Isaac

Oh this was delightful. This is a cozy comic about a bunch of talking vegetables and an anxious Garlic's mission to infiltrate a Vampire's castle. The art is adorable, whimsical, and one of the coziest books I have ever read.

Garlic is super adorable!! Celery is an condescending jerk. Carrot is the best friend you want. And the Witch is the kind mother! This is one of those books that makes you smile and feel all warm. Would recommend!

First, I absolutely adore Gabriel Picolo artwork. I've been following his Instagram for a while. I wish he would make more comics, his style is one of my favourites. I'm not sure how to describe his art, it's quirky, fresh with bold colours. 10/10 on the art.

For the story, Gar is one of my favourite Teen Titans and this was a fun origin story. The story is decent, but felt quick, a little too quick. There were a few themes raised like animal testing and male body image. But it felt like novel was too short to make a real comment on these themes. And while Gar does comes across as a bit of an arrogant and vain character. I admittedly like his character despite that. A fun comic!

2.5 stars — This is one of my first forays into the world of cozy mysteries. Coffee and murder. Somewhat ironic, as I'm more of a tea drinker than coffee myself. But there's something so cozy about a coffeeshop. And this book is filled with long descriptions of wonderful coffee-making.

But the actual plot and characters were bland. Our main sleuth Clare Cosi felt underdeveloped and uninteresting. There's a stereotypical gay, a gruff cop, and a creepy ex-husband (who I think the readers are meant to swoon for but I just found him creepy!)

Despite this, the book is easy-to-read and exactly what I wanted at the time. This was a guilt enjoyment, not something I would recommend, unless you're a cozy mystery fan and addicted to coffee.

3.7 stars — This has such a charming premise. A group of old people in a retirement home meet every Thursday for to discuss old murders and crimes. When it comes to the detective genre, I'm not a fan of the simple ordinary middle age police detective. No I want something more interesting and a group of oldies meddling in investigations. Now that's interesting.

This book is so British. It's cozy British. There is talk of the latest Strictly Come Dancing scores, a visit to Waitrose, biscuits, talk of British weather, our trains, and more. Osman is good at depicting ordinary British life in a way that seems realistic and charming. And the old characters, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are a bunch of wonderful of characters. They remind me of my own grandparents in truth.

My main fault with this book was the amount of side characters. Too many for me to keep up with, and most of them feel somewhat irrelevant. It feels like Osman has planned an intricate whodunnit with a web of different characters. I'm sure he knows who is who, but I got a little lost. For the last few pages, I got confused and had to consult an online summary to pierce the events together. That being said, our central Murder Club, was an adorable set of characters. My favourite is Elizabeth, she feels like the Queen Bee of the pack. And we get to read about two police D.Is alongside, Donna and Chris, whom I absolutely adore. It was hilarious seeing the professional police officers interact with the meddling Murder Club. I loved reading the characters interact, and the comedy is golden. The actual mystery I did not enjoy as much.

Would recommend! A cozy British mystery, delightfully funny, with a dash of murder.

4.5 stars — This was beautiful, haunting and melancholic. I think a dark fairy tale is an apt description of this novel. It uses many fairy tale conventions, but not in a cliche way. There are witches, magic. But yet the words witches and magic are never once uttered in the duration of this book. It's very much an adult fairy tale, with scary depictions of child abuse, contrasted with an supernatural ocean as a backdrop.

This is my first Gaiman book I've read, and gosh, his writing style is so memorising. Absolutely gorgeous.
This reads like a memoir, since in some ways it is, it borrows from Gaiman own childhood, but not too much and still stands as an original story. This memoiric style of writing is then intertwined with this enchanting idyllic fairy tale. It works well, and creates a great magical realism story.

Honestly I'm still left a little stunned from this story. It's just so beautiful? Yet dark. It's a dark fantasy, a fairy tale, magical realism and a memoir all in one. It also feels like a Ghibli movie. And yes that's high praise. Similar to a Ghibli great, it's about childhood, with spirits and monsters. It depicts the brutal parts of life, but then there's the kind Hempstocks witches. Their world may be strife with danger, but their home feels like a cozy recluse where they serve warm food. I actually stopped reading mid-way in this book, and reimagined the story as frames of a Ghibli film.

I read the illustrated edition of this book, and the art was gorgeous. Fairy tales are so often accompanied by childlike illustrations. But Hurst's illustrations are dark and sinister. No colour at all. Some pages are black, with white text. It works so well with the tone of this book. Made the book so much more melancholic.

Also there's a stage adaptation of this work, and it's visiting my area soon. I've heard the stage version is even better than this book, so I might try and find the tickets. May edit this review if so!

4.5 stars — This book feels like a warm hug. A soothing book to read on a rainy day with a cup of tea.

When I was younger, I had a Winnie-the-Pooh bear and used to bring him everywhere with me. To school, to the park, to my Grandparents house. I loved the films too, and yet, despite being an avid bookworm. I had never actually read the books.

So now as an adult, I was browsing through the Gutenberg shelves and decided now was the time to read them. Perhaps a little late, but I'm glad I did. It's a lovely Children's book, with an adorable bear, a host of wonderful of characters and nice hand-drawn illustrations to match.

