dhampyresa

What did you finish reading

I am going to go through all of these, gdit.

( List of finished books I didn't talk about before )


Le Jardin des silences, by Mélanie Fazi: So I read this back in 2015. I KNOW. Anyway, I bought the book at a convention, because the author was there and seemed pretty cool -- which she is!

This book is an anthology of short stories. According to the author's website, it contains the following: Swan le bien nommé, L’arbre et les corneilles, Miroir de porcelaine, L’autre route, Les Sœurs de la Tarasque, Le pollen de minuit, L’été dans la vallée, Le jardin des silences, Née du givre, Dragon caché, Un bal d’hiver, Trois renards.

Swan le bien nommé is a retelling a fairytale. It's okay, but it didn't leave a lasting impression on me.

L’arbre et les corneilles is vaguely fairytale-esque. It was fine, but I still dunno what the fuck what up with it. Too much was left utterly unexplained.

Miroir de porcelaine was the one where I almost put the book down, because I felt like all the narrative voices were too similar. The end was rather disappointing.

L’autre route is my favourite! Some of the images from it have stuck with me all this time, as has the line (translated) "Last week they were tortoises and I didn't know how to dance" which was chilling in context. It's about a dreaming road. I've read about all sorts of dreaming things, including cities, but never about dreaming roads. It does excellent work providing an answer for a question I didn't think to ask myself before I read it: What do roads dream of?

Les Sœurs de la Tarasque is my second favourite. Or equal favourite? Anyway, it's GREAT. I have to admit that I was kind of going *headtilt* at it being set in Brittany despite all the talk of the Tarasque, because that's not even remotely Breton folklore, it's Southern France folklore. But then it was explained! And okay, so it's not ever explicitly said it's set in Brittany, so it could have been on an island off the southern coast of France, but the love interest is called Lénaïc so pfffffffft. It's 100% set in Brittany. Anyway, I was also telling myself that I was ~reading too much into things~ and no way was it going to be lesbians, but it was lesbians! Or at least one lesbian and I think Solène is meant to be bi? Also, Lénaïc turns into a dragon.

Le pollen de minuit was weird. Okay, but weird.

L’été dans la vallée could have done more with its concept, because the ending was rather abrupt, but it was still fine.

Le jardin des silences is my third favourite. The titular "garden of silences" is a garden that appears to Séverinne when she goes walking alone at night and gives her back pieces of her past: an old hat, her former boyfriend, her younger self... The way the story is set up, you're first meant to think Luke was abusive -- she talks about how he forced her to throw away the hat -- but it turns out that the reason Luke made her throw away the hat/etc was BECAUSE THEY WERE ROBBING BANKS and then things turned to shit. I really liked the way the past is slowly uncovered and how Séverinne comes to terms with what happened.

Née du givre gave EXCELLENT CREEPY.

Dragon caché was okay -- but I really could have used some trigger warnings for it.

Un bal d’hiver was melancholy and bittersweet but utterly lovely. I got really invested in the old widow and her sort of romance with the ghost of a WW1 soldier.

Trois renards was also amazing! I think yhlee would really like it. It features someone making magic via music and summoning animals, including foxes. It's very eery and beautiful.

Overall, I would reccomend the book. But maybe skip the first three stories.


What are you reading now

Have made no progress on:

Contes et récits de l'histoire de Carthage by Jean Defrasne
Paris fais nous peur: 100 lieux du crime, de l'étrange et de l'irrationnel, by Claudine Hourcadette et Marc Lemonier
Le Déchronologue by Stéphane Beauverger (apparently somebody nommed it for yuletide, with Villon, Sévère and Brieuc, but not Mendoza?)

I am participating in yhlee's Sun Tzu Read-Along now.

Also, I went digging about for my copy of Vercors' Les Animaux Dénaturés, because sometimes a body needs to read about deeply uncomfortable arguings about what it means to be human, but I couldn't find it which is a bummer. I did find my copy of La Controverse de Valladolid by Jean-Claude Carrière which is a different flavour of deeply uncomfortable arguings about what it means to be human and so may scratch that itch. We shall see. For now it is fucking savage towards the Spanish Empire circa 16th century (for good reason).

I also found Warhorses by Yusef Komunyakaa which I am enjoying so far.


What are you reading next

( old list )

Confession: For the past week or so, I have been getting home and then going to sleep pretty much right away, so I haven't read much of anything. Including DW/LJ, etc.

I have been planning my GB trip this August, by increments of about 10mn every day and did have a fairly hilarious moment where I had a map of Wales open in one window and a map of Brittany in the other and at one point got confused by which was which -- turns out Welsh and Breton placenames are even more similar than I thought!

I'm flying out August 3, btw. This is actually happening!


What did you finish reading

Surprisingly enough, after that little speech, a bunch of comics!

Here's a list (of finished arcs only), hopefully to be detailed when I am not falling asleep at my keyboard:
Year of Marvel: July
Lucifer v2 1-6
DC Comics Bomshells 1-36 (Year One)
Spider-Gwen v2 1-6
Toil and trouble 1-6
Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders 1-2
The Spire 1-8

I'm done with reading ladybusiness . I was reading the community for media recs. I was not reading to be called a "shit garbage eater". Truthfully, I have/had other issues with the community -- and epecially the way the posters seem to consider it their private space LOL NO -- but that was the last straw. (Three strikes policy, go me! Enacting change and what not.)

I guess the above list of comics can join the following list of things I should talk about:
2015
Le Jardin des silences
Prince of Cats
Sandman Overture
Spider-Gwen v1
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl v1
Magnus Chase and the Sword of Asgard
The Red Pyramid
Tumulte à Rome

2016 (finished)

Marie des dragons intégrale
volume 4 of Les aigles de Rome
Cixi de Troye
Plogoff
Star Wars Shattered Empire
Star Wars Princess Leia

I fail at booktalk.


What are you reading now

Contes et récits de l'histoire de Carthage by Jean Defrasne
Paris fais nous peur: 100 lieux du crime, de l'étrange et de l'irrationnel, by Claudine Hourcadette et Marc Lemonier

Le Déchronologue by Stéphane Beauverger: This book continues to be amazing. I read half a chapter, a whole chapter, another chapter. Given the non-linear nature of the book, that means I've gone through three completely different periods of the narrator's life.

