I Read Comic Books discussion
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What are you reading right now?
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What are you reading right now? (May 2021)
Last week's adventures in comics.
The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ★★★★★Catalogs every action figure ever put out. Great stuff.
Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Vol. 1 ★★★★★I never thought I'd enjoy a series about a wandering rabbit ronin, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.
Spy Island ★Complete garbage. Clearly released only to try and get a movie deal.
Jimbo: Adventures in Paradise ★I couldn't make it past the first 20 pages or so. The line work is so busy and overwhelming.
First Team: A Marvel: Xavier's Institute Novel ★★★★This may have been the best prose Marvel novel by Aconyte yet. It follows one of the younger X-Men, Anole, and his friends Cipher, Graymalkin, and Rockslide as they are menaced by the Purifiers.
Bomb Queen Volume 1: Woman Of Mass Destruction ★★Bomb Queen is a scantily clad villain with a city enthrall. Meh.
X-Men Epic Collection Vol. 6: Proteus ★★★★★Damn, the Chris Claremont and John Byrne collaboration was so good.
Revolver ★★★It's an OK story that has been done many times before in science fiction where someone falls asleep in one world and wakes up in another.
Red Sonja: Worlds Away, Vol. 1: World's Away ★★★★That wily wizard Kulan Gath transports Red Sonja to modern day Manhattan.
Harley Quinn, Vol. 5: Hollywood or Die ★★★★Harley moves to L.A. where she starts wrestling and gets embroiled in a murder investigation. I love her interactions with Booster Gold.
Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 ★★★It's the war of the sexes with misogynist Maxwell Lord declaring war on Queen Diana and the Amazons. The ending is pretty much a foregone conclusion from the onset that Diana's philosophy of loving submission will win out.
New Gods Book One: Bloodlines ★★★New Gods follows Orion around as he struggles with his dual nature, the son of Darkseid but raised by Highfather.
I Am a Hero Omnibus, Volume 3 ★★★This series is about a zombie outbreak in Japan and the unlikable manga artist who is also the only person around with a gun. I'm all in on the zombie babies, but the storytelling got real disjointed in the middle.
I Am a Hero Omnibus, Volume 4 ★★★The first half of this suffers from the trope of "The real monsters in a zombie apocalypse are humans". In the second half Hiromi finally uses that friggin shotgun he's carried around all this time which was pretty great.
I Am a Hero Omnibus, Volume 5 ★★This series can be infuriatingly slow at times with multiple chapter interludes that have nothing to do with the overall story.
The Thing: Idol of Millions by Dan Slott was aggressively okay for such a great character. I had some gripes with the final issue where The Thing has a Bar Mitzvah - not the Bar Mitzvah itself rather how carelessly it was done.
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness for our BoTM!
Thor, God of Thunder: The Last Days of Midgard - Continuing to make my way through Jason Aaron's Thor run, and this one was marginally better than volume three.on that note a question - can anyone tell me if Original Sin is necessary for the Thor run, or can I just skip to Jane Foster? I'm seeing very mixed reviews and not sure if I want to spend the time if I don't have to. Thanks!
My reading week:-Angel & Spike, vol. 1
-Birthright #48
-Blood on the Tracks, vols. 1-10
-Fire Power #10
-Jormungand, vols. 10-11
-Lost Soldiers, vol. 1
-My Hero Academia, vols. 3-8
-Nailbiter: Returns, vol. 8
-Oblivion Song, vol. 5
-Sabrina: Something Wicked
-Serial #1-3
-That Texas Blood, vol. 1
-The Walking Dead Deluxe #12-13
-Yowamushi Pedal Omni, vol. 12
Lenny wrote: "can anyone tell me if Original Sin is necessary for the Thor run, or can I just skip to Jane Foster? I'm seeing very mixed reviews and not sure if I want to spend the time if I don't have to. Thanks!"It is the impetus for why the Odinson is no longer Thor, but you don't find out why until much later in The Unworthy Thor. I think you can skip it.
Here's my update on what I've read recently (Didn't manage to post the last of April's reads in the April thread). 