I'm sure Winnie-the-Pooh will be remain a classic children's story for many years to come. And I'll always be a little jealous of Christopher Robin. You see, I want to live in the Hundred Ache Wood with a cute bear who likes honey. Is that too much to ask?

5 stars — It's difficult to describe the plot of this book. It's really just an nonsensical adventure across the galaxy with a band of idiots, a depressed robot and some mice. It has lots of technobabble, absurdist imagery, and that number of great importance 42.

In truth, none of this book makes much sense, and to me that's the joy of it. It's charming, witty, funny, with that classic British humour you expect to see in Monty Python or Roald Dahl.

There is some semblance of plot. The Earth is destroyed and our characters are thrust into space. But Adams takes the story is so many weird and unexpected directions. It is also probably the most quotable book I've ever read. There are so many memorable lines here that really make you laugh.

There's one thing people forget about Harley Quinn. She's smart. Intelligent. A psychiatrist. Not a ditzy blond. Yet still manipulated by the Joker all the same. And this is what makes her story so tragic. Harleen is essentially Harley Quinn origin story, printed under DC's Black Label. A label known for more mature content and this is the perfect place to tell her story. Because let's be real, Harley story is already dark, a psychiatrist who falls in love with a mass murderer. Well, not a nice love story.

I love the framing for this story. There's a lot of ethics at play. Harley is investigating her thesis on empathy and is using the subjects at Arkham to investigate. She has a desire to help. But we see through the eyes of Harley. Her flaws, her alcoholism, her attraction to older men and forbidden romance. She wants to help. Yet, in the world of Gotham and Joker's manipulation we see Harley enter into a world of depression and madness.

This story was only 3 issues, yet the pacing never felt rushed. It felt like a developed character study of Harley's character. One you could write a whole essay on. I wasn't expecting so much Harvey Dent in this story, but it fits perfectly. The juxtaposition between two good serving members of society slowly descending into madness works. I also loved the gorgeous art as well, especially the use of shadows. Loved that we saw Harley's shadow slowly turn into Harley Quinn, and the Joker's shadow often being bigger than Harley, reflecting this deranged power dynamic.

An impressive graphic novel showing Harley's origins, tragic, gripping, with gorgeous art as well. And yes, this comic somehow made the Joker seem sexy and I hate how that's possible.

3.5 stars — Wells' writing style is surprisingly easy to read. A great introduction to the world of time travel, but failed to interest me enough. I loved how our main character, the Time Traveller is nameless throughout the story. Just the Time Traveller. It's an interesting element of mystery and intrigue. But once we got to the future, I found it to drag, be a bit boring. Nevertheless, it interesting to see how Victorian Wells envisioned the future. Instead of advanced technology or steampunk, we got two caveman creatures: the Eloi and the Morlocks, and the Time Travellers experience with these new species. It's not often we get these sorts of future in mainstream time travel stories (we all think of advanced technology now, not cavemen), and that itself felt unique to read.

A wholesome story about a gay ghost and a gardener falling in love. It's a really cute and adorable premise but the whole plot felt so disjointed and rushed. Too many elements being clashed together, making it a confusing read. I liked the character designs, the chemistry between the leads, but the plot... not so much.

3.5 stars — This was a whole lot of fun. I got eaten by the Loch Ness Monster, lived with the caveman, met Abraham Lincoln and even got to meet a UFO!

I've been interested in the area of IF (interactive fiction) for a while. I've been hopelessly addicted to Twine, a modern game engine for making interactive fiction. It's such a charming way of storytelling and thought I'd go back and see the genre origins. So here it is, the first book of the Choose Your Own Adventure series published in 1979.

The writing is pretty simple, don't expect anything deep or meaningful here, but despite this it's a lot of fun! Think I managed to find all of the endings.

Handy little reference book for designing wireframes and understanding UI, perfect for beginners. It has a lot of great tips for design, and in an easy to read format, with great screenshots.

Would recommend! Was looking to read something about modern web design and this was perfect! Super quick to read. Perfect for anyone learning to design, especially web developers and UX designers.

Only down side is it's super overpriced and I really hope the price decreases in the future. Such a valuable book in the area of design - honestly would recommend to all aspiring web designers.

A good short read. Nick and Charlie personally work better in comic format. Oseman is absolutely incredible with comic writing, but I always feel a little underwhelmed by her prose fiction. Not bad, but her comics are just a whole step up.

But saying that, this was a still nice read. The first volume of Heartstopper was super wholesome and cute. That deals with the feelings of first love and crush. And this novella packs the emotion and deals with an older Nick leaving for university and leaving poor Charlie behind in his A Levels.

It's relatable. I'm a gay british guy and have been in relationships where the move to university has an impact. And not always a good one. It's scary. You don't get to meet up as often. Things change. That summer before university can be exciting, yes, but also anxiety-inducing on relationships and how they change. I think Oseman did a good job of writing about that. Nick and Charlie aren't always the perfect relationship, but I think Oseman is good at showing realistic struggles, and also their commitment and love to each other. They might just be becoming my favourite fictional couple!