7.
Title: [Manhood in America: A Cultural History]
Author: Michael Kimmel
Genre: Masculinity
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Masculinity IS Book 1
Date Completed: January 22, 2016
Rating: ***


In the introduction to Manhood in America: A Cultural Study, Michael Kimmel outlines the work of his book as seeking “how the definition of masculinity has changed over time” and how those definitions and experiences have “shaped the activities of American men” (1).  He admittedly focuses on the definitions and assertions of “straight white men” as “the dominant version” of manhood in order to forward an understanding of just one of many masculinities (4-5).  In this way, Kimmel’s book is a broad, informative, and flawed text, articulating the historical anxiety of dominant white male masculinity without nuance or great insight. Kimmel’s research is both extensive and limited – he well-documents masculine definitions and demonstrations from significant and varied primary sources, but with an eye towards the extreme expostulations and anecdotal that (I believe) ultimately detract from his ethos.  The project seeks to generate a history of dominant American manhood, and does so by moving between historical periods, and finding the “real men” in each period’s cultural artifacts.


8.
Title: [Lady Susan]
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Nineteenth Century
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian IS Book 2
Date Completed: January 25, 2016
Rating: *****

Lady Susan is a manuscript work from Jane Austen, published posthumously by her family. A short epistolary novel, Lady Susan follows the actions (and reprisals) of the titular character, who becomes a widow just before the novel's opening, and is unapologetically and thoroughly a Flirt, much to the approbation of society and family, save the approval of one friend.

Lady Susan's letters to her dear friend Alicia fully demonstrate her true character, as much as her letters to family and suitors demonstrate her dedication to social manipulation.  Lady Susan, and Alicia, not only accept the label of "Flirt," but revel in it, and glory in their ability to influence, gain hearts, and destroy proposals.  Lady Susan woos men not for true interest, but because she believes she should be adored, and figuratively collects the hearts of her lovers not unlike Margaret of Valois.

The novel clearly tries to present Lady Susan as repugnant for her social faux pas and her maternal failings, but I think there's something more to be said about a woman of her confidence and beauty, in the time and society in which she's found. It's a delightful romp, and certainly one for any who enjoy Austen.  

6.
Title: [Medea]
Author: Euripides
Genre: Drama
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition:
Date Completed: January 16, 2016
Rating: *****

Euripides' Medea, first performed in 431 BCE, is a drama revealing the lethal consequences of abandonment and jealousy, following Jason's preferment of his new bride, the daughter of Creon, over his former wife, the titular Medea.  Though the play can be easily appreciated without familiarity with the general mythology (as I myself approached it), Medea has a longer narrative in Greek mythology than that of Euripides' drama. In the play, Medea seeks revenge against both Jason and Creon for her current abandonment in a gendered cacophony of spite, manipulation, a woman's method of murder (poison), and magic. It is a complicated meditation on the idea of atonement and punishment, and the tenuous position of the forgotten wife.  Though Jason is, to modern readers, clearly in the wrong, the character of Medea is complicated, as her actions may prevent contemporary readers from sympathizing with her plight, while opening the character as a fascinating object of study for gender and agency.

I reread Medea specifically to inform a reading of another text, and it lost none of its fascination in a second reading.

4.
Title: [The Missionary]
Author: Sydney (Lady Mary) Owenson
Genre: Victorian Novel
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Independent Study
Date Completed: January 13, 2016
Rating: *

Early Gothic novels rely on a consistent series of tropes in order to relate horror and excitement in readers, without challenging their own identities or standard morals.  In order to protect the British sense of propriety, Gothic tales are most often set in foreign environments (allowing for the assertion that such nefariousness could never happen "here"), historically (to protect a sense of progress), and often draw on themes of religious extremity or superstition - evil monks, threatening monasteries, and the Devil himself.  Sydney Owenson's The Missionary pulls heavily on these traditions, placing a Portuguese Franciscan by the name of Hilarion in India in the seventeenth-century, where he seeks to save the poor pagans from their heretical beliefs. Ownenson's work is not intended as a Gothic, however, and where the later will draw on long descriptive passages to increase tension and enjoyable anxiety in the reader, Owenson saturates page after page with purple prose of the missionary's piety and divine dedication, preaching a perfection of soul and religious fervor which rankles the modern sense of imperialism, racism, and intolerance.  It is, in a word, abysmal.

Hilarion meets his match in the Brahmian prophetess and priestess Luxima, whose perfection in her own faith and culture is a match for the missionary's; as such, an Indian guide suggests to Hilarion that her conversion to Christianity will be the ultimate conquest, and through her the missionary may reach multitudes who otherwise placate the monk with polite smiles and nothing more.  Taking this advice, Hilarion engages in what I'll describe a series of tactical assaults on the young woman, challenging her not just philosophically, but directly violating the tenants of her religion by touching her and seeking her out in the place of her most intimate worship.  Luxima's challenges to Hilarion are the only passages I found engaging, as Owenson captures Luxima's own sense of certainty in the face of Christian assurances, allowing the "rude pagan" the same eloquence and superiority of her would-be converter.

Though I did not enjoy the novel, and would only recommend it to scholars interested in studying Orientalism and Victorian imperialism, I managed to tease a potential thread related to my own research, and potentially a final project - the fetishization of the priestess, most notably her hair and her veil.

5.
Title: [Through the Woods]
Author: Emily Carroll
Genre: Graphic
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: January 14, 2016
Rating: ****

I have extremely vivid memories of reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark when I was eight years old.  I checked out the books from our school library, and devoured them.  I can trace much of who I am today to those books, as they inspired a love and fascination with the macabre and the frightening (and also a fear of the dark).  Like many, I'd wager, what has stuck with me through the years is less the narrative than the dripping India-ink illustrations made of nightmares and dark whispers.  Today, when I picked up Emily Carroll's Through the Woods I was brought back to that first viewing of Schwartz's ghost stories, and gleefully devoured the entire thing in one sitting.

