12 posts tagged “books”

One thing about being sick, it saps your focus. I just don't have the mental energy to do anything beyond rote tasks. Therefore, instead of me getting my homework done, you get a post updating what I've been reading for the past three months.

You're thrilled, I'm sure. :-p

Anyway, despite all the things I've had going on at work, and the reading I've had to do for school (those books likely won't show up on-list until December), I've managed to get a few books under my belt. Just, you know, a handful.

*ahem*

Books: 11 (51 YTD)
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
Trinity Blood - Rage Against the Moons Vol 3: Know Faith by Sunao Yoshida
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale
Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea by Nancy Atherton
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History by The Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Society (what?)
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
High Wizardry by Diane Duane
Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn

Graphic Novels: 67 (128 YTD)
Fruits Basket 1 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 2 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 3 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 4 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 5 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 6 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 7 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 8 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 9 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 10 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 11 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 12 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 13 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 14 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 15 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 16 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 17 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 18 by Natsuki Takaya
Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth by Paul Dini & Alex Ross
Suppli 3 by Mari Okazaki
Modesty Blaise: Live Bait by Peter O'Donnell and Romero
Kaze Hikaru 10 by Taeko Watanabe
Millenium Snow 2 by Bisco Hatori
Skip Beat 8 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Honey and Clover 1 by Chica Umino
Honey and Clover 2 by Chica Umino
Honey and Clover 3 by Chica Umino
Fables: Legends in Exile by Willingham, Medina, Leiloha, Hamilton
Fables: Animal Farm by Willingham, Buckingham
Crimson Hero 6 by Mitsuba Takanashi
Crimson Hero 8 by Mitsuba Takanashi
Bleach 23 by Tite Kubo
Vampire Knight 2 by Matsuri Hino
Vampire Knight 3 by Matsuri Hino
Vampire Knight 4 by Matsuri Hino
Bleach 24 by Tite Kubo
Naruto 1 by Masashi Kishimoto
One Pound Gospel 1 by Rumiko Takahashi
One Pound Gospel 2 by Rumiko Takahashi
Skip Beat 11 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat 12 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat 13 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Kamen Tantei 1 by Matsuri Akino
Vampire Knight 5 by Matsuri Hino
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Rurouni Kenshin 7 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 8 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 9 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 10 by Kenshin Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 11 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 12 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 13 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 14 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 15 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 16 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 17 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Kaze Hikaru 1 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 2 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 3 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 4 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 5 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 6 by Taeko Watanabe
Skip Beat 14 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Kaze Hikaru 7 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 8 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 9 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 10 by Taeko Watanabe

So, uh, yeah. I've been re-reading whole series of manga. This is partly because I'm so burnt out that a volume of manga is about the only thing I can handle at the end of the day; it is partly because I've been going through my books with an eye towards culling and I need to remind myself why I should keep certain things; also, I just plain like reading manga.

Anyway, sorry for the friendspage spam for those on LiveJournal, but it's not like I do this very often. Also, I hate trying to edit the Vox code.

Well, I've realized that I haven't posted about my reading for some time and not at all regarding the books I've read this year. Thus far, I'm up to 20 prose books (15 new) and an additional ten (new) manga.

I'd like to write up some comments on at least a portion of what I've read so far, but just haven't had the time. (Same goes for my drastically overdue review of The Dreamers of the Day.) I also haven't decided how I'm going to go about things, really.

For now, just have a list:

Books: 20
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume I by Diana Wynne Jones
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume II by Diana Wynne Jones
Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
The Witch Hunters by Steve Lyons
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn
Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
Seeing I by Jonathan Blum & Kate Orman
Welcome to the N.H.K. by Tatsuhiko Takimoto
The Empire of Glass by Andy Lane
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Paul Magrs
The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer
Catastrophea by Terrance Dicks
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind by Fuyumi Ono
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers

Graphic Novels: 10
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 4 by CLAMP
Mushishi 1 by Yuki Urushibara
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 5 by CLAMP
Tsubasa  Reservoir Chronicle 6 by CLAMP
Fullmetal Alchemist 15 by Hiromu Arakawa
Tramps Like Us 14 by Yayoi Ogawa
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 7 by CLAMP
Kaze Hikaru 8 by Taeko Watanabe
Wild Adapter  4 by Kazyua Minekura

3 Books - 585 pages (3 new)
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
Reborn on the Mars - Volume 1: The Star of Sorrow by Sunao Yoshida
Nightshade by Mark Gatiss

