January ScaredyKIT: Graphic Novels and YA

We combined graphic novels with young adult to start off 2021’s ScaredyKIT. Hopefully between the two, most of us will be able to find something they’ll want to read.

Suggestions:

Graphic Novels:
(Note, I haven’t read all of these!)
Locke & Key series / Joe Hill
The Sandman series / Neil Gaiman
The Walking Dead series / Robert Kirkman
Swamp Thing series / Alan Moore
From Hell / Alan Moore

Young Adult:
Coraline / Neil Gaiman
Killer Instinct / S.E. Green
Help for the Haunted / John Searles
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children / Ransom Riggs
The End Games / T. Michael Martin
Something Wicked This Way Comes / Ray Bradbury

A couple of prolific/popular YA/horror authors:
Lois Duncan
Christopher Pike

Don’t forget to post to the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_ScaredyKIT#January:_YA_and_Graphic_...

It looks like touchstones are not working for me at the moment. I'll try to remember to come back to add those in when I can.

ETA: Looks like my list isn't working - it keeps timing out, but my posts with just one are working.

I was really looking forward to graphic novels for this month, but my library has shut down again, and my preference is to read the physical copies of those. I think they are still offering curbside, so I might still be able to.

That being said, I haven't yet picked out what I'll read but one YA option for me is:
Shadowland / Alyson Noel

Odd, my touchstone worked for the individual book I posted here, but it's not working for the list of suggestions... But it didn't work on reloading the page.

I've got a couple possibilities, The first book of The Sandman's series. Ive had this forever and another I found in my house, The Voynich Hotel story and art by Douman Seiman.

I have about 4 books going right now and I was struggling on which to prioritize. I have at least 1/3 left of Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. It's so good, but library holds have caused me to push it down the list. I will set it aside until January.

I don't think I have a new read for this topic, but maybe. My library is currently the Christmas room, filled with packages and wrapping paper. If nothing else, I'm willing to re-read iZombie: Dead to the World. I really liked the artwork.

Can't make a decision until January and will see what my library has. (They are now closed again) I normally don't buy this genre, so not a lot on my shelves.

I have two Gn trade volumes I'm considering (definitely one, maybe both!): Preacher Book 1 (by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon) and John Constantine, Hellblazer: Original Sins (by Jamie Delano, John Ridgeway, Alfredo Alcala, Rick Veitch and, Tom Mandrake).

I have set aside In the After by Demitria Lunetta for January ScaredyKit. It's a YA story about an alien invasion that destroys earth.

I watched the movie, Coraline with my granddaughter. I think I will try to see if she has the book; if not, will try the Library.

>10 Tess_W: Oh, we love Coraline! I might do a reread of that one.

I've got The Sandman: Fables and Reflections by Neil Gaiman on my TBR shelf.

>10 Tess_W: Not too long ago, I read the graphic novel version of Coraline, which I really liked and found quite different from the movie, in terms of the visuals (I think the graphic novel was done before the film). And you'd get a two-fer with that!

I found a graphic novel version of Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury - another two-fer!

>14 JayneCM: Nice!

I have a rough time with graphic novels because they tend to tire out my eyes, but I've been meaning to read the second book in Gaiman's Sandman series for ages, so this will be the perfect opportunity.

>16 whitewavedarling: I always try to make sure I'm reading with good light.

>17 LibraryCin: I do, as well. My issue is more along the lines of the mix of words and pictures... I wear reading glasses, but they're just for reading. I get headaches if I accidentally start doing something other than reading with them on (like looking at pictures with any attention). I've tried reading graphic novels both with them and without, and either way, I just have to limit my time--I can't sit and read for a 2-3 hour stretch like I like to do with novels!

>18 whitewavedarling: Oh, that is tricky. :-( You could always choose a YA book instead of a graphic novel, if you'd prefer. But, if you were wanting to read the next "Sandman" book, anyway, I hope it works out for you

Yeah, it's just one of those things--I even have to plan for 'time for a headache afterward' if I want to watch a movie with subtitles. But I really have been meaning to make time/attention for the Sandman series at Some point, so as long as my schedule doesn't get overloaded by other things, I'll get back to it now :)

>20 whitewavedarling: would bifocals help?

>21 Robertgreaves:, I'm honestly not sure... I've never talked to my eye doctor about it, though I suppose I could. Maybe I'll do so in the new year...

I read a children's book from 1968--I'm not sure YA existed then! The House of Dies Drear must have been ground-breaking because the author and all the characters are African-American.

I have completed In the After by Demitria Lunetta for this Cat. I found this and okay read and, at this point, I am planning on reading the sequel to this YA Sci-Fi thriller.