During the first half-chapter, Villon, our narrator/protagonist has: made it to the Itza capital as a guset/prisoner, gone on THE WORST TRIP EVER (with hints that the siege of La Rochelle was even more fucked up than I thought it to be before) and learned some more about where the maravillias come from. Tbh, I thought the kid at the end was Arcadio-as-a-child due to timetravel fuckery at one point, but I guess not.

During the whole chapter, Villon had some serious talk with Sévère and Mendoza about fighting The Flying Dutchman SPOILER THE FLYING DUTCHMAN IS AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER. Also, he is absurdly in love with Sévère: "Mort de moi, je lui aurais confié ma vie, les mains liées et sa dague sur ma gorge!" ("Death of me [this is an expletive, fyi], I would have trusted her with my life, hands bound and her dagger at my throat.") Like, damn, Villon, rein it in. Also also, I really enjoy all aspects of the Villon and Mendoza relationship, be that at this point in the timeline, when Villon is ruling a floating city and Mendoza is his second-in-command despite being screamingly insane as a reslut of having crossed his own timestream or earlier when Mendoza helped Villon (and Arcadio) escape the Spanish jail in, iirc, Carthagena by conveniently losing his knife.

During the other half chapter: Villon meets Mendoza for the first time! By getting captured by Mendoza because Villon is a French pirate, Mendoza works for the Spanih crown and the year is 1640 in the Carabbeans. It's not entirely unlike Beaton's Nemesis comic.

In conclusion: This book continues to be insane in the best possible way.


Partial list of comics I am following and/or haven't caught up with, which I will add to as I remember them:
Lucifer
Scarlet Witch (maybe?)
The Wicked + the Divine (sort of. When I remember it exists)
Doctor Strange
Mockingbird
Vote Loki
Detective Comics
Han Solo
Stargate Atlantis Back to Pegasus
DC Bombshells
Contest of Champions
The Beauty
New Avengers
Grayson
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
The Ultimates
Batman & Robin Eternal
Spider-Gwen
Switch


What are you reading next

More comics, probably. Right now I'm considering:
Black Panther
Monstress
Silk

Maybe something in French, idk.

MAYBE SOME COMICS IN FRENCH


( To read list )

I spent a lot of time this past week dealing with nightonficmountain related stuff. There were several issues, some of which I was responsible for, some of which I was not. At one point I was both "comes back with pizza to find everything on fire" and "mod laughing alone with salad" making me "mod with salad on fire" -- this metaphor got away from me. Anyway, morbane is amazing and a lifesaver. You're the best, Morbane.


READING

Finished reading

Continuing me making my way down the list of stuff I read in 2015. (I know. Shut up.)

( Books read )

Chats d'oeuvre, by Susan Herbert (read in 2015): It's a book redoing classic works of art and movie posters with cats as the stars. It's cute, but that's it.


Still reading

Contes et récits de l'histoire de Carthage by Jean Defrasne

Le Déchronologue by Stéphane Beauverger: One more chapter. Everything still batshit and amazing. Villon (our narrator) experiences first hand the effect of time canons and some of his crew get really fucking creepy after catching a case of the oraculars -- I'm being glib, there's no such thing as the oracular, but that one guy does say something to the effect of "the Oracle of Deplhi saw the paths of the future, I walk its crossroads" and given this book it could be totally literal!


Partial list of comics I am following, which I will add to as I remember them:
Lucifer
Scarlet Witch
The Wicked + the Divine (sort of. When I remember it exists)


AND fannishly I am reading the fancomic Star Wars Destinies and it is very good!


Reading next

idk.

( To read list )

WATCHING

This is as far along in these shows that I have watched. I would love to talk about any of these. No spoilers for currently airing shows, please, but I don't care about shows that are complete.

I'm going to try and move this to another post at some point (Telly Tuesday?).

Jessica Jones (s1e2 00:00)
Supergirl (s1e3 00:00)
Agent Carter (s2e3)
Lucifer (s1e13 00:00)
Legends of Tomorrow (s1e12 00:00)
Clone Wars (s3e16 00:00)
Underground (s1e7 00:00)
Shannara (s1e6 00:00)
Daredevil (s2e1 00:00)


Lucifer: OMG WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT WHAT I thought this would be the last episode, but there's one more. (13 episodes, it's pretty fitting.) I am both excited and apprehensive. Please everyone be okay.

Also, I love the friendship between Chloe and Lucifer -- even though she doesn't believe he's THE Lucifer, she does believes he believes it, so when it matters she'll play along. Also also OMG MAZE IS AMAZING OMG. Some brilliant acting from all three of the supernatural trio and I really enjoyed that fight scene.

Also also also, I love that the show sticks to its guns with regards to Lucifer only ever wanting "to be [his] own man" and with regards to the philosophy of Lucifer is a giant dork, humans are the real evil.


Legends of Tomorrow: I loved this episode. It had all the Western tropes I love. It reminded me of the third Back to the Future movie, but in a good way. KENDRA AND SARA ON A ROADTRIP I loved it and mostly got two things out of that scene: aw, past!Carter was called Hannibal (this show knows me too well) and the obvious loophole to "loving non!Carter dudes doesn't work" is LOVE A LADY Sara is right there (also, I wouldn't exactly call whatever happens when you love Carter working, old!Kendra) I really loved Captain Cold this epsiode, but then I always love Captain Cold. I am forever entertained by Wentworth Miller on this show and this episode's black ensemble looked really good on him. And I like that he got to bond with Stein. The Jonah Hex/Rip Hunter vibes were massive. All this said, I would have liked slightly less Ray and slightly more Jax.


Underground: I feel like every week I praise the twists on this show, but guys IT HAS THE BEST TWISTS but they are so good and I don't wanna spoil them but I wanna talk about them but... also I am now shipping all combinations of Rosalee/Noah/Cato, idc.


Clone Wars: I don't even know what is going on with this fucking show anymore.

On account of how I am barely reading anything lately.

