. It's a bit like Stand By Me meets District 9.

You can also read it online if you want to, for free. How generous is that?!

From Goodreads:

Blue is the debut graphic novel of Australian cartoonist Pat Grant. It's a fascinating blend of autobiography and fiction with a sci-fi twist: in a seaside Australian town struggling with alien tentacle-creature immigration, a trio of aimless teenagers skip school to go surfing, chase rumors of a dead body, and avoid dealing with their own fears.

Page Turners: The Pledge

I am currently reading:

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

I'm starting this book tonight, it sounds really interesting so I'm looking forward to it.

From Goodreads:

Words are the most dangerous weapon of all.

In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she’s spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It’s there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she’s never heard before... and her secret is almost exposed. 

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can’t be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country’s only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.

 I just finished reading:

Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham

I started Dear Dylan on Sunday and finished it on Monday, in two sittings. It was that good. So keep an eye out for the review!

From Goodreads:

A first crush. An unexpected friendship. A dream come true. Dear Dylan! Thanks so much for your email and I'm sorry about my last one when I said I love you. I hope you don't think I'm a weirdo mentalist?!!! It's just that I was watching Oprah yesterday and she said we should all say we love each other a whole lot more. Not to everyone of course. There's no way I'd tell my scummy step-dad that I love him because that would be lying. But the thing is, sometimes when I watch you on TV, I feel as if you're talking just to me and it makes me feel less alone. I know you probably get loads and loads of fan mail but I wanted to ask you - could we be e-mates? Yours hopefully, Georgie xxx.

Page Turners: The Witch of Turlingham Academy

I am currently reading:

The Witch of Turlingham Academy by Ellie Boswell

 After reading Dearly Departed I felt the need for something lighter, both in theme and size, so picked up The Witch of Turlingham Academy. I'm about 13% through (according to Goodreads) and I'm enjoying it all ready. I forgot how fun middle-grade/tween books can be!

From Goodreads:

It's not easy being the only day girl at Turlingham Academy: Sophie misses out on all the midnight feasts and late night gossip. And when new girl Katy turns up it feels like she's bewitching all of Sophie's friends! Katy's no witch, but there is a witch at Turlingham. Katy comes from a long line of witch hunters whose job is to stop evil magic. Sophie is going to help her - anything to get Katy out of her life and get things back to normal. But what she discovers means nothing will ever be normal again!

Page Turners: Eric

I am still reading Dearly Departed, I'm sorry it's taking me so long! It's really good, I swear!

So today I recommend that you check out:

Eric by Shaun Tan is a brilliant little graphic novel. It's small enough to put in your pocket! I found my copy in the Picture Book section in Waterstone's but it's not particularly a children's book so I'm not sure why it was there over the actual Graphic Novel section, although of course it can fit in both places and I do love encouraging kids to branch out.

From Goodreads:

Eric is eternally curious and effortlessly charming - a house guest whose approach to the world will capture your heart. This is a mini gift edition of one of the most loved stories from the multi-award-winning, internationally lauded masterpiece Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Page Turners: Frankenstein

I am currently reading:

I'm still reading Dearly Departed, it's so long! But I've also been dipping into Frankenstein because I always mean to get around to reading it and never do, so thought I might as well just start and see how far I get.

From Goodreads:

Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.
Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises rofound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever

Page Turners: Dearly Departed

I am currently reading:

Dearly Departed by Lia Habel

I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't like the cover. I think it's clever but it still wouldn't make me pick it up off the shelf, but then I don't tend to like covers with people on, especially people staring at me. I also still find it kind of confusing to have a steampunk theme set in the future with digital technology, but I am coming to terms with that and I think the history is very interesting. So, we'll see how it goes!

From Goodreads:

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love

Page Turners: A Clash of Kings

I am currently reading:

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

From Goodreads:

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders--Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon--who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Page Turners: Catching Fire

I am currently reading:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I'm going to Bath today so I'll be reading this on the train as well as The Demon's Watch!

From Goodreads:

Sparks are igniting, flames are spreading and the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol-- a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before... and surprising readers at every turn.

Page Turners: The Demon's Watch

I am currently reading:

The Demon's Watch by Conrad Mason

My copy has the proof cover so I don't get to look at this version which makes me a little sad. It certainly gives the impression that it's going to be an exciting "tale of magic and skulduggery" doesn't it? I'm not very far into it but so far The Demon's Watch has proven to be pretty cool and I can imagine that most small boys, and lots of small girls, would adore it. Within the first few pages we have goblins, ogres, pirates, lots of shady grog swilling characters and a fight. Fantastic! Grubb, the main character, is also instantly likely and I really want him to succeed in everything he does. So I'm looking forward to finding out!

From Amazon:

'We're the Demon's Watch, son. Protectors of Port Fayt. Scourge of all sea scum. Don't tell me you've never heard of us?'
Half-goblin boy Joseph Grubb lives in Fayt, a bustling trading port where elves, trolls, fairies and humans live side by side. Fed up of working at the Legless Mermaid tavern, Grubb dreams of escape - until a whirlwind encounter with a smuggler plunges him into Fayt's criminal underworld. There he meets the Demon's Watch and learns of their mission to save the port from a mysterious and deadly threat. Can Grubb and his new allies uncover the dark plot in time, or will they end up as fish food in Harry's Shark Pit?

Page Turners: 0.4

I am currently reading:

0.4 by Mike Lancaster

From Amazon:

It's a brave new world. 'My name is Kyle Straker. And I don't exist anymore.' So begins the story of Kyle Straker, recorded on to old audio tapes. You might think these tapes are a hoax. But perhaps they contain the history of a past world...If what the tapes say are true, it means that everything we think we know is a lie. And if everything we know is a lie does that mean that we are, too?

