Ah, the great question. When I was in school, teachers would always tell off anyone who brought comics or graphic novels to silent reading time. "They're not books!" they would exclaim.
Aren't they?
They have words. They have a story, characters, conflict. They inflict a painful amount of feels at times. They discuss issues.
Is it that they have pictures that makes them not worthy of being called books?
To me, it seems snobby to claim that graphic novels don't count in literature.
Becky Cloonan has written a trilogy of sorts, The Ink and Thunder series, and each issue is a one-shot. They're carefully crafted, written, illustrated and inked by Becky herself. And I would call them literary-fantasy crossovers. There's a lot of hidden things in her work, imagery, symbolism, everything you'd find in a regular book.
I dare you to check them out. Each issue is only 99 cents on comixology.
So, what do you think about comics as books? Goodreads thankfully counts comics as books towards my yearly reading goal, since I've slowly started reading more comics than books lately.
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opinion. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
A quick post to let you know that I'm not dead, and what I've been obsessing with lately
Apologies for not posting in several months. Especially after that last post wherein I talked in verbatim about my depression. I hope no one thought I'd pulled an Allie Brosh (her several months-long hiatus on Hyperbole and a Half, with no warning, after her own post on depression was an extremely worrying time for me.)
But I've been getting better. I think. My feelings have been going up and down, as to be expected with mental illnesses. But I've been dealing with it. I've made a new friend in my course, who quickly turned into my best friend. And this best friend introduced me to superheroes.
Now, I've read some comics before. I'd read the first 100-something issues of Fables, before getting sick of the convoluted, meandering plot. Ditto with The Walking Dead. But I'd found it difficult to get into superhero comics, mainly because, well, I found the Batman universe uninteresting and too male-angsty for me (Oh, Chris Nolan, please tone down the angst), just to name one example, and the comic community is severely anti-woman, as I've encountered.
But after reading some comics that he forced onto me (I completely recommend Loeb's Hush, Tomasi's Batman and Robin run (up until Damian dies), Simone's Brids of Prey run, and Dini's Gotham City Sirens run), I've become so in love with the feels that the superheroes give me.
So, I've decided, since I can't think about anything else, that I'll post a few things on various topics regarding comics.
Next post, which should be up within a few days, will be all about the disdain some people have for comics, and how they sometimes don't see comics and graphic novels as real literature, and how they're not real books.
I'll also be discussing feminism in comics (with a lot of vitriol at the New 52 Wonder Woman, and just Wonder Woman's current situation).
After that, I'll talk about writing in comics, which, as a novelist, I've discovered is incredibly ruthlessly difficult to grasp, but super incredibly fun.
I hope that this will help me keep consistent in posting often, and that I can rant happily about my new passions, and maybe even educate people.
But I've been getting better. I think. My feelings have been going up and down, as to be expected with mental illnesses. But I've been dealing with it. I've made a new friend in my course, who quickly turned into my best friend. And this best friend introduced me to superheroes.
Now, I've read some comics before. I'd read the first 100-something issues of Fables, before getting sick of the convoluted, meandering plot. Ditto with The Walking Dead. But I'd found it difficult to get into superhero comics, mainly because, well, I found the Batman universe uninteresting and too male-angsty for me (Oh, Chris Nolan, please tone down the angst), just to name one example, and the comic community is severely anti-woman, as I've encountered.
But after reading some comics that he forced onto me (I completely recommend Loeb's Hush, Tomasi's Batman and Robin run (up until Damian dies), Simone's Brids of Prey run, and Dini's Gotham City Sirens run), I've become so in love with the feels that the superheroes give me.
So, I've decided, since I can't think about anything else, that I'll post a few things on various topics regarding comics.
Next post, which should be up within a few days, will be all about the disdain some people have for comics, and how they sometimes don't see comics and graphic novels as real literature, and how they're not real books.
I'll also be discussing feminism in comics (with a lot of vitriol at the New 52 Wonder Woman, and just Wonder Woman's current situation).
After that, I'll talk about writing in comics, which, as a novelist, I've discovered is incredibly ruthlessly difficult to grasp, but super incredibly fun.
I hope that this will help me keep consistent in posting often, and that I can rant happily about my new passions, and maybe even educate people.
Monday, 4 February 2013
Books Read in January
It's hard to believe that January is almost over. Where did all the days go?
I've spent the majority of the month reading, editing, and worrying about adult responsibilities. Very tiring. Even though I'm on holidays, I feel like I've never been busier.
So, here are the first books of the year.
