Steven’s Comments (group member since Dec 27, 2019)

Steven’s comments from the VIRTUAL Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020 group.

I started out with Mount Munch, and after that ascent switched to White Plume, stopping with book #48 after a quartet from Audible Plus.

I’m starting off next year on Mount Crumpit. We’ll see how I do. I plan to tackle those Wodehouse I don’t have on the regular TBR side.

#48 - My Mum's a Twat by Anoushka Warden

An autobiographical piece by a woman whose mother got herself pulled into a cult, and the effects of that on her daughter. It’s by turns fascinating and appalling and occasionally tawdry and tedious, but never uninteresting.

Audible Plus.

#47 - Alexa, why can’t you love me? by David Rossmer

A drama about family grief and learning to move on. The product placement is a tiny bit obnoxious at times, but Alexa is used to hilarious advantage, and then in a predictable, but moving way. Judd Hirsch plays the widower, an elderly man missing his late wife (also named Alexa), a man in full on frustrated conflict with his grieving daughter. I liked it, and I laughed loudly at several points, as well as being moved.

Audible Plus.

#46 - Poems of War and Remembrance by various

An assorted mix of the usual (Owens, Kipling, Tennyson) and some less often salted in. Not a vast collection, but a nice, thoughtful listen.

Audible Plus.

#45 - Joyful Noise and I Am Phoenix by Paul Fleischman

Omnibus version of two poetry books that are designed for reading out loud by two performers. Nothing deep, but it has a modicum of charm and should be splendid for kids.

Audible Plus.

#43 - Immortal Hulk, Volume 3: Hulk In Hell by Al Ewing and others
#44 - Immortal Hulk, Volume 4: Abomination by Al Ewing

The Hulk, friends, and enemies end up in what appears to be Banner’s personal hell, one mostly occupied by devastation, a massive entity...and his Dad. Escaping this with both new revelations and a new outlook, Bruce makes his way back to his wife only for her to be murdered by Bushwhacker — a death that fails to stick and has consequences related to Betty’s time as the Red She-Hulk.

General Fortean’s Shadow Base steals the corpse of the late Rick Jones to produce a new Abomination, one they put into the field when their plan to trap and kill Banner at Shadow Base A goes awry, releasing the Joe Fixit personality. Mayhem, of course, ensues, and deaths follow — Fortean is quite willing to murder civilians.

This has been a crazily entertaining series, unafraid to dive into the past even as Al Ewing transforms the Hulk in interesting, if horrific, ways.

Read via ComiXology Unlimited and Marvel Unlimited.

#42 - Immortal Hulk, Volume 2: The Green Door by Al Ewing and others

Ewing continues his dark turn here, returning the Hulk to his original day/night setup with a distinct horror twist. Once again Hulk is the target of a covert government operation, one that discovers that *this* Hulk is unkillable. There’s considerable body horror to come, a mysterious journey home, and the unleashing of Banner’s personal Hell.

#41 - A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton

A lighter tale from Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series in which the Constable finds himself on special duty and confronted with small mysteries and social issues in the distant Highland region he’s assigned to.

Audible Plus.

#40 - Quick Service by P. G. Wodehouse

Madcap all-a-froth comedic romance from a master of the style. Wodehouse goes all-in on the knock-on effects here, from an unfortunate packaged ham to a painting with a peculiar history, issues of finance, impecunious relativity, mistaken acts, and generally all the silliness one gets in a manor house comedy of this kind.

Audible Plus.

#39 - Star Trek: Year Five - Odyssey's End by Jackson Lansing and others

The beginning of the end as the five year mission enters its fifth year and Kirk tries to come to grips with going home and flying a desk as a newly minted Admiral. An encounter with a destroyed Tholian colony and a stranded Tholian child leads to complications even as further missions come to the fore.

It’s okay, but things here and there seem off, and the Organian Treaty never even comes up when the crew runs into Klingons. There’s also a mystery set up early on that doesn’t get resolved here.

From ComiXology Unlimited.

#38 - Sweetheart in High Heels by Gemma Halliday

An entry in the High Heels series of cozy mysteries featuring fashion designer Maddie Springer. This one has a corpse found in a sex shop, a case Maddie is determined to figure out before it screws up her anniversary with her cop husband. Lightweight enough to be loaded with helium, honestly.

Audible Plus.

#37 - Captain America: Red Glare by Mark Waid and Ron Garney

The Red Skull returns again, now with the power of the Cosmic Cube internalized. This turns into the return of Korvac and then back into a Red Skull story. It’s okay, if a bit more routine than called for. Cap gets the worst Groundhog Day situation ever, though.

Borrowed from ComiXology Unlimited.

Up one more level, then.

Continued on next tall rock.

#36 - Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets by P. G. Wodehouse

A collection of short stories featuring an assortment of Wodehouse’s more roguish characters such as Bingo Little and the awful Ukridge. Inoffensive and generally silly throughout, but very much among the spun sugar confections.

Via Audible Plus.

#35 - Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Vol. 2: The Venom Experiment by Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman, etc

The adventures of the alternate universe Parker family continue, bringing in the X-Men and the Venom symbiote on the way to resolving the Normie Osborn situation. Not quite as good as the previous volumes, but still fun to read.

ComiXology Unlimited.

#34 - Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol. 1: Brawl In The Family by Gerry Conway & etc

An alternate universe version of Peter Parker, happily married and with a kid who shares his powers (while Mary-Jane has a suit that lets her tap into Peter’s abilities.) This is a great deal of fun, and possibly the best thing Gerry Conway has written in years.

Via ComiXology.

#33 - Baltimore, Vol. 5: The Apostle and the Witch of Harju by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, etc

Having dealt with his vampiric arch-foe Lord Henry Baltimore is now, with a crew, off to find the Red King. On the way, though, he has to deal with a witch terrorizing an Estonian village and hear the tale, from a wounded Inquisitor, of the fate of Duvic, the Inquisitor who had been pursuing Baltimore only to get turned into a werewolf for his troubles.

The stories are readable but...perfunctory. “The Witch Of Harju” plods along a well worn path, with barely a twist. “The Apostle” is even straighter — a group of Inquisitors track down and confront the monstrous Duvic, slaughter ensues, and Rigo, the survivor, has a crisis of faith. Throughout Baltimore is barely more than a man of action and the most interesting character is Sofia, a villager whose hated husband has returned from the dead to wreak havoc.

Borrowed from ComiXology Unlimited.

#32 - A Damsel in Distress by P. G. Wodehouse

Read by Jonathan Cecil, who makes this slapstick romance work exceedingly well as American composer George more than meets his match in the impetuous Maude, courtesy of her hot-headed brother Percy. Manor house antics follow. It’s the usual collection of upper-crust lunatics, of course, mixed with a few bemused examples of Wodehouse’s beloved Americans.

Via Audible Plus

#31 - Baltimore, Vol. 4: Chapel of Bones by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Ben Steinbeck

In an alternate Edwardian era Lord Baltimore continues his search for the vampire elder Haigus, who Baltimore accidentally revived. First, though, he has to deal with the murderous Inquisitioner Duvic, as well as a mysterious train. Then it’s back to England and a confrontation with Haigus...and some revelations about Baltimore, who finds himself bound to a new mission. Solid work, and with echoes of the major shifts in some of Mignola’s Hellboy-related work.

Via ComiXology Unlimited.