The Reading Book Post, June 27th

Hello, everyone! After a long break, I'm finally back on track and I will post more frequently. This summer is so hot that I only want to stay at the beach! Anyway, let's see what happened in the literary world the previous week.

• The 2016 Locus Awards have been announced! Among the winners is Naomi Novik for her novel Uprooted and Neil Gaiman for his shoro story collection Trigger Warnings. Also, the 2016 Inkwell Awards winners became public. Favourite inker for 2016 is Joe Prado. Moreover, the PEN Pinter Prize was awarded to Margaret Atwood.

• We all loved Illuminae and honestly I can't wait until October, when the sequel Gemina is going to be publiced. Until then we can read an excerpt of the upocoming novel by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

• Kick-Ass is awesome! I'm so happy that this much beloved comic protagonist will return. Furthermore, Mark Millar has announced that the hero this time will be a black woman. I'm so excited about this!

• But this week brought some sad news as well. Author Michael Herr has passed away at the age of 76. He was best known for his novel Dispatches and the screenplay of Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket. 

• You all know my love for colouring books! The new colouring book that I'm obsessed is Chuck Palahniuk's. It's called Bait: Off-Color Stories for you to Color and it will be released on October 26, 2016.

• For all of us bookworms, it's natural than we are more interested in dating people that also read. But in the UK dating app, MyBae, it's most popular tag is about books! It turns out that reading also helps in dating.

• Have you already made your summer reading list? For a last minute recommendation, here is a quiz that might help you! Which YA Book Should You Read This Summer? I got The Way Back To You, by Michelle Andreani and Mindi Scott and I'm adding it to my list right away! Which one did you get?

Infographic: How Old Is Your Favourite Superhero?

We all know that most of our favourite superheroes are around for quite some time. But how much exactly? All the ages mentioned here, were figured based on the date that each of those heroes, villains, and teams made their first appearance. I can't believe that Hellboy and Harley Quinn are the youngest of all! Did you find your favourite superhero among those? 

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Superheroes

Supervillains

ARC Review: The Fun Family, by Benjamin Frisch

Title: The Fun Family

Author: Benjamin Frisch

Publisher: Top Shelf Productions

Expected Date of Publication: July 12th, 2016

Number of Pages: 240

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Summary

Beloved cartoonist Robert Fun has earned a devoted following for his circle-shaped newspaper comic strip, celebrating the wholesome American family by drawing inspiration from his real home life... but the Fun Family bears some dark secrets. As their idyllic world collapses and the kids are forced to pick up the pieces, can they escape the cycle of art imitating life imitating art? In his debut graphic novel, Benjamin Frisch presents a surreal deconstruction of childhood, adulthood, and good old American obsession.

Review

The Fun Family must be one of the most misleading books I've ever read! The cover design, the vivid colours, the font, didn't prepare me for what I was about to read. The Fun Family was not fun at all! Instead of a light comedy about a family, this was a heart-wrenching comic about a family that was steadily falling apart.

This lack of communication, that appeared to be at the root of everything, began when the grandmother died. The father acted completely indifferent to any other member of the family and the mother became an easy victim of Dr. Connoy, a celebrated therapist who could change her life. Under his influence, she left her home, she abandoned her children, and cared only for her well-being. Even the youngest child, that she took with her was left aside for the sake of her own needs. The remaining children had to deal with an absent father, who refused to work, and a mother that didn't even visit them and only called to ask for her money.

This story made me question the bonds they had as a family prior to these events. Was it the grandmother that kept them together? Can grief really change people that much? The eldest daughter of the family encountered and spoke to the ghost of the grandmother and, with the ghost's suggestion, she turned the house into a church. I know that there are many who turn to religion for comfort, but this is extreme! The only sane one was the middle child, who tried to make ends meet, but what could a ten year old do?

The art style, as is apparent in the cover, reminded of another era. I would expect to see something like this in an old Archie comic strip, which I like. But I had a big problem. The eyes of characters were just white circles, and this was so weird because they seemed so empty. Especially when they were crying the image was so unsettling!

