ASRC 2022 Week 5 (7/18-7/24/22)

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Week 5 Board

Here are our staff reviews for the week:

Elias: It seems my luck finally ran out with this week's 9 as I landed on Hobby. I didn't really know what to read for it but I happened to have a book on my nightstand that seemed to fit the bill nicely. Filth & Grammer is a book about making comics by former Vertigo & Black Crown editor Shelly Bond. Specifically it's a handbook about how to edit comics but it's more than that. It's a full look into the dirty, crazy, all-over-the-place process of making comics. Not the stories within them but the actual nitty gritty of sheparding an idea and the people who are going to bring that idea to life from thought to finished product.

And it's told entirely as a comic! Well...kinda.

There are plenty of comic segements within the book but it's much more like a very professional zine, which if you know Shelly Bond's work is exactly the kind of thing she loves. She brings in tips from other professionals, has dos and don'ts, and plenty of practical examples what each stage of the process looks like and how things change from inital pitch to script to pencils, inks, lettering, coloring, and even at the very end before going to press. It's a fantastic book and highly recommended for anyone interested in how comic publishing works or even how to run a team of creatives.

Shelly (and the rest of the team: Imogen Mangle, Laura Hole, & Sofie Dodgson) makes the case for editors as more than proofreaders, though that is a vital task that gets its own section. I've come away with a much better grasp of what it takes to make a good comic, or any piece of art, and I'll definitely be coming back to this book over and over again for insights and hilarious anecdotes.

As a handbook, 5/5 stars. As a before bed reading book/curiosity book, 4/5 stars

Deborah P.: I've been on a yearlong mission to rekindle my reading relationship with Romance, a genre I read as a teen then apparently abandoned when I became a Serious Adult. As part of this project, I read My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren – a funny, lighthearted, banter-filled new adult rom com with a satisfying friends to lovers storyline and a reliably quirky, witty group of sidekick friends.

The premise: Millie is a criminology professor at UC Santa Barbara. She’s a brainy cool girl who spends all her time with her guy friends, a ragtag group of equally good-looking but socially challenged academics, most notably, gorgeous genius friend and colleague, Reid, whom she ends up sleeping with after a particularly rowdy drinking game. They swear it off as a one-time thing, but when an upcoming university function sends them all scrambling for dates, the group makes a pact to join an online dating app--and fake profiles, mistaken identities, and romcom hijinks ensue.

This is a fun, summer read. A solid bet if you're a contemporary rom com reader or watcher. A great pick for Christina Lauren groupies, fans of Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game and Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, and those with a weakness for sensitive heroes and emotionally guarded heroines.Spice level is medium steamy, typical of Christina Lauren's recent books.

4/5 Stars

We'll see you back on the 25th for the start of week 6!