I listened to Wilder Girls by Rory Power for YA. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I liked it a lot. The narration was very good.
I read the graphic novels: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Occult Edition by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Exorsisters Volume1 Damned if you Don't

I am reading the fifth installment of the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series. The Conference of the Birds by Ransom Riggs

I decided to start Preacher Book One (by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon). I’m not exactly sure what I’m getting into here other than it seems to be about a Reverend who is crossing the country on a revenge spree of some sort. And it seems to be “unapologetically profane.” I bought this one “blind” a little while ago on the strength of a recommendation from a comic book fan. We’ll see if it actually fits the Horror description or not!

I read The Voynich Hotel story and art by Douman Seiman. I read it for the challenge but I did not appreciate this novel. 1/2 stars for me. It is disgusting. Qualifies for horror though. Didn't really get the story line much, did not seem that the plot was connected in anyway. Maybe there was more than one story line. Sexual content was disgusting. I think the art was not that good. I probably will put this book into the recycling so the paper can go to better use.

I finished Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

>30 luvamystery65:, that's a good one.

I read The Yellow Wallpaper: the graphic novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Really well done - contains the full text of the short story and the illustrations are a perfect fit for it.

I've re-read Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry. I hadn't read it in eight years and I really liked it then but I think I liked it even more this time. I actually came away with a different ending than before.

I've just posted February's thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/328739

I finished Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman - I thought this was going to be a reread, but it turns out that it wasn't. I had never finished it the first time - not sure why. Guessing I got distracted by somehthing new and shiny. Heh.

Well, wasn't very scary, but...

Shadowland / Alyson Noel
3 stars

I don’t want to give too much of a summary, so as to not give away the first two books in this “The Immortals” series. This won’t give away anything of the first two books: Ever is drawn to her new (very young) boss at her new job in a mystical bookstore. But she is still so in love with her soulmate.

I listened to the audio of this one. I wasn’t that excited about it. I did lose focus more often that I’d like. It did get better at the very end and I was paying better attention. Rating it “ok”, but overall, I don’t think it’s enough for me to continue the series.

I think, at some point over the year (hopefully soon before I forget), I'd like to add in a graphic novel, as well. Especially since my YA didn't live up to the scary part!

The one I'm planning on:
Death: the High Cost of Living / Neil Gaiman

Finished The Sandman #2: The Doll's House! I couldn't actually say it scared me, but then again, I'm not sure when I last read a YA or graphic novel that scared me--it's been a long time--so I didn't quite expect that. It had it's creepy moments, though, without a doubt, and I'm glad to have read it!

Well, I finished Preacher Book One (by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon) even though I wasn't horrified in the "I'm gonna have nightmares about it" kind of way, I think this qualifies as Horror: supernatural possession, vampirism, insanity, serial killing, warped religion, ugly people (inside and out). I'm not shy about gore and violence (of which there was quite a bit in this collection of twelve issues); but it was pretty unrelenting and depressing. Maybe that's the horror of it!? Regardless, I doubt I'll be picking up the next trade volume of watching the TV series. :-/

One of my book clubs chose Every Heart a Doorway, the first in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, as this month's selection, so I decided to reread it. I think it is considered YA, though that might only be because the main characters are teenagers.

Read the Contagion duology by Erin Bowman: Contagion and Immunity - YA horror/scifi. I love finding horror or mystery novels that are also science fiction.

(Added to the wiki!)

I also read The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling this month. It would fit this category since it is about a horrible monster killing and terrorizing the land.

Late to this ballgame, but did a re-read of Coraline.

And finally got that graphic novel I wanted to read (though it wasn't scary...):

Death: The High Cost of Living / Neil Gaiman
3.75 stars

Sexton is 16-years old and thinking about killing himself. He is writing a note when his mother interrupts him and asks him to leave so she can do some spring cleaning. While out, Sexton meets Didi… who it turns out is Death personified, though she does “remember” her young teenage life as Didi. She appears to be a teenager like Sexton, so they spend a day and night just “hanging out” doing normal teenage things (while still aiming to do an odd errand – there is a 250 year old woman who has asked Didi to find and retrieve her heart for her).

This is a graphic novel, highlighting the character Death from the “Sandman” series.. I liked it better than the ones I’ve read from the Sandman series. The introduction by Tori Amos was odd. I also though the “afterword” comic on sex and AIDS was odd, but it was published I 1993, so I guess he was trying to get some factual info out there. But I liked the character who is Death, and her kind-of friendship with Sexton. I also loved her “look” – dark and goth.