Here are my reviews:
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 7: Damage Per Second
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 8: Mecca
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 9: Teenage Wasteland
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 10: Time and Again
Paper Girls, Vol. 1
Spider-Verse
Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1: The Parker Luck
Mod
- Paul: The River at Night, Daredevil (2019-) #11-15
- Kara: Help Us! Great Warrior
- Mike: Beastars, Vol. 1, Sheets
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
Today's trip to the LCS.The Next Batman: Second Son #2
The Silver Coin #1 <-- New Chip Zdarsky book
Carnage: Black, White & Blood #3
Heroes Reborn #1 <-- comes with a pack of trading cards handed out by your LCS
Marjorie Finnegan: Temporal Criminal #1 <-- New Garth Ennis book
Firepower #11
Hellions #11
Marauders #20
Strange Academy #10
Chad wrote: "It is the impetus for why the Odinson is no longer Thor, but you don't find out why until much later in The Unworthy Thor. I think you can skip it."Chad, this is exactly what I wanted to hear! And I totally trust your opinion :) thank you!
Yasmine, I'm glad you enjoyed the end of G Willow Wilson's run on Ms Marvel, I think Ahmed's is just as good! And I hope you stick with Paper Girls - you get more questions and more answers throughout but the conclusion is great. Also, there's an Amazon show coming soon!
Lenny wrote: "Chad wrote: "It is the impetus for why the Odinson is no longer Thor, but you don't find out why until much later in The Unworthy Thor. I think you can skip it."Chad, this is exactly what I wante..."
Oh really? I didn't know about the show! That's interesting and thanks for the tip, I'll keep an eye on that. And yeah I want to read the other Ms Marvel runs too! Need to get my hands on them first, though. My pull list at the moment is way too big though, so I can't really justify to myself putting more comics on my tab until I read the ones I have already
Yasmine wrote: "My pull list at the moment is way too big though, so I can't really justify to myself putting more comics on my tab until I read the ones I have already"That seems to always be the rub.
Last week's adventures in comics
The Tankies ★★★★★Three related comics about the British Tankies, the men who were the tank crews in World War II and Korea. This was fantastic.
Concrete Park, Vol. 2: R-E-S-P-E-C-T ★★Fantastic art and character designs about gang members on a prison planet. The story though is like reading the first 100 pages of a novel only to find out the rest of the pages are blank.
G.I. Joe: World on Fire (G.I. Joe (2019-) ★★★★★My pleasant surprise of the week. This was a brand new Elseworlds type take on G.I. Joe where Cobra has conquered the U.S. and G.I. Joe are insurgents.
Dark Nights: Death Metal ★★★★This story is insane and absurd, but as long as you're OK with that it's actually a lot of fun.
Dark Nights: Death Metal - The Darkest Knight ★★★★Most of these one shots could be considered between the numbers comics from the main Death Metal story. Ties in with issues #1-3 of Dark Nights: Death Metal.
Dark Nights: Death Metal - The Multiverse Who Laughs ★★★★More one-shots that should be read with issues #5-6 of Dark Nights: Death Metal. I hate how this event was put together.
Dark Nights: Death Metal - War of the Multiverses ★★★★Two square bound one shots that take place in conjunction with issue #7 of Dark Nights: Death Metal.
Wonder Woman Vol. 4: The Four Horsewomen ★★★Steve Orlando comes in and finishes off G. Willow Wilson's Year of the Villain story with Cheetah. And a bunch of other OK stories.
Pixu: The Mark of Evil ★★Four excellent comic book creators couldn't save this turkey of a comic.
Savage Avengers, Vol. 3: Enter the Dragon ★★★★This book has been a lot of insane, gory fun. Conan is beating monsters to death with prosthetic legs and Kulan Gath is turning people into monsters so he can eat them.
