I've been reading Pluto lately, and it's really making me want to look into more robotics and AI style sci-fi stories.
I understand that Pluto is a reworking of an Astro Boy arc by Osamu Tezuka. And man, it's making me want to pick up Astro Boy as well to read this, despite the fact that Astro Boy is one of the few Tezuka books I've never before really had an urge to check out (along with Kimba - pretty much anything else I'm curious about)
I love the depth of character everyone is given. I have to keep reminding myself at times which characters are robots and which ones aren't. I love the mystery - it has a sort of desperation and fear to it that I find sort of addictive. there's a real weight to the proceedings.
I've been stopped at Vol. 5 thanks to not having 6 on hand. I'm thinking it'll be time to order the rest. :)
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Rewriting is boring :(
I've realized I need to rewrite an entire chapter of my WIP.
I really don't want to. I really want to mess around with a new idea.
Trying to push through getting this book to a state I could try getting a beta for is trying my patience. Luckily I have almost gotten through the first half of the first edit.
Here's hoping I can get through it!
I really don't want to. I really want to mess around with a new idea.
Trying to push through getting this book to a state I could try getting a beta for is trying my patience. Luckily I have almost gotten through the first half of the first edit.
Here's hoping I can get through it!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
New-to-me author review: Dragonsong
"Dragonsong" is written by Anne McCaffrey.
I'd stayed away from these books for years, partly because of the overhyping in my circles, but also partly because of some of the weirder things people associated with the series. Finally tried it. Glad I did.
As always, there may be spoilers behind the cut.
I'd stayed away from these books for years, partly because of the overhyping in my circles, but also partly because of some of the weirder things people associated with the series. Finally tried it. Glad I did.
As always, there may be spoilers behind the cut.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Books Dealing With Tough Subjects
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started and run by the awesome Broke and Bookish blog. This week's lists are the top ten books I've read that deal with tough subjects.
Warning, there may be slight spoilers!
1. A Lesson Before Dying. I loved this book, but there were times it was very difficult to read. It was not only about racism, overt and institutional, but also the internalization of said racism - the way the oppressor can get the oppressed to do half the work for them by instilling self-doubt and even self-hate.
2. The Earthquake Bird - The main character in this is so unsure of herself - of what she's done, what she might have done, how she even really feels. It's a story about a woman who feels lost and is foundering utterly
3. Monstrous Regiment - There's going to be a bit of Pratchett on this list. I could have probably made a top ten just out if his work. This one deals with sexism in a sometimes hilarious, sometimes somber way, with a fantastic side order of the meaning of war, the problems with blind zealousness and the deep impact of war on those left home.
4. A comic that grabs you by the feels and doesn't let do. Its so impactful because of the little things.
5. Night Watch - Faith. Honor. Duty. Doing what one must vs. doing what one wants. What is justice? What is "right"? there was a lot tied up in this book, which I found both fascinating and moving.
6.The Eye, the Ear and The Arm - The tension between modern life and history, between honoring the past and growing from it, is a running subtext throughout this book.
7. In My Hands - A Holocaust memoir. I think that's all that needs saying.
8. Small Gods - Faith, zealotry and honor are at the heart of this story about a fallen god given one final shot at pushing itself back to power.
9. Old man's war - You could make the argument that this doesn't deal with any REALLY tough issues, but I thought it did - with the idea of identity and what makes a person themselves, with issues of youth vs experience (and the attempts to meld the two)
10. The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Not in Hugo's story so much, but for a side character, in whom we get to see the impact of business, capitalism, money on creativity. On the way that humans claim to love art, but are often more than happy to destroy art and abandon the artist without a second thought. It was heartbreaking.
Warning, there may be slight spoilers!
1. A Lesson Before Dying. I loved this book, but there were times it was very difficult to read. It was not only about racism, overt and institutional, but also the internalization of said racism - the way the oppressor can get the oppressed to do half the work for them by instilling self-doubt and even self-hate.
2. The Earthquake Bird - The main character in this is so unsure of herself - of what she's done, what she might have done, how she even really feels. It's a story about a woman who feels lost and is foundering utterly
3. Monstrous Regiment - There's going to be a bit of Pratchett on this list. I could have probably made a top ten just out if his work. This one deals with sexism in a sometimes hilarious, sometimes somber way, with a fantastic side order of the meaning of war, the problems with blind zealousness and the deep impact of war on those left home.
4. A comic that grabs you by the feels and doesn't let do. Its so impactful because of the little things.
5. Night Watch - Faith. Honor. Duty. Doing what one must vs. doing what one wants. What is justice? What is "right"? there was a lot tied up in this book, which I found both fascinating and moving.