5 Graphic Novels - 967 pages (2 new)
Fullmetal Alchemist 13 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 14 by Hiromu Arakawa
Paradise Kiss 1 by Ai Yazawa
Paradise Kiss 2 by Ai Yazawa
Ohikkoshi by by Hiroaki Samura

Fanfiction - None

Scanlations - 567 pages (3 volumes previuosly read)
Bleach Chater 289. The Scarmask by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 290. The Broken Mask by Kubo Tite/M7
Paradise Kiss Volume 3 by Ai Yazawa
Paradise Kiss Volume 4 by Ai Yazawa
Paradise Kiss Volume 5 by Ai Yazawa

Total, Year to date:
Books: 37 - 12512 pages
Graphic Novels: 112 - 21857 pages
Fanfiction: 40 - 109678 words/219 pages
Scanlations: 9 volumes, 85 chapters - 3454 pages

Okay...because I like the people on my LJ friendslist so much, I'm going to break September up into two posts. Each one will be fairly long as is, so I might as well keep the long post spam to a reasonable level.

I started the month off with something different, a mystery I picked up randomly. It turns out that there is an entire series and I think I managed to get the first one. The best thing I can say about Cocaine Blues is that I would have loved it when I was fifteen. Well, that and the writing style is relatively engaging. On the whole, though, this story reads like a novel length piece of wish fulfillment fanfiction.

The heroine, Phryne Fisher, is an independent woman of means in the 1920s. The book starts off in London but Phryne very quickly relocates to Melbourne, Australia to try her hand at playing Lady Detective. Phryne is the epitome of Mary Sue perfection. She's gorgeous, stylish, progressive, and more intelligent than everybody around her. She's daring, creative, not afraid of getting her hands dirty, oh, and the stunning Russian ex-pat dancer from Paris is falling all over himself to land in her bed (as is his sister). Yeah.

The plot is a bit over the top, but still manages to be thin. The setup makes it clear from the outset what the 'big reveal' is going to be at the climax of the book which takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. The big adventure/action sequence really stretched my already extended credibility and, on a couple of levels, just fell flat.

Shockingly, I don't think I'll be picking up the next volume. I'd read it if it were on ff.net, though. :-p

Next up is another anime tie-in light novel. I read the previous release for Trinity Blood which was more a novella collection than an actual novel and I felt it suffered slightly as a first release because of that. This book solves that problem admirably, telling a single story.

The plot and characters will be familiar to fans of the anime, as it corresponds to episodes three and four of that series but events do play out differently and the book is worth your time. I am still very much enjoying the original iteration of the Trinity Blood story and will definitely be continuing to buy the books as they are released.

I have also kicked up my Doctor Who reading a bit, thanks to the DWBookClub on LiveJournal. My thoughts on Nightshade can be found in the discussion thread there.

I'm also back to a few more manga in the first half of September. Fullmetal Alchemist continues to be excellent and I don't think it needs my commentary for people to know that. Also thanks to Borders' September manga sale, I picked up some Paradise Kiss that I've been meaning to get forever and, once again, I'm pretty sure that the world does not require me to explain just how good an Ai Yazawa manga is.

The final book, Ohikkoshi was a volume of seinen 'romantic comedy' shorts by the creator of Blade of the Immortal that I picked up on a whim and which very much did not suck. As far as manga collections go, this is the best set of stories I've seen to date. The art is great, the emotions in the stories ring true and I thoroughly enjoyed it, beginning to end. I would definitely recommend this manga to anybody who is looking to escape from the latest shounen power battle with a more mature tale.

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.

4 Books - 2490 pages (2 new)
Chain Mail: Addicted to You by Hiroshi Ishizaki
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

9 Graphic Novels - 1786 pages (6 new)
Bleach 19 by Tite Kubo
Bleach 20 by Tite Kubo
Divalicious 1 by T Campbell, Amy Mebberson
Hellsing 7 by Kohta Hirano
Hellsing 8 by Kohta Hirano
Kaze Hikaru 6 by Taeko Watanabe
Monster 8 by Naoki Urasawa
Monster 9 by Naoki Urasawa
Ouran High School Host Club 9 by Bisco Hatori