This is not to say that Carroll's illustrations are the same - far from it, Carroll's art is more similar to the graphic genre in which she writes. But like Scary Stories, Through the Woods often relies on imagery which draws from a sense of Freudian uncanny- the familiar becoming unfamiliar, and thus horrific. The stories are beautifully executed and precisely constructed, and it was a sweet joy to read.

3.
Title: [Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama]
Author: Alison Bechdel
Genre: Autobiography
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library book
Date Completed: January 12, 2016
Rating: ****

Alison Bechdel is a compelling American comic artist known for her strip "Dykes to Watch Out For", and whose 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home, describing her relationship with her father before his suicide, was produced as a wonderfully successful Broadway musical in 2013. The show has won fifteen awards to date, including five Tony awards in 2015. The complexity and spirit of Fun Home is moving and engaging, drawing a parallel course between the author's own coming out as a lesbian and her closeted father's attempts to pass and remain buried in one of the ornate closets of his painstakingly-restored Victorian house. There's a tension in Bechdel's writing, given the highly personal content of her work, and an awareness of the potential conflict which will arise when she succinctly outs her father, whose life is successfully secreted until her book.  There's much to say, but not here, because this is a review of her second parental examination, and not a return to Bechdel's father.

Are You My Mother? claims to be the companion of Bechdel's earlier memoir, illuminating her mother where she once examined her father.  Frequently claims to be, I'll emphasize, as Bechdel repeatedly reminds the reader that she is writing this "book about [her] mother," and even finishes the text with her mother claiming subjectivity.  This constant reminder is required, though, because the book is not truly about Bechdel's mother - indeed, she is physically and subjectively absent for much of the story, perhaps reflecting her ornamental role in the false narrative of her deceased husband. What Bechdel shares of her mother is both a repetition of what is shared in Fun Home, and almost completely overshadowed by Bechdel's psychoanalytic readings of why her relationship with her mother is so emotionally difficult for the comic.  The book isn't about Bechdel's mother - it's about Bechdel herself, and her attempts to find a spiritual mother, to come to terms with her decision to not be a mother, to make peace with her sense of failing in the eyes of her mother. It begs for approval much like Bechdel herself seeks her mother's approval, but it makes no space for the purported subject of her narrative - her mother is influential, but peripheral. The psychoanalytic saturation of the content is burdensome, distracting from the humanity of the story, and distancing the text from the actual relationships - a distance that I think Bechdel may feel she needs, whether or not she does this purposefully. Whereas the house of Fun Home stands as a foreboding and constant symbol of Bechdel's father, whose stoic face is nearly constantly present, the dominant image of Are You My Mother? is Bechdel's own profile as she seeks reassurance from other women in her life - most frequently her therapists, but also her mother, heard most often over the phone. The pages are saturated in an eerie orange-red, the tangee lipstick of her mother forecasting the turmoil and aggressive potential of the story, the color rendering even the most ordinary of scenes slightly ominous.  Though Bechdel's father is described as having the temper in her childhood home, her mother's red suggests she is a far greater threat to the developing artist, and literally and figuratively colors each of their interactions, succinctly marking them as aggressive and hostile.

So why four stars? I enjoy reading about Bechdel as much as I would have enjoyed actually reading about her mother, and found the book engaging and entertaining, even with its endless citations of Virginia Woolf and Winicott. This may not be for everyone, but it was still for me, and I'm looking forward to going into the details in the not-too-distant future.

2.
Title: [Blood Noir]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Vampires
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Originally preordered, re-read
Date Completed: January 6, 2016
Rating: ****

Blood Noir is, like most Anita Blake books, filled with angst, but of a different sort than we see in the books immediately preceding - this angst is professional, and how the monster-hunter manages to both love and murder the supernatural.  When a serial-killing vampire reappears in Vegas, Anita takes off while Jean Claude is still asleep, the better to slip away.  The bounty hunters Edward, Bernardo, and Olaf are back, and Anita navigates local supernatural politics, local law enforcement, and her own killer instincts as she seeks out a real, material threat.  Anita is a better vampire hunter than she is a partner or a lover, and I appreciate when the books find a balance of the two.  This book earns four stars from me less for its actual content, and more for the welcome change from the last one.

1.
Title: [Skin Trade]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Vampires
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Originally preordered
Date Completed: January 3, 2016
Rating: Bah

In the case of my relationship with Anita Blake, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and after a year of wading through all of her adventures I'm finding her tiresome.  The affective saturation of the ongoing Blake narrative has reached a critical mass devolving into an endless parade of anonymous sex and the angst that Blake's puritanical views then inspires.  I find Richard loathsome, Anita unreasonable, and the introduction of new lovers tiresome.  This novel in particular seems stagnant; Anita realizes the use value of Jason when she agrees to accompany him home to face his physically abusive father who is dying from cancer.  This relationship, if actually developed, would have been far more compelling than the shallow circus of doppelgangers and a high-profile wedding.

This novel is a low point for me, but I've already pushed through and started Blood Noir, in which Anita regains her professional status, is not entirely shedding her identity anxiety.