6.The Eye, the Ear and The Arm - The tension between modern life and history, between honoring the past and growing from it, is a running subtext throughout this book.
7. In My Hands - A Holocaust memoir. I think that's all that needs saying.
8. Small Gods - Faith, zealotry and honor are at the heart of this story about a fallen god given one final shot at pushing itself back to power.
9. Old man's war - You could make the argument that this doesn't deal with any REALLY tough issues, but I thought it did - with the idea of identity and what makes a person themselves, with issues of youth vs experience (and the attempts to meld the two)
10. The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Not in Hugo's story so much, but for a side character, in whom we get to see the impact of business, capitalism, money on creativity. On the way that humans claim to love art, but are often more than happy to destroy art and abandon the artist without a second thought. It was heartbreaking.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Lost in Midworld
Goodness. I just finished reading the first five Dark Tower comic books more or less back-to-back. And... wow.
As always, possible spoilers behind the cut.
As always, possible spoilers behind the cut.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
What I read in April
Books
This month had a couple big disappointments. Chief was The Secrets of Jin Shei. It was a, book whose main characters were all women, sharing a secret circle and a promise of friendship and support to one another. This is a sort of book I have been WAITING for. and it disappointed me. I suspect part of the problem was just my hopes for it outweighing what the book could have delivered, but some of the characters were barely characterized, some of the plot choices made no sense, and worst of all, the author repeatedly chose not to show us big important plot moments, but to have characters talk about those plot moments over tea later. Boo, I say.
The second big disappointment was the second Bob Moore book. The first was a fantastic if a little over-described superhero tale about a regular old PI working in a world full of supers. I thought it painted a great world and some interesting characters. But this one... well, it fell short. Partly because... no, MOSTLY because by the end I was left with a feeling of "so what?" It felt like the events of the plot had no real conclusion, no purpose. I felt like I'd wasted my time. Disappointing. Not sure if I'll try the next book in the series. Maybe once I've got some distance on the disappointment.
Finally, I read Every Day for book club. I've seen a lot of people whose opinions I generally trust rave about this one, but I found it sort of... meh? The concept - that the main character wakes up every day in a different body, so0rt of like Sliders with a hard deadline and no established sense of self for the main character. But the main plot revolved around the main character trying to maintain a relationship with a young woman, and he does so in often very creepy ways that I think were meant to be sweet. I got actually uncomfortable reading this one.
Not much to say on the Pirate King and The Beltway Boys. Pirate King is book 11 in a series, but I felt like most of it made sense without the first 10 and what didn't... well, I'm not sure I want to know how 70-year-old Sherlock Holmes came to be spending so much time with a young lady. Fun book though. May read more of the series later. And Beltway Boys? A book about the Nats' 2012 season. Engaging if you like the Nats and sports stats, decently well written, but in the end one good season wasn't really enough to have a general-audiences book on.
Continued my Dark Tower reread with Wizard and Glass, which was actually a little better than I remembered. This book is always saved for me by them presence of Cuthbert and Alain, whose characters I love despite their limited appearance in the series. Supplemented it with a reread of the Pyrdain books, starting with The Book of Three, which was decent but clunkier than I remember. It is YA, so that's part of it, and I do have to admit to really liking the characters. It's interesting though, to be reading these two fantasy juggernauts at the same time, and so close on the rereads of two others (I'm less than two years out of rereads of both Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings). Seeing the ways they feed off one another and the ways they diverge is fascinating.
Last book this month was a book club selection, Watership Down, which also happens to be one of my very favorite books. It may be about bunnies, but it's also about adventure, and friendship, and lonliness, and loyalty, and politics, and the power of stories, and the power of having something to protect, and... so much there. SO much. A fantastic book and everyone should read it.
Manga
This was a weird month for manga. I didn't read two books in the same series at any point in April, so I'm going to do this in list format. Not linking to GR since I don't tend to write much on Manga reviews.
- Angelic Layer Omnibus 2 - Angelic Layer is by its nature a kind of kidsy, girly story, and I was caught off guard by how much I likied the first part since girly is often not a terribly big selling point for me. But the main character is just so earnest and intense and dedicated and upbeat that I couldn't help but cheer for her and it made this ending very satisfying. :)
-Blue Exorcist 9 - It pleased me that Yukio and Rin are finally starting to open up to one another, but with some of the behind the scenes developments in the story, I suspect it may be too little too late. We shall see
-Fairy Tail 24 - Can I just say how happy I was to see Cana taking center stage for once? She's been sort of middle stage since the beginning and we know next to nothing about her, so this arc should prove to satisfy my curiosity on that score.