Fanfiction - 1200 words/2.5 pages

Scanlations - 928 pages (337 pages not previously read)
Addicted to Curry Chapter 46. The Spirit of Onions and the Volume of Beef Curry by Kazuki Funatsu/Solaris-SVU
Bleach Chapter 281. The Vulgarian Noise by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 282. The Primal Fear by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 283. You Don't Hurt Anymore by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 284. Historia de Pantera Y su Sombras by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 285. Eating Meat, Alone--The Loneliness of the King by Kubo Tite/M7
Emma Volume 5 by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Volume 6 by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Volume 7 by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 9. Friendship by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 10. Shopping Together by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Gokusen Gangster Dog' My Name is Kuroda Fuji by Kozueko Morimoto/Completely Oblivious
Gokusen Gangster Dog'  A Demon's Island - Mr. Ginko's Murder by Kozueko Morimoto/Completely Oblivious
Gokusen Volume 10 Chapter 1 I hope you Understand Shin... by Kozueko Morimoto/Completely Oblivious
InuYasha Chapter 507. Hitomiko by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
InuYasha Chapter 508. The Miko's Barrier by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
InuYasha Chapter 509. The Bow's Spiritual Power by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
InuYasha Chapter 510. Hell by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
REC Take 30. Cocktail by Q-Taro Hanamizawa/XLG
REC Take 31. Proxy by Q-Taro Hanamizawa/XLG

Total, Year to date:
Books: 30 - 10752 pages
Graphic Novels: 106 - 20710 pages
Fanfiction: 38 - 105178 words/210 pages
Scanlations: 6 volumes, 80 chapters - 2834 pages

This summer has been so incredibly busy that I haven't felt that I've had time to think let alone read. Apparently July wasn't as bad as I'd thought because I managed to get a few things read after all.

I started the month by catching up on some scanlations. Three volumes of the scans were me simply not being able to wait until the English release of Emma. Volume 4 ended on  such a dramatic note that I had to go right on through to the rest of the series. The release of a pair of Emma Bangaihen chapters around the same time was a pure bonus. The stories are romanticized and unbelievable, but so lovingly told and charming that it's impossible not to fall in love with them yourself. (And I have to say that the chapter showing Hakim and William as children was made of pure squee and awesomeness.) Bleach is, of course, still fun to read, despite having fallen into the neverending cycle of beating up stronger and stronger foes. To balance that,  Gokusen, Rec and Addicted to Curry are all perfectly cracktacular -- but in that really good way. The less said about Inuyasha, the better I think. This series really needs to be brought around to a close.

In anticipation of both the release of the fifth Harry Potter film and the final volume of the book series, I re-familiarized myself with books 5 and 6 in the series. There's not much to say about these books that hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, but my notes on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoneix basically say that the book could have used a bit more editing and possibly some outside direction to keep it from rambling quite so much. My notes on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince are very succinct. They simply read: 'Much better than OotP'.

As for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I left the following review on Librarything:

The long awaited close to the Harry Potter series delivered in a way that I think the preceding two books did not. The tone was (as expected) dark, but plot seemed much less muddied and Harry himself seemed to have moved beyond his teenage angst and found his way to resolve. Along the way, Rowling filled in backstory and motive, explained mysterious events with more fullness, and maintained a higher energy level throughout than her more recent Hogwarts-based novels have managed.

I felt that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was not only an appropriate ending to the series, but a good one. Everything that needed to happen in terms of plot resolution did, the emotional resolution was there and the story was still very clearly appropriate to its young adult genre despite the constant and occasionally heavy handed reminders that war = death. The epilogue simultaneously manages to be both too much information and not nearly enough, but it brings the message back around to one of hope and provides the ultimate reminder that even in the face of war and of death, life will go on.

The final novel I read in July was Hiroshi Ishizaki's Chain Mail: Addicted to You, released as part of Tokyopop's Pop Fiction line with an English adaptation by Rachel Manija Brown. For a 'light novel' clearly aimed at a much younger audience, I found it surprisingly engaging. As these girls lived out their twisted roleplaying fantasy, I found myself missing my own MUSH and 'play by email' days (which probably says something about me). The odd character relationships, the twists to the story and the final resolution worked well and overall, I found it to be a quick, fun read. I would definitely recommend picking this book up (or, possibly borrowing it) if you feel like reading something short and a little twisted as an afternoon distraction.

Then, of course, there are the manga.

I had read both volumes of Bleach in scanlation some time ago, but I had forgotten that Volume 20 was entirely comprised of the 'End of Hypnosis' chapters which serve to wrap up up the Soul Society arc. It can go either way when you have a single volume that brings resolution to the entire series to that point, and Bleach 20 didn't disappoint. This series of chapters took care of the major mysteries and did a great job with the foundation for the next story arc. I don't think that anybody is going to make the argument that Bleach is somehow deep or meaningful. It truly is formulaic shounen, but the story is laid out well and the dramatic resolutions don't disappoint. I'm definitely looking forward to the official translations of the books still to come, and that kind of sustained interest is impressive for a series this long.

