The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the thread where you can submit reviews for the Best Review contest. The thread is open for submissions and will close at Midnight EST on November 14, 2020. Voting will start the next day and run until the end of the GR day on November 30. The person whose review gets the most votes will have the opportunity to design a 20 point task for the Winter Challenge.

To be eligible for this task opportunity you must have achieved at least 100 points on the Fall 2020 Challenge Readerboard by midnight Eastern Time on November 13, 2020. Only one task per person per challenge.

Just a reminder that each person can only submit one review - but you can make edits to your review up until the end. The review does not have to be any particular length and doesn't have to be a positive one (i.e. you can choose to review a book you didn't like).
Please include your Readerboard Name.

PLEASE DO NOT comment on people's reviews in this thread - this is for submissions only - you will be able to comment when voting begins.

SPOILER ALERT!- These reviews may include spoilers

IULIA
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, by Karen Russell


Beautiful, metaphorical, deep!
Ten stories around the topic of growing up, choosing one's path in life and discovering one's true self.
Written as testimonials from children in mystery universes (the swamp, the ghost land, the city of shells, to name just a few), the stories depict the influence of parents, adults, environment and other children, on the becoming of each individual storyteller/ main character.
Sibling attachments (loyalty, as well as rivalry), deceitful families, repulsive strangers who contribute towards the good choices, despite all appearances, and transformations, in all shapes and sequences, build an atmosphere of mystery, exploration and fulfilment.
The order of the stories is not random. Ava wrestling the alligator and the girls raised by the wolves are the essence of these stories: beware the beautiful might of authentic wilderness!

LAUREN JODI


The Last Wish
4 Stars

Recovering from injuries sustained fighting off a monster, the Witcher - Geralt of Rivera - recalls some of his previous adventures. The Witcher's stories are mostly retellings of familiar fairytales, such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Aladdin, but with rather macabre twists.

Originally written in Polish, the English translation is good with smooth sentence structure, as well as vocabulary and register that are compatible with the medieval fantasy feel to the narrative. The audiobook narrated by Peter Kenny is absolutely fantastic as his diverse dialects, accents, and intonation immerse the reader into the world of the Witcher.

Geralt of Rivera's character is quite murky. While some details are provided about his past and how he came to be a Witcher, much remains unexplained. Nevertheless, there is a clear moral code at work in his decision making and actions, and he is not simply a thug for hire. Perhaps more information will be forthcoming in later books.

The biggest issue with the book is the misogynistic tone of the world-building. However, this is not unexpected given the time period of the setting. There is a clear angel/vixen dichotomy with the female characters presented as either weak and submissive or vicious and vindictive. There are some exceptions, such as Nenneke the priestess of Melitele and Calanthe, the Queen of Cintra, but on the whole, the representation of women is problematic.

Overall, The Last Wish is an enjoyable and useful introduction to the series. While I may not continue reading the books immediately, I will continue watching the show and read when the opportunity arises.

The Plastic Man Archives, Vol. 1

I had heard of Jack Cole for many years, but as the books were not being reprinted when I was collecting comic books assiduously, I never actually saw his work. Finally (starting in 1998), DC's Archive Editions have released Cole's run on Plastic Man in eight volumes.

The first volume was a revelation to me. I always thought of "Golden Age comics" as fairly crude: wooden characters and cliched plots. Now "Infinite Jest" this ain't by a long shot, but the stories are entertaining.

In case you are unfamiliar with Plastic Man, the origin story is quite simple (and is repeated regularly in this volume, as each issue was trying to drum up support for the feature to move from 6 to 9 pages): Eel O'Brian is a criminal who had a vat of acid spill on him. So convenient to have these OPEN vats of acid around, every factory should have one. That acid bath nearly killed him, but then turned him rubbery (invulnerable to bullets, knives, and the like). He was rescured by a monk and so naturally, in return, he dedicated his life to fighting crime. After his accident, he discovered that he could stretch his body into any shape and mold his face into any disguise. Wowie zowie !!

This is where the creativity of Cole comes in. Plastic Man took full advantage of his new skills: he slips through keyholes, survives a steamroller (of course !), turns into a parachute, and disguises himself as inanimate objects (or animate objects). He makes Mr. Fantastic (the stretchy guy in Marvel's Fantastic Four) look like a chump. Of course, this strip is played for laughs throughout, as Plastic Man closes down opium dens, fights Nazis, and solves murders. All in a days' work for Mr. Stretch-o.

Cole's art owes some of its pizzazz to having worked with Will Eisner, who in turn was inspired in some of his layouts by the avant-garde art of the early part of the 20th century (Dali, Magritte, Picasso, de Chirico). The art is delightful throughout. Cole was actually a triple threat: he wrote, drew, and inked his stories, which is rare in comics.

Something that may be jarring to modern readers, though, is the occasional ethnic stereotypes that you will find in this book (Chinese, Japanese, African-Americans, Native Americans, Germans). The reader will understand that these stories were written eighty years ago. It should also be noted that these books, though written for children, did not comply with the Comics Code Authority (which didn't come into play until the 1950's). So there are many references to drugs, extreme violence, and the supernatural. However, the bad guys never win out, so it has that as a redeeming factor. Also, there are no direct sexual references in the books, although you can see the beginnings of the "good girl" art that Cole later parlayed into a regular gig at Playboy magazine.

In summary, this is a very entertaining collection of comics, worth reading for any comics fan who is interested in some of the early work in the genre.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix is a book that is far more than meets the eye. While the basic plot can more or less be summed up by the title, the author's forward hints at some of the “more” that made this book a 5 star read for me. He writes "I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom." I kept coming back to that because the book had SO much to say as a metaphor for race and gender relationships and biases.

It's a truism to say that societies fear the kinds of monsters that represent their biggest real-life fears. Why are zombies so popular one year, and vampires the next? Here, in this book, the vampire is bleeding the town and its people dry, he's bleeding families dry, he's poisoning relationships between black and white residents of the town, he's pulling away all the veneer and making the ugly parts visible.

I liked this much more than I expected to. I thought it would be a quick, light read -- and in some ways, it was. I laughed aloud a few times, and it was engrossing. If you're interested in vampires, metaphorical social commentary, or books with a strong sense of place and time, you will want to check this one out.