Michelle

Agreed, stick with 123,

I've just tried a Star Wars one, and a Doctor Who - they are good, but are quick reads. Something like The Sandman though, is in a different league!

That's the joy of it Noll- some are quite easy to just skim through, which is helpful when my concentration is low. Others, however, have such amazing artwork, that you *want* to take your time with it.

Hollow World - Michael J. Sullivan - A surprise hit with me, I had the audio version. I can imagine you liking it. The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman - Not a bad read, some good ideas, but not quite a 'hit'. The Future Of Us - Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler - is this the one where her Facebook page keeps changing? Again, it surprised me how much I liked it. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - you haven't read this yet? Remember that it has more of a YA feel to it as it goes on.. I think it could have also been a lot darker. The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell (maybe) - give it a try, I think you'll be surprised. Quiet - Susan Cain - An interesting audio listen. The Girl With All The Gifts - M. R. Carey - went on a bit too long for me, but was good. Trouble - Non Pratt - I have this to read, I met her at YALC, and she's lovely! Happy reading Noll - hope it's as good as 2015!

So jealous of the alcoves - that will look great! 11.22.63 - Stephen King - loved this, although I had the audio version. Among Others - Jo Walton - quite a slow book, but I did enjoy it. Fractured - Teri Terry - I thought this was a good ending to the trilogy.. in fact I enjoyed all 3. More Than This - Patrick Ness - Really liked this one.. will be looking out for your thoughts. Only Ever Yours - Louise O'Neill - Both of hers made my top 15 of 2015! The Ice Twins - S.K Tremayne - a good thriller! The Stand - Stephen King - am working my way through the graphic novel version. Birdy - William Wharton - recently spotted and added to my wishlist.

I'm a little divided over the Revival series - the first volume was certainly interesting, but the second has left me disappointed. The concept is that in a small rural town, some of the dead have come back to life, and some can not be killed. They're not zombies, some seem perfectly normal, whilst others are 'odd'. There's no explanation as to what happened or how, which I find frustrating, plus there are quite a few different storylines going on, and it jumps from one to the other, not actually progressing them that far. It's a decent enough read, but I don't think I want to pay too much for each issue, so will probably wait until they're cheaper, or in the library. Outcast was also disappointing, and probably not one I'll continue with. In this world, there appears to be a lot of demonic possession, with one priest in particular who's trying to fight it, plus then the main character. My main issue is that too much space is used up without moving the story along. Descender was a change in direction for me, being SF - it's certainly brighter in tone and look, although there are some dark moments. It was released in Sept, and the 2nd volume isn't out until April 2016 - I'm not sure I like starting a new series, and having to wait so long! I'll probably leave this one be for a while. Yesterday I picked up a few different titles to try from the library, and I read my first Star Wars one.. Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm. I've checked a few sites which have lists of all the Star Wars comics, and I can't see this one. It's supposed to be right at the very beginning, when the 'Jedi' are called 'Jed'aii', and we see the first glimpse of the 'dark side'. I have to say, I really rather liked it, and think I could easily get into the Star Wars comics.

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman really has to be my favourite so far. The storylines are dark and fascinating, and the characters, especially Morpheus and Death, are wonderful. There seem to be a lot of different artists involved, and they all bring their own thing. I do like the fact that this is a completed series, so that I know it's already come to it's conclusion, and it won't drag on, or just finish at an odd point. There are 75 comics, in 10 collections; plus a prequel, and Endless Nights. I've read the first two, plus Endless Nights - the latter being my least favourite. It has a couple of excellent stories, but some of it is a little too unusual, and didn't quite work for me. I'm excited to continue with this series, but I have to watch cost - I do already have 3 on my shelf, with 4-6 coming from eBay (at a very good price!).

The Walking Dead was my introduction to this area, but it's taken me a while to explore further. Not long ago I decided to start again at the beginning of the 1st compendium, and worked my way through all three. It's really interesting looking back, to see how the TV series has loosely followed the story arcs, but has changed details, and definitely some of the characters. I've now moved past the point of the TV show, and I'm looking forward to see what they do with the next two big arcs! After finishing these, I realised that this form of reading is ideal for me when I'm having trouble concentrating (which is a lot at the moment). I've always loved illustrated books, and some of these graphic novels have the most amazing artwork. Also, Beth has just made her first comic for her graphic design diploma, and it's given me an insight into the process and the hard work. All in all, this is a different direction for my reading to take, but one I'm very much enjoying.

I felt as if I was cheating adding these to my normal reading list, plus I started in 2015, and am continuing into 2016 - so a separate list was created! I've decided to not add authors / artists here. Sometimes there are more than one, plus there are often lots of different artists involved, and I don't want the list to be too complicated. (Bolded means the start of a series.) The Walking Dead Compendium 1 The Walking Dead Compendium 2 The Walking Dead Compendium 3 The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes Descender: Tin Stars Revival: You're Among Friends The Sandman: The Dolls House Outcast: A Darkness Surrounds Him Revival: Live Like You Mean It The Sandman: The Endless Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek The Stand: Captain Trips Resurrection Man: Dead Again Dark Satanic Mills Absolute Death The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act Locke & Key: Welome to Lovecraft The Wicked + The Divine: Fandemonium Locke & Key: Head Games Black Magick Comic 1 (iPad) Beautiful Darkness The Twilight Zone: The After Hours Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows Locke and Key: Keys to the Kingdom Locke and Key: Clockworks Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega The Graveyard Book Vol 1 Deadpool: Dead Presidents Marvel 1602 I have two wish lists, one for new graphics novels to try, and one for continuations.