Next up was Monster, volumes 8 and 9. To be honest, I'm not sure there's anything more I can say about this series. Each and every time I try to review it, I simply end up being completely incoherent about the quality of the storytelling I'm pretty sure that you've all gotten the point that I think it's damned good (both of you!) and I'm not sure what I can add to that right now. Maybe when volume 10 comes out.

The shoujo for this month was a very mixed bag. Kaze Hikaru volume 6 really shined for me. The book starts out strong with Kaze Hikaru's representation of the 'Ikedaya Incedent' and Okita's collapse. Then, that's followed by the tensions of the Okita/Kamiya/Saito triangle and Kamiya's dilemma when Kondo asks her to be his successor. There was a lot of action and story packed into a single volume and while it's not a portion of the story you could come into cold, I think it's one of the best single volumes to date.

Faring less well on the shoujo side was Ouran High School Host Club which was disappointingly short and felt padded out by the filler material. This series is capable of so much more than a retread, I'm hoping I see that potential again when volume 10 comes out.

The final shoujo book I read was an OEL, Divalicious 1 by T Campbell and Amy Mebberson. I had received this book some time ago, but had never quite managed to talk myself into reading it. It was some comments on Amy Mebberson's Deviant Art account about the future of the series (or the lack thereof) that convinced me to break it out and give the story a try. My final judgment, as recorded in my handy spreadsheet was: 'Cute. I liked the art, but the story was a bit frenetic.' To expand on that, the simple fact is that Divalicious is not the kind of story I'd seek out on my own, so the fact that I liked it at all is a testament to the creators. That said, I felt there were some flaws both in the content and the pacing that attractive and engaging character design just can't compensate for. It is possible that I will buy a copy of volume 2, but it will be because I want to support the work of an artist I like rather than because I am truly interested in the resolution to this story.

I've saved my commentary on Hellsing for last because I wanted to end on a high note.

Hellsing was one of the first manga I began following back when I was just 'checking out this Japanese stuff'. I have waxed and waned over the years, put off both by a storyline I felt bogged down a bit and by the lengthy wait between volumes. As I reread volume 7 in anticipation of book 8, I felt that I was coming back to the story 'fresh' and that I appreciated it more this time around. The chapters focusing on Pip Bernadette and Seras Victoria were strong and her progression meaningful. The final chapters which set the stage for volume 8 were decent and held their own surprises as well, but the real star for me was volume 8. It's difficult for me to express just how much ass was kicked in this one book alone. There was ultra-violence, and backstory and Count Dracula. There was carnage on the streets of London, the likes of which I haven't seen since Miracleman 15. There was the final showdown between Alucard and Anderson and...and...and...

Anybody who has read and enjoyed previous volumes of Hellsing owes it to themselves to read through the story up until this point. It's just that damned good and I sincerely hope it will not be another two years until the release of volume 9.

Next up! August!
(Which I promise will be considerably shorter)

2 Books - 465 pages (2 new)
The Romance of Crime Doctor Who - Missing Adventure by Gareth Roberts
Trinity Blood Rage Against the Moons - Volume 1: From the Empire by Sunao Yoshida

8 Graphic Novels - 1476 pages (3 new)
Saiyuki Reload 7 by Kazuya Minekura
Tramps Like Us 9 by Yayoi Ogawa
Tramps Like Us 10 by Yayoi Ogawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 13 by Hiromu Arakawa
Bleach 18 by Tite Kubo
Ouran High School Host Club 1 by Bisco Hatori
Ouran High School Host Club 2 by Bisco Hatori
Ouran High School Host Club 3 by Bisco Hatori

Fanfiction - 57147 words (about 114 pages)

Scanlations - 294 pages (all new)
Addicted to Curry Chapter 43. Yui's Moody Panic
Addicted to Curry Chapter 44. The Heart Connecting the Scent of Flowers with Chicken Curry
Addicted to Curry Chapter 45. The Qualifications of a Cook and Mukai-Kun's Beliefs
Bleach Chapter 272. Don't Kill My Volupture
Bleach Chapter 273. Dog Eat Dog
InuYasha Chapter 502. Proof
InuYasha Chapter 503. Black Blade
Nana Chapter 65.
Nana Chapter 66.
Nana Takumi's Story
REC Take 29. Pulp & Fiction

Total, Year to Date:
Books: 15 - 5375 pages
Graphic Novels: 81 - 15063 pages
Fanfiction: 30 - 92427 words/185 pages
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 51 chapters - 1658 pages

Thanks to timing this go around, you’re getting an abbreviated weeknight summary rather than my usually wordy weekend job.