My reading week:-Babyteeth #17
-Bliss #6-7
-Fire Power #11
-Hellsing, vols. 1-8
-Karmen #2
-The Silver Coin #1
-The Walking Dead D #14
Today I went to my local comic book store for the first time since January this year and picked up a lot of my usual comics, but some additional new ones from the DC Future State collection. Does anybody else here read the Future State event? The Future State collections I got so far (and am currently binge reading):
- Kara Zor-El, Superwoman
- Aquaman
- Superman / Wonder Woman
- Superman: House of El
- The Flash
- Wonder Woman
And my normal pull list contained the last couple of issues of The Flash, Wonder Woman, Nightwing and Runaways. In addition I also got Teen Titans Academy #1 & #2 and #1 Women of Marvel, which I'm both also very excited to start!
@Chad: I need to get my hands on the Death Metal collections as well! So far I didn't feel the need to read it because it just came across to me as very chaotic.
@Yasmine:I read Death Metal in single issues. That's the one thing I don't like about the collections. To read everything in the proper order, you need to flip back and forth between Death Metal and the other 3 trades.
The only Future State books I bought were Legion of Super-Heroes and Swamp Thing. Post Future State, I'm buying Swamp Thing, Justice League, Nightwing, and the Batman miniseries Tom Taylor is writing. I decided this was a good time to cut back on a lot of the DC books and just get them in trade off Hoopla, spend my money on more smaller press books instead.
I would love to get into Future State but I’m not even close to being up-to-date on any of the series I’m interested in.
Whitney wrote: "I would love to get into Future State but I’m not even close to being up-to-date on any of the series I’m interested in."Future State is set at least 10 years in the future. I don't think you need to be current to read it.
I been very reading lately, but I did finish some manga-books the other day. The last one was Boruto vol 9, which I enjoyed.
Chad wrote: "Whitney wrote: "I would love to get into Future State but I’m not even close to being up-to-date on any of the series I’m interested in."Future State is set at least 10 years in the future. I don..."
This just made my day. Thanks!
Chad wrote: "@Yasmine:I read Death Metal in single issues. That's the one thing I don't like about the collections. To read everything in the proper order, you need to flip back and forth between Death Metal ..."
Ah that's a great way to do it too! I've been thinking about cutting back with my DC pulls too, but so far I haven't managed to bring myself to do that.
Whitney wrote: "I would love to get into Future State but I’m not even close to being up-to-date on any of the series I’m interested in."I am also trying to read up on older story lines (I've barely read anything from the New 52, but I have no idea how to get my hands on the stuff without spending all my savings), and I'm also behind on some current stories as well. My problem is that I've now read the Future State (or some of it) comics without having read the entire Death Metal stuff. -.- But like Chad mentioned, it doesn't matter because they're all set in the Future.
Yasmine wrote: "I am also trying to read up on older story lines (I've barely read anything from the New 52, but I have no idea how to get my hands on the stuff without spending all my savings)"How do you feel about reading comics digitally? I think Marvel Unlimited and DC Universe Infinite are the best and most cost efficient way to go back and read old comics that you don't care about owning. The entire New 52 is on DC Universe Infinite. (BTW, about half of the New 52 is hot garbage so I wouldn't pay much for it.) I look at those 2 services as the quarter / dollar bins of the past where I'd buy cheap copies of stuff I haven't read.
Chad wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "I am also trying to read up on older story lines (I've barely read anything from the New 52, but I have no idea how to get my hands on the stuff without spending all my savings)"H..."
I am not against reading anything digitally, I just haven't informed myself about this opportunity. Is it like a paid subscription service (like Netflix for example)? Or do you pay for each copy you get?
Yasmine wrote: "Chad wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "I am also trying to read up on older story lines (I've barely read anything from the New 52, but I have no idea how to get my hands on the stuff without spending all my..."They are paid subscription services like Netflix.
https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/ $75/year or $8/month
https://marvel.com/insider?_cts_=NRtq... $70/year or $10/month
They both have 7 day free trials so you can try them out. Both services give you access to tens of thousands of back issues. DC adds new comics 6 months after release and Marvel adds them after 3 months.
There's also Comixology Unlimited that gives you scattered access to some comics by a bunch of different publishers. It's typically just the first couple of trades of a series. I haven't found enough on that service to pay for it monthly. Once a year or so, I pay for one month and read everything available on there that I haven't read yet and then drop it.