-Toriko 5 - Left the series here. I had been listlessly following along because it wasn't a BAD series, it just wasn't grabbing me. I figured five books was enough. I may go back to this later - there were flashes, especially in this volume, of something I could really love. But for now, just too much else to sink my... eyes? .. into.
-The Color of Heaven - Goodness, this series. I love this series. The Color of Heaven continues and completes Ehwa's journey to understanding herself, her world, her body and the nature of coming to love another. I found the ending to be poignant and sweet.
-DuRaRaRa Saika 1 - I loved the first Durarara arc, but this one... vol. 1 blew me away, and I am super excited to continue reading. Things seem more extreme and faster paced. I guess it hepls that they're not introducing characters at this point really and can get right into the action, but still...
-Nabari No Ou 1 - Stopped reading Toriko and replaced it with this. Good move so far. There's nothing new here - ninjas with magic powers, a kid with a secret power hidden in him, spunky chick, steadfast friend, yadda yadda yadda. But just as unique ideas can make terrible books, so can worn out ideas make something that can give you a lot of enjoyment. I found the characters to be a lot of fun despite their familiarity of trope.
-Barbara - This is a weird one. I don't think this is one of Tezuka's better books, or even one of my favorites of his, but I think its interesting to see him trying out more adult themes and story directions. The idea of what a muse is and what it can do to an artist is long-trod ground, but the wild and unkempt way in which Barbara interacts with the worlds of those she chose really seemed to capture the idea better than a lot of others I've read.
Comics
The saddest book this month was Truth - it's both a sad book in its own right and its author died this month, which was what compelled me to do a reread of the book. I know a lot of people who hated this book for being too "heavy handed" (which I utterly disagree with) or because they felt the art didn't fit the story (still disagree but I can definitely concede that it's a matter of taste). I've always found it to be a strong central tale that adds a lot of shade and nuance to Isaiah that you won't see in his other appearances, where we see only what he became. This is use of continuity at its strongest.
My sister loaned me the first Oz comic from Marvel, and my GOODNESS the art is beautiful. I was never a big fan of the first book and I think the textual side of it seems to be a pretty good adaptation, but the main story was told in the art, the style, the expression, the colors. I loved it and will be reading on in the series.
Another revelation this month was City in the Desert, an independent book about a couple of monster hunters working out of a city that's set in a desert (obvs.) It's not a kiddie tale, and it does run through a range of themes about the importance of power, where it comes from, how it is weilded and why it's given to who it's given to in the first place (that is, largely power resides with the person who seems to have it). The art was an unusual style but I thought it fit the book really really well.
Finally, I got the first Gambit trade of the new series, Just as much fun as I remembered from the individual issues, with the story being part Mission Impossible, part James Bond. A few lapses of weak writing kept it from being a truly excellent book for the fun factor, but I definitely continue to enjoy it. :)
This month had a couple big disappointments. Chief was The Secrets of Jin Shei. It was a, book whose main characters were all women, sharing a secret circle and a promise of friendship and support to one another. This is a sort of book I have been WAITING for. and it disappointed me. I suspect part of the problem was just my hopes for it outweighing what the book could have delivered, but some of the characters were barely characterized, some of the plot choices made no sense, and worst of all, the author repeatedly chose not to show us big important plot moments, but to have characters talk about those plot moments over tea later. Boo, I say.
The second big disappointment was the second Bob Moore book. The first was a fantastic if a little over-described superhero tale about a regular old PI working in a world full of supers. I thought it painted a great world and some interesting characters. But this one... well, it fell short. Partly because... no, MOSTLY because by the end I was left with a feeling of "so what?" It felt like the events of the plot had no real conclusion, no purpose. I felt like I'd wasted my time. Disappointing. Not sure if I'll try the next book in the series. Maybe once I've got some distance on the disappointment.
Finally, I read Every Day for book club. I've seen a lot of people whose opinions I generally trust rave about this one, but I found it sort of... meh? The concept - that the main character wakes up every day in a different body, so0rt of like Sliders with a hard deadline and no established sense of self for the main character. But the main plot revolved around the main character trying to maintain a relationship with a young woman, and he does so in often very creepy ways that I think were meant to be sweet. I got actually uncomfortable reading this one.
Not much to say on the Pirate King and The Beltway Boys. Pirate King is book 11 in a series, but I felt like most of it made sense without the first 10 and what didn't... well, I'm not sure I want to know how 70-year-old Sherlock Holmes came to be spending so much time with a young lady. Fun book though. May read more of the series later. And Beltway Boys? A book about the Nats' 2012 season. Engaging if you like the Nats and sports stats, decently well written, but in the end one good season wasn't really enough to have a general-audiences book on.
