I was already familiar with Brian K Vaughan's work since I had read Y: The Last Man and the first five volumes of Saga. But when my friend Figbar was moving away and was getting rid of some of his stuff, he gave me a bunch of comics and in that stash I found Paper Girls. A 30 issue series that's a quick and very fun read. Here's my review.



I love comics, but it's easy for me to get burnt out. Especially with Marvel and DC. There are just a million crossovers and huge events that mean you have to buy issues from series you never bought before. And if you don't do that, you tend to get lost. Also, there's the constant question of what is currently in cannon and what isn't. That's what I like about publishers like Image, IDW, and Boom (to name a few). They tend to have series that don't go on forever and even if they're long running series, they tend to not have a million crossovers. I know that the 30 issues of Paper Girls is it. As far as I know there isn't a sequel or any spin offs. I still have the entire Final Crisis/ Blackest Night/Brightest Day run with every single issue, but that takes up a whole short box of comics. So instead of diving into that hubbub, why not tackle a short but thoroughly enjoyable series?

Paper Girls is about four 12 year old girls, Erin, Mac, KJ, and Tiffany, who deliver newspapers in a fictional suburb of Cleveland. It's the morning after Halloween 1988 when the town is invaded by a mysterious force from the future and the girls are caught up in it.The series ran from October 2015 to July 2019 and was published by Image Comics.



I got sucked into this series right away. Vaughan created four very different and unique characters that I grew to like and care for as the story went on. These kids were believable. They weren't goody two shoes little girls but they also weren't written like adults. They had a good mix of child and adult qualities which was a very realistic. It was also nice seeing a story about four young females who didn't just sit around and wait for someone to come save them. It was impressive that it was a female centric comic with kids and it was done well. From my male point of reference, Brian K Vaughan writes women well. That is to say, there weren't any glaring problems that stood out to me. My wife is reading this series now and thus far, she has no problems with it. So that's a good sign.

The story got confusing at times but it I always eventually got it. The girls kept getting into trouble the whole time, but it always made sense. The flow of events worked, which isn't always easy to do with a story involving time travel, but Vaughan was able to keep the story moving without it going contrived.



The only issue I really had has to do with the ending so it kind of limits what I can say, as I don't want to spoil the whole thing for you. What I can say with that there were certain aspects of the story that didn't seem to matter at all in the end. There were a few things the girls did that had no effect on the outcome. This could be a good thing. It could show that sometimes things are just out of your control. But to me it just felt like parts (but not all) of the girls' struggle were pointless.

That aside, Paper Girls was good. It was a truly unique story with well written and engaging characters that kept me turning the pages from issue 1 to issue 30. Even though I liked it, I'm still glad it ended because it never got the chance to get stale.  If you're interested in a good limited run comic series, this is it.

Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan gets an 8 out of 11

1. A character appearance that you misread and imagined differently.

2. A character name that you’ve been pronouncing wrong.

3. An overused trope that is your guilty pleasure.

4. A cliché character type that you like better on screen than reading about.

5. A word/phrase that you learnt because of its use in a book.

Racist Dog Whistle

Thanks to the book Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed, I learned this term that refers to a low key racists sign that meant to fly under the radar for the majority of people but be a secret sign to those in the know. So basically, a tool for garbage human beings.

6. Have you ever not read or completed a required reading book for school?

Not that I can think of, but I know Anne and I have changed our personal plans because we wanted to read instead, But we didn't cancel plans with friends. We just decided not to go to a movie, or go out to eat, or something in favor of staying in and reading.



So there's my answers to the I Messed Up Book Tag. What are yours? If you did this or plan on doing it, let me know!

May was Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and my wife and I took part in an Asian readathon. Though this was the year we were going to read more of what we wanted and not have our TBR list controlled by something like the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge (which is an awesome challenge btw), we still find readathons fun. Especially an Asian one. I myself am half Japanese and grew up very connected to my Asian half. So this readathon spoke to me.

I also wanted to expand my Asian reading horizon to include more than Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The murder of George Floyd has made me want to expand my horizons in the African American direction, but back in early may, my focus was on Asians.

 Anne was the one who made me aware of Yes No Maybe So and recommended it to me because one of the two authors is Becky Albertalli, the author of one of my favorite books Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and the second author is Aisha Saeed, a Pakistani American and guess where Pakistan is? In South Asia! So yay! I found my first book for the readathon. What did I think of it? Here's my review.



I like YA romance. It's cute and can cover some important topics all the while having a sweet romance story. Books like the aforementioned Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, What If It's Us?, and They Both Die At The End. What If It's Us? was written by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera so I knew what I was getting into with this book and knew that I'd more than likely enjoy it.