Chad wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "Chad wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "I am also trying to read up on older story lines (I've barely read anything from the New 52, but I have no idea how to get my hands on the stuff without..."This is amazing, thank you so much for this information!! I'll definitely look into this for the summer, I think right now during exam phase at Uni this would be a dangerous investment :P
Are you guys also on League of Comic Geeks to collect/review your comics there? Or are you on any other comic pages?
Mod
- Nick: Sleepless, Vol. 1, Black Hammer: Visions #3
- Rene: SPY×FAMILY Chapter 45, 憂国のモリアーティ 3 Yūkoku no Moriarty 3
- Mike: The Swamp Thing (2021-) #1-3, The Good Asian #1
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
Mod
LoCG is the only place I've been able to find that collects everything in one place.
I run this little site that is a really barebones version of LoCG and, unfortunately, doesn't include DC comics - comicpulls.com
Yasmine wrote: "Are you guys also on League of Comic Geeks to collect/review your comics there? Or are you on any other comic pages?"I didn't even know this existed! I'll have to check it out. It looks pretty cool.
This week's trip to the LCS.DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration
Justice League: Last Ride #1
Children of the Atom #3
X-Corp #1
Heroes Reborn #2
Batman: The Detective #2
Geiger #2
Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #2
Grendel: Devil's Odyssey #6
Resident Alien: Your Ride's Here #6
Scout's Honor #5
Seven Secrets #8
Spider-Woman #12
X-Factor #9
Rorschach #8
American Vampire: 1976 #8
Catching up on X-men since reading House of X/Powers of X a few weeks ago. Making good use of my Comixology/Marvel Unlimited free trials and read all of the Dawn of X series (except Excalibur, Fallen Angels and the non-Hickman New Mutants)
Just finished X of Swords: Creation #1 last night. Got a whole spreadsheet which x-men comics I'm reading/skipping and in what order and in what format! Totally geeked-out!
Yasmine wrote: "Are you guys also on League of Comic Geeks to collect/review your comics there? Or are you on any other comic pages?"I use this site to keep track of my comic issues! It's awesome.
Mike wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "Are you guys also on League of Comic Geeks to collect/review your comics there? Or are you on any other comic pages?"LoCG is the only place I've been able to find that collects ev..."
Right? Yes it's also currently my favourite place because I don't want to fill up my Goodreads yearly reading challenge with all the Singles I'm reading, so I only add the tpb collections of the singles I read here.
I'll have to check out the other website, thank you!
Chad wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "Are you guys also on League of Comic Geeks to collect/review your comics there? Or are you on any other comic pages?"I didn't even know this existed! I'll have to check it out. It..."
Yeah I think it's awesome! Let me know what you think
Whitney wrote: I use this site to keep track of my comic issues! It's awesome.
Nice! I'm trying to convince more of my friends to use it too.
Yasmine wrote: "Are you guys also on League of Comic Geeks to collect/review your comics there? Or are you on any other comic pages?"I've seen this page before related to a larger comic search, but I didn't know if it was any good. Thanks for the heads up!
Last week's adventures in comics.
Teddy ★★★Teddy Roosevelt's life told through the lens of a speech given late in his life.
Primo Levi ★★★★Details Primo Levi's time in Auschwitz concentration camp as an Italian jew.
Shaolin Cowboy: Start Trek ★★★★No one does crazy, chaotic, hyper-violent action sequences like Geof Darrow. This book and especially the fight sequences are insane.
The Shaolin Cowboy: Shemp Buffet ★★★The Shaolin Cowboy destroys zombies in a choreographed ballet of violence. The 2 page fight scenes go on wordlessly for over 100 pages of zombie annihilation.
Judge Dredd, Volume 1 ★★★A solid but quick restart to Judge Dredd for American audiences.
We Only Find Them When They're Dead Vol. 1 ★★★These scavenger ships mine the flesh of dead Gods floating in space. They are monitored by overzealous space cops, one of which has a grudge with our captain. It's an intriguing setup, but not nearly enough world building yet.
The Spider King ★★★Similar to Lake of Fire with Vikings, aliens crash to Earth in viking days and vikings get ahold of advanced weaponry.
