Well would you look at that, 2020 is nearly gone forever. Not that the year actually had anything to do with what’s gone on, but there’s a weird catharsis anyway, I suppose. How did the holidays pass by already? Madness. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as safely as you could.

On to the last new books of the year!

New Books

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1956 and Koshchei the Deathless by Mike Mignola et al I consider together, as I ordered them together. They were the next two Hellboy related graphic novels I wanted to buy, the former being the next volume I needed in the spin-off series that takes place in the early years of Hellboy’s career, and the latter telling the story of Koshchei, whom Hellboy fought in the main series volume Darkness Calls.

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers is the third book in the Wayfarers series, which is why I picked it up. I’m not that far along yet, but it’s actually been strangely difficult to pick up the second book, so I decided to secure this one from a local book shop while I had the chance.

Berserk Vol. 25 by Kentaro Miura was the next book in the series that I needed, which a friend got for me for Christmas. It was much appreciated, but now I’m caught all the way up to the volumes I own again and must acquire more. It’s just too easy to read through lots of manga.

Remina by Junji Ito is the manga author’s latest book to be published in English by VIZ media. I pre-ordered it shortly after I learned it was coming out, and have already read and reviewed it. I liked it, but it wasn’t as good as I was hoping it’d be.

Spider-Man 2099: Out of Time by Peter David et al was another whimsical dollar store purchase. It’s volume one, it was $4, and it is a Spider-Man. I needed no more convincing.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary by Pablo Hidalgo was yet another Christmas gift from a good friend of mine. With this, I have all three visual dictionaries for the sequel trilogy, which I’m thrilled about. They’re nice little reference books full of great snippets of lore.

Novel Discoveries

I believe I learned about Artificial Life After Frankenstein by Eileen Hunt Botting from a WWW post on another blog, though I cannot remember where, unfortunately. It considers our obligations to the possible artificial life/intelligences we as a species may create, examined through the lens of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. That grabbed me so firmly I knew I just had to read it someday.

I can’t remember at all where I heard about 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act by Bob Joseph, but as a Canadian it feels like required reading. Learning it exists was enough to get me wanting to make sure I read it.

The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters I know nothing about in terms of plot, I just put a figurative pin in it because damn that is a title that hooks me. It’s apparently YA, paranormal, and LGBT, the last of which I could stand to read more of, so that’s all a plus too.

Closing Thoughts

I hope everybody has a safe and happy New Year, all things considered. I’m planning to have a responsibly inebriating amount of apple whiskey at home.

Did you meet your reading goals for the year? I only managed to properly finish one (I hope, not actually done quite yet). Let me know how you’ve done below.

Until next time, thank you for reading.