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February Book List
Six books this month, three graphic novels, one novel, one short story collection, and one nonfiction.
Kidnapped! adapted by Alan Grant
A a graphic novel adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. I'd probably like this a bit better if I hadn't read the novel first- as it is, it feels like they condensed the novel in a way that cut out a good chunk of the personality. Artwork is perfectly fine, but is a little granite and grim-jawed for my taste.
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
Graphic novel set in a fictionalized version of industrial revolution-era France. A teenage seamstress named Frances, upon being commissioned to make a dress for a disinterested girl who tells her "I don't care, make me look like the Devil's daughter," obligingly does just that; the scandalous design gains Frances the attention and employ of a mysterious royal patron who turns out to be the Crown Prince, Sebastian- who wants Frances to secretly make dresses for him.
The Prince, as it turns out, is some shade of trans (I personally read Sebastian as genderfluid, although you could probably make the case for Sebastian being a trans girl) and Frances becomes his employee, co-conspirator, best friend, and perhaps even a potential true love. But the pressure of Sebastian's secret gets hard to handle between Frances's career ambitions and his parents constant urging for him to find a nice noble woman for him to marry.
Super cute and probably my favorite this month! Just be aware that yeah, transphobia is a serious theme here.
Predator's Gold by Philip Reeve
Set two years after Mortal Engines, Hester and Tom are now traveling happily around on the Jenny Hanniver and wind up picking up an author/archaeologist named Professor Pennyroyal. The plan is to take the professor from Point A to Point B, get paid, sail off to their usual routine etc. but they're attacked by a fringe group of the Anti-Traction league with an obsession with Anna Fang (previous owner of the Jenny Hanniver) and wind up rescued by the city of Anchorage. Freya, the young margravaine of Anchorage, happens to have been inspired by one of Professor Pennyroyal's books to lead the city of Anchorage into the heart of America, where they will hopefully be able to recover in peace from a deadly plague. With the Jenny Hanniver out of commission, Hester and Tom are stuck in Anchorage for the time being. Tom finds himself very happy to be staying in a city again and is greatly attracted to Freya, much to Hester's distress.
Recommended if you like ruthless heroines, grim-but-interesting settings, and don't mind love triangles or the occasional silliness.
Once Upon a Regency Christmas by Louise Allen, Sophia James, and Annie Burrows
A collection of three Regency romance short stories, with the dual themes of 1) Christmas! and 2) The Hero Is Secretly A Duke. The first one, On A Winter's Eve, is about the widowed wife of an Indian colonist who returns to England and winds up snowbound at her deceased husband's woefully underequipped estate. Fortunately for her, she's picked up a handsome army Captain who got stuck at the side of the road with a very angry turkey. Unfortunately, said handsome army Captain is very sulky when he finds out our widowed heroine is Actually Very Wealthy but deliberately misled him to believe otherwise in case he turned out to be a fortune hunter, but at least he gets his head out of his ass by the end.
The second one, Marriage Made At Christmas, is about the spinster-ish sister of a viscount who starts receiving threats on her life related to her charitable pursuits, but luckily she's rescued by a hot American man who's shortly afterwards hired as her bodyguard, and between that and making out he does some PI work on the side, both for her sake but also for the sake of his family history. Alas, although I can't pinpoint exactly why I found this one PRETTY BORING- I started reading this book in December, got bored partway through this short story, and wasn't able to pick it up again until this month.
The last story, Cinderella's Perfect Christmas, features a slightly similar setup to the first one- snowbound at an underequipped estate with a handsome army Captain- but the heroine in this case is a poor relation living under Cinderella circumstances (thus leaving the hero to assume she's merely a lower class servant for much of the story) and the hero is also accompanied by a pair of children he just rescued from living under the thumbs of their abusive grandparents. Probably my favorite of the three stories.
Mal and Chad: The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever! by Stephen McCranie
Graphic novel about Mal, a child genius of the sort who casually invents shrinking devices, jetpacks, and time machines, and Chad, Mal's talking dog. Despite being his genius inventor status Mal prefers to keep this a secret from other people, and so has to deal with mundane problems like a mother who does not understand how he always winds up in strange messes (which she usually treats with spanking apparently, which actually made me super uncomfortable! ngl), a crush on a girl who mostly seems to just find him irritating, and an essay due about what he wants to be when he grows up- which is a problem when Mal doesn't know that yet.
Mal's attempts to discover exactly what he wants to do when he grows up (be a scuba diver? an archaeologist?), aided by his various wacky inventions, and the ensuing misadventures comprise the bulk of the volume. The book as a whole is cute, if unexceptional.
Taking the Mystique Out Of Learning Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Literacy Tutors by Ricki Goldstein
Short nonfiction book providing information on learning disabilities, mostly as a broad group than much that's specific. Most of the information and teaching advice was already at least somewhat familiar to me, but there was some new stuff (Irlen Syndrome is a thing!) and a few resources that I think might come in handy.