I still need to catch up on the stuff I read in 2015 (I know). Here's the list:
( List )

And because I keep wanting not to talk about 2016 books before I finish talking about 2015 books, I have completely forgotten to write down all the comics I read early in January. There were a lot, but all I can remember is the Marie des dragons intégrale and volume 4 of Les aigles de Rome (I know). I was in a comic shop for five consecutive hours at one point, this is not all I read, ffs. :(

Anyway, in the interest of not forgetting more stuff, I am currently reading:

Contes et récits de l'histoire de Carthage by Jean Defrasne: CARTHAGE! (Read along with yhlee )

Le Déchronologue by Stéphane Beauverger: Currently the PoV character/narrator is dying, fighting Alexander the Great with time canons, joining up with Native South Americans to fight the Spanish, ruling a floating city because Europe is fucking gone and South America/any landmass is going the same way, narrowly just escaped what might be an aircraft carrier/the Flying Dutchman...

Tattúínárdǿla saga: If Star Wars Were an Icelandic Saga by Jackson Crawford: Here on the internet. Quite frankly I am easily entertained and a sucker for well-done pastiche.

Speaking of which, has anyone read William Shakespeare's Star Wars? Is it all as great as the phrase "to thine own Sith be true"? (Gonna start using this a motivational tool, ngl.)

What did you finish reading?

SO MUCH STUFF! I basically haven't done one of these properly in months. I'm going to go through it all by themes (comics read in French, books read in French, French comics read in English, comics read in English, books read in English and books about Ancient Dead People).

13 Devil Street, by Benoît Vieillard: This is a comic set in London at the time of Jack the Ripper (1888 to be precise). It's not a traditional comic. Every single double page is a double page spread showing a cross-section of the titular house. They're all snapshots of moments in time. It's an interesting way of telling the story and I enjoyed several of the running jokes that were in it so the pages wouldn't be too unbalanced. However, there are flashbacks that are told in the traditional way, which was a little confusing, at first. My favourite character was Tatoo the Indian housekeeper. I also enjoyed seeing the way all the occupants of the house moved their quarters around itas they financial/social/general situation changed. I didn't enjoy the plot all that much. It was mostly horror-y and some of it I did like, but I felt the resolution left a lot to be desired and parts of it were unpleasantly gendered.


Freaks Squeele 7: A move & Z movie, by Florent Meaudoux: I wasn't even aware there had been a new Freaks Squeele out, much less that it was the last one until I was given this one for Christmas. As much as I enjoy the series, it was time for it to go. The more thinks went on, the less the pacing was good, the less the covers had anything to do with the inside and the more certain issues grated on me. It's good that it ended now, before I was completely soured on it. (Most notably: the complete bypassing/ignoring/refusing of anything even remotely LGBT. This is ESPECIALLY WEIRD considering some of the plot points.)

I'm still completely baffled by some of the worldbuilding -- what the fuck was Funérailles even doing in that flashback -- and there are bunch of loose ends, but overall it was a pretty good ending. I do hope the Funérailles spin-off/prequel is going to provide some insight on the whole "Trinity of Death" thing, though, because that came pretty much out of nowhere. In fact, when I opened this volume I had the feeling I'd missed one, but no, I had not. All the ships I had for this series were essentially crackships, but I am still glad that Valkyrie/Sablon and Mélodie/Lynette weren't sunk. I'm kind of sad sablon/Ange (new ship from this volume, even) got sunk, but I think that's a by-product of sinking Ange/Claidmhor (or however you spell that guy's name, idk, I don't have the book with me).

Someone remind me I need to re-read the whole series and make a post about it at some point.


L'arabe du futur 2, by Riad Sattouf: Look, I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but this is no Persepolis. There's no insight and very little attempts to show the greater context of things. I also am not a fan of the art style. I think it's bullshit that Sattouf is nominated for the Angoulême Grand Prix and Satrapi is not. MARJANE SATRAPI FOR ANGOULEME PRESIDENT >:[


What are you reading now?

Lots of stuff! I really want to talk about the conclusion for Secret Wars and Le Déchronologue, but that's wait until I'm done with this 2015 recap (hopefully won't take me six weeks). List broken down so I can do something else with my day(s).

Up next for the recaps are:

• Books read in French
  • Chats d'oeuvre
  • D'un monde à l'autre (La Quête d'Ewilan, tome 1)
  • Le Jardin des silences
• French comics read in English
  • Chronicles of Legion 1-3
  • The Infinite Loop 1
• Comics read in English
  • Lucifer v1 (Vertigo comic)
  • Prince of Cats
  • Sandman Overture
  • Spider-Gwen v1
  • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl v1
• Books read in English
  • Fragile Things
  • Magnus Chase and the Sword of Asgard
  • The Red Pyramid
• Books about Ancient Dead People
  • Darkness Over Cannae
  • Le papyrus de César
  • Tumulte à Rome

Discounted from this list are a bunch of single issue comics and/or ongoings. I need to figure out a way to handle reviews for ongoing (US) comics.


What are you reading next?

Not sure. At some point I should add the boo, recs I got from fandomstocking to the to-read list. I need to work on reducing my to-read list, seriously.

Things I finished reading and need to tell you all about (and one I do!)

Chronicles of Legion 1-3, Darkness Over Cannae, Dr Fate 1-4, D'un monde à l'autre (La Quête d'Ewilan, tome 1), Eagles of Rome 2 & 3, Fragile Things, L'arabe du futur 1, Le Jardin des silences, Loki:Agent of Asgard #1-17, Magnus Chase and the Sword of Asgard, Prince of Cats, Saints 1, Sandman Overture 1-6, Secret Wars 1-7 (still ongoing), Spider-Gwen v1 1-5, Spider-Gwen v2 001, The Infinite Loop 1, The Red Pyramid, The Spire 1-4, Toil and Trouble 1-3, Tumulte à Rome

Carnets de thèse, by Tiphaine Rivière: This is a story about a young woman's attempt to get a PhD. It's by turn hilarious and moving and I enjoyed it. Her PhD is a slow descent into hell, as she struggles to keep on track and keep her life in some sort of order around it. It takes some (extremely well deserved, imo) potshots at the French educational systems along the way. "Sauf que moi, j'ai fait Sciences Po" ("Except I did Science Po" -- where Sciences Po = the most prestigious political science cursus in France) is a great burn in the context of its specific scene, for example, but calls back on an earlier scene in which the main character was afraid her life's work would amount to nothing/she wouldn't get any job offers on account of how she didn't go to Sciences Po. The narrative... kind of bears her out and that scene I quoted is part of how it does so. One thing I really liked was seeing the way Jeanne, the narrator, conceptualised her thesis: as a cathedral she was building and rebuilding and ever changing. That was cool. I'm unfamiliar with the subject of her thesis, but iirc the author was echoing said subject with this metaphor. Would reccomend (and I have indeed learned not to ask PhD students how the thesis is going).