Continued my Dark Tower reread with Wizard and Glass, which was actually a little better than I remembered. This book is always saved for me by them presence of Cuthbert and Alain, whose characters I love despite their limited appearance in the series. Supplemented it with a reread of the Pyrdain books, starting with The Book of Three, which was decent but clunkier than I remember. It is YA, so that's part of it, and I do have to admit to really liking the characters. It's interesting though, to be reading these two fantasy juggernauts at the same time, and so close on the rereads of two others (I'm less than two years out of rereads of both Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings). Seeing the ways they feed off one another and the ways they diverge is fascinating.
Last book this month was a book club selection, Watership Down, which also happens to be one of my very favorite books. It may be about bunnies, but it's also about adventure, and friendship, and lonliness, and loyalty, and politics, and the power of stories, and the power of having something to protect, and... so much there. SO much. A fantastic book and everyone should read it.
Manga
This was a weird month for manga. I didn't read two books in the same series at any point in April, so I'm going to do this in list format. Not linking to GR since I don't tend to write much on Manga reviews.
- Angelic Layer Omnibus 2 - Angelic Layer is by its nature a kind of kidsy, girly story, and I was caught off guard by how much I likied the first part since girly is often not a terribly big selling point for me. But the main character is just so earnest and intense and dedicated and upbeat that I couldn't help but cheer for her and it made this ending very satisfying. :)
-Blue Exorcist 9 - It pleased me that Yukio and Rin are finally starting to open up to one another, but with some of the behind the scenes developments in the story, I suspect it may be too little too late. We shall see
-Fairy Tail 24 - Can I just say how happy I was to see Cana taking center stage for once? She's been sort of middle stage since the beginning and we know next to nothing about her, so this arc should prove to satisfy my curiosity on that score.
-Toriko 5 - Left the series here. I had been listlessly following along because it wasn't a BAD series, it just wasn't grabbing me. I figured five books was enough. I may go back to this later - there were flashes, especially in this volume, of something I could really love. But for now, just too much else to sink my... eyes? .. into.
-The Color of Heaven - Goodness, this series. I love this series. The Color of Heaven continues and completes Ehwa's journey to understanding herself, her world, her body and the nature of coming to love another. I found the ending to be poignant and sweet.
-DuRaRaRa Saika 1 - I loved the first Durarara arc, but this one... vol. 1 blew me away, and I am super excited to continue reading. Things seem more extreme and faster paced. I guess it hepls that they're not introducing characters at this point really and can get right into the action, but still...
-Nabari No Ou 1 - Stopped reading Toriko and replaced it with this. Good move so far. There's nothing new here - ninjas with magic powers, a kid with a secret power hidden in him, spunky chick, steadfast friend, yadda yadda yadda. But just as unique ideas can make terrible books, so can worn out ideas make something that can give you a lot of enjoyment. I found the characters to be a lot of fun despite their familiarity of trope.
-Barbara - This is a weird one. I don't think this is one of Tezuka's better books, or even one of my favorites of his, but I think its interesting to see him trying out more adult themes and story directions. The idea of what a muse is and what it can do to an artist is long-trod ground, but the wild and unkempt way in which Barbara interacts with the worlds of those she chose really seemed to capture the idea better than a lot of others I've read.
Comics
The saddest book this month was Truth - it's both a sad book in its own right and its author died this month, which was what compelled me to do a reread of the book. I know a lot of people who hated this book for being too "heavy handed" (which I utterly disagree with) or because they felt the art didn't fit the story (still disagree but I can definitely concede that it's a matter of taste). I've always found it to be a strong central tale that adds a lot of shade and nuance to Isaiah that you won't see in his other appearances, where we see only what he became. This is use of continuity at its strongest.
My sister loaned me the first Oz comic from Marvel, and my GOODNESS the art is beautiful. I was never a big fan of the first book and I think the textual side of it seems to be a pretty good adaptation, but the main story was told in the art, the style, the expression, the colors. I loved it and will be reading on in the series.
Another revelation this month was City in the Desert, an independent book about a couple of monster hunters working out of a city that's set in a desert (obvs.) It's not a kiddie tale, and it does run through a range of themes about the importance of power, where it comes from, how it is weilded and why it's given to who it's given to in the first place (that is, largely power resides with the person who seems to have it). The art was an unusual style but I thought it fit the book really really well.