Kidnapped! adapted by Alan Grant
A a graphic novel adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. I'd probably like this a bit better if I hadn't read the novel first- as it is, it feels like they condensed the novel in a way that cut out a good chunk of the personality. Artwork is perfectly fine, but is a little granite and grim-jawed for my taste.
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
Graphic novel set in a fictionalized version of industrial revolution-era France. A teenage seamstress named Frances, upon being commissioned to make a dress for a disinterested girl who tells her "I don't care, make me look like the Devil's daughter," obligingly does just that; the scandalous design gains Frances the attention and employ of a mysterious royal patron who turns out to be the Crown Prince, Sebastian- who wants Frances to secretly make dresses for him.
The Prince, as it turns out, is some shade of trans (I personally read Sebastian as genderfluid, although you could probably make the case for Sebastian being a trans girl) and Frances becomes his employee, co-conspirator, best friend, and perhaps even a potential true love. But the pressure of Sebastian's secret gets hard to handle between Frances's career ambitions and his parents constant urging for him to find a nice noble woman for him to marry.
Super cute and probably my favorite this month! Just be aware that yeah, transphobia is a serious theme here.
Predator's Gold by Philip Reeve
Set two years after Mortal Engines, Hester and Tom are now traveling happily around on the Jenny Hanniver and wind up picking up an author/archaeologist named Professor Pennyroyal. The plan is to take the professor from Point A to Point B, get paid, sail off to their usual routine etc. but they're attacked by a fringe group of the Anti-Traction league with an obsession with Anna Fang (previous owner of the Jenny Hanniver) and wind up rescued by the city of Anchorage. Freya, the young margravaine of Anchorage, happens to have been inspired by one of Professor Pennyroyal's books to lead the city of Anchorage into the heart of America, where they will hopefully be able to recover in peace from a deadly plague. With the Jenny Hanniver out of commission, Hester and Tom are stuck in Anchorage for the time being. Tom finds himself very happy to be staying in a city again and is greatly attracted to Freya, much to Hester's distress.
Recommended if you like ruthless heroines, grim-but-interesting settings, and don't mind love triangles or the occasional silliness.
Once Upon a Regency Christmas by Louise Allen, Sophia James, and Annie Burrows
A collection of three Regency romance short stories, with the dual themes of 1) Christmas! and 2) The Hero Is Secretly A Duke. The first one, On A Winter's Eve, is about the widowed wife of an Indian colonist who returns to England and winds up snowbound at her deceased husband's woefully underequipped estate. Fortunately for her, she's picked up a handsome army Captain who got stuck at the side of the road with a very angry turkey. Unfortunately, said handsome army Captain is very sulky when he finds out our widowed heroine is Actually Very Wealthy but deliberately misled him to believe otherwise in case he turned out to be a fortune hunter, but at least he gets his head out of his ass by the end.
The second one, Marriage Made At Christmas, is about the spinster-ish sister of a viscount who starts receiving threats on her life related to her charitable pursuits, but luckily she's rescued by a hot American man who's shortly afterwards hired as her bodyguard, and between that and making out he does some PI work on the side, both for her sake but also for the sake of his family history. Alas, although I can't pinpoint exactly why I found this one PRETTY BORING- I started reading this book in December, got bored partway through this short story, and wasn't able to pick it up again until this month.
The last story, Cinderella's Perfect Christmas, features a slightly similar setup to the first one- snowbound at an underequipped estate with a handsome army Captain- but the heroine in this case is a poor relation living under Cinderella circumstances (thus leaving the hero to assume she's merely a lower class servant for much of the story) and the hero is also accompanied by a pair of children he just rescued from living under the thumbs of their abusive grandparents. Probably my favorite of the three stories.
Mal and Chad: The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever! by Stephen McCranie
Graphic novel about Mal, a child genius of the sort who casually invents shrinking devices, jetpacks, and time machines, and Chad, Mal's talking dog. Despite being his genius inventor status Mal prefers to keep this a secret from other people, and so has to deal with mundane problems like a mother who does not understand how he always winds up in strange messes (which she usually treats with spanking apparently, which actually made me super uncomfortable! ngl), a crush on a girl who mostly seems to just find him irritating, and an essay due about what he wants to be when he grows up- which is a problem when Mal doesn't know that yet.
Mal's attempts to discover exactly what he wants to do when he grows up (be a scuba diver? an archaeologist?), aided by his various wacky inventions, and the ensuing misadventures comprise the bulk of the volume. The book as a whole is cute, if unexceptional.
Taking the Mystique Out Of Learning Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Literacy Tutors by Ricki Goldstein
Short nonfiction book providing information on learning disabilities, mostly as a broad group than much that's specific. Most of the information and teaching advice was already at least somewhat familiar to me, but there was some new stuff (Irlen Syndrome is a thing!) and a few resources that I think might come in handy.
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If you need more details on the triggery issues I can provide 'em- but yeah, on the whole it's pretty good imo. (Plus I really like the art. :V)