ALSO I FINISHED CANON REVIEW FOR YULETIDE I'M A ROCKSTAR


Things I am currently reading, inasmuch as I'm reading anything

Books on hiatus: The Art of War, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Les Fleurs du Mal, Métronome, Rome's Revolution and The Grass-King's Concubine.

Still reading:

Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic, by Robert L. O’Connell
Trickster Makes This World, by Lewis Hyde
Romanitas, by Sophia McDougall
La quête d'Ewilan, Tome 2 : Les frontières de glace, by Pierre Bottero
Le lecteur de cadavre, by Antonio Garrido

I will get back to actively reading these now that yuletide canon review is done!

I did make so progress on Trickster, though and it looks like my earlier complaints about bad methodology (YOUR SAMPLE SIZES ARE SMALL YOUR METHODOLOGY IS BAD AN DYOU SHOULD FEEL BAD + DEFINE YOUR TERMS) aren't so much unfounded as potentially getting revised. Hyde has started going back on earlier unfounded statements and pointing out the fact taht they are unfounded/the terms are badly defined. We'll see how it improves.


Things I plan to read next

I dunno. I was going to go with L'armée furieuse, but then it proceeded to BLOW MY MIND with the reveal that la cahsse du roi Arthur/King Arthur's hunt and the Wild Hunt are the same thing, so I'm still reeling from that.

( Old list )

TOO LONG AGO, that's when. I will do dead Romans + French comics this time around (as well as miscellaneous) and dead Carthaginians + dead Ottomans/Wallachians next time. Seems reasonable enough.

What did you finish reading

A bunch of stuff, and I hope I'm not missing any. I mentionned that I'd been reading about stuff that would have made my Night on Fic Mountain fic very very obvious, so I'll start with those.

Le Troisième Testament - Julius (first three volumes), by Xavier Dorison, Alex Alice, Robin Recht, François Lapierre and Thimothée Montaigne (in various combinations of art/scenario): I was very very disappointed with this. The story was really bad (yes, of course the one Roman is better at everything that the Jewish/early Christian people. Of fucking course. *eyeroll*). That would have been bearable if I'd gotten the thing I was reading it for which is amazing colouring, which I did not get >:(. Look, I checked out those books on the basis that even if Alex Alice is not the best line-artist, he's at least very good and his colouring is AMAZEBALLS in exactly three colour schemes (ice blue + fire orange/red + balianced green) and average everywhere else. Siegfried played entirely to those colouring strengths (ice and fire are Themes in Norse myths, yo) so I thought thsi would be good! But nooooooooooo. All the colouring is muddy and terrible and bleh. (Alex Alice apparently did the scenario and NONE OF THE ART, and I am now sitting here going wtf.) I'm not sure what the fuck the story is even about. It's set during the reign of Emperor Augustus and there's this dud who is, like, Jesus' younger brother? Idk. They go on a roadtrip all the way to Mt Everest and also I think Angkor Vat? Probably not Angkor Vat, because it's waaaaay too early for that, but seriously. I've no idea what's happening here. Will not finish reading the series unless very bored, would not reccomend. (Counting this as "author famous for something other than writing" on the Random Reading Bingo card.)


Les Aigles de Rome, Tome 1, by Enrico Marini (art and scenario): It's a shame the story is terrible because the art is good. The story is really bad, though. There are two (male) main characters, who are reffered to as "lovebirds" in text, but despite that the narrative alternates wildly between NO HOMO and IT'S NOT GAY IF IT'S IN A THREEWAY and just so you know how not gay those threesomes are, there are two happening on screen. Yes, there are two threesomes in a 56 pages comic book. I thought I was going to read about Roman history, not read Roman-themed porn (it gets pretty graphic). I have nothing against Roman-themed porn, btw, but it is handled so fucking badly, seriously. And everything is handled with that level of utter unsubtly. It's okay, Marini, I swear I really didn't need that final flashback predicting Arminius inflicting a great defeat to the Romans to figure out which Arminius he was. I got it when you told us his name was Arminius and had Augustus name him so, on page, like, 5. Please stop treating your readers like idiots, thanks. I may or may not keep reading this. The art is really pretty and I particularly like the way he treats light. On the other hand, there might be too much sexism and homophobia for me. IDK. (Counting this as "book by author whose first language isn't English French (Challenge mode: self-translated book)" on the Serious card because Marini is Italian and translated the book into French, as afr as I can tell.)


Alix Senator 3 . La Conjuration des rapaces, by Valérie Mangin (scenario) and Thierry Démarez (art): SO ALIX SENATOR, HEH? It's about this Gaul, called Alix, who is a Senator at the time of Augustus. That's the story in-universe. out-universe, Alix Senator is a sequel to the (still ongoing) classic comic series Alix. I'll confess upfront that I haven't read a whole lot of Alix, mostly because they use a weirdass italic font that makes all the words run together and I can't read it. Alix Senator uses readable font! Which is a good thing, because the story is FUCKING AMAZING.
( Art and story are both top-notch (one picture under the cut) )

HOLY SHIT THEY MADE ALIX/ENAK PRETTY MUCH CANON HOLY SHIT

(Counting this as "Graphic novel" on the Serious card.)


Yoko Tsuno 27: Le Secret de Khâny, by Roger Leloup (art and scenario): I technically read this before Alix Senator, but I thought I'd group all three comics set in the time of Augustus together, for the sake of convenience.