In terms of books, we have two relatively short and extremely mediocre selections. The first is The Romance of Crime, a Doctor Who ‘Missing Adventure’ featuring the Fourth Doctor and Romana II. I’d been following Season 17 on public television and realized that this book was set just after the episode I’d just seen so it seemed an opportune time to fit the book in. I thought that the storyline had potential with a unique 'crime/mystery' and that there were some fun moments of characterization. On the whole, however, the book dragged. I’m not quite sure why that was, and perhaps it was just me not quite getting ‘into’ things as deeply as I’d like but I tend to think of that more as a failing in the author than in the audience. I should want to be that deeply in the story. In the end, I might recommend this book to someone really missing their Four/Romana, but I’d do it with an unqualified shrug.

The second book I read was the first of the Trinity Blood light novels being put out by Tokyopop. (I’m not retyping that entire title again. :-p) As I suspected, I very much preferred the novel (actually a collection of short stories) to the manga. This was definitely a ‘fluff’ piece without any real depth but it was fun to read and, on the whole, a lot more cohesive and easier to follow than the manga. The overdone illustrations that seem to obscure the action in the graphic novels work well as illustrations to the text, and I would definitely recommend the books both to fans of the anime and fans of the genre in general. I hope, though, that future volumes give us a bit more in terms of both backstory and setting. I don't like inferring plot and character information from what I know of the anime simply because that storyline is clearly different than what we're seeing in the books (though two of the four stories will likely seem familiar to anime fans). I just don't feel that the author is doing enough to make the novel setting truly stand on its own. The stories seem to rely on mood and action to carry them, which is enough for a single short story, but gets old in a series of them.

Of this month’s graphic novels, only Saiyuki Reload 7, Tramps Like Us 9 and Fullmetal Alchemist 13 were new. Tramps Like Us was good, but the Saiyuki and FMA just plain kicked ass. I’d like to be able to explain to you just how wonderful these books were, but I’m not sure I could do it without devolving into fannish squee so I’ll just spare you.

Until next time!

2 Books - 750 pages (1 new)
Neverwhere (Author's Preferred Text) by Neil Gaiman
Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones

1 Graphic Novel - 190 pages (1 new)
Genshiken 8 by Kio Shimoku

Scanlations - 118 pages (all new)
Bleach Chapter 267. 'Legions of the Reglets'
Bleach Chapter 268. 'You--Don't Give In to Death'
Bleach Chapter 269. 'The End is Near'
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 7. 'Erich and Theo'
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 8. 'On the Wings of Song'

Total, Year to Date:
Books: 11 - 4034 pages
Graphic Novels: 71 - 13264 pages
Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words/44 pages (no change)
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 22 chapters - 946 pages

Not that anybody cares apart from me, but if you were to compare the Year to Date totals with previous editions, they are going to be off. What happened was that my computer asploded back on January 24 meaning that I didn't have access to my tracking spreadsheet. I didn't quite realize at the time that I would be sans computer for 2 months so I just kept track of things on paper and added it up on a calculator. It comes as no surprise (to me, at least) that I managed to booch this terribly and have incorrect numbers both for number of graphic novels read and for total pages read in more than one category. Now that ASUS has finally sent me a working motherboard to replace the one that died an ignominious death (as opposed to the two non-working ones they sent), I'm back on the spreadsheet and because I trust its ability to add much more than my own, we're gonna go with those numbers from now on.

Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, lets move on to the books!

This first book should be a familiar sight to many of you, though perhaps not this version. While I have been known to reread Neverwhere (and often!) this time around was more of a...revisiting. The version I read this time was not my old 'tried and true' first US edition hardcover, but a trade paperback that s1ncer1ty picked up for me in the UK that contains the 'Author's Preferred Text'. Basically, my understanding is that Gaiman has gone through the various printed editions, as well as the original drafts and scripts and 'cherry picked' the bits he liked best for a single 'definitive' edition. I believe that this was originally done for the Hill House line of absolutely gorgeous but bank account breaking editions, but apparently the UK doesn't have to wait for it.

In a practical sense, not much has changed. In fact, I doubt that most readers, even the most anal and obsessive of Gaiman fans, are going to notice anything different at all. I found that because I am so familiar with both the original US text and the dialogue as heard in the minseries, I came away with a very strong sense of 'this is right'. All the stuff that was supposed to be there was and there was absolutely nothing that I missed. One addition that the 'completists' will enjoy is an alternate prologue that is presented at the end. It is set approximately 400 years before the events of the miniseries and provides a lengthier introduction to Croup and Vandemar. It was interesting to read, but I can see why it was removed and it stands more as a curiousity than an addition to the text. There are also a series of questions and answers, but I tend to think of those as having a relatively limited amusement value.