1. Heart of Steel (The Iron Seas, #2) - Meljean Brooke
2. Mr Fox - Helen Oyeyemi
3. Rebel Heart (Dust Lands, #2) - Moira Young
4. Fire Spell - Laura Amy Schlitz
5. Please Ignore Vera Dietz - A.S. King
6. The Brides of Rollrock Island - Margo Lanagan *
7. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
8. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, #3) - Patrick Ness
9. Between the Lines - Jodie Picoult & Samantha van Leer
10. My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece - Annabel Pitcher
11. Falling to Ash (Moth, #1) - Karen Mahoney
12. Shadows (Ashes, #2) - Isla J. Bick
13. Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, #4) - Rachel Caine
14. The Farm (The Farm, #1) - Emily McKay
15. Jane Eyre Laid Bare - Charlotte Brontë & Eve Sinclair
 |
| Lazing out in the sun with the puppy |
And because I'm in love with random statistics and such:
Pages: 5,328
Avg. pages: 355pgs per book
Ratings:
5 stars - 3
4 stars - 2
3 stars - 5
2 stars - 4
1 star -1
Of the above books, only one made it to my all-time favourites list: Margo Lanagan's Brides of Rollrock Island (published as Sea Hearts here in Aus). This was my first novel of hers that I'd read, and holy crap, I regret not picking up her stuff sooner. When I find the time, I plan on picking up Tender Morsels.
Fire Spell by Laura Amy Schlitz was another book that I really loved--unfortunately it didn't make it onto the fave list, through no fault of its own, it just didn't click in that way.
 |
| Pretty pictures make this book readable. |
Another unforgettable book--for all the wrong reasons--was Jane Eyre Laid Bare. Curiosity forced me to pick it up. I love Jane Eyre. It's one of my favourite novels ever. But this... this was a monstrosity. It provided for some lol-sy entertainment, though, so I guess it served its purpose.
Other things that happened in January:
- meeting Neil Gaiman (for the second time in my life)
- getting my first tattoo
but both those two deserve their own posts, so keep an eye out in the next few days. ;)
I hope the first month of 2013 passed without any complications for everyone. And I hope February will be just as awesome as January. <3
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
On Having Writer Friends
It was only in the last few years that I met people who were just like me: people who were just as obsessed with words as I am. I met three of my best friends over the internet. Angela and Krystle via LiveJournal (thanks to our love for Throne of Glass, or Queen of Glass, as it was called when it was still on FictionPress), and Nafiza through book blogging. One thing we all share in common is our love for reading, and our love for writing. In fact, Krystle and Nafiza are both doing NaNo this year.
Before I started uni, my writer friends were only the people I met on the internet. I had never ever ever come across a person in real life who'd shared the same passion for words. And, to be honest, it felt kind of lonely. It felt like I was the only person in the whole of Australia who liked writing.
Now that I've finished my first year of uni, where I study Creative Writing, I've met so many wonderful, like-minded people. I already have two best friends, and many other people that I would openly call my friends. I know, it's starting to sound really sappy right about now, but just bear with me.
So, a few of us RMIT kids are doing NaNo this year. Last Monday, we gathered at a bar and talked about our ideas, and man, it was awesome. It really got me thinking about my story, and it was really inspiring to sit with a whole bunch of people who share the same love for writing.
On Thursday, which will be the 1st of November, the first day of NaNo, we'll be having a write-in, and I'm super excited. I'm expecting myself to write a lot, since I'm really competitive, and I can't stand the thought of someone writing more than me. And the best part is, that if I'm struggling, they'll be able to cheer me on, and help me out. Ditto with my internet writer friends.
The moral of this post, I guess, is to surround yourself with people who write. Wether it be on the internet, or in real life. People who share your passions are far more likely to understand why you're crying in the middle of the night because you just killed off your favourite character. Non-writer people, on the other hand, will just think you're just a bit crazy.
Before I started uni, my writer friends were only the people I met on the internet. I had never ever ever come across a person in real life who'd shared the same passion for words. And, to be honest, it felt kind of lonely. It felt like I was the only person in the whole of Australia who liked writing.
Now that I've finished my first year of uni, where I study Creative Writing, I've met so many wonderful, like-minded people. I already have two best friends, and many other people that I would openly call my friends. I know, it's starting to sound really sappy right about now, but just bear with me.
So, a few of us RMIT kids are doing NaNo this year. Last Monday, we gathered at a bar and talked about our ideas, and man, it was awesome. It really got me thinking about my story, and it was really inspiring to sit with a whole bunch of people who share the same love for writing.
On Thursday, which will be the 1st of November, the first day of NaNo, we'll be having a write-in, and I'm super excited. I'm expecting myself to write a lot, since I'm really competitive, and I can't stand the thought of someone writing more than me. And the best part is, that if I'm struggling, they'll be able to cheer me on, and help me out. Ditto with my internet writer friends.
The moral of this post, I guess, is to surround yourself with people who write. Wether it be on the internet, or in real life. People who share your passions are far more likely to understand why you're crying in the middle of the night because you just killed off your favourite character. Non-writer people, on the other hand, will just think you're just a bit crazy.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Can Adults Read Young Adult?