That said, there's a link between Alix Senator and Yoko Tsuno, which is that APPARENTLY IT WAS "QUEER CLASSIC CHILDREN COMICS CHARACTERS WEEK" AND NO ONE TOLD ME????? Because yeah, Yoko/Khany is about as canon as Alix/Enak above, in that Khany's titular secret is that she's raising a child. Unlike Vineans (Khany's alien race) the child doesn't have blue skin, but a skin tone that matches Yoko's. This is, were told, because "[Khany] wanted her to look like [Yoko]".

I pretty much stared at the page in mute shock for a full minute when I read that. Look, there's always been Yoko/Khany subtext and Yoko/female characters subtext in general (you can't convince me that the following exchange from L'Or du Rhin is platonic: Yoko: "When you return to Russia, please send me a small bottle of your perfume." / Olga: "Why, do you wish to wear it?" / Yoko: "No, I'll just smell it from time to time and think of it as the perfume of a friend." / Olga: "I will send you a big bottle.". You just can't, okay.). Like I said, there's always been Yoko/female characters subtext, in particular because about 80+% of the cast is made of female characters, but there's never been something so blatant as Khany raising a child who she wnated to look like Yoko.

I confess I foisted the book off onto someone (who still hasn't given it back, hence the lack of photographic evidence) as soon as I could just so I could be sure I wasn't making shit up. Because I wasn't sure. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. I don't get to see this part of myself in things I grew up with. I didn't grow up with Alix (see above re: unreadable font), bt I did grow up with Yoko Tsuno. I wanted to be her when I grew up! (Still do!)

So right now I exist in a state of being both utterly giddy with joy and not knowing if this is the real life or just fantasy. (I am not too proud to say that having read both Yoko Tsuno and Alix Senator on following days, I then spend a while in a complete daze and on the verge of tears.)

It feels so fucking unreal.

(Counting this as "book with a protagonist of colour" on the Serious card, as Yoko is of Japanese and Chinese descent.)


Other stuff I have read and finished that I can remember and will talk about next time because it's getting late here and I have now just been punched in the feelings again: Thor and the Warriors Four, La croisade des Carpathes (hence this post on the Ottoman Empire and Wallachia in the 15th century) and Beyond Cannae. I feel like I read more, but I can't remember :(.


This makes 0/25 on the Mix'n'Match Card, 21/25 on the Random Card and 8/25 on the Serious Card for hamsterwoman 's reading bingo.

( Details )

What are you reading now

Made marginal progress on The Art of War, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Les Fleurs du Mal, Métronome, Ghosts of Cannae and Rome's Revolution.

Have gotten into the hype/hype avoidance cycle with The Grass-King's Concubine because it is amazing and I am an idiot. Shall endeavour to talk more about it soon.

Le Jardin des silences, by Mélanie Fazi: A book of short stories in French.

Beyond Cannae, by Jenny Dolfen et al: Have read most of this, am waiting until I'm done to talk about it and each bit separately.

Tumulte à Rome, by Odile Weurlesse: It's a YA book set during the Second Punic War, in which there is SECRET TWINS and mistaken identity shenanigans. What's not to like?

(With any luck, I'll be done with both this and Beyond Cannae and we can have an orgy of Carthaginians next time.)


What are you reading next

I think I'm going to read the next book by Sen (L'Homme Noyé) and the rest of the fanzines I bought at JapanExpo this year.

( The old list )

Additions to the list: Le Graal de l'Inframonde (the sequel to La croisade des Carpathes mentionned above, which I enjoyed greatly), Judith Tarr's novel Lord of the two Lands (on a rec byla_marquise_de_ ), Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde (because lunik_the_bard recently reminded me I'd told her I'd read it) and probably some other stuff I forgot. If you've recced me something and don't see it on this list, please rec it again?


ALSO! I will be doing Read a Book in One Sitting Day this saturday. Don't know what with yet, only that it'll be a novel.

I am still pants at getting to bed at reasonable hours, sorry. And I don't think try to hold three historical Ancient Rome settings in my head is helping any.


What did you finish reading

Les quatre de Baker Street, Tome 6: L'Homme du Yard, by Jean-Blaise Dijan (story) and David Etien (art): As always, THIS IS DELIGHTFUL AND I AM DELIGHTED.

In this book, we've skipped forward roughly a year. The art style actually shows the kids' figures lengthening and they look believably older. I'm very impressed. Children are very hard to draw, especially to draw as growing.

Anyway, the kids (who are what's left of the Baker Street Irregulars: Billy Fletcher, Black Tom de Kilburn, Charlie and her cat Watson*, the titular four) are helping Holmes, back in London after Reichenbach since last volume, track down the men who've taken over Moriarty's crime empire.

This is set during the period where in the Doyle stories Holmes is presumed dead, then. The comic diverges from ACD canon (kind of) in a major-ish way that is spoiler-y but I thought was well handled, starting from last volume. To clarify: it starts diverging last voluem and is well handled from the start. Charlie refusing to take any of Holmes' shit is forever hilarious and amazing. Tom calling Holmes out on his shit was a welcome surprise. (That leaves Billy, but I'm not holding my breath. Billy literally wants to be Sherlock Holmes when he grows up.) (I actually enjoy every time people call Holmes on his shit.)

Anyway, the titular Man from the Yard decides to set the entire London police force after the kids in the hope that'll lead him to Holmes. The kids therefore have to go where the London police won't go: in an Irish rookery. It's a good thing Tom's Irish and so can get them in, because Charlie and Billy are English and that might not have gone so well. /understatement

Then things happen! But I won't spoil it. JUST READ THE SERIES, OKAY?

(My thoughts during this book can be summed up as follows, in chronological order, "oh no Watson (doctor)!", "oh no Watson (cat)!", "oh no Kitty!" and then endless rounds of keysmash because WOW. WOW.)

This is still the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation, BAR NONE. (I confess that I'm sad the Watsons didn't adopt the kids, though.)


*Doctor Watson's face when he learns Charlie's named the cat Watson is HILARIOUS.