Books Read in 2015

Books Read in 2015

1.  Jason by Laurell K. Hamilton. Paranormal Romance. 1.6.14. **1/2
2.  How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny.  Mystery.  1.9.15. *****
3.  Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong.  Urban Fantasy.  1.12.15. ***
4.  Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty.  Memoir.  1.25.15.  ***
5.  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Fiction  1.30.15. *****

6. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.  Fiction.  2.1015. *****
7. Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket.  YA.  2.13.15. ****

8. Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs.  Urban Fantasy.  3.5.15. ****
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Gothic. 3.9.15. *****
10. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. Graphic Novel. 3.13.15. ***
11. The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall. Appropriative Novel. 3.21.15
12. Reality Hunger by David Shields.  Nonfiction. 3.22.1513.
13. Prudence by Gail Carriger.  Steampunk.  3.28.15. ***.5

14. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Fantasy. 4.2.15. *****
15. Beowulf trans. by Seamus Heaney. 4.12.15. *****
16. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells.  Scientific Romance.  4.19.15. ****
17.  All the Copyright course readings.
18. 1005+ pages of student essays.
19.  Master of O by Ernest Greene.  BDSM.  4.2015. ***

20. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton.  Vampires. 5.7.15.
21. The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 5.10.15.
22. Joker bu Brian Azzarello, ill. by Lee Bermejo.  Comicbook.  5.11.15. ****
23. Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires.  5.13.15.
24.  Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 5.19.15.
25. The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 5.25.15
26. The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale. Children's chapter book. 5.26.15. ****

27. Otherworldly Nights by Kelley Armstrong.  Urban Fantasy. 6.1.15. ***
28. A Little Night Murder by Nancy Martin. Cozy Mystery. 6.3.15. ***1/2
29. Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 6.2015.
30. Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 6.19.15.
31. Catwoman Volume 1: The Game by Judd Winick and Guillem March.  Comic. 6.20.15. ***
32. Catwoman Volume 2: Dollhouse by Judd Winick and Guillem March. Comic. 6.20.15. ****
33. Gotham City Sirens: Union by Paul Dini and Guillem March.  Comic. 6.20.15. Rubbish.
34. Batman: Heart of Hush by Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen, and Derek Fridolfs. Comic. 6.24.15. ***1/2
35. The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross.  Teen Romance Steampunk. 6.25.15. ***

36. Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs.  Urban Fantasy; Short Stories. 7.9.15. ***
37. Medievalisms by Pugh and Weisl. Cultural Studies.  7.10.15.
38. Soranus' Gynecology Trans. by Owsei Temkin. Gynecology. 8.2015. *****
39. INventing the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor. Cultural Studies. 7.2015. ***
40. The Shock of Medievalism by Kathleen Biddick. Cultural Studies. 7.2015. ****
41. How Soon is Now? by Carolyn Dinshaw. Cultural Studies. 7. 2015. ****

42. Murder on Fifth Avenue by Victoria Thompson. Cozy Mystery. 8. 2015. ***
43. Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson. Cozy Mystery. 8.2015. ***
44. Murder in Murray Hill by Victoria Thompson. Cozy Mystery. 8.2015. *****
45. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Vol 2 by Alan Moore. Comic. 8.13.2015. ***
46. The Replacement by Brena Yovanoff. Fantasy. 8.17.15. ***1/2
47. The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. Comics. 8.18.2015. ****1/2
48. Horns by Joe Hill. Horror. 8.20.15. ****
51. The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black. YA Vampire Romance. 8.2015. **

49. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg. Gothic. 9.1.2015 ****
50. Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu. Gothic. 9.9.15. *****
52. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot.  Gothic. 9.16.15. ***
53. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. 9.16.15. *****
54. Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton. 9.21.15. ***
55. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Gothic. 9.22.15. *****
56. She by H. Rider Haggard. Gothic. 9.2015. ***

57. Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton. Urban Fantasy. 10.2.15. ***
58. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Gothic. 10.7.15. *****
59. The Cultural Politics of Emotion by Sara Ahmed. Affect Theory. 10.2015. ****
60. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells. Gothic. 10.14.15. *****
61. Dracula by Bram Stoker. Gothic. 10.21.15. *****
62. The Beetle by Richard Marsh. Gothic. 10.28.15. *****

63. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Gothic. 11.4.15. ****
64. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Comic Memoir. 11.10.15. *****
65. Othello by William Shakespeare. Drama. 11.10.15. *****
66. Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger. Steampunk YA. 11.14.15. ****1/2
67. Incubus Dreams by Laruell K. Hamilton. Vampire. 11.2015. ***

68. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Theatre of the Absurd. 12.3.2015. *****
69. Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 12.4.15. **1/2
70. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. Horror. 12.15.15. *****
71. The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton. Vampires. 12.27.15. **
72. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. Horror. 12.28.15. ****
73. Breed by Chase Novak. Horror. 12.30.15. ****
74. Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osborne. Early Chapter Book 12.9.15.
75. Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. Drama. 11.2015. ***** (forgot to add to original review list)

December 2015

68.
Title: [Waiting for Godot]
Author: Samuel Beckett
Genre: Theatre of the Absurd
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Work Text
Date Completed: December 3, 2015
Rating: *****

I love Waiting for Godot, and all of its wonderful potential and confusion and mess and dirt and philosophy. I love twisting and turning and trying on new ideas, and I love the discussions that come from my students.  This semester I taught Godot (briefly) through the framework of the "politics of waiting," asking my students to read this account of a production at San Quentin (pages 19-21), this great article on historically significant productions, and Rich Cluchey's interiew. We ended on a high note.

69.

Title: [Micah]

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Ancient History

Date Completed: December 4, 2015

Rating: **1/2

Micah is a brief hiccup of a novel which barely accomplishes one thing - finally sharing the story of Micah's infection. It's fairly useless, and could have been much better shared in a longer narrative. It was literally over before I knew it - I went from saying, "I'm nearly done, so I'm just going to finish before bed" to "Oh, that's it" in about two breaths.  In the end, it's not such a bad thing, since I was only picking up a book to take a one-evening break from research and grading, and I easily got through the whole thing.  Onwards through the series; once I'm done with Anita I intend to read all of Discworld in order, which is something else I've never done.  

70.

Title: [The Stepford Wives]

Author: Ira Levin

Genre: Horror (Yes, I say horror) 

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: End-of-semester treat

Date Completed: December 15, 2015

Rating: *****

The plot of Ira Levin's suburban novel is so well known that its title has become lexicon - "Stepford" alludes to an eerie kind of perfection and conformity that implies a lack of personhood or deep thought.  This is precisely what Levin creates in his novel about a young family moving from the city to the suburbs, and finding that their previously-motivated female neighbors have all adopted the mien of a "housefrau" (Levin's word) over their earlier ambitions.  