De: Tales - Stories from Urban Brazil ★★★★Twin brothers Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon excel at these slice of life stories, sometimes accompanied by some magical realism.
Grendel, Kentucky ★★★★A grindhouse influenced retelling of Beowulf.
Sabertooth Swordsman and the Mayhem of the Malevolent Mastodon Mathematician★★There's not too often that I'll complain about the art in a comic book being too detailed, but that's the case here.
Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions ★★★Five one shots written from the perspective of those revolving around the orbit of Darth Vader. The first three are good. The last 2 pretty bland.
Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2: The Trial of the Legion ★★I wanted to like this so badly. After all, it's the Legion (and I'm an OG LSH fan) written by Brian Michael Bendis. Unfortunately, this is unfocused and slow.
Daytripper ★★★★★Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba craft a masterpiece of life and death, love and loss, family and friends, success and failure.
Age of Conan: Belit, Queen of the Black Coast ★★Tini Howard fails to impress again. As an origin story for Belit, this fell flat.
Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, Vol. 10: Green Goblin Returns ★★Spencer treads water throughout this whole volume in what is really the 2nd half of the Sins Rising story.
Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1-2 ★Riley Rossmo's art is awful. His character designs look like a toddler designed them. Why does Saturn Girl look like Stewie from Family Guy? Bendis's story is flat and uninspired.
My reading week: I didn't put enough time to reading so I mostly read single issues.-Birthright #49
-Cosmic Boy #2
-Haha #4
-Hellsing, vols. 9-10
-Honey & Clover, vols. 1-2
-The Ice Cream Man #23-24
-Karmen #3
-The Mermaid Prince, vol. 1
-The Old Guard, vol. 1
-The Silver Coin #2
-Undiscovered Country #12
I hope this doesn't go against any rules of this group, but if you guys are on league of comic geeks and want to follow my reviews there my account name is Swissbookworm. I'd love to follow your reviews too! :) My reading week since last Tuesday: - Future State: Aquaman #1 and #2 ★★★★★
- Future State: Kara Zor-El Superwoman #1 and #2 ★★★
- Future State: The Flash #1 and #2 ★★★★
- Future State: Wonder Woman #1 and #2 ★★★★★
- Future State: House of El #1 ★★★★
- Future State: Superman / Wonder Woman #1 and #2 ★★★★
- Harley Quinn #1 and #2 (Infinite Frontier) ★★★
- The Flash #768 and #769 ★★★★
- Suicide Squad, Volume 2: Going Sane ★★★ (Link to my Goodreads review)
And I ordered a bunch of new Future State comics again :P
Mod
Which Future State book is your favorite so far?
Mod
- Kait: Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 1, Redwall: The Graphic Novel
- Mike: Glow #1-4, Time Before Time #1
Support THE DEADLIEST BOUQUET on Kickstarter!
Check out the episode to hear what we thought.
Today's trip to the LCS.Justice League #61
Stray Dogs #4
Autumnal #7
Wonder Girl #1
Nightwing #80
Heroes Reborn #3
Way of X #2
We Only Find Then When They're Dead #6
Wolverine #12
Superman: Red & Blue #3
The Bronze Age the Brsve and the Bold volume one
Last week's adventures in comics.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Song of Glory ★★★Some solid Viking comics that also serve as a prequel to Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Shaolin Cowboy: Who'll Stop the Reign? ★★★★Darrow lets all his demons pour out into this hyper-violent, ultra-detailed, fight fest.
Stargazer ★★★Some kids are abducted by aliens and are revisited years later.
Freiheit!: The White Rose Graphic Novel ★★★★True story about a group of students doing what they can to oppose Hitler in Nazi Germany.
Wahcommo ★★★Your standard fantasy quest story.
Grumble Vol. 3: Memphis and Beyond the Infinite ★★★★Eddie, the human con man turned pug, and half-demon, Tala, team up with some interdimensional wrestlers to break her mom out of jail. Hijinks abound in this incredibly fun series.
The Winter of Walking Stone: Book 3 ★★★I enjoyed this graphic novel for children. It has a Disney fairy tale type vibe with a young girl running a magical castle.
