- Circle by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
- Sadly didn't live up to what I expect from a Barnett & Klassen collaboration, but it was in line with the others of the series (though did fall a bit short of the other two, I think)
- Maybe Tomorrow? by Charlotte Agell, illustrated by Ana Ramírez González
- Immediately reminiscent of the Moomins! A wonderful story about negative feelings and dealing with the sadness that comes of grieving the loss of a friend.
- Mary Wears What She Wants by Keith Negley
- Hell yeah she does!
- The Tide by Claire Helen Welsh
- Contemplative from the child's point of view as a family navigates a grandfather's growing dementia.
- You Are New by Lucy Knisley
- The Sun Shines Everywhere by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Luciano Lozano
- The Magic Boat by Kit Pearson & Katherine Farris, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
- Grumpy Duck by Joyce Dunbar, illustrated by Petr Horáček
- Underwear! by Jennifer Harney
- Spend It! by Cinders McLeod
- Widows (2018)
- If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
- Suspiria (2018)
- The Sinner Season 2 (2018)
- The Breakaways by Cathy G. Johnson
- I usually don't read graphic novels in print, but this one was pretty great. The story's entire trajectory was a surprise for me (perhaps I was in the wrong for going in somewhat expecting a shounen-esque plot) and I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely. This soccer team's bonding wasn't straightforward in the least and was complex without being too complicated, and Johnson isn't afraid to leave some ends untied at the end.
May
- Les ananas de la colère par Cathon
- Je l'ai aimé beaucoup! C'est assez facile pour moi de comprendre, et je l'ai trouvé drôle sans être trop pour ce genre (c'est un mystére très kitsche).
- Overall, although there were a number of words I didn't understand and had to look up, I found that I was able to follow along well enough even without my phone/dictionary by my side (surprisingly!). You certainly wouldn't be reading this solely for the mystery, and it's my first time reading something like this (totally kitschy cozy murder mystery graphic novel) but I really enjoyed the illustrations and story progression and I'm glad I gave it a shot!
- The Mountain Goats concert
- I didn't know what I was getting into exactly and I regret nothing.
- Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet #1) by Roshani Chokshi
- Tongue in cheek humour while also being deeply age-appropriate, I'm very excited to continue reading the rest of the Pandava Quartet! Aru Shah was a fully fleshed out character - Mini less so, though I suspect she will get more character development in upcoming books where Aru's vision comes to pass - and I really enjoyed the fact that she didn't embody what you might think of when you think hero or heroine. Her & Mini's fears and insecurities were deeply relateable and I felt that the picture painted of their struggles to fit in were realistic, being outcasts and trying to fit in as an Indian person in America. Chokshi also gives the reader Indian mythology & folklore throughout, which I love, because it helps further the plot as clues for how to defeat their enemies.
- A few French picture books:
- Lapin perdu/Lapin trouvé par Janou-Ève LeGuerrier, illustrée par Amélie Dubois
- I love the illustrations! The two sides of the book coming together to meet in the middle was also a nice touch, though I wish the two characters got to meet face to face with the lapin Pinpin in the middle between them.
- Le royaume de rien du tout par Ronald Wohlman, illustrée par Dylan Hewitt
- A bit long, but I actually really enjoyed this one, both in the message (you don't need to have anything to have fun and have a good time, or to show that you love those that you care for) and also in the approach that was taken in the storytelling. I do feel the day portion of the book stretched on too long, such that I was surprised there was a substantial night portion to it all as well, but all in all, I'd read it again.
- Also, it's... not on Goodreads? How is this possible?
- Comment on fait les bébés? par Isabelle Jameson, illustrée par Maude Legrand
- Very tongue-in-cheek, but also realistic in the considerations the parents are taking in trying to answer the child's question.
- Le livre où la poule meurt à la fin par François Blais, illustrée par Valérie Boivin
- HILARIOUS
- There were some more
- Doubles vies/Non-fiction (2018)
- I enjoyed this one quite a bit, and that ending song was A+
- There's something really refreshing about how frank all of them are with each other, but also how there's the implicit lying right under the surface. It's as though everyone knows what game they're playing and they all share side glances and smirks (of a figurative nature, that is) in recognition occasionally that yes, they are all in on the joke.
- The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
- This started on a pretty promising note, but the writing flagged a bit toward the end and the dialogue was nowhere near as witty and funny as I think it was meant to be. It almost felt like Guillory was trying too hard to tackle Nik's struggle of seeing herself as a strong, independent woman while also allowing herself to be vulnerable around a man, as well as focusing strangely heavily on race, which is praiseworthy while also not really doing much to further the plot (beyond the surface, e.g. when Fisher assumes Nik will be unable to get anywhere in the world herself because she is a POC). Many of the scenes had no real flow to them, and that end even more so. While the premise had promise, I'm sad to say that The Proposal didn't elicit a "yes" from me.
- Mirai (2018)
- Somehow it struck me as not fully developed, or rather that it felt as though the story was there more as a backdrop to try out new digital rendering technologies. I'm usually quite partial to not 3D-rendered graphics, but most of this actually didn't bug me too much - somehow the 3D modeling did still make some scenes feel a bit more unnatural (e.g. when we zoom/fly closer to the house from the modeling of the entire neighbourhood), even though they were done very well - which is saying a good deal about how well I felt drawing & rendering were used together. There was one scene in particular that really could've benefited from more depth though, aesthetically, since the 3D graphics just didn't cut it: the scene where the great grandfather's ship gets capsized. Those explosions were ridiculously flat and removed from any context, visually.
- As far as the story went... it felt a bit discombobulated, and Kun-chan was not a very sympathetic character. I realize that it's in part about how we are influenced by our family histories and all that came before, beyond even just the generation before us (e.g. our parents, for nuclear families), but the tree wasn't very well explained - how did they find out what it was and how to use it? why does it act as a catalogue of this family's histories? etc. - and I can't decide whether the aim was to make the tantrums funny/adorable because the extreme emotional state is used as the key to opening up the time portal (they veered more realistically into annoying, for me) or if we're actually meant to sympathize with Kun.
- Catboy by Benji Nate
- One of my TCAF purchases - the other one is Ghost Water Kiss by Jessica Bromley Bartram.
- Catboy manages to balance lightheartedness with a frank look at some of the uglier sides of friendship (e.g. the jealousy one feels when one's friend becomes more popular than you with a group even though you'd been there longer, the desire to monopolize a friend's time, etc.) that never crosses the line into being serious, so to speak. The style of illustration probably helps with that, but there's also just something so bizarre in the setup to begin with - that the cat turns into a person-cat and everyone just... accepts it? - that kind of just works, really well. I knew I would enjoy this volume, but I enjoyed it even more than I expected I would, which doesn't happen all that often!
- Sorry to Bother You (2018)
- I'm conflicted. I feel like I'm supposed to love this movie. But I don't. It kind of fell flat for me throughout most of it, and only really picked up at the end. Perhaps I need more time to think about it?
- We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
- Quite enjoyed it! It made for good intermittent e-book reading for me.
Working on:
- Les Chats du Louvre by Matsumoto Taiyo
