Reading 2007 - August 1-31

4 Books - 1175 pages (1 new)
Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
Stardust by Neil Gaiman

1 Graphic Novel - 180 pages (1 new)
Heaven!! by Shizuru Seino

Fanfiction - 4500 words/9 pages

Scanlations - 53 pages (none previously read)
Bleach Chapter 286. Tooth and Nail by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 287. Don't Forget Till You Die by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 288. The Bad Joke by Kubo Tite/M7

Total, Year to date:
Books: 34 - 11927 pages
Graphic Novels: 107 - 20890 pages
Fanfiction: 40 - 109678 words/219 pages
Scanlations: 6 volumes, 83 chapters - 2887 pages

Between visitors, the high holidays, illness and deadlines, September ended up being a weird month. Which is why I am only just now catching up on recording my reading for you lovely folks. August will be a quickie, with relatively little read and much of that repeats, but expect me to spam you later with an extra-large September edition.

But for now...let's catch up on the end of Summer.

I'd decided to get back into reading my Eighth Doctor novels and figured I might as well catch up on the beginning of the story. Alien Bodies was the next of the 'Eight and Sam' novels on my bookshelf and it was...not awful. My notes on it were brief and state that it was slow in the beginning, excellent in spots and weird in others which is, on the whole, a pretty decent summation.

I believe this book was one of the first to introduce the Faction Paradox and they are just as screwed up and weird as I'd expected. I admit that I kind of skimmed over some of the blood ritual stuff, not because of being squeamish, but because it was kind of boring. I have to give credit where it's due and award Lawrence Miles some serious props for trying to make the Krotons badass. He almost succeeded at it, but the scene where the Kroton is trying to explain just how menacing its incoming warship is and none of the characters will take it seriously, is high comedy.

At any rate, the book was overall a fun read and may be one I go back to eventually.

Next up are several re-reads. I must've been in the mood for some 'comfort' books because I re-read the 'Castle' books by Diana Wynne Jones. They were, as always, delightful and I'm not sure there's really any need to elaborate beyond that.

I closed out the month by re-reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. I had recently seen the movie and felt the need to re-familiarize myself with the original story. I had sort of wanted to dig out the original comics to compare visual medium to visual medium, but the prospect of going through my longboxes was a bit too daunting. Instead, I pulled out the novel and went from there. (I kind of wish I'd been able to find the cover for the edition I have rather than the movie poster one to use with this post, but oh well.)

I don't think I'd touched the book since I read it when it first came out in 1999. I'd forgotten more of the story than I'd realized, which was probably a plus when I went to see the film. This is not because the film suffers in comparison to the book, quite the opposite in fact, I think the two of them complement each other quite well. I would have focused too much on the differences, though and not enjoyed it for what it was.

The original story is a somewhat different kind of fairy tale than the film and, while an entertaining and engaging read, doesn't have much going for it beyond that. It's not moving or really memorable and I think it loses something without Vess' visuals.

Oddly, I only read one manga this month. I'm not sure if it was a slow month for new releases or if I was just holding off on spending money while I sorted out the purchase of a new car. Either way, this portion of our program is going to be short -- though not necessarily sweet.

I picked up Shizuru Seino's Heaven!! based on my enjoyment of her previous series Power!! (aka Girl Got Game in the US) and Jun'ai Tokkou Taichou. This story, however, really didn't work for me. I found the story (and art) frenetic and without the charm of either of the other series. I realize that this is supposed to be a slight variation on your usual 'girl with supernatural powers' story, but on the whole it just didn't work for me. I won't be picking up volume 2.