Have just been to the library, to see what's on their shelves - got 4 to try out..

Sigh.. stop adding more to my wishlist!!

I read the first part last night, and it was pretty good... I think I'm going to enjoy them.

This is volume one...

Congratulations on the little one, and welcome back.

As you may know, I'm taking an adventure into the world of Graphic Novels, and I thought I'd start a few separate threads for some of them. I've only just realised that The Stand has been released in this format. Obviously a lot of the story will be left out, as it's a long book, but I'm excited to see how the artwork ties in. The good news is that it's divided into 6 story arcs, and they've all already been published - so I know it's affordable, and that it won't just stop before the end. Has anyone else read it - or would you consider it? Or, if you're a big fan of a book, do you think you'd miss all the details which would be left out?

I'm not very good at detailed updating! Yes, I would like this to be a year full of Graphic Novels, but I will have to watch the costs! Beth has just done the first part of her graphic design diploma, which was to design a comic strip, so we both have a new insight into just what goes into it. I've always adored illustrated books, and so it's not surprising that I'm enjoying graphic novels so much. There's just something about The Sandman which has captured me. Neil Gaiman's characters are wonderful, the art work is great, and it's all complex enough to make it a worthwhile cost.. I just know I'll be going back to them. I'm hopefully going to YALC again this year, but want to spend a bit more time in the Film and Comic Con part - I've not taken much interest in the latter part in previous years, but I will do this year.. and would be great if I could meet some artists or writers which I've read.

Can edit this one if needed.... A rather boring blog thread, compared to most of you. ;-)

2007 - 49 2008 - 85 2009 - 47 2010 - 43 2011 - 61 2012 - 61 2013 - 69 2014 - 62 2015 - 59 My adventures in graphic novels and comics can be found here. 1. Mind Your Head by Juno Dawson 2. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness 3. Partials by Dan Wells (audio) 4. Our Endless Numbered Days by Clare Fuller 5. Survivors by Terry Nation (audio) 6. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige 7. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin 8. Night School by CJ Daughtery 9. Ex-Isle by Peter Clines (audio) 10. Nod by Adrian Barnes 11. Slasher Girls and Monster Boys (various) 12. Down Station by Simon Morden (audio) 13. Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis 14. Barricade by Jon Wallace 15. Mort(e) by Robert Repino 16. Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel 17. A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab 18. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 19. The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon 20. The Many Selves of Katherine North by Emma Geen 21. Vicious by V.E. Schwab 22. The Fireman by Joe Hill (audio) 23. Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew (audio) 24. Alice by Christina Henry 25. The Deepest Cut by Natalie Flynn 26. The Creeper Man by Dawn Kurtagich 27. Alight by Scott Sigler (audio) 28. Unboxed by Non Pratt 29. Red Queen by Christina Alice 30. Dear Charlie by ND Gomes 31. Gilded Cage by Vic James 32. Contagion by Teri Terry 33. The Last One by Alexandra Oliva (audio) 34. The Call by Peadar O'Guilin 35. Trigger Warnings by Neil Gaiman 36. The Long Walk by Stephen King (audio) 37. Defender by G X Todd 38. The Inferior by Peadar O'Guilin 39. The Deserter by Peadar O'Guilin 40. The Idiot Brain by Dean Burnett (audio) 41. Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff 42. Ragdoll by Daniel Cole 43. Caraval by Stephanie Garber 44. The Volunteer by Peadar O'Guilin 45. Six Scary Stories (audio) 46. Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Through Biology (audio) 47. Torchwood: The Exodus Code by John Barrowman / Carole Barrowman (audio)

The Walking Dead finally pushed me to find out more about other graphic novels - details in this thread: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/13847-discovering-graphic-novels/. I would say at the moment that my outstanding favourite are The Sandman books, I've completely fallen in love with them! At night I'm listening to The Kraken Wakes, one of the Wyndham books I hadn't read. I love the style and the story, and it should be finished by the end of the year. Back to my comics....

I've been very much focused on these at the moment, and I finished Outcast yesterday. Despite the artwork being gorgeous, the actual storyline is disappointing. With graphic novels, you only get a small amount of space to tell your story, and yet Kirkman seems to like stretching it out. It wasn't as noticeable in The Walking Dead Compendiums, because they're so big, but when you've paid for the smaller collections, you don't want to be done in 5 minutes. I think it could be an interesting series, but I'm not in much of a hurry, and I'm glad it was one of the cheaper collections. I've started Wytches by Jock - which is going to be rather dark and scary I think. I wasn't in the mood for something like that, so will come back to it. I then discovered that The Stand is in graphic form, so that's been ordered! http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0785135219?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

The cat is home safe!

Not a great Christmas for us - just before I had some bad news from a close friend, and then on Wednesday one of our cats went missing. I've posted on loads of Facebook and lost pets sites, and we've today done posters and fliers. I think the not knowing is the worse thing.

Let me know what you think of it.

Quick update - Descender is quite good, it has a cute AI boy, but also some darker bits as well. I'm not in too much of a rush for the next one, and would be very happy if the library gets it in. I've also finished the first Revival.. again, rather good, but I'm happy to take my time with it. I have the second coming from eBay, and then I'll probably wait a while before moving on. The one I love so far is definitely The Sandman - it is extremely dark and weird, and I'm loving it.

It has really grabbed me.. but yes, I could have chosen something a bit less expensive! I couldn't find much on my library's website, apart from Beautiful darkness, which is now reserved for when it's available, but I've emailed them to see what they have, and if they can get anything in.