Films do not do Levin's novel justice; the original narrative has a simple and concise elegance that the 2004 rendition, for example, has no hope of reaching.  It tries to do too much, give too many answers, be too progressive, when Levin did it all so much better.  There's not much more I can say without spoiling a few things, so I'll simply say that I highly recommend it.  

71.

Title: [The Harlequin]

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Disappointment

Medium: Hardback

Acquisition: Goodness knows when 

Date Completed: December 27, 2015

Rating: **

"I don't do women" said Sylvie.  Sylvie Baker.  The werewolf.  The lesbian werewolf.  The lesbian werewolf whose rape is registered as all the more horrific for her sexual identity, and whose lesbian partner is also recognized in the series.

After-the-fact, I remembered having a very big problem with this narrative slip the first time I read it, and it seems all the more careless and sophomoric in the rereading.  Laurell K. Hamilton is certainly not the first best-selling author to suffer from continuity errors, nor will she be the last. I have a difficult time accepting errors in defining characteristics, however, especially when the protagonist is herself so bigoted against said-characteristic (Anita is an admitted homophobe at this point in the series). 

It also occurred to me this time around that the narrative must be extraordinarily dull for anyone standing outside of Anita's inner dialogue; the action, exposition, and development all take place almost exclusively in Anita's head, or through mind-to-mind communication between a few characters.  From the outside it must look like a lot of mute posturing, staring off into space, and then sudden explosions of physical violence and/or Anita screaming.  

I've never minded the developing sex, and prefer an active Anita to her prudish early self, but at this point in the series I can understand why so many long-time fans gave up on her.  I won't, because I know better things are coming, but this mid-series lull isn't making it easy to carry through with my plan of reading everything in order, for once.  

72.

Title: [Rosemary's Baby]

Author: Ira Levin

Genre: Horror 

Medium: Hardback

Acquisition: End-of-semester treat

Date Completed: December 28, 2015

Rating: *****

Rosemary's Baby, written seven years before Stepford Wives, shows that Levin's claim to subtle horror is no accident, and his simplistic style and even pacing belie the potential for emotional impact.  Like many others, I came to Rosemary's Baby through the Mia Farrow film, so the conclusion was well known to me when I began the story; blissfully, I have forgotten nearly everything else, so I lose no pleasure in the reading. I envy those who are not familiar with the plots for their ability to approach Levin cold, taking what he has to say without the lens flare of Hollywood production.

At its core, Rosemary's Baby seems like a rehearsal for Stepford Wives, utilizing the same cultural politics as motivation for a resoundingly creepy tale.  Though relying on the supernatural instead of the mysterious ad potentially scientific, Rosemary's Baby carries the same flavor, and the same potential for alarm.  Levin wants his readers to question those they know best and trust most, which is where his true horror lies.  Again, highly recommend.  What a treat.  

An interesting tidbit:

Mr. Levin was less pleased, however, at the tide of popular Satanism his work appeared to unleash.

“I feel guilty that ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ led to ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘The Omen,’” he told The Los Angeles Times in 2002. “A whole generation has been exposed, has more belief in Satan. I don’t believe in Satan. And I feel that the strong fundamentalism we have would not be as strong if there hadn’t been so many of these books.”

“Of course,” Mr. Levin added, “I didn’t send back any of the royalty checks.”

-The New York Times

73.

Title: [Breed]

Author: Chase Novak

Genre: Horror 

Medium: Kindle

Acquisition: Conference colleague rec

Date Completed: December 30, 2015

Rating: ****

When a fellow panelist discovered I was the one who put together two panels on Monstrous Maternity, her first reaction was to suggest this book.  It's taken me a couple of years to get around to it, but boy, I'm glad I did.

The premise is a familiar (first-world?) problem: fertility.  Specifically, the narrative follows a high-powered, old-money New York couple as their struggle to produced the paternally-desired heir drives them to the extreme treatments offered by an Eastern European doctor, who happens to have an astounding success rate.  Their initial experiences are shady enough to be cringe-worthy, and the tone of the early chapters is wonderfully ominous, with strong pacing. Immediately after the treatments the couple begins behaving strangely, but they get what they paid for when they have twins (...) five months later.  The second half of the novel rediscovers the family ten years later, and explores the side effects of those strange fertility treatments.  

The critique of fertility treatments and genetic manipulation is heady stuff, and unabashedly critical; the relationships and cultural institutions that spur the narrative are complex and contentious, giving space for consideration to impetuses both big and small. That said Novak doesn't go to great lengths to drive home social messages, and I'd think the novel could well be enjoyed for the slow creep of a horror it is, without becoming beleaguered by politics. 

When I described the plot to my partner, a little more explicitly than here, since I didn't have to worry about spoilers, he responded, "You know why he wrote that book, right?  To have it made into a movie."  Perhaps - it'd make a really great flick.  But it's a pretty good read on its own, and one I'd recommend to readers of modern horror.  

74.

Title: [Pirates Past Noon]

Author: Mary Pope Osborne

Genre: Early Chapter Book 

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: It's the 7-year-old's

Date Completed: December 9, 2015

Rating: 

First-Born was far more prepared for a trip to the dentist than I, so I borrowed his initiative and his chapter book during his cleaning. I don't know that I've ever read such an early chapter book before, and I think I'd like to try to get him into something with a little more thought, but it's a neat (and very very very brief) introduction to different places and times, and he likes them well enough.  

Fall Semester: Endless articles; 296 student essays (3-6 pages each) plus student classwork/prewriting  

November 2015

63.
Title: [The Turn of the Screw]
Author: Henry James
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: November 4, 2015
Rating: ****

The Turn of the Screw is a typical Victorian ghost story, featuring an isolated and abandoned governess and her two mysterious charges.  Though my professor challenged my reading, I maintain that the children are themselves the most threatening figures in the story, and find that this reading is far more engaging.

