How to Talk to a Widower

I finally sat down & read this title, over the years I had skimmed through this book several times.  I love a lot of the dialog in this book & it has quite a few scenario descriptions.  The main character in this title loses his wife after only a year of marriage.  The story shows him go through several stages of grief but it starts a year after the event.  Like the book Perfect Family I love how the author characterizes the person who has died and makes them an equally important essential to the story being told.  The underlying theme of this title is hope for a brighter future, a silver lining for tomorrow.  Another great thing I like about this title are the smaller narratives woven within the larger story.  One of my favorites is when Doug is still spending his days drinking & declaring war on the rabbits of his yard.  I own a copy of this title & definitely plan on looking for more work by this author.  

 

Hawkeye Vol. 2: Little Hits

The second volume of Hawkeye doesn't disapoint.  The art does more in this volume to sell the stories than the previous volume proving how essential have a great artist is to the comics medium.  There are three main stories woven together in this volume.  However I feel that the final issue which is the awesome Pizza Dog issue is a bit confusing so I didn't find the closure of the final story arc in this volume as I expected to.  Don't get me wrong the Pizza Dog issue is a masterpiece of graphic storytelling that is so refreshing & original that it makes me so proud to see attention given to artistic story telling of this caliber.  Another favorite issue for me in this collection is the Valentines Day issue which focuses on all of the girls in Clint's life & how he has fracked up his life so much over the years.  It seems that Clint Barton is now the new poster boy for hopeless loser of the Marvel Universe. 

Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon

This first volume was awesome, the simplistic art reminds me of 100 Bullets.  Clint Barton is such an great character.  Flawed in almost every way & Murphy’s Law being the overall connecting element of this new series you just want to read it to find out how he’s going to get out of his newest problem.  If your not digging the art Matt Fraction’s writing is in top form for this series.

Water for Elephants

This is one awesome awe inspiring tale set against the Great Depression era.  I absolutely loved the transitions between the present & the main character's recollections of the past.  This was perfect time to read such a tale because I was able to relate to the situation the main character is in by having a grandfather in an assisted living facility.  I also have a soft spot for animal stories.  This story is part reflection, part hope for things to come & part coming of the age of understanding.  I look forward to rereading this some day.  For every character that is just plain nasty in this tale there are at least three redeeming ones proving that there really are good people out in the world.  If I had picked this up a couple of years ago I may not have been as intrigued by this title as I was.  

Up Close and Dangerous

I finished this title a couple days ago.  This was an easy read but this is the basic definition if there ever was one of a chick flick novel.  I can't say I hated this but it definitely wasn't good.  The dialog was some of the cheesiest I had ever read, it wasn't as bad as The Inheritance Cycle or The Hunger Games trilogy but its still pretty bad.  I am going to try an avoid this genre of titles in the future.