Counting this as "book without magical creatures" for the Random card of the reading bingo.


I flipped another comic through while I was at the comic shop. This was Les mille et autres Nuits (1. Jaisalmer), by Stephen Desberg (story) and Henri Reculé (art). Scheherazade, Ali Baba and the magician who owns the genie's lamp (plus those two other dudes) team up for a heist of magical proportions! I should be loving this, but I'm feeling mostly meh. Will probably flip through the next ones if I remember. (Calling it now: Khadjirah and the woman who kills the griffin in the backstory are one an dthe same. Also, something better be going on with Scheherazade.)

This makes 0/25 on the Mix'n'Match Card (unchanged from last time), 20/25 on the Random Card (+1 from last time) and 5/25 on the Serious Card (unchanged from last time) for hamsterwoman 's reading bingo.

( Details! )

What are you currently reading

Still stalled on The Art of War, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Les Fleurs du Mal and Métronome.

Made very negligeable progress on Rome's Revolution, Ghosts of Cannae or L'aigle et le safran.

I basically failed at reading this week. I also don't think reading two non-fiction books about two different periods of the Roman Republic is a great idea. I'll finish Rome's Revolution before turning back to Ghosts of Cannae, because I'm further along in Rome's Revolution (20% vs 2%).

This frees up one of my reading slots! I have three reading slots: the book that's on my phone for reading during the day (this was Ghosts of Cannae), the paper book and ebook I read in the evnings (respectively L'aigle et le safran and Rome's Revolution).

I'm going to be reading The Grass-King's Concubine on my phone as soon as I put it there, then!


What are you reading next? (aka the to-read list)

The Grass-King's Concubine! I'll move it to evening book when I'm done with Rome's Revolution. (And Ghosts of Cannae will then return as book-on-phone.)

As for paper books, Métronome will replace L'aigle et le safran. It's a loan, after all, and I can't very well keep it forever. Then, I'll probably return to reading Darshan, by Jade Baudoin, unless I can't be fucked.

( To-read list )

Addition to the list: Chroniques du Pays des Mères by Elisabeth Vonarburg, on a reccomendation from _profiterole_ .

What did you finish reading

Maroc médieval: Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne: L'album de l'exposition, by Louvres Editions (the catalogue of the exposition is directed by Yannick Lintz, Claire Déléry and Bulle Tuil Leonetti, so I assume they were also the driving force behind this one): This was super interesting! Kind of like a Cliff Notes of the expo. It really helps to have the maps be a couple pages back, instead of two corridors back, lmao. It didn't have pictures of some of my favourite exhibits, but I'm okay with that, because there just wasn't space.

(I got a chuckle out of every time the texte went "Berbère (Amazighe)", which is exactly what the expo did too. Surely after the first couple of times you no longer need to refer to the culture as "Berbère"?)

Counting this as "book with pictures" for the Random Card.


"Never the Same", by Polenth Blake: Available online for free at StrangeHorizons. This was okay. I didn't really bond with it, but it was competently told and gripping nonetheless. I appreciated that both the narrator and their new friend are outside the he/she gender binary:

"I'm not an it. I'm a they."

Note: Narrator is The World's Only Psychopath TM, which is why they're called an 'it'. Non-binary folks are completely unworthy of remark. I really appreciated that AND the fact that the narrator wasn't the only 'they' in the story, which would have had Unfortunate Implications.

I also really appreciated the relationship between the narrator and their sister as well as the one with their new friend. I was kind of shipping Nrrator/New friend by the end, tbh.

I think I like this more in retrospect than I did when I first read it, having had time to think about the ending.

I'm not sure who my favourite author is, but pretty much everyone who comes to mind is currently alive, so I feel confident in counting this as "book by contemporary of favourite author".


This makes 0/25 on the Mix'n'Match Card (unchanged from last week), 15/25 on the Random Card (+2 from last week) and 2/25 on the Serious Card (unchanged from last week) for hamsterwoman's reading bingo. Also! I GOT A BINGO! TWO EVEN , AW YEAH, I'M KILLING IT.

( BINGO! BINGO! )

What are you reading

Still stalled on The Art of War, Darshan, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Gustav Adolf Mossa: L'oeuvre symboliste: 1903-1918, Les Fleurs du Mal and Métronome.

Le Visage de l'Ombre, by Erik L'Homme: (Book 3 of Le Livre des Etoiles.) Truth be told I've made very little progress in this book, but everyone continues to be rather one-dimensional and make stupid decisions. Also, given the way Urien COMPLETELY LOSES HIS SHIT after Valentin gets injured, I'm pretty sure there actually is something going on between them, even if only subtextually.


What are you reading next? (aka the to-read list)

Rome's Revolution, I think, because we're virualy at the Ides of March and I'm never going to get a more perfect opening for theme reading. I expect this to be slow going, though, because my feelings on Julius Caesar (outside of Astérix) and the fall of the Roman Republic can be summed up as "Nice job ruining it for the rest of us >:(" and my feelings on the Roman Empire as "DON'T DO IT KIDS, IMPERIALISM IS WRONG", but hey, I'll probably get to read about Mark Anthony and that's always fun. Also Cleopatra! And Caesar getting stabbed!

( To-read list )

New additions to the list: The rest of the NetGalley stuff, lmao. I really need to sort it out. AND Dogs of Peace by Ada Palmer. I've been a fan of hers since I first found this performance of My Brother, My Enemy, a duet by her a capella group, Sassafrass, that perfectly the dynamic of Odin and Loki in the myths. Seriously. It is spot-on! (Lyrics can be found here, btw.) I was also recently linked to her blog, Ex Urbe, which has some very interesting posts. And now she's got a book about to be published, so I'm very excited to read it and see what it's like!

(This is going to be very French. You've been warned.)

What did you finish reading

Le Portrait de Dorian Gray, d'Oscar Wilde, by Stanislas Gros (art and scenario): As the title suggests, this is an adaptation in comic form of Wilde's novel. I read the novels years ago and as much as I can tell it's a very faithful adaptation -- except for one thing: Holmes and Watson aren't in the novel, are they? Because they're in this version.