Finally, I got the first Gambit trade of the new series, Just as much fun as I remembered from the individual issues, with the story being part Mission Impossible, part James Bond. A few lapses of weak writing kept it from being a truly excellent book for the fun factor, but I definitely continue to enjoy it. :)
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
New-To-Me-Author review: After Dark
"After Dark" is by Haruki Murakami.
It's the first of his books I've read, though I'm hoping it won't be the last. I may actually have to come back to this one after I've read some others because... well, the review discusses it. :)
It's the first of his books I've read, though I'm hoping it won't be the last. I may actually have to come back to this one after I've read some others because... well, the review discusses it. :)
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Books You Read When You Need Something Light & Fun
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started and run by the awesome Broke and Bookish blog. This week's lists are the top ten books I go for when I need a light, fun read.
1. Howl's Moving Castle - Love this book. Love the characters. Love the fantasy. Love what a quick read it is.
2. Retribution Falls - Adventure and steampunk and piracy! Backstabbing and double crossing! Hilariously flawed characters? Yes please!
3. Any Night's Watch book - Terry Pratchett has written so many great books, but the ones that speak most to me are the Night's Watch ones, and especially early in the series, they're incredibly fun and funny, endlessly rereadable.
4. The Hobbit - A children's tale, written as such, it's definitely a breath of fresh air after my normal diet of generally serious and often lengthy fantasy books. It's just a tale that makes me smile.
5. Jig the Goblin series - Especially the first one. Skewering the tropes and tendencies of fantasy stories while turning the narrative on its head? I loved this story and return to it reasonably often.
6. The Perilous Gard - Light and fun more because it's a children's book than necessarily because of themes, but I always found it to be a quick, upbeat read.
7. The Moist Von Lipwig books - Yeah, yeah, more Terry Pratchett. So sue me, these books are great!
8. Fairy Tail manga - Much like Retribution Falls, it's the sense of fun and adventure that mkes this an easy one to come back to when I need something to breeze through and enjoy.
9. The Parasol Protectorate series - To greater and lesser extents depending on the volume, but I thought overall the series had a wonderfully wry sense of humor that generally kept things moving along at a great and often funny clip.
10. Any of the Redwall books except for Loamhedge - I loved these books, though in Loamhedge the somewhat disturbing themes that I could mostly enjoy books in spite of spiked to a point I couldn't enjoy it anymore.
1. Howl's Moving Castle - Love this book. Love the characters. Love the fantasy. Love what a quick read it is.
2. Retribution Falls - Adventure and steampunk and piracy! Backstabbing and double crossing! Hilariously flawed characters? Yes please!
3. Any Night's Watch book - Terry Pratchett has written so many great books, but the ones that speak most to me are the Night's Watch ones, and especially early in the series, they're incredibly fun and funny, endlessly rereadable.
4. The Hobbit - A children's tale, written as such, it's definitely a breath of fresh air after my normal diet of generally serious and often lengthy fantasy books. It's just a tale that makes me smile.
5. Jig the Goblin series - Especially the first one. Skewering the tropes and tendencies of fantasy stories while turning the narrative on its head? I loved this story and return to it reasonably often.
6. The Perilous Gard - Light and fun more because it's a children's book than necessarily because of themes, but I always found it to be a quick, upbeat read.
7. The Moist Von Lipwig books - Yeah, yeah, more Terry Pratchett. So sue me, these books are great!
8. Fairy Tail manga - Much like Retribution Falls, it's the sense of fun and adventure that mkes this an easy one to come back to when I need something to breeze through and enjoy.
9. The Parasol Protectorate series - To greater and lesser extents depending on the volume, but I thought overall the series had a wonderfully wry sense of humor that generally kept things moving along at a great and often funny clip.
10. Any of the Redwall books except for Loamhedge - I loved these books, though in Loamhedge the somewhat disturbing themes that I could mostly enjoy books in spite of spiked to a point I couldn't enjoy it anymore.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Why you should be careful before you throw a gauntlet
I've seen a lot of people talking recently about the alleged thrown gauntlet of a quote from Zach Snyder in a recent interview. In talking about the upcoming Superman movie and after being asked how he can bring something new to the table with Marvel not only dominating the movieverse for superheroes but also pushing out so many in recent years, he took an expected pre-season arm-flexing position.
"It’s Superman. If you get it right he’s kind of transcendent. The Superman shield is the second most recognizable symbol on planet Earth other than the Christian cross. If you get it right, that’s the question you’ll be asking everyone else. That should be the question you’re asking Iron Man and Thor. How is it that you feel you can be making a superhero movie in a world where Superman and Batman exist?" - Copied here from Nerdreactor, originally coming from an SFX interview.
