Catch-Up Round: 10/8-10/22

Hi, hello, yes, I know. MIA last week. Life, the universe, everything. I have returned and yet again, I borked the history marathon mission but! But. I did read some great stuff so let’s chat anyway.

Pop Culture Pioneers: The Women Who Transformed Fandom in Film, Television, Comics, and More by Cher Marinetti (Running Press, 10/26)

Pop Culture Pioneers is neither your typical, encyclopedia-style historical round up nor your typical, niche, history text. No, it is a witty, surprising, informative, “I was today years old when I learned that,” reference compendium that everyone who’s ever watched a movie, loved a television show, lost themselves in a game, or alphabetized their genre fiction collection should get to know and will undoubtedly love. This is the book fans have been waiting for, a book that not only covers fandom’s greatest hits but the women behind the scenes: the directors, producers, screenwriters, programmers, executives, and artists whose names may have scrolled by too fast for you to read or been scrawled in tiny font at the bottom of an inside cover but without whose dedication and glass shattering bravery we wouldn’t have franchises like Halloween, small screen masterpieces like Batman: The Animated Series, or second lives for favorite characters like Picard.

Martinetti gives each personality her due in the perfect number of words in chapters organized by decade, an outstanding way to not only display the tremendous talents but to demonstrate how the work of individuals and teams built on that which came before and then launched the next generation, to give readers a timeline of how far women have come and how far we still have to go, how much stronger we are when we fight together. The collage portraits Running Press went with to accompany the biographies are absolutely stunning, a great multi-media approach that nods to both the subject, her work, and the decade in which it occurred and, as a fan of comics/manga and an artist myself, I have to shout out the design team who picked a color scheme that is just chef kiss.

So yeah. Pop Culture Pioneers is not only a must read but if you happen to have the $$ to buy it, do so because you’re going to want it on your shelf. Or, better yet, put it on your winter gift-giving holiday list and let someone else buy it for you. Just remind them to order early.

An Elderly Lady Must Not be Crossed by Helene Tursten (translated by Marlane Delargy), (Soho Crime)

Have you read An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good? No? You should. Only in this series can you find an 88-year-old woman who deftly murders people who threaten her. And neighbors who annoy her. It’s amazing and we should all aspire to be Maud. Not literally. Well… Just kidding. Or am I? (I am. Mostly).

In this second installment, concerned the police are getting a bit too close to figuring out Maud has done the crime she called them to investigate in her apartment (Me? A frail old woman? How could I have killed a man twice my size!) and decides it’s time for one of her epic journeys. A long one. Far, far away. South Africa, she decides, should be sufficient.

Will there be shenanigans?

Of course there will, this is Maud we’re talking about. This dude, though, he 100% has it coming. And along the way to his very timely demise, we learn more about how Maud developed into the outstanding and upright citizen she is today.

Humor, especially dark humor, doesn’t always translate but Maud never misses which, to me, recommends Tursten as an extremely skilled writer and Delargy as an amazing translator. Creating a character who’s appealing and laugh-out-loud, snarkily hilarious despite being a complete sociopath is no easy task and to do so and have that character cross cultural and language lines is genius level stuff. And here you have not one but two volumes of it. Let us count ourself lucky and hope Maud lives long enough for us to get at least one more volume.

Moriarty the Patriot Vol. 2 by Takeuchi Ryusuke and Miyoshi Hikaru (Viz)

The Moriarty siblings continue to screw with the aristocracy. Alfred gets to play:

“We have your brother.”

“Which brother?”

“William.”

“William? Oh. No, you don’t have him, he has you,”

with some kidnappers.

And, enter sexy, sexy douchebag Sherlock Holmes.

Whatever, I’m just here for the plot.

Boys Run the Riot Vol. 3 by Gaku Keito (Kodansha)

This book continues to blow me away. It’s smart, it’s difficult, it’s beautiful. It’s hopeful. It’s honest in the way it shows the way things get worse but then they do get better. That no matter how shitty some people are, you will find friends you can count on. That found family is family. That sometimes mistakes, no matter how hurtful, lead to truth and stronger bonds. That if you speak your truth, it will find the people who need to hear it.

Anyway, it’s amazing and you should read it.

Manga is hard to get right now. Boys Run the Riot is worth tracking down. Pre-order the rest of it now and you’re more likely to get it close to drop dates.

Cherí, My Destiny by Mochino Okoge (Love x Love)

Y’all aren’t going to believe this but remember when I was reading Toritan a few months ago and I was at the super spicy part and the synagogue called? Yup. Again. I shit you not. You’d think I read piles of explicit manga the way this happens to me and while I do read a lot of yaoi most of it is 1-5 and yet, somehow, on the rare occasions I am reading 8-10, I’ve got the rabbi. Or the welcome committee or whatever.

At least they didn’t call while I was reading Dick Fight Island. Small favors, right?

Anyway, pastry chef, enemies-to-lovers manga. It’s very silly and fluffy and adorable and I was super stressed out so it was exactly what I needed. It’s also a one-shot which is basically unheard of and also kind of nice because you don’t have to worry about chasing down the rest in this, the age of not being able to find volumes 3 and 9 of 12. I could definitely use more manga that follows this model.

Ill just… leave my phone in the other room.

Currently finishing up Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things and then maybe… possibly… some history? Mallory O’Meara’s Girly Drinks did land in my mailbox today…