Page Turners: Bad Machinery

I am still reading The Emerald Atlas, I planned to be finished by now but then things happened, as they tend to do. So, here's another recommendation!

Bad Machinery

Bad Machinery is the son of Scarey Go Round, which is the son of Bobbins, by John Allison and is about three schoolgirl sleuths and three schoolboy investigators who all attend Griswalds Grammar School in Keane End, Tackleford, West Yorkshire. The students aren't exactly enemies but thanks to a mixture of pride, mistrust and pig-headedness they aren't exactly friends either and are always crossing purposes.

Tackleford is a medium sized West Yorkshire city that has a long history of mystery. It's a hotbed of problems, isues, manifestations, bad deeds, schemes and trouble. Griswalds Grammar School is in the leafy suburbs.

I only discovered Bad Machinery the other day, thanks to Tumblr, so if you're new to it then you can check out the cast here before you take the plunge, and once you're ready you can start reading about this varied cast of amateur detectives.

Here's the page that got me to read the rest:

Page Turners: Leaves of Grass

I am still reading The Emerald Atlas. It's great but as much as I like the setting, characters, tone, storyline etc, I don't feel any pull to sit down and read it. I have no idea why and it's very annoying.

I also read Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman this week. I read the Kindle version, despite not having a Kindle, because it's free. But I would have bought it in book form if there hadn't been a free version available to me.

Leaves of Grass is dense, some of the poems are really long and that can be a bit off putting at times but others are only a few lines. It is a celebration of the human body, of being alive and all the tiny seemingly insignificant details of daily life that we often miss. Walt Whitman also enjoys sex and loves to talk about it in his poetry without any pretence, he doesn't shy away from the reality of the human body, complete with arm pits, pubic hair and genitals. 

Some snippets I liked from Leaves of Grass:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so
placid and self-contain'd,
...
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
No one is dissatisfied, no one is demented with the
mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands
of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pull'd off a live-oak in
Florida as it hung trailing down,

To me these and the like of these are curiously answer'd by my
lovers, my dear friends,
When he whom I love travels with me or sits long while
holding me
by the hand,
When the subtle air, the impalpable, the sense that words and reason
hold not, surround us and prevade us,
Then I am charged with untold and untellable wisdom, I am silent, I
require nothing further,

Behold this swarthy face, these gray eyes,
This beard, the white wool unclipt upon my neck,
My brown hands and the silent manner of me without charm;

Page Turners: The Emerald Atlas #1

Apologise for the late update, I was out all day buying a lovely new camera so that I can add some of my own photos to future posts!

I am currently reading:

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

From Amazon:

They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since.
Ten years on, Kate, Michael and Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, and all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place - and Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before.
As they explore, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, and the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments and terrifying monsters. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls - and stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

Page Turners: Friends With Boys

I am currently still reading Pod so I'm going to be featuring something I've already read but still love.

Friends With boys by Faith Erin Hicks

"Being homeschooled and raised with three brothers had its problems, but Maggie's life is about to get a lot more complicated as she faces her greatest trial yet - entering public school for the first time!"

Okay so I've mentioned this comic book before but amazingly I've never actually featured it! I thought I had but apparently not. Faith Erin Hicks is a super amazing and super talented cartoonist and writer. She's been creating comics for about 13 years and the comics that she has written and/or drawn are Demonology 101, Ice, Zombies Calling, The War at Ellsmere, Brain Camp (art only), The Adventures of Superhero Girl and of course Friends With Boys.

Friends With Boys was available to read online however now that the print version is out Faith, understandable, will be taking it down. It's pretty amazing that her publishers allowed her to put it online while it was being printed, otherwise I may never have discovered it.

If you're looking for a story about family, friendship and learning how to deal with life's troubles then check out Friends With Boys. You can now buy it from Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Amazon.uk, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigos, The Book Depository and also some local book stores and comic book stores, although you'll most likely have to order it in.

Page Turners: POD

I am currently reading:

Pod by Stephen Wallenfels

Okay so I started this last night and I won't be passing judgement yet but seriously, this book has possibly the most boring cover ever. I have a review cover so it's just got a plain black cover and I was looking forward to seeing something interesting on the real deal but this is it?

These are the alternatives:

I am disappointed. The middle version appears the most online, but the last example is probably the best of a bad bunch. Also no one can seem to decide if it's POD, Pod or P.O.D. on websites.

This is in no way a criticism of the author because you rarely get much of a say in what artwork appears on your cover and I hope that he's happy with it (I know authors who hate their book's covers) and I know that his book has got pretty stellar reviews all round. The actual story sounds really good so I'm hoping that it's better than the cover. Which wouldn't be hard. I'm not sure what I want to cover to look like but the first two just look so incredibly boring that if I saw them in a shop I'd never pick them up. The third one is pretty decent  though.

From Amazon:

POD's - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside. Will is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food...Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything to get it...When the aliens invade, the real enemy becomes humanity itself. What would you do to survive?

 The most recent book I finished in-between Unleashed and Pod was:

DOGS: Bullets and Carnage Volume 6

It finally arrived and it was so good! I love the whole series and it just gets better with each volume. This volume sees a lot of things starting to make sense in regards to characters backgrounds. But now I'm back at the stage of having to wait another year for the next volume. Boo!

From Amazon:

Boasting furious action, switchback plotting, magnetic characters and dazzling art, Dogs tells the story of four individuals struggling to survive a dystopian urban future by gun and sword and courage and luck.