I finished A River in the Sky the other day (Friday? I think?), which was the Amelia Peabody I hadn't read, and I enjoyed it, though I don't think it held up well as a story? I don't think there was a lot of there, there, but it did give me Ramses being off on his own (joined, eventually, by David), and I have to admit that what I want most now is the story of Ramses' war years. *hands*

Speaking of which, I have started Code Name Verity, as recommended by a couple of people, and so far I really like it. And! This morning when I turned on my iPad, Deadline Blackout, the third book in the Newsflesh trilogy, downloaded. I AM EXCITE.

Plus, I've been rereading Captain America and I have a bunch of Black Widow stuff to read, and oh, I read last week's Winter Soldier, which mostly gives me a lot of "Oh, Bucky" feels, which is pretty much all I ask for. (I am always amused when someone refers to him as Steve's boy.)

Speaking of Bucky, the other day, I was reading a story about Steve and his angst about everything he's lost, and it was pretty well written except for one HUGE GLARING OVERSIGHT. Like, he spent a lot of time mourning Peggy and Howard, but there was not even ONE MENTION of Bucky. And I was just like, "Really? Seriously?" And I clicked out of the story.

Leaving all shipping concerns aside, I just don't understand how in a story about all the things Steve has lost, someone could completely neglect to mention the loss of his best friend, which is something that doesn't happen all that long before he hits the ice, and something he didn't have a whole lot of time to mourn/get over, and oh yeah, something he blames himself for (Peggy's advice notwithstanding).

It's bad enough there's no direct reference to Bucky in Avengers, though I took Steve's "I've known guys with none of that worth ten of you" as a reference to Bucky (and the Howling Commandos as a whole), and I'm hoping that in all the deleted Steve scenes we've heard about, at least one will mention or refer to Bucky, but I feel like leaving it out of fic that is from Steve's POV - and that is explicitly about everything he's lost - is just poor characterization.

Another thing I've noticed - though a lot less since I don't read a lot that is Tony-centric - is the almost complete absence of Maria Stark. Tony didn't spring fully grown from Howard's forehead, but you'd think so just going by how often anyone mentions her.

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Let us not even discuss the debacle that was last night's Rangers game. Sigh.

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