64.
Title: [Fun Home]
Author: Alison Bechdel
Genre: Comic Memoir
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Affect Theory
Date Completed: November 10, 2015
Rating: *****

This was my second reading of Bechel's graphic memoir, after approximately nine years, this time for a class on affect theory.  Bechdel's illustrations and voice are compelling, and her struggle with her father's suicide and the development of her personal identity will engage the reader from the very beginning. For class, we are framing our conversation through Jose Munoz's "disidentification," with great success.

65.
Title: [Othello]
Author: Shakespeare
Genre: Drama
Medium: Folger
Acquisition: Work Text
Date Completed: November 10, 2015
Rating: *****

63> Both the gothic course and the affect course were amazing. I'm working on my term papers now, and it's both exciting and terrifying.  I gave a smashing paper on [Fun Home] a couple of weeks ago for Affect, and I don't think I'm going to be able to meet it.

64> I agree - it's one of the things I like best about teaching. The most exciting time is when a student comes up with something that's just so darn smart, that I've never thought of before.  It's wonderful!

66.
Title: [Manners and Mutiny]
Author: Gail Carriger
Genre: Steampunk YA
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Preorder
Date Completed: November 14, 2015
Rating: ****1/2

Manners and Mutiny is the final installment of Carriger's Finishing School series, which works backwards from Parasol Protectorate to develop the history of some familiar faces.  The plot is consistent with the rest of the series, and actually develops characters from the beginning, which I appreciate.  As a whole I didn't find it to be the most thrilling, but it did follow through with much that was promised, and for that I appreciated it.  A clean finish.

67.
Title: [Incubus Dreams]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Ancient History
Date Completed: November 2015
Rating: ***

It's been interesting reading this series straight through for the first time, in fairly close order (not back to back, because teaching and grade school, but certainly closer than before). I'm tempted to say that Incubus Dreams is the book that signals the full shift of Anita Blake from profession to personal; earlier texts introduce some kind of balance between Anita's jobs as an animator and consultant, but in Incubus Dreams that balance is nearly gone - it's almost entirely personal. This is significant because one would thing serial killer vampires coming to time would register more on her professional level, but even the vampire side is marginalized for sex scenes.  I maintain that I don't have a preference for the two sides - I accept the development for what it is - but the moral grandstanding and angst can be a bit difficult to swallow when reading them so close together.

I like Nathaniel.

Also, in the course of research I came across an academic chapter on Anita Blake called "Sleeping With the Enemy."  Fun.  Perhaps I'll read it, when my real research is through.


75. Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. Drama. 11.2015. ***** (forgot to add to original review list)

October 2015

57.
Title: [Cerulean Sins]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Too long to remember
Date Completed: October 2 2015
Rating: ***

Although the trajectory is a long one, Cerulean Sins may well be the tipping point at which Anita Blake books become less about police consulting, vampire slaying, and zombie-raising, and more about metaphysical sex and the psychology of supernaturals.  The court case of this volume is peripheral, and arguably useless; it's an opportunity to keep favorite characters (Zebronski) active, while offering little by way of development or interest; the conclusion is itself gratuitous.  I've long offered the terms "vintage Blakers" and "progressive Blakers" to distinguish between two fan bases of the series - those who prefer the police-consultant-Blake, and those who enjoy the sexual narratives - and my current re-reading of the series has challenged my own camp.  While I don't mind the evolution of the series, I find that the plot lines are more careless and less neat when the focus becomes the ardeur over Blake's professional escapades.  I also have no patience for the excessively "emo" characters which accompany the later.  Add in inconsistency - for example, Anita realizing that Musette is not Master enough to tell if she's lying, and then her later insistence that Asher is in trouble because Musette can sense a lie - and the novel is not nearly as satisfying as I found it the first time.

58.
Title: [The Picture of Dorian Gray]
Author: Oscar Wilde
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: October 7, 2015
Rating: *****

59.
Title: [Cultural Politics of Emotion]
Author: Sara Ahmed
Genre: Affect Theory
Medium: Papeback
Acquisition: Theories of Culture
Date Completed: October 2015
Rating: ****

60.
Title: [The Island of Doctor Moreau]
Author: H. G. Wells
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: October 14, 2015
Rating: *****

61.
Title: [Dracula]
Author: Bram Stoker
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: October 21, 2015
Rating: *****

For my course I completed a reading of masculinities in the novel, questioning the roles of men and identifying the threat of Dracula. I read some great secondary sources, and pushed my readings of the novel forward beyond my previous scholarship; it was a very useful exercise.

62.
Title: [The Beetle]
Author: Richard Marsh
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: October 28, 2015
Rating: *****

This atmospheric, threatening, and engaging story, told from four points of view, was actually more popular than Dracula at the time, and its horror well-translates to the modern reader.  I devoured the text and its complexities, and can't wait to read its problematic representations for my term paper. The question of why this fell out of favor is unanswered; fans of the gothic should seek this out at once!

September 2015

45.
Title: [The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Vol 2]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 13, 2015
Rating: ***

Anticipating some future research, I've been advised to read Alan Moore's Victorian-esque work.  I taught the first volume of LXG last semester, and ultimately I found that I don't appreciate Moore's interpretation of Gothic characters.  The second volume is slightly better, as some explanations are given for present representations (Mina, Hyde), but ultimately the books are flat with slap-in-the-face allusions.  I have From Hell and Lost Girls on my shelf, and I have hopes that they'll prove more interesting.