Next up is Conrad's Fate which is part of Diana Wynne Jones' 'Chronicles of Chrestomanci'. I read most (though not all) of the previous Chrestomanci stories last year and enjoyed them thorougly. I found myself looking at the latest release (The Pinhoe Egg) in hardcover at I-Con when it suddenly dawned on me that maybe I should buy the one before it first--a radical idea whose time has come!

As this series is written for a younger audience, Conrad's Fate was a quick and easy read. There were really no surprises here, this was pure Diana Wynne Jones. The book was accessible and fun, the story relatively straightforward and the resolution a bit absurd and confusing but in a 'drawing room farce' kind of way so that you don't really hold it against her. All in all, I can highly recommend this (or any of the Chrestomanci books, really) if you're feeling a little sick, a little brain-slow and you just need something light and fun to sustain you.

Finally we come to the real star of the week for me. You may have gotten a sense in my previous post of how much I like Genshiken. Well, the long awaited Volume 8 was released this week and I can tell you right now, I'm going to have a hard time waiting until they release 9.

This volume focused much less on 'otaku culture' in general and turned the spotlight squarely on Oguie, both individually and in her relationship with Sasahara. Her backstory is finally revealed and she is forced to come to terms with both her past and the possibilities of the future. Her story and how she is able to come to terms with herself and with Sasahara's acceptance of Who She Is provide more than the usual depth you expect from this series. I enjoyed this book immensely and expect that it will be reread more than a few times before the next volume is due out.

1 Book - 800 Pages (1 new)
InDesign CS2 Bible by Galen Gruman

11 Graphic Novels - 2080 pages (4 new, 1 magazine)
Shirahime-Syo by CLAMP
Hoshi no Koe - Voices of a Distant Star by Miyu Sahara
Genshiken 1 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 2 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 3 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 4 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 5 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 6 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 7 by Kio Shimoku
Monster 7 by Naoki Urasawa
Trinity Blood 2 by Sumao Yoshida
Shojo Beat v3 i4 by Various

Scanlations - 75 pages (all new)
Gokusen Volume 9 Chapter  'R.I.P, Tenkai's Boss' scanlated by Completely Oblivious
REC Chapter 28 'Sixth Sense' scanlated by XLG
Bleach Chapter 265 'Bang the Bore' scanlated by M7
Bleach Chapter 266 'Hide Away From the Sun' scanlated by M7

Total, Year to Date:
Books: 9 - 3284 pages
Graphic Novels: 69 - 13074 pages
Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words/44 pages (no change)
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 17 chapters - 724 pages

To continue catching up, here's my reading from the first half of March. Once again, you'll see a heavy bias towards manga, this is still due to a severe lack of time on my part. When I'm that busy and that tired, I'd far rather spend my time on manga which tend to be short and easy to digest. The fact that I've got several books started, but haven't completed them, shouldn't be a mark against the quality of the books I'm reading, nor should it be an indication that I need recommendations of more books to read. It really just means I haven't got the time or energy just now and that I'll get back to them when I do. Really.

As for the one 'real' book showing up this time around, this could be takn as an indication of where a good chunk of my time went. I spent a while considering how I should record this book, since it's more properly a reference than something you read cover to cover, and I didn't read through the entire thing. I did, however, read through great heaping chunks of it at a time and probably read damn near the entire main body of text in fits and spurts through the course of my project. What I elected to do was include it but only at the page count of the actual text, without any appendices, etc. I suspect that comes fairly close to my actual usage, give or take 50 or 100 pages or so. :-p

As for an opinion on the book itself, I have to say that I absolutely loved it. This was a fabulous resource that clearly explained both concepts in desktop publishing and concrete procedures for realizing them in InDesign. Absolutely money and time well spent on my part.

Now, on to the manga.

I did not set out to re-read the entirety of my Genshiken collection this month, but it sort of happened anyway. You see, I picked up the full run of the anime at a bargain price and, after watching it, I felt the need to go back to the original. It's not that the anime is bad, it's that the manga is that good.