The Cimmerian Vol 2 ★★★★Two more European adaptations of Conan more famous stories in People of the Black Circle and The Frost Giant's Daughter.
Gunland, Volume 3: Coda ★★★This third volume of Gunland was one big final battle between the Doolin brothers. It was fine but missing some of the weird inventiveness that made the first 2 volumes so interesting.
John Carpenter Presents Storm Kids: Sacred Hearts ★★★This starts off as a fine book for all ages with a supernatural tilt. However, there's some very graphic violence in the second half with people getting ripped to pieces.
The Spy Who Raised Me ★★This was a weird but interesting idea for a graphic novel aimed for children. It's about a teenager who has been programmed as a spy by her mother.
Brandon Sanderson's Dark One ★★★★Sanderson has always been a great world builder. That trend continues here.
Michael Turner Creations: Featuring Fathom, Soulfire, and Ekos ★★★This massive tome from a Kickstarter collects all of Michael Turner's work at Aspen Comics from 1998 until his death in 2008.
DCeased: Dead Planet ★★★★Five years after DCeased the new Justice League receives a distress call from Earth. So they head back to help those who were left behind.
Top 10 ★★★★★Say what you will, but this might be my favorite thing Alan Moore's done. It may not be as earth shattering as Watchmen or Swamp Thing, but this is the series I always find myself revisiting. Moore has created this fantastic police procedural set in a city of superheroes.
Smax ★★★★★Who knew Alan Moore has a sense of humor? In this spinoff of Top Ten, Smax and his partner Robyn head to Smax's homeworld to attend his uncle's funeral. I love how Smax thinks his fantasy based homeworld is full of inbred hillbillies.
Dracula: Vlad the Impaler ★★★The life of Vlad the Impaler as drawn by the great Esteban Moroto.
TKO Shorts #2: The Father of all Things ★★A 13 page story that belongs more in a war or horror anthology.
Batman/Superman, Vol. 2: World's Deadliest ★★★A bunch of smaller stories that were fun but nothing earth shattering.
Metal Men: Elements of Change ★★Dan DiDio shows again that the only way he can get a job writing comics is to be his own boss. This Metal Men series was pointless and meandered through 12 issues.
Red Sonja: Worlds Away, Vol. 2: Back Roads ★★★Red Sonja continues her adventures in modern times, fighting a biker gang selling drugs.
My reading week:-Honey & Clover, vols. 3-7
-The Old Guard, vol. 2
And 30 vols of shojo manga
Mod
-Honey & Clover, vols. 3-7
-The Old Guard, vol. 2
And 30 vols of shojo manga"
30 VOLS OF SHOJO MANGA!? Which series?
Mod
- Elsa: Deadly Class, Volume 1: Reagan Youth, Kingdom, Dockwood, Bone
- Kara: Moby Dick
- Mike: Young Shadow, Dungeon Critters
Check out Elsa Charretier's YouTube channel!
Listen to the episode to hear what we thought.
Mike wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "I hope this doesn't go against any rules of this group, but if you guys are on league of comic geeks and want to follow my reviews there my account name is Swissbookworm. I'd love t..."I think Wonder Woman because I really love the artwork there and the story is great! And second place I would say goes to Aquaman at the moment. Do you have a favourite?
Mike wrote: "Here's what the IRCB folks and our special guest Elsa Charretier read on this week's episode: Episode 287 | Moby Dick… But Better (with Elsa Charretier!). - Elsa: [book:Deadly Cl..."
Oh, I've been meaning to read Deadly Class and watch the series, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
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I Read Comic Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder (other topics)The Dawn of the Witch, Vol. 1 (other topics)
なのに、千輝くんが甘すぎる。 1 [Na no ni, Chigira-kun ga Amasugiru. 1] (other topics)
Suicide Squad, Volume 2: Going Sane (other topics)
La Nouvelle(s) (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Elsa Charretier (other topics)Elsa Charretier (other topics)
Don't forget to check out the IRCB Goodreads Reading Challenge!
There are some excellent selections for this year's list.
For even more recommendations, you can check out what the IRCB crew is reading on the weekly Top of My Pile posts on Patreon! (Post go public after a week)