So the scenario is, well, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which you should totally read, if you haven't already. I thought the comic was less homoerotic between Dorian and Basil than the novel, but it still portrays Dorian as bisexual and an equal opportunity asshole, because, you know, Dorian Gray.

Dorian is pretty much the star of this show and what a star he is! His slowly accelerating from vaguely unpleasant young man to murderous attempted rapist is fascinating, in the way a trainwreck is fascinating. He's a glorious trainwreck and for the most part he doesn't mind and even revels in it. He's Dorian Gray, the way he was always meant to me.

And the art! The art is deceptively simple, yet perfect for the story it's telling. It's ligne claire, which is about the most Franco-Belge of all comic art styles (main stylistic attributes of ligne claire: simplified human figures, detailed backgrounds. Think Tintin or Yoko Tsuno or Alix).

( Dorian sees the portrait for the first time and makes a deal )

The art has one main feature that I thought was a stroke of genius and something that really took advantage of the new medium the story was being adapted into. It's something you can only do in a comic book. Starting on page 9 or so, when Basil finishes his portrait, every righ-hand page ends with the exact same panel of what-the-Portrait-looks-like-right-now. So of course at first the portrait looks exactly like Dorian, but that doesn't last very long and as the book goes on the Portrait becomes uglier and uglier.

( Over the first third or so )

Until, by the end, it looks the way it does on the cover.

( It's a good cover. )

It's a brilliant use of the medium.

I also liked that all of the characters had a distinct visual style and their own colour scheme.

Overall a really great read. Would reccomend.

I'm going to count this as "graphic novel" on the Random card.


De Cape et de Crocs (8 - Le Maître d'armes, 9 - Revers de fortune and 10 - De la Lune à la Terre), by Alain Ayroles (scenario) and Jean-Luc Masbou (art): It's been way too long since I read the beginning of the series, so I only remember the broad strokes, but going by that, it was an emotionally satisfying, if slightly rushed, conclusion to the series. I was very glad to see Don Lope and Raïs Kader resolve the issue of their duel without of them dying and so were they! I will admit that I did enjoy the relationship between the two: as the Moon situation came ever closer to being resolved, they started realising that all friends that they'd become, their honour demanded the duel be fought anyway.

I have to say though that my very favourite scene of the whole series is still the beginning of volume 8. Those dozen or so pages are a swordficght in which every single line is in alexandrins: Douze pieds, rime riche, / Pause au mitan du vers -- Césure à l'hémistiche! (The framing of that never ever fails to make me laugh.) Honourable mention goes to: "Delenda Carthilage" aurait tonné Caton / Si il eu ouï ce nez qu'on mouche en baryton / Barrir come une trompe punique, but really, the whole thing's priceless.

Most of these books are set on the Moon, so I'm going to count them as "Book set in a place you've wanted to visit for a long time" for the Random Card.


The Harem Club, by Jane Nin: At some point last week, I remembered I had a NetGalley account and went a little "YAY BOOKS" crazy in the "Read Now" section. I grabbed this one because it has a red cover (random bingo square!) and I don't usually pay a whole lot of attention to covers in ebooks and also because I was intrigued by the concept of choose-your-own-adventure erotica. It's a very short read and I read the whole thing, path by path in under 40mn. I feel like the author's biased towards one path in particular (judging by the number of orgasms the narrator has) and against another (judging by all the "this looks like fun and it could have been me if you the reader had picked a more interesting path"s in it) which I felt was a bit unfair. That said, it was the only path that had f/f, which was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise, so I kind of agree with the author that it's the best one.

( Red cover )

For the "book with red cover" square of the Random Card.


Manuel de civilité pour les petites filles à l’usage des maisons d’éducation, by Pierre Louÿs: (Available on Wikisource.) I read this on a dare because I was bored and it’s essentially one long list of very crass sex jokes, clearly written to parody the "manners for young ladies" genre.

It was also written in 1926, so it counts as "non-fiction book (CHALLENGE MODE: non-fiction book written 50+ years ago)" square on the Random Card.


Qadehar le Sorcier, by Erik L'Homme: Like I said, this was a fast read. I enjoyed this, but not as much as I did back when I read it for the first time.

According to last week's post, what I remembered from the trilogy was: Ambre is still the bestest, Qadehar is Guillemot's dad (and there's some sort of switcherro with anouther kid involvec, iirc), at one point Coralie goes to great lengths to save her sister Ambre, Valentin dies at the end, I didn't like the epilogue, le Monde Incertain (the Uncertain World) is desert at least in places, the kids end up separated on the other side of the Door.

Let's see how well that holds up, shall we?
- Ambre is still the bestest: I guess? I mean, she's certainly my favourite character so far, but I don't feel the same OMG SHE IS SO AWESOME I felt back on my first reading. Possibly because I am older than that now and now she feels both very young and I can see what the author was doing (and yeah, she's kind of a tomboy cliché, but iirc, she was one of the first tomboy characters I ever read (she had short hair!) and that meant a lot to tiny!me).
- Qadehar is Guillemot's dad (and there's some sort of switcherro with anouther kid involvec, iirc): That's still up in the air at this point, but we have met the other kid. His name's Kyle and he has three (adoptive) dads. Yowza!
- at one point Coralie goes to great lengths to save her sister Ambre: Not yet. She did risk her life and braved her greatest fear to save Romaric, thogh, so there is that. (Coralie is kind of the girly girl cliché, but she is also very very brave, which is appreciable.)
- Valentin dies at the end: Haven't reached the end, have I?
- I didn't like the epilogue: Nor the epilogue.
- le Monde Incertain (the Uncertain World) is desert at least in places: THE VORACIOUS DESERT! (le Désert Vorace) It eats everything that isn't made of stone. Awesome setting. I wish we'd go back there.
- the kids end up separated on the other side of the Door: Yup, major plotpoint of this book.

So that leaves: Qadehar is Guillemot's dad (and there's some sort of switcherro with anouther kid involvec, iirc), at one point Coralie goes to great lengths to save her sister Ambre, Valentin dies at the end and I didn't like the epilogue.

Not bad.