Reading this series is incredibly nostalgic for me. Much of what goes on at 'The Society for Modern Visual Culture' feels like my own college experiences--regardless of the difference in culture and time. Nerds are nerds wherever you go, I guess and the personal journeys you see for individual characters 'accepting their inner otaku' or learning how to deal with the people around them socially or even just the single-minded devotion to discussions that are the anime/manga equivalent of 'which tech is superior, Star Wars or Star Trek?' ring absolutely true. Shimoku holds a big mirror up to nerd-culture and does it with a light touch that makes it accessible even to the armchair otaku. Now if Del Rey would only publish volumes 8 and 9...*sigh*

I'm going to skim over Monster 7 simply because nothing I could say would do the book justice. Urasawa is not only that good, he's better. This series is completely fabulous and I don't know why everybody isn't reading it.

In contrast, I'm skimming over Trinity Blood 2 because I'm not sure what I can say about it that's worthwhile. The story is disjointed and confusing, and the art even more so. It seems like there'd be something fun underneath all the cliches and awkward rendering, but I'll be damned if I can find it in that mess. Maybe it will show up in the novel translations.

Somewhat better was CLAMP's Shirahime-Syo, a collection of 3 stories and a framing sequence about the snow spirit (in their version, a princess) of Japanese mythology. I have to admit to somewhat mixed feelings about CLAMP's work in general, with much of what they produce just plain not appealing to me. (Though I hereby fess up to secretly coveting a set of xxxHolic books.) And I wouldn't have picked up this book on my own, but it was a 'freebie' tossed in with my latest box of manga so, really, how could I say no?

I believe that the art style is meant to be more 'traditional' than commercial. It's not bad, and it suits the stories being told, but I'm not completely won over by it for some reason. I think it's weakest in the first story which takes place largely in a cave and in which the use of dark/light doesn't entirely feel successful. But then, I didn't enjoy the first story in general so I may just be overly nit-picky. The remaining stories and framing sequence were better, but not spectacular. Overall, I'd say the book is worth reading, but not worth going out of your way to read--if that makes any sense.

The DVD of Voices of a Distant Star was something I felt very much the same way about. I'd picked it up randomly on the cheap and I'm glad that I watched it, but I also don't think that I'm ever going to watch it again. The manga, on the other hand, I think will find a long-term home on my shelf and will be something I come back to when I need a short dose of sweet-but-angsty romance.

I realize that the manga is the derivative work, but I very much preferred it to the anime. There is something about the wistful nature of the relationships that is captured better in the static, drawn images than by the beautifully animated original. I felt their uncertainty, I felt the weight of the distance between them and it all seemed so much more palpable than when it had been played out before me on the screen. I definitely recommend this adaptation to anybody who is looking for something short and sweet but not necessarily upbeat or happy.

That's going to be it for now. Hopefully I'll have more in the way of regular books soon, though I wouldn't necessarily expect to see any until April or so. That's just how things are going right now.

2 Books - 466 pages (1 re-read)
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

21 Graphic Novels - 4039 pages (20 re-read, 1 magazine)
Rurouni Kenshin 7 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 8 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 9 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 10 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 11 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 12 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 13 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 14 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 15 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 16 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 17 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 18 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 19 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 20 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 21 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 22 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 23 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 24 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 25 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 26 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Shojo Beat v3 i3 by Various

Scanlations - 520 pages (38 pages not previously read)
Bleach Chapter 261. 'Left Arm of the Devil' scanlated by M7
Bleach Chapter 262. 'Unblendable' scanlated by M7
Kimi wa Pet Volume 1 scanlated by Ushi
Kimi wa Pet Volume 2 scanlated by Ushi
Kimi wa Pet Volume 3 scanlated by Ushi

Total, Year to Date:
Books: 8 - 2484 pages
Graphic Novels: 52 - 9839 pages
Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words / 44 pages (no change)
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 7 chapters - 614 pages

Once again, there are a large number of graphic novels listed. This is partly because I've taken to reading 2-3 manga before bed each night and partly due to a sudden resurgence in interest in the details of the Rurouni Kenshin story on my part. That is entirely the fault of Anaphalis and the conversation she and I had about my crack-addled AU fanfic idea. I won't be starting on it any time soon, but I kind of wanted to refresh myself on how the storylines go and see whether or not the idea I have would really work. (I think it will.)

Those who are familiar with the series will note that I specifically started with the beginning of the Kyoto Arc and then simply continued reading through the Jinchuu Arc. I've never made any bones about the fact that I think the Kyoto Arc was the highlight of the series in both anime form and the manga, despite the amount of love I have for Tomoe and Kenshin's angstacular backstory. Plain and simple, it's in the Kyoto Arc that the storytelling is the strongest. To my mind, this is primarily because the character motivations make a fair amount of sense and go a long way towards driving the action in the story. It is still clearly an action-based tale, but there's a certain amount of depth to the story, at least enough to hold my attention. The middle of the Jinchuu Arc drags a bit as he loses this momentum going through Enishi's 'cannon fodder', most of whom don't really have sufficient motivation for their revenge to keep things interesting, but the end of the story salvages this and the series ends on a decent note.

