July...How Many?

[dannyboy121070]

This was always a popular thread at The Horror Drive-In. We all used to share and rate the books that we read in the previous month.

In July, I read eleven books:

Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising A collection of the "Evil Batman" one-shots that spun out of the METAL event. A mixed bag, but some of the stories were excellent. (7)
The Infinity Watch, Volume 2 (7)
Kid Lobotomy, Volume 1: A Lad Insane (6)
Babyteeth, Volume 2: Razed Much better than the first volume, even though the "Baby Antichrist" theme is pretty well-trod. I had fun with this collection. (8)
Thanos: Infinity Abyss (7)
American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s (7)
Guardians of The Galaxy: Road to Annihilation, Vol. 1(4)
Marvel: The End (9)
Bloodlands: Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie Amazon's BLOODLANDS series is outstanding. This volume tells the story of "The Bloody Benders"....amazing, scary stuff. (8)
Timothy Green Beckley’s Big Book of Werewolves: In Reality! In Folklore! In Cinema! And In Lust! Wow, what a mess this book was! It had enough fascinating stuff to make it worthwhile, but it was a slog at times.(6)
Bloodlands: Rampage (9)

Reviews for a bunch of this stuff can be found on my blog, The Crabby Reviewer: https://thecrabbyreviewer.blogspot.com/

[Martin]

I finished four books in July:

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (Anthony Bourdain): Had never read it and his passing made me decide to get to it. Just OK.
The Troop (Nick Cutter): A scout troop goes on a camping trip to a remote island and a very sick man shows up. Things go very wrong from there. This was a new author for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Alone: Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat into Victory (Michael Korda): An interesting look into Britain in the early days of World War II. Some fascinating parts and some parts that drug out.
The Terror (Dan Simmons): 1845 two British ships are sent to navigate the Northwest passage. After being hopelessly stuck in ice they attempt to hike out. The tale includes supernatural elements as well as pure evil, madness and cannibalism. Very good story overall but could have about 200 pages shorter.

[TacomaDiver]

This is kind of fun.

Because I started reading comic collections again, I'll do two separate lists because otherwise it'll look like I read a lot (well, I did, but book-books are different.)

Book-Books
1. The Girl in the Tower (Katherine Arden) - 5/5
2. Sword of Shiva (Jeff Edwards) - 4/5
3. The Stone Sky (N.K. Jemisin) - 4/5
4. Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Laini Taylor) - 5/5

Comics
1. Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart Volume 2: Choices (Brian Michael Bendis) - 4/5
2. Captain Marvel Volume 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More (Kelly Sue DeConnick) - 3/5
3. Mockingbird Volume 1: I Can Explain (Chelsea Cain) - 4/5
4. Mockingbird Volume 2: My Feminist Agenda (Chelsea Cain) - 4/5
5. Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 1 (Brian Michael Bendis) - 4/5
6. Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 2 (Brian Michael Bendis) - 4/5
7. Rachel Rising Volume 1: Shadow of Death (Terry Moore) - 5/5
8. Rachel Rising Volume 2: Fear No Malus (Terry Moore) - 5/5
9. Rachel Rising Volume 3: Cemetery Songs (Terry Moore) - 5/5
10. Rachel Rising Volume 4: Winter Graves (Terry Moore) - 5/5
11. Rachel Rising Volume 5: Night Cometh (Terry Moore) - 5/5
12. Rachel Rising Volume 6: Secrets Kept (Terry Moore) - 5/5
13. Rachel Rising Volume 7: Dust to Dust (Terry Moore) - 5/5
14. Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen: Sitting in a Tree (Brian Michael Bendis) - 3/5
15. Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 3 (Brian Michael Bendis) - 3/5
16: Fantastic Four Volume 1: Imaginauts (Mark Waid) - 4/5
17. X-23: Innocence Lost (Craig Kyle) - 4/5
18. Black Widow: The Name of the Rose (Marjorie Liu) - 3/5
19. Astonishing X-Men Volume 1: Gifted (Joss Whedon) - 5/5
20. Astonishing X-Men Volume 2: Dangerous (Joss Whedon) - 4/5
21. Iron Man: Extremis (Warren Ellis) - 3/5
22. The Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt (J.M. DeMatteis) - 3/5
23. Astonishing X-Men Volume 3: Torn (Joss Whedon) - 3/5
24. Astonishing X-Men Volume 4: Unstoppable (Joss Whedon) - 4/5

Wow - I read a lot of comic collections.