I can't get too upset about this, because to me, this is like the coach of, say, the Jets saying preseason that they're going to win the Superbowl. It's something they say because there's a certain rivalry among teams in their world (comic books, NFL, etc.)
"It’s Superman. If you get it right he’s kind of transcendent. The Superman shield is the second most recognizable symbol on planet Earth other than the Christian cross. If you get it right, that’s the question you’ll be asking everyone else. That should be the question you’re asking Iron Man and Thor. How is it that you feel you can be making a superhero movie in a world where Superman and Batman exist?" - Copied here from Nerdreactor, originally coming from an SFX interview.
I can't get too upset about this, because to me, this is like the coach of, say, the Jets saying preseason that they're going to win the Superbowl. It's something they say because there's a certain rivalry among teams in their world (comic books, NFL, etc.)
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Repetition
I talked a while ago about how despite some interesting ideas, I was unable to get myself invested in Toriko, a manga about a world obsessed with gourmet food and the people who brought it to them and prepared it.
Now this week, I started another series with a lot of elements I've seen a lot of times before - its about modern-day ninjas, a pretty teenage "chosen one" over whom the ninjas are fighting, there's a perky female sidekick, a steady friend, a dotty mentor, a main character thick with apathy...
But I really liked it. It seized me the way some of my favorites did in their first volume. I don't know that it will become a favorite - I suspect it very well may let me down later - but that feeling of hitting the first book and being yanked into the story so thoroughly is an amazing feeling I'll always adore when it happens :)
Things like this make me hyper aware of how difficult it is to determine what'll be good. I think the writing in this series may be better than in Toriko, or maybe the translation is? But from the outside I would have felt like I'd definitely like Toriko more. And yet... I guess that's why we really can't judge a book entirely by its cover.
I'll probably write more about the series as I get further into it, but here's the Goodreads review of the first volume
Now this week, I started another series with a lot of elements I've seen a lot of times before - its about modern-day ninjas, a pretty teenage "chosen one" over whom the ninjas are fighting, there's a perky female sidekick, a steady friend, a dotty mentor, a main character thick with apathy...
But I really liked it. It seized me the way some of my favorites did in their first volume. I don't know that it will become a favorite - I suspect it very well may let me down later - but that feeling of hitting the first book and being yanked into the story so thoroughly is an amazing feeling I'll always adore when it happens :)
Things like this make me hyper aware of how difficult it is to determine what'll be good. I think the writing in this series may be better than in Toriko, or maybe the translation is? But from the outside I would have felt like I'd definitely like Toriko more. And yet... I guess that's why we really can't judge a book entirely by its cover.
I'll probably write more about the series as I get further into it, but here's the Goodreads review of the first volume
Friday, April 26, 2013
The Pull List: April 24
This week's books are: Earth's Mightiest Heroes 13, Avengers Arena 7, Alpha 3, Demon Knights 19 and Jonah Hex 19. May be more later today as I didn't get through my books yet this week. As always, spoilers may be beyond the cut.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I thought I'd like more or less than I did
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started and run by the awesome Broke and Bookish blog. This week's lists are the top ten books you either ended up liking more or less than you thought you would going in.
1. The Thirteenth Tale (Liked less) - I was VERY excited about this book in book club, and in the end, this is one of the biggest literary disappointments in my life. I didn't find it compelling, or well written, or possessing of particularly interesting characters. The mysteries were awful and it was less homage to classics than it was stealing plot points to the point it ruined its own plot.
2. The Help (Liked less) - Everyone talked about how amazing this book was. I got about halfway in and wasn't terribly gripped. It felt like the book wanted me to applaud a pretty basic understanding of institutional racism, and I thought the characters were kind of flat and left me uncomfortable and not in the thought-provoking good way. It's one of the few books I stepped away from without finishing, and I don't regret it. I read "A Lesson Before Dying" instead, which I found far more engrossing.
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Liked better) - A friend in college loaned me this book. I'd been heading about this Harry Potter thing for a while and stayed away because of the hype and because I felt like I'd already read this premise twice before - both in the Circle of Magic books and the Wizard's Hall book. but I was bored, out of other books, and gave in to her urgings. SO glad I did, it's now one of my favorite series. :)
4. One Piece (Liked better) - This looked SO stupid! A pirate made out of rubber having cartoony adventures on the high seas? I caught some of the 4 Kids dub of the anime and that only cemented my opinion. But then I had a chance to read the first volume, and I fell in love. In love with Luffy and his outlook, with the quirky cast of characters, and most of all with the sense of hope and optimism that threaded through the manga.