This book is about two people. Jamie Goldberg and Maya Rehman. Two teenagers who where childhood friends and who will be placed together again when they find themselves volunteering for a local political campaign that turns out to be more important to them than they could ever imagine.
Maya and Jamie have their own problems but maybe they can find answers where they least expect it, in each other.

Just like with What If It's Us?, Yes No Maybe So had two main characters and each author took one of the characters. Becky Albertalli wrote Jamie's parts while Aisha Saeed wrote Maya's parts. If you've ever read a book by Albertalli you'll recognize her style with Jamie immediately. Since I was new to Saeed's work, I didn't know what to expect from Maya's parts, but they flowed quite well and had a unique voice.

I enjoyed this book and found Maya and Jamie's friendship and romance to be cute and just what I needed after being in a reading slump. It was an easy read/listen which was just what I needed. It took a while getting used to the romance as I've only ever read gay romance from Albertalli, so when Jamie and Maya started getting chummy, I was a tad confused. That's not really a critique. Just something that made me smile.

Politics played a large part in this story and it was done well. Jamie and Maya volunteer for the campaign of a state senator hopeful. The campaign is running an uphill battle as it's for a democrat in traditionally red Georgia. I was happy to see that the book didn't take the "all republicans are evil" route as there were a few good characters who weren't democrats. It shows that the other side isn't evil, something that's important to keep in mind.

This book was aimed at a young adult audience and that was easy to see when the various problems the characters experiences showed up. Remember when you were a kid and certain problems seemed like the biggest thing ever and that your life would never be the same, but now, years later, as an adult, you can hardly even remember why it was such a big deal? Or, you remember it perfectly but are embarrassed by how seriously you took it all? This book had a mix of those types of problems and bigger, more serious problems. So even though it was a YA book, as an adult, I could relate to the problems in different ways. Either remembering what it was like to be a kid or I could see it was a bigger more widespread problem like racism.

The one thing that actually bugged me about the book was the referencing of the white supremacist OK symbol and Pepe meme. In the book they talk about how white supremacists took over the "fifi meme" and the OK symbol. I have trouble with this because it annoys me in real life. If we let these asshats take away something as basic and universal as the OK symbol, they that gives them the power to do it to so many other things. But seeing as how that was my biggest problem with the book, one could say I liked it quite a bit.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of YA romance or is just in the mood for a sweet and quick read. The audio book had two great narrators for Jamie and Maya but even if I had physically read the book, I'd have enjoyed it just as much.

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed gets an 8 out of 11

Harry Potter: Which Harry Potter book is your favorite?

Loyalty: Hufflepuffs are known for their undying loyalty. Name an insta-buy author.

Animals/Magical Creatures: As Hufflepuffs, we tend to have a great love for animals. Name a book/series that has your favorite animal/magical creature in it.

I was having a hard time with this one until Anne reminded me of The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. I was focusing too much on the magical aspect of this question forgetting that I could choose a magical creature OR an animal.

Trustworthy: We Hufflepuffs are very trustworthy, however books can also be very trustworthy. Name a series in which none of the books disappointed you.

I try not to use an answer more than twice in these tags, but I just have to with this one. If you've ever read a book tag blog by me then you may know my answer to this. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher is the most reliable book series I have ever read.

Caring: Us Hufflepuffs care for others a lot, even fictional characters. Name a book/series whose main character holds a special place in your heart.

I haven't read this book for at least ten years now, but I still remember Amberle Elessdil. Not only is she a great character, she is more than just the sidekick to her male counterpart Will. Amberle is a well written character that has stayed with me far more than anyone else in the book, or the Shannara series as a whole, ever did.

Kindness: Hufflepuffs always strive to be kind to others, no matter who they are. Name a book/series that you love despite its flaws and imperfections.

I'll admit it. Even though I love The Dresden Files there are some iffy elements. While there are quite a few female characters, Dresden can't help but comment on their bodies. He's also admittedly "old fashioned" when it comes to women in the sense that he opens doors for them and pays for dinners and such. Some have mistakenly called him a chauvinist, but I also think those people don't know what the word actually means. Does Dresden have an outdated attitude of chivalry? Yes. Yes he does. Does he patronize, disparage, or otherwise denigrate females in the belief that they're inferior (i.e chauvinism)? No. No he doesn't.

Patience: Hufflepuffs tend to be very patient, and that's a useful trait when reading slow paced books. Name a book you struggled to get through, but stuck it out until the end.