I was in the library today with my mother. We had an hour to kill before an appointment, so we were sitting in the Young Adult section: I was reading Adorkable, and my mum was flicking through some magazines. Then, a middle-aged woman, around my mother's age, walked into the section, and began browsing through the books.
As soon as the woman left, with a stack of YA books in tow, my mother started her rant:
"What is a woman her age doing reading books for teenagers? Has she no shame? Is she so dumb that she needs to read children's books?"
etc. etc. etc.
There's always a stigma towards books that aren't classics and/or literary. Genre books always get a lot of flack. But Young Adult seems to be getting the worst of it. People seem to think that because YA is aimed mainly at teens, that only teens should be able to read it. And, sometimes they go a step further, assuming that because it's aimed towards teens, it's somehow not as intellectual or as deep as adult novels. Basically, there's a lot of ageism going on.
It makes me wonder how people view me. I'm twenty years old. I haven't been in high school for three years. I'm definitely not a teen anymore, and I'm slowly ceasing to become a young adult. And, most importantly, I read practically nothing but young adult. I write only young adult.
Sure, there may be lots of YA books that are vapid and shallow, that are pale imitations of Twilight. But isn't that the same for books for adults? I don't mean to sound like a genre snob here, but a lot of smutty erotica novels are hardly deep (hurr hurr....). I've read a few books that are classed as literary (what is literature, anyway? But that's fodder for another post), that feel shallow, with stupid characters that are nothing more than Edward and Bella as adults.
But on the other hand, I've read some really deep YA, such as The Book Thief, Twenty Boy Summer, or Looking for Alaska, and they all deal with important topics. They are hardly vapid, and there's potential to teach a lot of people. Ditto with adult novels, whether they be literary or genre fiction.
I appologise for this ranty post. I realise it's not really going anywhere. I'm just trying to sort my thoughts into some semblance of sense, and I know it's not really working. Regardless of how much I'm failing at understanding this phenomena, I'd like to know what you guys think. Do you think that adults should be able to read books for teens, and vice versa? Is there something dumb about an adult reading below their age level? Why do you think this is?
As soon as the woman left, with a stack of YA books in tow, my mother started her rant:
"What is a woman her age doing reading books for teenagers? Has she no shame? Is she so dumb that she needs to read children's books?"
etc. etc. etc.
There's always a stigma towards books that aren't classics and/or literary. Genre books always get a lot of flack. But Young Adult seems to be getting the worst of it. People seem to think that because YA is aimed mainly at teens, that only teens should be able to read it. And, sometimes they go a step further, assuming that because it's aimed towards teens, it's somehow not as intellectual or as deep as adult novels. Basically, there's a lot of ageism going on.
It makes me wonder how people view me. I'm twenty years old. I haven't been in high school for three years. I'm definitely not a teen anymore, and I'm slowly ceasing to become a young adult. And, most importantly, I read practically nothing but young adult. I write only young adult.
Sure, there may be lots of YA books that are vapid and shallow, that are pale imitations of Twilight. But isn't that the same for books for adults? I don't mean to sound like a genre snob here, but a lot of smutty erotica novels are hardly deep (hurr hurr....). I've read a few books that are classed as literary (what is literature, anyway? But that's fodder for another post), that feel shallow, with stupid characters that are nothing more than Edward and Bella as adults.
But on the other hand, I've read some really deep YA, such as The Book Thief, Twenty Boy Summer, or Looking for Alaska, and they all deal with important topics. They are hardly vapid, and there's potential to teach a lot of people. Ditto with adult novels, whether they be literary or genre fiction.
I appologise for this ranty post. I realise it's not really going anywhere. I'm just trying to sort my thoughts into some semblance of sense, and I know it's not really working. Regardless of how much I'm failing at understanding this phenomena, I'd like to know what you guys think. Do you think that adults should be able to read books for teens, and vice versa? Is there something dumb about an adult reading below their age level? Why do you think this is?
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Negative Reviews
Gosh, there's been so much drama lately in the YA blogsphere concerning negative reviews. I know what I'm going to say isn't anything new; it's been discussed and talked about for months on thousands of blogs.
But, seriously, guys. Negative reviews do not equate to bullying.
In my creative writing course, we do a lot of critiquing. And sure, some of the things that my friends and peers have said about my darling work really stung. I mean, every writer sees their work as pretty much perfect, right? It hurts having someone say that there's something wrong with it.
But, these authors have to realise that there is no book that is universally loved. Every book will be hated to some degree, will be critiqued, will be torn apart by seemingly vicious bloggers. But on the flip-side, every book will be loved, will have posts gushing about how hot so-and-so is, will be praised.
