Review! (Woo!) - World Gone By by Dennis Lehane

Title: World Gone By

Author: Dennis Lehane

Genre: Crime, Historical Fiction, Gangster.

Series: Coughlin (#3.)

A few starting notes:

I'm a Dennis Lehane fangirl. Pure. Simple. True. So when I saw World Gone By at the library, I really couldn't help myself.

This is #3 in the Coughlin series - following Danny Coughlin (in The Given Day,) and later baby brother Joe Coughlin (in Live By Night and World Gone By.)

It can definitely be read as stand-alone, though there are spoilers for Live By Night  in particular. To be honest, you'll get much more out of this book if you read Live By Night first - just for the character history if nothing else.

My sequel-reviewing rules apply here. No spoilerage for the series beyond what's in the book blurb here.

Nerd Church! - Leave the Christmas Stress Behind

I hope wherever you are, and whatever you're doing, you have a wonderful time over the next week or so.

Regardless of your beliefs I hope you enjoy any holiday you may be celebrating - and just enjoy the week in general if you're not celebrating anything.

Christmas can be stressful though - family is stressful enough on its own: add the duty to buy everyone presents, the pressure to create precious memories, and the worry that you've over-spent, over-eaten, and have been drinking too much wine, and you have a potential recipe for disaster.

Try to remember a few golden rules to stop the stress:



Christmas doesn't have to be perfect.

The most perfect Christmases, paradoxically, are the ones which aren't perfect. The Christmases you'll remember in years to come are the ones where something got burnt, someone forgot to buy a present, or there was a problem with the lights - and you'll have still had fun, still enjoyed, and still made it special.

Enjoy your Christmas - the little things matter more than anything else.

Enjoy what you have - whatever you have.

Didn't get that must-have gadget, handbag, or piece of jewellery? The world goes on. Enjoy what you did get - even if it was just a box of chocolates, a totally random and inappropriate kitchen item, or a slightly beaten-up card.

I'm sure whoever gave you whatever unwanted gift was doing their very best. Smile and make do, and enjoy the fact that someone thought of you. (Buying yourself a little something is also worth a smile - you care about you, goddammit!)

Try not to take out holiday stress on other people.

You know all the reasons you get stressy and p**sy at Christmas? Everyone else has them too.

Try to be understanding and not take your stress out on others - even if they're acting unreasonably; they're probably stressed out too.

Nerd Church will be back on Sunday, 10th January.

Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) Rat Queens Deluxe Edition Volume 1

Title: Rat Queens Deluxe Edition Volume 1.

Author: Kurtis J Wiebe.

 

Contributors: Stjepan Šejić, Tess Fowler, Roc Upchurch.

Genre: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, High Fantasy.

Series: Rat Queens (#1-10.)

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

 

I'd heard Rat Queens talked about on various sites as being worth the read, so when the chance to review the Deluxe Edition of Volume 1 came up, I decided to give it a shot.

Reflecting on 2015

2015. What a year.

I started this blog at the end of 2014. At the beginning of 2015, there wasn't a single review post on here - just a bunch of randomness. (I beg you not to look at my first posts - the embarrassment!)

The look of my blog was completely different. I didn't have a profile picture (and now I have a hand-drawn mythological bird avatar to bring me luck and/or help me communicate with the dead - yay!)

Basically, at the beginning of 2015 I was one hell of a newbie as a blogger.

I hope that my posts, my reviews, my randomness, have helped to make this blog something you want to actually read (please! O.O) - I certainly think that I've grown as a blogger and a writer and what-have-you (but then, if I didn't I wouldn't be writing this post.)

I certainly post more frequently now - and I think I'm starting to get the hang of reviewing, as well as being open and hopefully entertaining.

Some things don't change though - I still love books, and I still drink far too much coffee. And I still try to be honest and genuine in everything that I post here!

Friday Fics Fix - Christmas-y Fics!!!

Christmas is coming! We all know what that means... silly Christmas fan-fiction!!! Wooo!!!!

How Loki Stole Christmas by kel25 is amazing.

It's an Avengers-themed Loki-centric parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas... what could be better, I mean really?

A Hogwarts Christmas by Car Car is a fic from wa-a-ay back in 2001.

It's another parody (yay, parodies! (I think I need less coffee, or maybe I'm just excited about Christmas)) of a well-known Christmas poem: 'A Visit From St Nicholas' perhaps better-known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.'

This is Harry Potter themed with Dumbledore and the Weasleys - just great.

In a similar vein is Twas The Night Before Christmas by awakened-earth a Sherlock fanfic (as in, BBC's Sherlock.)

It's barmy, and made me smile like a fool when I read it. Which is what I want from my ridiculous Christmas fan-fiction goddammit!!!

Friday Fics Fix is going to take a little break over Christmas - it'll be back on Friday, 8th January, assuming I'm able to face reading more fanfiction again by that point :)

Comics Wrap Up - The End of the World

Film Trailers

X-Men: Apocalypse trailer time! This looks ultimately awesome.

For those who don't know, Apocalypse is one of the main storylines in the X-men world - and as the movies have, by now, covered most of the other big storylines, it's time to bring out the big guns.

And yes, that is the chick (Sophie Turner) who plays Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones - here she's Jean Grey. Make of that what you will; I'm personally neither a Jean or a Sansa fan, but they're fairly similar characters at the end of the day, so the casting is accurate if nothing else.

AND DOES NO-ONE ELSE SEE NIGHTCRAWLER IN THERE?!?!?! Sorry, I really love Nightcrawler. Like... so much!

Of course, it'll take a lot to make me forget Floop (civilian name - Alan Cumming,) as Nightcrawler in X-men 2.

Apparently we'll also see how Prof X (James McAvoy - returning to the part he played in X-Men: First Class, and X-Men: Days of Future Past) becomes bald. Good times.

Graphic Novels

In terms of graphic novels, this week I read The Private Eye: Deluxe Edition, a dystopian-type tale told in pop-art bright artwork, with a lot of blood slashed through for good measure. It was enjoyable and intriguing, but certainly isn't for everyone. You can see my full review here.

Hitler's Germany Through My Letterbox

Received another fab-looking book today in the post from UK publishers Headline (in exchange for a fair and honest review, ofc.)

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman is a YA novel about a girl who was once a member of Hitler's inner-circle, and now must return to Germany in order to save the boy she loves, journalist Daniel Cohen.

Looks like there's some conspiracy, some stuff that's all action-y, and some historical stuff. Good stuff all round then. You know I'm a sucker for an intriguing premise.

This is a sequel to Blankman's previous book, Prisoner of Night and Fog. I haven't read that book, so am hoping this can be read stand-alone (and I don't see why it shouldn't be! Goddammit!)

So, expect a review in the (hopefully) near-future.

Buy Now UK - Buy Now USA - Goodreads - Author's Site