Friday Reviews Week 10/ ScalleywagAThon Wrap-Up

Friday Reviews Week 10:

November 4th- November 10th

For this Friday Reviews, I am going to combine my reviews of the books I read this week with my wrap-up for the ScalleywagAThon. When I come to a book that I read for the ScalleywagAThon, I'll put a pirate flag by it. Overall, it was a great week of reading and a great start to this month. I read every book that I wanted to read for ScalleywagAThon and most of them were great. 

Book 1: I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1: Madly Ever After

 by Skottie Young

Read November 4th, 2017

📚📚📚📚📚

This is my third read of this volume of I Hate Fairyland. I like rereading them each time a new one comes out. Again, I really love this graphic novel series. The humor is great and the way Skottie plays with tropes of fairy tales is the best part. The colors used in this comic and the illustrations can be very beautiful. 

This series follows Gert, a forty-year-old woman stuck in a six-year-old's body. She has been stuck in the magical world of Fairyland since she was six. She and her guide, Larry go around Fairyland trying to find the key to her world. Gert is very brutal. The illustrations go from being cutesy to gory. It's not for the faint of heart or kids. 

This is a graphic novel series that I really adore with a sense of humor that I love. 

Book 2: I Hate Fairyland Vol. 2: Fluff My Life

by Skottie Young

Read November 5th, 2017

📚📚📚📚

The first volume of I Hate Fairyland is one of my favorite graphic novels I have ever read. This volume is enjoyable and funny, but it doesn't (at least to me) hold the originality of the first volume. The main joke going through this one, which is the same as the first, is that Gert wants to go home. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy this volume, but not as much as the first.  Some of the scenes in this are so funny, especially when Gert goes into Larry's hat. I believe the best part of this volume and of the first was Larry's snarky humor. He makes these for me. This is still one of my favorite graphic novel series and I had a great time reading it a second time. 

🏴‍☠️ Book 3: I Hate Fairyland Vol. 3: Good Girl   🏴‍☠️

by Skottie Young

Read November 5th, 2017

(The first book for ScalleywagAThon)-
 Blue on the cover

📚📚📚📚

This volume was great! The humor in this volume especially centered around Larry was some of the best in the entire series. I loved the issue with Larry's past and him seeing a different future for himself if he didn't meet Gert. It was definitely different than I expected. My favorite part of this was the spoof of the movie Labyrinth. When they first said that they needed to go to a labyrinth, I was expecting that they were going to play with the myth of the Minotaur from Greek Mythology. I never expected the jokes about the movie Labyrinth. It is one of my favorite movies and I enjoyed seeing how Skottie played with it. Parody is one of my favorite types of humor. Loveth Lovelord was a handful. 

Larry is and will always be my favorite part of these comics. He's so snarky and isn't afraid to speak his mind. It was great actually seeing him care for Gert. Like I said before, the issue based all around him was one of the best. 

Also, that ending. Man... I want the next volume right now. This was a great continuation of the series. The only thing that I marked this down for was that the joke of Gert trying to get home is getting a little old. I did like her trying to become "a good girl" though. All I could think of the whole time was "yeah right." The art style in this is just as great as in the other two issues. I cannot get enough of how stunning it really is. 

I recommend reading this. It was a great addition to the series. 

Book 4: Harry Potter- The Unofficial Guide

 to the Collectibles of Our Favorite Wizard

by Eric Bradley

Read November 6th, 2017

📚📚📚

As a huge fan Harry Potter fan, I was happy to receive this book for a review. I like knowing random trivia. This book has some interesting facts in it that I liked learning about. It's astonishing to see what these items are worth (though it is subjective really). I can't say I loved this book, but I did like reading it.

We go from the first editions of the books (and how to pick them out), posters, jewelry, Funkos, and movie props. The "Did You Know" facts were a good addition to the book and many of them I didn't actually know. I enjoyed seeing items that I have seen before and then the other items I never have. 