I honestly don't understand this hate towards negative reviews. As with any form of art, the artist needs to develop thick skin to keep afloat in this business. If you can't do that, then, sad to say, this isn't the business for you.
I'm sure stars like Rhianna, Lady Gaga, and the plethora of pop stars (sorry, I don't really keep up to date with pop music) don't have a public hissy fit each time they get a negative review, whether from a professional reviewer or someone with a blog.
Which brings me to the question: why are these authors so hostile towards negative reviews written by bloggers, but not by professional reviewers? Is it because bloggers aren't paid, and therefore aren't qualified to offer an opinion about a book?
I'm a huge fan of Roger Ebert. He's a professional movie reviewer, and at times, he can be pretty harsh. He gave Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo zero stars and said, plain and simple, "Mr Schneider, your movie sucks." (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/REVIEWS/50725001). So why is it acceptable for him to say that, without being called a bully? (Granted, Schneider did have a small hissy fit when Patrick Goldstein negatively reviewed this film...)
That some people equate criticisms to bullying is also offensive and just low. Bullying is a horrible thing. I've been bullied by people I thought were my best friends. Years later, I'm still suffering. The wounds never close--in fact, they open up at the mere mention of my bullies, bringing back years of trauma and insecurity and mental pain so intense it turned into physical pain.
And I promise you, what those so-called bullied authors are feeling from those mean little reviews is nothing compared to what I, and thousands of other people who have gone through such an experience, feel.
You know what constitutes as bullying in a review? If it goes something along the lines of this:
"So-and-so is a horrible sucky writer. Ze should kill zirself for producing such disgusting trash. I wouldn't even use it as toilet paper because it offends my butt."
See? That is closer to bullying than using snark and gifs.
It seems off-putting that we've come to such a point that we have to coddle these authors, give them an endless supply of praise even if we don't mean it. Where's the honesty in that? If all books end up being rated 5 stars, then it makes the star rating absolutely useless and defunct. What's the point in that?
The road we're heading is seriously depressing. I hope it'll go away on the 22nd of December of this year, being just a case of temporary insanity brought upon the trauma and pressure of the impending supposed doom of our world.
A girl can dream, right?
But, seriously, guys. Negative reviews do not equate to bullying.
In my creative writing course, we do a lot of critiquing. And sure, some of the things that my friends and peers have said about my darling work really stung. I mean, every writer sees their work as pretty much perfect, right? It hurts having someone say that there's something wrong with it.
But, these authors have to realise that there is no book that is universally loved. Every book will be hated to some degree, will be critiqued, will be torn apart by seemingly vicious bloggers. But on the flip-side, every book will be loved, will have posts gushing about how hot so-and-so is, will be praised.
I honestly don't understand this hate towards negative reviews. As with any form of art, the artist needs to develop thick skin to keep afloat in this business. If you can't do that, then, sad to say, this isn't the business for you.
I'm sure stars like Rhianna, Lady Gaga, and the plethora of pop stars (sorry, I don't really keep up to date with pop music) don't have a public hissy fit each time they get a negative review, whether from a professional reviewer or someone with a blog.
Which brings me to the question: why are these authors so hostile towards negative reviews written by bloggers, but not by professional reviewers? Is it because bloggers aren't paid, and therefore aren't qualified to offer an opinion about a book?
I'm a huge fan of Roger Ebert. He's a professional movie reviewer, and at times, he can be pretty harsh. He gave Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo zero stars and said, plain and simple, "Mr Schneider, your movie sucks." (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/REVIEWS/50725001). So why is it acceptable for him to say that, without being called a bully? (Granted, Schneider did have a small hissy fit when Patrick Goldstein negatively reviewed this film...)
That some people equate criticisms to bullying is also offensive and just low. Bullying is a horrible thing. I've been bullied by people I thought were my best friends. Years later, I'm still suffering. The wounds never close--in fact, they open up at the mere mention of my bullies, bringing back years of trauma and insecurity and mental pain so intense it turned into physical pain.
And I promise you, what those so-called bullied authors are feeling from those mean little reviews is nothing compared to what I, and thousands of other people who have gone through such an experience, feel.
You know what constitutes as bullying in a review? If it goes something along the lines of this:
"So-and-so is a horrible sucky writer. Ze should kill zirself for producing such disgusting trash. I wouldn't even use it as toilet paper because it offends my butt."
See? That is closer to bullying than using snark and gifs.
It seems off-putting that we've come to such a point that we have to coddle these authors, give them an endless supply of praise even if we don't mean it. Where's the honesty in that? If all books end up being rated 5 stars, then it makes the star rating absolutely useless and defunct. What's the point in that?
The road we're heading is seriously depressing. I hope it'll go away on the 22nd of December of this year, being just a case of temporary insanity brought upon the trauma and pressure of the impending supposed doom of our world.
A girl can dream, right?
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