I really enjoyed the book, partly because of the nostalgia factor, partly because of going "hey, I remember that!" and partly, because it is a good book.

That said, there were a few things that bugged me this time around and that I can't remember bugging me last time.

The characters feel pretty thin. Guillemot is The Hero, Ambre is The Tomboy (and The Love Interest), Coralie is The Girl (althiugh, as noted, she is also very brave, which isn't usually a trait The Girl gets to have), Romaric is The Strong One (and Coralie's lost interest, if I'm not mistaken) and Gontrand is The Music One. Qadehar is Mysterious Mentor. Agathe is The Bully. Thomas is The Loyal One. Everyone else is so flat and one-dimensional that I can't remember their names, except for Kushumai.

Speaking of Kushumai! She's a warrior lady and I was all set to go "YAY!" especially since she's Ambre post-Door team-up and Ambre has stars in her eyes the size of galaxies, but then it turned out Kushumai's hunters were all dudes unlike the mix of genders I was expecting AND THEN she wipes Ambre's memory for reasons of ??? so I was mostly rather confused.

That did lead to one realisation from me, that I wish I hadn't had, because it's spoiling this books a little for me in retrospect. WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

The entire book has 5 women with speaking parts: Ambre, Coralie, Agathe, Kushumai and Guillemot's mom. I can easily name twice as much male characters with greater or equal page time (Qadehar, Urien, Valentin, Guillemot, Gontrand, Romaric, Kyle, Thomas, Wal, Tofann, Kyle's dad, Thunku...). Worse, there are no background women anywhere: Kushumai's hunter are all men, as are the Sorcerers and the Kinghts of Wind. (Edit: no, wait, I guess there's Matsi among the girls, too.) Every position of power in either Ys or the Uncertain World that we see is held by a man (except possibly for Kushumai, depending on what her status is, exactly).

It kind of grated and felt a bit alienating. (The worst part was that one bandit being slimy towards Coralie. I didn't pick up on it at the time, but now, and even though the words are never said, it feels like he's creeping on her in a sexaul way. SHE'S TWELVE FFS. Nothing happens and he's clearly presented as a bad guy by the narrative, but that was rather an unpleasant intrusion of ~realism~ in my fluffy fun-times book.)

I've mentionned Kyle's three dads, yeah? Unfortunately, this is the closest the book comes to having anything like an LGBT presence in and the book doesn't say NO HOMO, but that's only because it doesn't even seem to realise it might need to. These three dudes are raising that one kid together for symbolic reason, as you do. It's like LGBT people don't exist at all in the author's world. It's weird. I don't like it.

Another thing: I felt the pacing was quite strange: the beginning (before they get to the Uncertain World) is rather slow and takes up ~50% of the book while the ending is rather rushed and is rather Deus ex Machina-y. I would have read thousand more words on the People of the Sea (Coralie's post-Door team-up), Kushumai's people (provided more women did show up at some point) and the Sand Men who live in the Voracious Desert (Kyle's people, with Kyle as Guillemot's eventual post-Door team-up).

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I wished I could feel towards it the same way I felt the first time I read it. rereading's just not same. Still, it holds up okay, I think.

I'll count this as "reread of a childhood favourite" square on the Random card.

This makes 0/25 on the Mix'n'Match Card (unchanged from last week), 11/25 on the Random Card (+5 from last week) and 2/25 on the Serious Card (unchanged from last week) for hamsterwoman's reading bingo.

( Details )

What are you reading

As always, unfortunately, stalled on Still stalled on The Art of War, Darshan, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Gustav Adolf Mossa: L'oeuvre symboliste: 1903-1918, Les Fleurs du Mal and Métronome

Le Seigneur Sha, by Erik L'Homme: This is book 2 of Le Livre des Etoiles. Guillemot and Romaric are now famous, following the events of book 1. For Guillemot, that manifests as a kidn of low-grade hero worship and for Romaric as people doubting that he's a Squire because he deserves to be instead of because he's a hero. Idk how it affects Gontrand, but I'm willing to bet people love to hear his songs about his adventures. Ambre and Coralie? HAHAHA You say that like we know anything about what they want to be when they grow up. Spoiler: we don't!

On the whole missing biological dads switcheroo: we've met the other father, who is Le Seigneur Sha (Lord Sha), so there you have it.


What are you reading next? (aka the to-read list)

Le Visage de l'Ombre, the last Le Livre des Etoiles book. AND ALSO HOPEFULLY THE EXPOSITION ALBUM FOR THE LOUVRE EXHIBIT ON MEDIEVAL MOROCCO (In all caps, so I remember to go to the Louvre and get it if I haven't by the next instalment of this meme).

Old list:
Books that I have already: Prisoner (Echo's Wolf, Book 1) (Werewolf Marines 2) by Lia Silver, Darkness Over Cannae by Jenny Dolfen, Taking Stock by Scott Bartlett (yuleswap book 1), February by Lisa Moore (yuleswap book 2), The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan

Books that are out and that I haven't got: Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, by Garth Nix, Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, Melting Stones and Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce, The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, The Beginning Place by Ursula Le Guin, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, Hostage by Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown, the last two books of Kate Eliott's Spiritwalker trilogy, The Missing Queen by Samhita Arni (I'm told it's the Ramayana retld as a noir mystery), Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed and whatever's out of the Craft Sequence series.

Books that aren't out yet (and when they're out): The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (Autumn 2015), The Sleeping Life (Eferum, #2) by Andrea K. Höst (2015), Benjamin January #14 by Barbara Hambly (no idea), Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley (Summer 2015? Still unsure if I'm even going to be reading this one), the Tris book by Tamora Pierce (2015), , The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, The Skull Throne, by Peter V. Brett and whatever Jenny Dolfen's next project is (THAT ART!).

New additions to the list: Nothing this week. I'm being good. Although... No. But... NO! (Well, let's just say I remembered I had a NetGalley account and well, y'all know how I get with free/cheap books.)


Books what I'm not sure if I want to read them:

City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett: I still dunno, tbh. It is quite strange. I want to (YES PLEASE OMG MORE), but on the other hand, I don't want to (pretty puch perfect in isolation). I JUST DON'T KNOW.