Nimona

by Noelle Stevenson
PRMS hardcover 262 pages
genre: YA graphic novel, fantasy adventure

This one had great reviews, but at first I didn't like it. Nimona was too pushy and obnoxious. It didn't take long for me to be won over by her, though (like supervillain Ballister Blackheart). Nimona's a shapeshifter who comes to Blackheart to work as his sidekick. Sir Goldenloin is the hero (The Official Hero of the Institute) who is out to stop Blackheart, though the two used to be friends and comrades.

There's a moment on page 99 during a fight between the two men when Goldenloin is at Blackheart's mercy.

Blackheart: "What if I cut off your arm right now? (something that Goldenloin caused to Blackheart years earlier) Then you'd see how fast the Institution would cast you aside. Just like they did me."
Goldenloin: "You wouldn't."
Blackheart: "No, I wouldn't. And I'm the villain. What do you suppose that says about you?"

I quickly grew to care about Blackheart and Nimona and what would happen to them. I loved this book and will re-read it for sure!

Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy

by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis
artwork by Brooke Allen
Hennepin County Library paperback
genre: YA graphic novel

I'm tired and can't think straight. I liked, but didn't love this. Liked: spunky female characters, quirky story line, kept my interest. Didn't like - the line in the "pledge" that's blacked out and replaced with "then there's a line about God or whatever" . . . why not just write the pledge with what would be true for these characters? It also seemed to end rather abruptly (or perhaps it's just the pause before the next issue). In any case, good not great sums it up for me. Tough girls at a scouting-type camp. Odd boys who seem very Jekyll/Hyde. A mystery. Adventures.

Kidnapped

by Robert Louis Stevenson
Carver County Library, audioCD, ~8 hours
read by Jim Weiss

From wikipedia:
The full title of the book, Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away, his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; his Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he Suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called: Written by Himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson gives away major parts of the plot and creates the false impression that the novel is autobiographical.

I didn't enjoy this story as much as Stevenson's other books I've read. I think it's interesting that I've always thought of him as a British author, but this story quickly led me to believe that he was Scottish. Indeed! There are many colloquialisms in this story. The reader had a great brogue!