46.
Title: [The Replacement]
Author: Brena Yovanoff
Genre: Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 17, 2015
Rating: ***1/2

The spine of my library book has a sticker that says "Scary." I found the title on a list of books "scarier than any movie." I was intrigued, and looking for something nice and spooky, so I went for it.  What I found was not a work of horror at all, but a dark fairy tale.  This is not to say that Yovanoff's book is bad, but rather that my impressions have been colored by false advertising, and so while I found the book readable and pleasantly entertaining, I am ultimately unsatisfied.  The story is situated in a small town which has been mysteriously (and ominously?) helped and hindered by a supernatural presence, which exacts its payment in a forcible (yet highly traditional) way.  A boy uniquely involved in both sides of this exchange steps in with a new perspective, and predictable conflict ensues.

The most legitimately frightening (i.e. disturbing) narrative is a local legend of discrimination, and scapegoating. This book would appeal to anyone drawn to "traditional" fairy stories, which represent not plump godmothers but baby-snatchers and things-that-aren't-quite dead, but not one looking for a more traditional horror or ghost story.

47.
Title: [The Killing Joke]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Comics
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 18, 2015
Rating: ****1/2

Continuing research, which is very Alan Moore-heavy at the moment.  However, as a fan of Batman (or, more accurately, the villains of the Batman universe), I found The Killing Joke much more compelling than others I've read of late.  Having escaped from the Asylum, Joker buys an old amusement park, to use for the expected nafarious purposes.  The book is dark and violent and culture, as I would expect from more modern Batman, and the at is strong.  The afterward of the book expresses anxiety over offering an origin story for The Joker, whose reality is always to be suspect, but then turns around and suggests that even this origin is untrustworthy -that it, too, could be a manifestation of Joker's madness.  I found a great deal of material which would be very useful for my dissertation work, so I have a feeling I'll be returning to this in the future.

48.
Title: [Horns]
Author: Joe Hill
Genre: Horror
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 20, 2015
Rating: ****

Horns is a complicated and interesting narrative about the distinction between the perceived self and reality, and the ways in which people invent narratives to explain the lives and events going on around them.  The novel opens a year after Ig's girlfriend Merrin has been murdered, and though he's never been charged, Ig still carries the reputation of a "sex murderer" in his small town in New Hampshire.  With Merrin dies all the joy that Ig ever found in life, and the budding horns which appear on his head one hungover morning are just another example of the emotional difficulties he faces.  When Ig seeks help for his new condition he instead hears secrets, and quickly learns to use the influence of his horns to his own advantage, eventually discovering what really happened to Merrin, and the whole truth of the last night they spent together.  The novel is far from perfect, but I appreciated its philosophical treatment of religion, considering without ever really preaching, and offering some explanations and still ore interpretations.  Characters believe, and ultimately the story is not about faith or religion, but rather a deeper kind of truth - the complexity of humans, and the masks we wear everyday.  There are moments I absolutely hated (overly-grandiose, or downright useless), but as a whole I appreciated the build, and found the conclusion perfectly satisfactory.  This is certainly one I'd recommend.
Class readings have started, and oh, what a joy!  My work semester is off to a solid start, and my classes are proving engaging (which is no surprise, considering one of my two classes is Victorian Gothic.  I swoon!). I have little time for casual reads, but given my familiarity with the reading list of one class I'm sure it'll be easier than previous semesters.  Reaching 75 books, though?  Chances are slim.

49.
Title: [The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner]
Author: James Hogg
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 1, 2015
Rating: ****

I first read Hogg about a decade ago, for an IS in Gothic literature.  I wasn't as invested then as I am now, so my memory of the novel was poor, and this reading was as if the first, with the exception of an understanding of Gil-Martin.  I found the text engaging, and class discussion went swimmingly.

50.
Title: [Uncle Silas]
Author: Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 9, 2015
Rating: *****

This absolute classic should be read immediately by anyone with even a passing interest in traditional Gothic fiction.  Le Fanu is a leader of the genre, and his psychological thriller of a horror sets the tone for much that is to come.

I won't write at length about these books, since I already have for class, but I will say that I'm only growing more excited for the rest of the semester.

51.  
Title: [The Coldest Girl in Coldtown]
Author: Holly Black
Genre: YA Vampire Romance
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free download
Date Completed: August 2015
Rating: **

Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is unremarkable and flat - so much so that I had forgotten I finished it several weeks ago.  In the swollen genre of vampire romances, Black's lackluster narrative of quarantine and ancient-vampire-falling-for-American-teen adds nothing, and is thoroughly forgettable in its lack of originality and largely two-dimensional characters.  It's as silly as the title suggests, and certainly had no place on the list of "Books Scarier than Any Movie," where I found the citation (along with Horns and The Replacement, above).  In the end, it serves to prove one thing: no list on the internet is to be trusted.

52.
Title: [The Lifted Veil]
Author: George Eliot
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Penguin Classics
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 16, 2015
Rating: ***

George Eliot is highly regarded for her skill as a realist novelist, and so her place in a gothic lit course is at first curious. The Lifted Veil, though, shows that even Eliot's foray into the uncanny is grounded in her realist talents.  In class tonight my colleagues and I agreed that the protagonist does not necessary possess the powers he professes, but rather manifests his beliefs out of his own desperation to prove himself special, unique, and more extraordinary than his brother (to the surprise of our instructor!).  In the end, the story is far more grounded in science and reality, and I would argue is more engaging than a reading of the supernatural (especially in light of much stronger supernatural narratives).

53
Title: [Carmilla]
Author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 16, 2015
Rating: *****

Oh my, how I love Le Fanu's novella, and the complicated and awkward relationship of Laura and Carmilla.  Most of my thoughts are directed towards my term paper, but I wanted to remark on the original illustrations, included in this edition. David Henry Friston and Michael Fitzgerald provide the original artwork, with wildly differing styles - the later seemingly inspired by the Romantics, and the former marketing for the salacious.  The visual rhetoric is charged and curious and worthy of its own in-depth consideration.

"Carmilla" is an essential read for anyone invested in vampire mythology and the narrative history of the character.

