37. Railsea, China Mieville
I like Mieville, I really do, and this was a fascinating examination of Moby-Dick through a western/dieselpunk lens. But there are times when I feel like Mieville might be being too clever with his language. He has some partial chapters that exist only to tell you he's not going to talk about something right at that moment. But the story is good, and extremely interesting because while it's only superficially an adaptation of Melville's original, it explores many of the same themes and ideas. Plus the world Mieville has imagined is utterly fascinating to me: the railsea of the title is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, in lieu of the ocean there are thousands of miles of looping, endless railroad over earth that's full of gigantic desert creatures (like the ivory-colored mole that our captain is chasing). Interesting stuff.
38. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Ugh, my heart. Describing this one to other people is a little rough, because at its heart it's about teenagers dying from cancer. But it's also a coming-of-age story, and a love story, and sort of an adventure story? It's a lot of things that Green does really well, and it's tragic and heartbreaking and I think I really loved it. Here, if Green's teenagers sound a little too clever for their age, well, I bet terminally sick children have to grow up a little faster and more sharply than other people. Hazel, his heroine, will charm you and probably make you cry.
As a side note, I REALLY have to stop reading books like this on public transportation. I mean REALLY.
39. Aliens Omnibus volume 1, Various
Fun fun fun. This is a compilation of three sequential comics, written as part of the Alien expanded universe, and they take place (I believe) between Aliens and Alien 3. It's a cold, cynical look at how Earth would react to knowing about the existence of the xenomorphs, and we get the government, private corporations, civilians, religious groups...all over the map. It's creepy and it's scary and it's violent, and basically everything I wanted from a comic about acid-blooded, homicidal aliens.
I like Mieville, I really do, and this was a fascinating examination of Moby-Dick through a western/dieselpunk lens. But there are times when I feel like Mieville might be being too clever with his language. He has some partial chapters that exist only to tell you he's not going to talk about something right at that moment. But the story is good, and extremely interesting because while it's only superficially an adaptation of Melville's original, it explores many of the same themes and ideas. Plus the world Mieville has imagined is utterly fascinating to me: the railsea of the title is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, in lieu of the ocean there are thousands of miles of looping, endless railroad over earth that's full of gigantic desert creatures (like the ivory-colored mole that our captain is chasing). Interesting stuff.
38. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Ugh, my heart. Describing this one to other people is a little rough, because at its heart it's about teenagers dying from cancer. But it's also a coming-of-age story, and a love story, and sort of an adventure story? It's a lot of things that Green does really well, and it's tragic and heartbreaking and I think I really loved it. Here, if Green's teenagers sound a little too clever for their age, well, I bet terminally sick children have to grow up a little faster and more sharply than other people. Hazel, his heroine, will charm you and probably make you cry.
As a side note, I REALLY have to stop reading books like this on public transportation. I mean REALLY.
39. Aliens Omnibus volume 1, Various
Fun fun fun. This is a compilation of three sequential comics, written as part of the Alien expanded universe, and they take place (I believe) between Aliens and Alien 3. It's a cold, cynical look at how Earth would react to knowing about the existence of the xenomorphs, and we get the government, private corporations, civilians, religious groups...all over the map. It's creepy and it's scary and it's violent, and basically everything I wanted from a comic about acid-blooded, homicidal aliens.
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