The Fun Family was a depressing read. It was a comic that made you wonder who is the sane one in an insane world. It told the story of irresponsible parents and irresponsible therapist, and what mark these behaviours left to the children. If you can get past the title and the cheerful cover, then you'll discover a deep comic worth reading.

The Classics Club Spin #13

The Classics Club is doing another Classics Club Spin. This is the fourth time that I'm participating and I couldn't be happier! In this event, all the Classics Club members are called to read a classic book within a certain amount of time. But it's not that simple. Each one who wants to participate makes a Spin list, then the Club announces a certain number and the book that it's in that list's number is the one that you have to read.

So, here is my list for list #13:

1. Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw
2. A Sentimental Journey, by Laurence Sterne
3. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
4. The Painted Veil, by W. Somerset Maugham
5. The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence
6. The Atom Station, by Halldor Laxness
7. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
8. The Good Woman of Setzuan, by Bertolt Brecht
9. The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
10. Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbott
11. Beauty and Sadness, by Yasunari Kawabata
12. A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter
13. Brave New World, by Aldous Haxley
14. The Complete Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
15. Utopia, by Thomas More
16. Gothic Tales, by Elizabeth Gaskell
17. The Fairy Tales of Herman Hesse
18. A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
19. Nemesis, by Isaac Asimov
20. Confessions of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima

This is it! From these books I'm more eager to read Nemesis, Gothic Tales, and The Big Sleep. Moreover, Beauty and Sadness and Confessions of a Mask would be very welcome, as I'm fond of Japanese literature. I dread to read The Gambler, Utopia, and The Complete Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt. On Monday, we'll know which will be the lucky book I'll have to read until August 1, 2016.

Review: Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories

Author: Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina Lacour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, Jennifer E. Smith

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Date of Publication: May 17th, 2016

Number of Pages: 400

Summary

Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Review

Summertime is upon us and all we have to do is lie around, and of course read. These are also the months for the infamous summer romances and Summer Days & Summer Nights is one of those books that can make you want to fall in love. If you've already read My True Love Gave Me then you can easily understand the tone of the short stories included in the collection.

From 2014 when My True Love Gave Me was first released I thought that it was a brilliant idea to collech short stories from all those authors we all know so well and I'm sure that some of us include them in our favourite authors list. Similarly, in Summer Days & Summer Nights the list of the contributing authors is more than impressive, making it a short story collection that I was eager to read.

This collection was more diverse than the stories in My True Love Gave Me, and so I enjoyed it more. I loved the fact that there were many stories that had science fiction and fantasy elements. I loved the Groundhog Day thing in The Map of Tiny Perfect Things and that an actual demon was giving power to the circus in Brand New Attraction. I adored that there were mysterious sea creatures in Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail and some sort of zombie apocalypse in Last Stand at the Cinegore. Also, the protagonists were more diverse, not only as far as it concerned their sexuality, but also their other physical characteristics. For example, in A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong the guy has Asperger syndrome.

Furthermore, some of the stories were heart-wrenching and others were delightful. Inertia was so sad and depressing that I couldn't read it without being moved. On the other hand, Good Luck and Farewell was so light-hearted and amusing. It almost reminded me of The Grand Budapest Hotel, although this might be because it was set in a hotel. Other short stories, like The End of Love, made me think and I felt that the protagonist really grew up in just a few pages!

Naturally, I didn't enjoy all of the stories that much. To be precise, I couldn't connect with just two of them, Sick Pleasure, and Souvenirs. This might have happened because of their endings, since both of them didn't leave me with a sense of hope. But I have to give it to Sick Pleasure that it featured very good music. Many of the songs in the Play(list) by the Book were from this particular story and I really like the punk sound.

Summer Days & Summer Nights is a delightful collection of short stories that will make you swoon. There is a story for every taste, and so I can safely say that it is a must-have book for your summer reading!