54.
Title: [Narcissus in Chains]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Too long to remember
Date Completed: September 21, 2015
Rating: ***

I managed to sneak in a junky read, so I jumped back into my in-order Anita Blake resolution.  Anita is trying to lead the pack of wereleopards she left alpha-less, but riding in on her white hose leads to a series of Unfortunate Events, culminating in bodies on the ground and in her bed, solutions founds and problems complicated. This installment introduces Micah into the mix, and those with Issues continue to have Issues.  Narcissus in Chains wasn't nearly as engaging the second (or was it third?) time around, but I'm also neck-deep in great research, so it may be hard to compete.  My favorite character is the titular werehyena, although he/she makes only the briefest of appearances.  A hermaphroditic lycanthrope who presents male and dresses femininely?  How could I resist?!

55.
Title: [Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 22, 2015
Rating: *****

I'm not including a cover photo because a) the Broadview I read isn't available, and b) I'm slightly bothered by the use of the article "the," which Stevenson does not use in his original.

Stevenson's tale of a person divided comes to him in two feverish dreams, and is hastily scrawled while the author is confined to his bed.  The first version he wrote, however, is lost to the ages; Stevenson's wife criticized the early draft, saying he "missed it completely." His stepson describes Stevenson's fury, during which he threw the entire manuscript into the fire.  The second draft of the narrative is much better received, called a work of genius by the same stepson, and is popularly published in 1886.  Stevenson didn't care much for its popularity, assuming it mean it wasn't a very good work after all, although he wrote in a letter to a critic friend that he did enjoy the income of publishing successfully.

Three years ago I included this novella in a reading of alternative maternity, and a year ago I taught it as part of a course on "missing" stories.  Class conversation was lively and thoughtful, and I left my own re-reading struck by how amoral Dr. Jekyll remains throughout the text, and found a renewed consideration of inheritance to be very useful to my earlier thesis.

56.
Title: [She]
Author: H. Rider Haggard
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September , 2015
Rating: ***

H. Rider Haggard's She is awkward prose saturated in brooding and claustrophobic descriptions of surroundings. Though the adventure gothic is initially popular (selling 20,000 copies in its first month), I found it difficult to invest myself in the narrative, and often grew frustrated.  The consideration of Victorian death culture, exemplified by the burning of mummies for light, of course caught my interest, but these fleeting moments of grotesque horror are not enough for me to rate this novel highly for enjoyment.  It's certainly worth reading for a better consideration of the breadth of the genre, and can incite interesting discussion, but isn't one I'd pick up again for personal enjoyment. I was so excited to read this tale, and was sorely disappointed.

As usual, Broadview wins for useful editions, and fantastic covers.

August 2015

36.
Title: [Shifting Shadows]
Author: Patricia Briggs
Genre: Urban Fantasy; Short Stories
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: July 9, 2015
Rating: ***

I did not enjoy the short stories as much as I do the novels, but it was great to see the first Alpha/Omega.

37.
Title: [Medievalisms]
Author: Pugh and Weisl
Genre: Cultural Studies
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Coursework
Date Completed: July 10, 2015
Rating: ****

Readable, informative, and interesting, although this is only a survey of ideas and not an in-depth analysis.  It was a great way to start the class, and put us in the right mindset.


38.
Title: [Soranus' Gynecology]
Author: Trans. Owsei Temkin
Genre: Gynecology
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Coursework
Date Completed: August 2015
Rating: *****

I'm not joking when I say that this may be my new favorite book.  From the introduction I wrote for my coursework: "The introduction to Owsei Temkin’s  English translation of Soranus’ Gynecology names the second century Greek author as “one of the most learned, critical, and lucid authors of antiquity,” and his gynecological text as “the most important” (xxiii), which Temkin claims “represented ancient gynecological and obstetrical practice at its height” (xxv). As a whole, the material seeks to disseminate knowledge of female reproductive health, beginning with a description of the primary and secondary sexual characteristics unique to women, and including advice on breastfeeding, menopause, and even early development of children.  Among the goals of Gynecology is an attempt to clarify superstition and fallacious medical knowledge, such as when Soranus discredits Diocles’ assertion that “there are also what are called suckers, tentacles, and antennae in the cavity of the uterus which are protuberances similar to breasts … in order that the embryo may acquire the habit of sucking the nipples of the breast,” by definitively stating that such observations “are proven wrong by dissection” (13)."

The tone, practices, knowledge and belief all make this a fascinating text, but hilariously comical and outright terrifying.  It is quite literally a page turner for anyone marginally interested in maternity studies, motherhood in general, or ancient culture.  I was thrilled to work with the text in my own research, and continue to do so whenever I am able.

39.
Title: [Inventing the Middle Ages]
Author: Norman F. Cantor
Genre: Cultural Studies
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Coursework
Date Completed: July 2015
Rating: ***

Cantor's text is a bestiary of medievalism, offering synopses of major medievalist texts, and (often salacious) biographies of the scholars themselves.  Cantor misses a great opportunity in the style of his book, as the poignancy of the latter is often glossed over and left to the reader, when it could be much better directed in order to forward the argument of the text. However, the argument that the person matters in the scholarship is well made, and interesting.

40.
Title: [The Shock of Medievalism]
Author: Kathleen Biddick
Genre: Cultural Studies
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Coursework
Date Completed: July 2015
Rating: ****

With chapter titles such as "The Devil's Anal Eye," it's clear that Biddick's Shock of Medivalism is attempting to do just that - shock.  The major impetus of her essay collection is the acknowledgement of what's missing in medievalist studies, and a desire to redress these shortcomings.  Taking a queer lens, Biddick looks to the missing and the othered (such as women and Jews), and demonstrates the value of revisiting old discourses.  Not everyone in the course appreciated Biddick's style, but I found her theses to be intriguing, and am guilty of "shock" in my own work.