I don't usually write a lot of reviews, but you can find me on Goodreads at ScubaJason.

[Dan Hocker]

Great idea. I'm pretty bad at providing ratings as for me it's generally I liked it or I didn't. Anyways I haven't read much in July

The Deed of Paksenarrion (Trilogy) by Elizabeth Moon - This is the 2nd time I'm reading this, which is unusual for me, as I tend to read the books I like multiple times, but it was so long ago at this point that I honestly barely remembered any of it. Just small plot points throughout, but not any of the details or how the story got to those points. Anyways this trilogy is almost perfect. It's high fantasy that starts off as something else entirely. And it's very rooted in the beginings of the life of a private in a mercenary company. When I read these books some 12+ years ago I thought this was all there was in this story. Just recently I came to find out there are 2 prequel books (I've yet to read those) and 5 sequels that she started releasing some 20+ years after the first trilogy was published. I'm starting in on those 5 books now and I'm looking forward to every word.

I'd highly recommend picking this up if you're into fantasy at all.

[HumphreyBear]

Ok, courtesy of Goodreads here's what I finished in July


The Rising: Deliverance - Keene, Brian 3.5/5
The Outsider - King, Stephen 3.5/5
The Man Who Fell to Earth - Tevis, Walter 5/5
Noumenon - Lostetter, Marina J. 2.5/5
Haloes are for Show-Offs - Holeman, Richard 5/5
First Boy on the Moon - Holeman, Richard 5/5
Places in the Darkness - Brookmyre, Christopher 4/5
Baal - McCammon, Robert R. 3.5/5

[JasonUK]

Usually I manage to read 4 books a month without fail, but with a 2 week vacation, several concerts and some work pressures, I only managed one book in July but it was a good one.

Bone Music by Christopher Rice - 8/10 Serial killer novel with a Michael Crichton type science-fiction element (i.e. medical advancement rather than outer-space). This is the first book I've read by this author (son of Anne Rice) and it's REALLY good. It's also the first in a proposed new series and I can't wait to read more about the protagonist known as "the burning girl".

[mhatchett]

Ok, courtesy of Goodreads here's what I finished in July


The Rising: Deliverance - Keene, Brian 3.5/5
The Outsider - King, Stephen 3.5/5
The Man Who Fell to Earth - Tevis, Walter 5/5
Noumenon - Lostetter, Marina J. 2.5/5
Haloes are for Show-Offs - Holeman, Richard 5/5
First Boy on the Moon - Holeman, Richard 5/5
Places in the Darkness - Brookmyre, Christopher 4/5
Baal - McCammon, Robert R. 3.5/5

I want to read The Man Who Fell to Earth again. It's been a long time since I read it.

[TacomaDiver]

Usually I manage to read 4 books a month without fail, but with a 2 week vacation, several concerts and some work pressures, I only managed one book in July but it was a good one.

Bone Music by Christopher Rice - 8/10 Serial killer novel with a Michael Crichton type science-fiction element (i.e. medical advancement rather than outer-space). This is the first book I've read by this author (son of Anne Rice) and it's REALLY good. It's also the first in a proposed new series and I can't wait to read more about the protagonist known as "the burning girl".

This one sounds really interesting. On the list it goes!

[TacomaDiver]

This one sounds really interesting. On the list it goes!

Funny - I already own a copy. Picked it up in February it seems. No memory at all - maybe it was a Kindle First title or something?

[HumphreyBear]

I want to read The Man Who Fell to Earth again. It's been a long time since I read it.

Such a great book. You will love it again.