One thing that struck me was a note in one of the 'Free Talks' Watsuki includes in the collected editions (Vol 22 to be specific). In it, he says that Rurouni Kenshin is "a masterpiece of a lifetime." I wish I didn't agree with him, but the bits and pieces I've seen of his later work, including Buso Renkin, haven't convinced me otherwise. I would love to see another series from him where the characters show the same kind of depth and motivation but it hasn't happened and I'm more than a little disappointed. But that could also be because I've been thinking I'd like to find another high quality shonen series to get into and thus far I haven't found one I really like. Finding one from a mangaka I already like would just be gravy at this point.

I did also manage to finish two books in the past week and a half. The first was Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days which may seem a little out of place on my 'reading list'. As it happens, I was in Borders a couple of weeks ago and found a decent hardcover edition of it for $3. As I was looking at it, I realized that the copy I own is somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 years old and maybe I should pick up a different edition to actually read and leave the other one on the shelf.

Once I had the book at home, I picked it up to thumb through and somehow ended up reading the entire thing. It had been a while since I'd actually read Around the World in Eighty Days and I think I came to it this time with a bit of a different perspective. I enjoyed it, but that was despite aspects of the narrative that I would probably find grating in a different book. I'm left wondering whether in 130 years time someone's going to be reading our popular literature and thinking to themself 'how quaint'. I suspect that if this weren't a beloved book from my youth I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as well. However, since I not only did enjoy it, but am now thinking about reading some additional Verne and possibly revisiting Stevenson and Defoe as well (knowing the story of Alexander Selkirk makes that last almost irresistable), I'd have to say that this goes squarely in the 'plus' column for books read and enjoyed.

Continuing on with the Victorian theme, I ended up moving on to The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson which I read in pretty much a single sitting last Saturday afternoon. The Ghost Map is a look at the events surrounding an outbreak of cholera that took place in London in 1854 and how the multi-disciplinary approach used to study this outbreak became the foundation for the science of epidemiology. I found the book to be interesting, though not as 'engaging' as some of the other books I have read that match the history of science with social history and biography. However, I thought that the author's shifts between the small scale and 'human' aspects of the story and the larger forces were very well done and kept the tale balanced and narrative rather than a recitation of facts.

Unfortunately, though, I did not enjoy the epilogue and afterword which take the events of the nineteenth century and extrapolate them to our modern society. It was well done, but line of thinking is not one I find particularly interesting these days. If I were still a student of history, I'd probably have appreciated it more, but as a 'layman' I just found it boring. This narrow focus on the historical elements rather than the modern applications is probably a failing on my part rather than a fault in the book, which is very well done. Overall, I did enjoy the book quite a bit, but that end portion really did just lose me.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say this time around. I don't think I said it nearly as well as the first time I wrote this earlier today, but such is life. Since I'm pretty sure nobody but me reads these anyway, I guess it's not that big an issue.

1 Book - 280 pages (not previously read)

The Infinity Doctors by Lance Parkin

 

17 Graphic Novels - 3181 pages (1 new)

Saiyuki Reload 6 by Kazuya Minekura

Ouran High School Host Club 1 by Bisco Hatori

Ouran High School Host Club 2 by Bisco Hatori

Ouran High School Host Club 3 by Bisco Hatori

Ouran High School Host Club 5 by Bisco Hatori

Ouran High School Host Club 6 by Bisco Hatori

Ouran High School Host Club 7 by Bisco Hatori

Ouran High School Host Club 8 by Bisco Hatori

Bleach 8 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 9 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 10 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 11 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 12 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 13 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 14 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 15 by Tite Kubo

Bleach 16 by Tite Kubo

 

Total, Month/Year to Date:

Books: 6 - 2018 pages

Graphic Novels: 31 - 5800 pages

Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words / 44 pages (no change)

Scanlations: 5 chapters - 94 pages (no change)

As you can see, not much new read but I wanted to do a wrapup for the month of January. I'm afraid that I won't be doing anything in the way of commentary this time since all my notes on the new book I read went away when my computer's motherboard asploded last week. Since then, I've wanted comfort (hence, re-reading shoujo) and experienced a lot of frustration at work (hence, re-reading shounen). For the time being, I'm keeping track of my pages read in a small notebook, but I won't be taking notes quite as extensively. With luck, I'll have more to say next time.