5. The Secrets of Jin-Shei (Liked less) - A story set in a fantasy version of China, populated by female characters and focused on their interactions and friendships, lives and struggles? Count me there! But some writing decisions that just didn't work for me left me pretty ambivalent about this book by the end.
6. Hogfather (Liked less) - I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett, and Hogfather is widely considered one of his best books. Everyone I knew who liked his stories liked this one and recced it. So I finally read it and... it was okay? I mean, it was well-written and engaging, the characters were fun and the themes it explored were very interesting to explore. But it just never grabbed me.
7. Kushiel's Dart - I hadn't ever read a fantasy book that read so much like a romance at the time. I didn't think I'd like it, but I was very, very wrong. And while Carey isn't one of my top five authors or anything, I've enjoyed to one extent or another everything I've read from her since.
8. Santa Olivia (Liked less) - After reading the Terre d'Ange books, I was ready to give anything Carey wrote a go. and while I liked Santa Olivia and its ties to superhero literature, it never captured me the way Kushiel's Dart had.
9. Crimson (Liked more) - I always thought of comics in a particular and not terribly flattering way in my high school days. But after graduating from college, I had a local comic book store which I sometimes went into for some of the games and other stuff they offered. And in there as well was the first trade of Crimson. I bit back my pride, bought the book, and started not only giving comics books an equal chance, but to check out anything Ramos did.
10. Goblin Tales (Liked less) - I love Jim Hines' work. I loved the Jig novels, I loved the Princess books and to only a slightly lesser extent, I loved Libriomancer. But for some reason, I just couldn't get into this collection of short stories. Probably part of the issue being that I don't really like reading short stories. I want a story I can immerse myself into for a while.
1. The Thirteenth Tale (Liked less) - I was VERY excited about this book in book club, and in the end, this is one of the biggest literary disappointments in my life. I didn't find it compelling, or well written, or possessing of particularly interesting characters. The mysteries were awful and it was less homage to classics than it was stealing plot points to the point it ruined its own plot.
2. The Help (Liked less) - Everyone talked about how amazing this book was. I got about halfway in and wasn't terribly gripped. It felt like the book wanted me to applaud a pretty basic understanding of institutional racism, and I thought the characters were kind of flat and left me uncomfortable and not in the thought-provoking good way. It's one of the few books I stepped away from without finishing, and I don't regret it. I read "A Lesson Before Dying" instead, which I found far more engrossing.
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Liked better) - A friend in college loaned me this book. I'd been heading about this Harry Potter thing for a while and stayed away because of the hype and because I felt like I'd already read this premise twice before - both in the Circle of Magic books and the Wizard's Hall book. but I was bored, out of other books, and gave in to her urgings. SO glad I did, it's now one of my favorite series. :)
4. One Piece (Liked better) - This looked SO stupid! A pirate made out of rubber having cartoony adventures on the high seas? I caught some of the 4 Kids dub of the anime and that only cemented my opinion. But then I had a chance to read the first volume, and I fell in love. In love with Luffy and his outlook, with the quirky cast of characters, and most of all with the sense of hope and optimism that threaded through the manga.
5. The Secrets of Jin-Shei (Liked less) - A story set in a fantasy version of China, populated by female characters and focused on their interactions and friendships, lives and struggles? Count me there! But some writing decisions that just didn't work for me left me pretty ambivalent about this book by the end.
6. Hogfather (Liked less) - I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett, and Hogfather is widely considered one of his best books. Everyone I knew who liked his stories liked this one and recced it. So I finally read it and... it was okay? I mean, it was well-written and engaging, the characters were fun and the themes it explored were very interesting to explore. But it just never grabbed me.
7. Kushiel's Dart - I hadn't ever read a fantasy book that read so much like a romance at the time. I didn't think I'd like it, but I was very, very wrong. And while Carey isn't one of my top five authors or anything, I've enjoyed to one extent or another everything I've read from her since.
8. Santa Olivia (Liked less) - After reading the Terre d'Ange books, I was ready to give anything Carey wrote a go. and while I liked Santa Olivia and its ties to superhero literature, it never captured me the way Kushiel's Dart had.
9. Crimson (Liked more) - I always thought of comics in a particular and not terribly flattering way in my high school days. But after graduating from college, I had a local comic book store which I sometimes went into for some of the games and other stuff they offered. And in there as well was the first trade of Crimson. I bit back my pride, bought the book, and started not only giving comics books an equal chance, but to check out anything Ramos did.