41.
Title: [How Soon is Now?]
Author: Carolyn Dinshaw
Genre: Cultural Studies
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Coursework
Date Completed: July 2015
Rating: ****

Dinshaw's text is not unlike Biddick's, in that she is attempting to identifies the holes in medievalist studies, and adopts a queer lens through which to explore them.  Also like Biddick, Dinshaw is interested in the other, which she defines through a unique definition of "amateur" scholarship.  This definition offers some difficulty throughout the text, as the "amateur" cited is often a professional, if not firmly grounded in the academy.  The amateur medievalist is overly romanticized, and a more grounded reading could likely produce even stronger results.  Most interesting for me was Dinshaw's reading of the anxiety of origins - where we come from, and how we come to find our place in scholarship.


I have never before taken a class in which we are asked to read whole scholarly texts.  I greatly appreciated the experience, even for texts of which I am less fond.

Once upon a time I abandoned Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series for its heavy-handed criticism of queer figures.  But some time has passed, and I decided to give it another try.  As a whole, many characters and representations remain problematic, but a few raised eyebrows does not interrupt the plot, and is indeed far less problematic than some of the romance novels I've read as of late.

Recognizing that I was no longer hauling around medievlaist texts, my partner asked me what I was reading while we were on the beach.  "A mystery" I answered.
"A cozy mystery?"
"Yes. It's about a midwife who solves murders in nineteenth-century New York." {To be fair, I don't know when I last saw Mrs. Brandt deliver a baby...}
"I'm so happy for you!"

42.
Title: [Murder on Fifth Avenue]
Author: Victoria Thompson
Genre: Mystery
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 2015
Rating: ***

43.
Title: [Murder in Chelsea]
Author: Victoria Thompson
Genre: Mystery
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 2015
Rating: ***

44.
Title: [Murder in Murray Hill]
Author: Victoria Thompson
Genre: Mystery
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 2015
Rating: ***

July 2015

27.

Title: [Otherworld Nights]

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 1, 2015

Rating: ***

28.

Title: [A Little Night Murder]

Author: Nancy Martin

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Medium: Hardback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 3, 2015

Rating: ***1/2

The Blackbird Sisters Mysteries is a series I'm happy to borrow from the library, but not one I would purchase for myself.  Like others before, there is a delightful swirl of fancy clothes and society gatherings, with a suspicious death in close proximity.  And also like others before, there is questionable character development, and questionable choices, but so goes any cozy mystery.  In this episode, a very pregnant Nora is more focused on hiding Lexie, released from prison, and investigating theatre-related deaths than either her society column or the questionable movements of her intended, with a final twist worthy of an arched eyebrow.  In the end, though, it's the same good fun - and great clothes - as before, and I'll happily move on to see what madcap adventures she finds herself in as a new mother.  

29.

Title: [Burnt Offerings]

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Vampires

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Forever ago

Date Completed: June, 2015

Rating:

30.

Title: [Obsidian Butterfly]

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Vampires

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Forever ago

Date Completed: June 19, 2015

Rating:

Reading some of these books for the third time, I'm noticing paragraph-level errors with increasing frequency - not grammatical errors, but narrative errors.  Actions repeat or contradict, Anita will do something and then pointedly not-do-that-thing, etc. I find it interesting both that these glaring errors make it through editing, and that I apparently glossed over them in my own first readings.  

That said, I really enjoy Edward books - he's a great balance to the supernatural characters, and stories involving Edward seem to be much better developed.  Onward with my series re-read.  

31.

Title: [Catwoman Volume 1: The Game]

Author: Judd Winick and Guillem March

Genre: Comic

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 20, 2015

Rating: ***

Although I have not yet researched it specifically, I know there is static over Judd Winick and Guillem March's New 52 revamping of Catwoman: that she is oversexualized to a ridiculous degree (as opposed to the oversexualization of before? Like I said, I haven't read the specific arguments yet). The "look" of the book is compelling, with a level of ridiculousness that keeps it from functioning well - for example, Selena Kyle jumping from her window after having time to collect her pet cats, but not pull one shoulder of her jumpsuit on, so she's in full Catwoman gear with one breast barred in a purple bra.  While her actual physique seems to draw on the traditions of the genre, however they are not being challenged in criticism, I'm not yet sure what to make of these particular moments.  This Catwoman both is and isn't the one I've read before, and from what I've seen in this first volume, I don't value Winick's protagonist over Brubaker's.  

32.

Title: [Catwoman Volume 2: Dollhouse]

Author: Judd Winick and Guillem March

Genre: Comic

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 20, 2015

Rating: ****

The second volume of the New 52 is a bit more even, but I've given it a higher rating really for the introduction of a terrifying and fascinating villain: Dollhouse. That's a story I'd love to see developed. 

33.

Title: [Gothan City Sirens: Union]

Author: Paul Dini and Guilem March 

Genre: Comic

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 20, 2015

Rating: **

Rubbish. 

34.

Title: [Batman: Heart of Hush]

Author: Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen, and Derek Fridolfs 

Genre: Comic

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 24, 2015

Rating: ***1/2

An interesting twist of events, and a rather disturbing image that will likely influence how I see Selena Kyle for some time to come. Comparing these last two book by Dini, it seems that he isn't weak as a comics author, but he is potentially weak as a writer of women in comics. More samples would be needed to say so definitively, of course.

35.

Title: [The Girl With the Iron Touch]

Author: Kady Cross

Genre: Teen romance/steampunk

Medium: Hardback

Acquisition: Library Book

Date Completed: June 25, 2015

Rating: ***

The Girl with the Iron Touch, or "Why is he being an ass?" with a side of kidnapping and a quick dash of physical conflict.  The third in the Steampunk series finds the usual cast of characters back on home turf, and wrestling with the same personal tensions as the previous works.  The angst of these relationships continue through Emily's kidnapping and the attempts at a rescue, which is probably the most believable and human point in the plot - life as a whole doesn't stop when something bad happens. It's an easy read, but has very little development throughout, and the conclusion was a bit too easy for my taste.  Good for a library read, but not one I'll remember in a year.