The most interesting part was probably how the books have changed from their first editions. 

*I received a free copy of this for an honest review.*

Book 5: Sweet Revenge: Passive- Aggressive Desserts

 for Your Exes & Enemies by Heather Kim

Read October 25th- November 6th, 2017

📚📚📚📚

Never thought I would say that I laughed at a cookbook. This is definitely the funniest and most engaging cookbook I ever read. I know I will have to try out the recipes in it and see how they are. Also, the pictures are so vibrant. It made me very hungry reading through this. This writer, I feel could make anything funny, just from what I saw here. 

Overall, this would be a nice cookbook to have on the self that I enjoyed reading. 

*I received a free copy of this book for an honest review

-Thank you very much, Net Galley.*

🏴‍☠️ Book 6: To Be or Not To Be: 🏴‍☠️

 A Chooseable- Path Adventure 

by Ryan North

Read November 7th-8th, 2017

(The second book for ScalleywagAThon)- 
Skull on the cover

📚📚📚📚📚

I have been a major fan of Choose-Your-Own- Adventure books since I was a child. It might have been because I have always had a natural affinity for telling my own stories, whether that be through writing or just in creating stories with my toys as a child. This is a version based off of Shakespeare's Hamlet and I cannot get enough of creating new paths in it. When I read it this time, I created around ten different paths throughout the book. This is a really great idea for a book and I love how Ryan North played with the original play that I know so well. This is a re-read of certain parts, but also a first time read of others. It's not the type of book you read straight through. I know that I will continue to have a great time with this book and cannot wait to see even more of the paths and illustrations that go along with the ends. 

🏴‍☠️ Book 7: Lumberjanes, Vol. 3: A Terrible Plan 🏴‍☠️

Read November 8th, 2017

(The third book for ScalleywagAThon)- 
Read in a day

📚📚📚📚

This volume was just as cute as the others. I like seeing the girls' interactions together and their friendships are something I just really love about these graphic novels. The one thing I was not too sure of at first was the change in art direction, especially in the ninth issue. I did like the art direction in the rest of the issues, but not as much as I did in the other volumes. Also, the ninth issue was not a favorite of mine. Overall, these still are really good. 

Volume 9: 📚📚📚

Volume 10: 📚📚📚📚

Volume 11: 📚📚📚📚

Volume 12: 📚📚📚📚

🏴‍☠️  Book 8: Dear Luke, We need to talk. Darth 🏴‍☠️
and other Pop Culture correspondences by John Moe
Read November 8th-9th, 2017
(The fourth and final book for ScalleywagAThon)- 
A stand alone
📚📚



An okay book where you see the letters, emails, text messages, and other correspondences of pop-culture icons. This was a book that I got because I thought it sounded funny and because of its cover. There are many pieces of correspondence that I really enjoyed reading in this book, but a good amount of them are not so good.

Another aspect that may not make it enjoyable to some people is if you don't get the references. That is the problem with this type of book that correspondences are based on something else. Funnily enough, I actually knew basically every reference in this book. I was not expecting that but I did. That did not help to make them any better for me. Like I have said there are some good examples such as Jay Z's 99 Problems (the biggest surprise for me), A Court- Ordered Letter from Dora The Explorer's Mother, A letter from the kids' of Peanuts teacher Miss Othmar, and also the Welp ads for Hotels.

The sad thing is that I have always loved books like this, but I could not even enjoy the pieces based off of pop-culture that I enjoy. One example the Star Wars one, I did not feel that it felt true to the character of Darth Vader and really was not funny, which I believe was the intent behind every piece in this book. Also, the piece for Harry Potter had details that were not actually accurate with Harry Potter. When making a book like this if you are going to use actual details as a joke I believe you should make them accurate to the source material. Also, there were a couple pieces that were quite strange for their source material, like the Friends show and Mickey Mouse ones.  I'm sad to say that I really was bored by this book.