LeGuin is one of my all-time favorite fantasy authors and this is the first book of three in possibly my favorite of her series, set is a richly developed fantasy world with many distinct cultures. This book takes place in a kind of Scottish-highlands like rocky mountainous land. The families who live there subsist mainly on sheep farming. Each family is burdened with a “gift”, or an ability, which ranges from the ability to speak to animals to the ability to kill with a look. The story focuses on two teens who both refuse to use their gifts.

Henry "Monty" Montague is a flirtatious bisexual alcoholic, recently kicked out of Eton and preparing for his Grand Tour, which will be his last year of partying before submitting to his abusive father's pressure to join the family business. Monty is physically small, has bad impulse control, no responsibilities and unrequited feelings for his best friend, Percy Newton. For the first 100 pages of this book I found Monty to be such an unsympathetic character that I was seriously considering giving up on the book. I decided to give it one more chapter and I am VERY glad I did- on page 102 the carriage in which Percy, Monty, his sister Felicity and their chaperone Mr Lockwood are traveling from Paris to Marseilles is attacked by highwaymen and the whole books takes a welcome turn into fast-paced madcap adventure. Pirates, alchemists, impersonations and plots throw Monty, Percy and Felicity into more danger, and more intimacy, than any of them know how to handle. In the end, very enjoyable.

A very strange but enjoyable comic about a fictional rehab center which takes in famous artists, including Walt Disney, who have suffered mental breakdowns. Artists are given therapy and Prozac, but also personal studios, art supplies and pet penguins.

On the night of her quinceañera, Lupe is granted a set of unexpected and unexpectedly exhausting super powers: flights, super strength, and some invulnerability. Her Abuela reveals that she, too, gained powers when she turned 15 and steps up to train Lupe for a year of crime-fighting, crushes, exhilaration and all-nighters.

The characters of this comic are loveable and well-drawn, but the book as a whole suffers from some first-book awkwardness, especially in the page layouts and the pacing of the action. However, it all comes back together for a very emotional and meaningful conclusion that made my inner Buffy fan very happy at the end.

A very on-brand offering from the wildly-prolific James Kochalka. Two teenage boys putter around in a garage, building a working Mecha suit. One wants to impress a girl and get a date for the prom. The other scorns the opinions of the popular crowd and the traditional rituals of high school. On their first night out in the suit the boys crash into a car, unknowingly creating a nemesis who has a power suit of his own. I enjoyed this comic but not quite as much as my favorite of Kochalka's offerings (his long running autobio series American Elf and his books for very young children like Dragon Puncher Island).

Priankya is a high schooler with a love of comics and many lingering questions about her family's past. Why did her mother leave India for America, never to return? What is India really like? And who is her father? The only relatives Pri has in the US are her aunt and uncle, but they are expecting their own first child and have less and less time for her. Pri feels completely cut off from her heritage- until she discovers a magical pashmina scarf that magically transports her to an brightly-colored India of myths and talking animals. But a dark shadow lingers under the magic of the pashmina, and when Pri finally gets the chance to visit India for real it is nothing like she expected. A delightful YA/middle grade comic which perfectly balances the flights of fantasy with the heavier subjects.

I read this book for the first time when I was in junior high, and it was my first sweet taste of Urban Fantasy. Elves on motorcycles, magic at dance clubs, werewolfs staffing used bookstores- I was hooked. I read it again this month, outloud, all in one day during a road trip to LA with my sister. We were both amazed that it not only held up to our memories, but was perhaps ever better than we remembered. We caught more references (to bands, to other sci-fi and fantasy authors) than we had the before and the overarching theme of gentrification hit harder. Highly recommend.

A beautiful, melancholic and compulsively readable memoir. The author, Tillie Walden, spent 12 years as a competitive figure skater, despite the fact that she barely enjoyed the sport. The stress, exhaustion and constant pressure to conform silenced her ability to break out of the never ending routine. Layered on top of this was a series of physical and mental traumas: the fear of being outed as gay, routine bullying, an assault, two near-miss car wrecks. The quality of light and physical spaces of the skating rink are gorgeously and sparsely illustrated with just enough information to get the point across. Each page is carefully designed and latent with unspoken emotion. An effortless masterpiece of a book.

This was one of the first mangas I ever read (perhaps second after Cardcaptor Sakura) and it totally sucked me in. In high school, I went on to read at least 20 volumes. Picking up the first book again, ten or fifteen years later, I realized how much I had forgotten about it! This first installment is such a great start to a series; all of the main characters are quickly introduced, and the ongoing emotional dramas are established. There's so much humor and real heart. The page on which Akane's ponytail is cut off was imprinted on my memory and her grief over the end of a childhood crush, which she finally lets go, is beautifully written. Takahashi's ability to draw bodies in motion is so impressive. The very frequent martial arts fight sequences are dynamic and exciting and my respect for her as a cartoonist has only grown now that I know more about the mechanics of comics.

Everything I love about Ranma 1/2 is in full display in the first volume; unfortunately, a lot of what bugs me about the series crops up in volume two. My favorite scenes tend to be the domestic squabbles of the Tendo and Saotome families, especially the teasing Akane and Ranma get from Akane's older sisters at every turn. I don't love as much the constant stream of opponents who show up, instantly fall in love with either Akane and/or Ranma and challenge one or both of them to increasingly ridiculous battles. The battles are amazingly well drawn and often hilarious; but the emotional subtlety and character growth of book one is largely missing from this volume. I'd still totally recommend it though, especially if you are looking for kickass martial arts/gymnastics/ice skating fights!