So, what's on your waitlist to read next from your public library?  

Thought it might be fun to share posts about it (and a reminder to update my shelves to reflect).

I have these ebooks on hold:

#1 on 1 copy.              #3 on 1 copy.           #1 on 1 copy.

 6 on 1 copy.                  6 on 1 copy.         16 on 4 copies.

6 on 5 copies.               3 on 1 copy.                 4 on 1 copy.

       4 on 1 copy.

(just in order shown on my library's website which allows a maximum checkout period of 21 days and uses overdrive)

This volume had some great moments! This has been an interesting ride so far and I'm intrigued to see where this series goes.

Allow me to get the negative out of the way first. I did not particularly enjoy (and maybe didn't finish.....) the extra stuff in this voume. The annual was cute but unnecessary and the What If? was just meh. I was enjoying the series and then was abruptly interrupted with some random other stuff and I didn't really appreciate it.

Okay, getting to the good stuff.

There are few things that make my little feminist heart flutter more than badass women working together and having good male allies. The mystery is still on for most of the issue to find out who this new Thor is and why the hell some woman has Mjolnir. I love the progression as the man now known as Prince Odinson (former Thor) tries to figure it out, but the story isn't about him.

Thor is around and being generally awesome when she gets attacked by the Destroyer and that's when things really start to go in a fabulous and wonderful way, at least in my humble opinion. As the title suggests, the reader does finally find out who holds the Hammer.

Then there are lots of opinions about this choice of Mjolnir-wielder, not the least because she is a she but there are other reasons I've seen that people give to not like the decision. It's an interesting decision, to have a person such as she is be the one to wield the hammer, but after reading through more of some other titles, I feel pretty confident that they know what they're doing and have a longer plan. Especially given some of the Asgardian family drama that surrounds this volume.

While I appreciate that the Marvel Universe isn't handling a female Thor any better than the real world, I'm also glad to see the shift that happens here toward acceptance with some characters. It makes for a great moment that I'd rather not spoil with details. Suffice it to say that I wouldn't call anyone "over it" but I feel like the "who" and "why" are getting to be less important to some than the "what's she going to do with Mjolnir now that she has it".  Most of the volume was just kinda-good and meriting closer to 3 stars in my system, but then women working together and the good male ally that pushed it into the fourth star. It's a pretty awesome moment.

The cuts over to Malekith and his dealings are also very interesting in what is going on in this series and with these characters, but didn't grab my attention or focus as much as the royal family drama or the search for Thor's identity.

If you're curious, though, Prince Odinson's character does continue to have his own title, it's The Unworthy Thor. I've been trying to stick to women-written and/or women-titled comics, but I do plan to make an exception.

Has anyone else read this title or volume?

This whole panel!   When I finish this, I'll have a Marvel blackout, too, then moving onto either DC or general for the most part. 

Also, I need to reread stuff for Transformers. 

Also, there appears to be no Lord Thunder Britches fan art which how is that not a thing?

This is a touching story about the life that came after Auschwitz; the way recovery happens, even when we won't forget or let go, even when we hold on to our pain with both hands. Recovery happens, but it's different. It brought a whole new understanding of Auschwitz and what it meant to have been there. Most of what I've seen about Auschwitz and the concentration camps focus on those perpetrating the horrors and shows the prisoners as others. Here, the Nazi's are the other and the US is not even involved. It's not about liberation or war, it's about marriage and dealing with what comes later.

The effect that the experience at Auschwitz has on the characters in this book and those who meet them after is an entirely different narrative than we're used to in the US. Sort of. It's a narrative of PTSD, which we generally reserve for veterans. The difference makes this book about the way people keep their pain close to them, how they learn to depend on it. It's the way they commiserate amongst themselves and remember together and the way that is its own sort of healing.  It's in the way they know things about themselves and each other that you only learn in those kinds of circumstances and surprises that happen when everyone attempts to return to "normal life".

Lena is our window into Heiner's world. She's the every woman who had nothing to do with Auschwitz and doesn't understand how such horrible things could happen. She doesn't appreciate the strange humor of the survivors but she loves them anyway. She also serves as the reason Heiner and his friends get to tell stories and reminisce about when they met. Her reaction is our reaction.

But the book isn't just about Heiner or Lena or some survivors of Auschwitz alone. Their lives are littered with more people than that, some of which were around before the war and others who they only knew after. Even those who don't seem that closely related at first lend depth and history to the story.

The character progression of both Heiner and Lena is remarkable. Each finds their way of dealing with everything. Their growth and the way they eventually ease into each other felt natural, like it would just happen that way. There was a force of will to help it along, but it wasn't made out to be so hard that it was not believable. Marriage sometimes takes a force of will, especially if it lasts as long as theirs. But the growth isn't just about their marriage, there's the way they deal with others as life goes on and Lena getting to know his friends. The tone of the book is beautifully nostalgic, even when they speak of horrible days. The nostalgia is because of each other, it's for each other.

I have to admit that I highlighted this book like I was going to be tested on it. There were so many lines that blew my mind, that changed the way I thought about everything involved with Auschwitz and it's few survivors. For me, it changed everything I thought I knew about Auschwitz. Since I read it on Scribd, the highlights aren't readily available but here are two quotes that were among my favorites:

They wrote down what they remembered, they spoke into microphones, yet what they'd experienced was not the same as what could be read or heard later. Their memories ought to be made into vaccines, to prevent the illnesses that had caused them.

and

They were silent, abandoned the subject, and then the fight would start all over again. She'd said just. It was that word that troubled him. Just because he was at Auschwitz. After endless debates, Lena lost her patience. Heiner, my dear, she said sharply, let me enlighten you on the word that's bothering you so much. Just is a small, embittered word with a difficult life. It has to push its way into sentences, even those where it isn't absolutely necessary, and imbue them with new meaning. First: The just in my sentence is meant in the sense of "although," and does not diminish your friend's suffering. What I wanted to say was: Although he was at Auschwitz back then, I don't have to accept it when he talks nonsense today.

And then she goes on to explain all the other ways that "just" is used because the book is every bit as much about marriage as being a survivor.