10. Goblin Tales (Liked less) - I love Jim Hines' work. I loved the Jig novels, I loved the Princess books and to only a slightly lesser extent, I loved Libriomancer. But for some reason, I just couldn't get into this collection of short stories. Probably part of the issue being that I don't really like reading short stories. I want a story I can immerse myself into for a while.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Dry and dusty
There's something about fantasy books set in the desert that I like. They always seem a little fresher than otehrs. Don't have to try as hard to get me invested.
I think it's because fantasy writing in general doesn't make nearly enough use of them in the West. Everything is wrapped up in that typical fantasy setting - the temperate climate with four distinct seasons, forests and rolling hills. No grasslands, no deserts, rarely even long passages at sea. The typical fantasy setting is to history what the "good old days" are to America's culture. It existed in parts, in details and pieces, but not in any meaningful and complete way in the manner most people seem to see it.
And like the Good Old Days, people tend to forget the worst parts in favor of their own mental setup.
But stories written in the desert tend to be harsh. People know it's not all flowers and bard songs on the desert. So things are automatically different?
I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting jaded about it in my old age. :)
The book that set all this off, incidentally, was City in the Desert, which I reviewed over at Goodreads this week. I duplicated the review below the cut. I highly recommend the book if you like slightly off-beat comics with a good sense of humor.
I think it's because fantasy writing in general doesn't make nearly enough use of them in the West. Everything is wrapped up in that typical fantasy setting - the temperate climate with four distinct seasons, forests and rolling hills. No grasslands, no deserts, rarely even long passages at sea. The typical fantasy setting is to history what the "good old days" are to America's culture. It existed in parts, in details and pieces, but not in any meaningful and complete way in the manner most people seem to see it.
And like the Good Old Days, people tend to forget the worst parts in favor of their own mental setup.
But stories written in the desert tend to be harsh. People know it's not all flowers and bard songs on the desert. So things are automatically different?
I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting jaded about it in my old age. :)
The book that set all this off, incidentally, was City in the Desert, which I reviewed over at Goodreads this week. I duplicated the review below the cut. I highly recommend the book if you like slightly off-beat comics with a good sense of humor.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
women's stories
I finished The Color of Heaven last night, the last book in a lovely trilogy about a girl and her single mother as the girl grows up and discovers womanhood, love and sexuality.
this series wouldn't be for everyone, but I was so glad I read it. It's not a fast read, but I found it to be gripping all the same, sweet and personal and focused on the incredible feeling of finding someone and loving them - whatever sort of love that may be. It's about waiting, about disappointment, about happiness in the midst of sadness.
Its worth reading. Loved it.
this series wouldn't be for everyone, but I was so glad I read it. It's not a fast read, but I found it to be gripping all the same, sweet and personal and focused on the incredible feeling of finding someone and loving them - whatever sort of love that may be. It's about waiting, about disappointment, about happiness in the midst of sadness.
Its worth reading. Loved it.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Edits and rewrites
I've finally gotten to a point where I feel my edits are making positive progress. Its not great, but I figured out an answer to something character-wise that's been bothering me for ages. So, there's that.
I've also found myself adjusting dialogue. I think I did a good job on the first pass of making everyone's speaking voice unique in text, but I've taken it a little further in this one, adjusting word choice and even cadence. Tiktela's impatience and disinterest in the interllectual pursuits means he tends to use shorter words and sentences and plainer words as well - no similies for this guy. But his brother, who under other circumstances would be a professor at uni instead of a mercenary, speaks slower, longer and more varied, with more precise word choices. It's actually been kinda fun putting their words under the microscope.
Another thing I've been working on is the physical gestures. I was good about my slimier characters, but Ferrana and Xyltzel both lack most of what it would take to make humanoid gestures - no shoulders for shrugging, no hands for certain gestures, etc. I'm surprised at myself over how many I missed.
So I guess what I'm really saying is all clear on the editing front!
I've also found myself adjusting dialogue. I think I did a good job on the first pass of making everyone's speaking voice unique in text, but I've taken it a little further in this one, adjusting word choice and even cadence. Tiktela's impatience and disinterest in the interllectual pursuits means he tends to use shorter words and sentences and plainer words as well - no similies for this guy. But his brother, who under other circumstances would be a professor at uni instead of a mercenary, speaks slower, longer and more varied, with more precise word choices. It's actually been kinda fun putting their words under the microscope.
Another thing I've been working on is the physical gestures. I was good about my slimier characters, but Ferrana and Xyltzel both lack most of what it would take to make humanoid gestures - no shoulders for shrugging, no hands for certain gestures, etc. I'm surprised at myself over how many I missed.
So I guess what I'm really saying is all clear on the editing front!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
En Media Res
I've done it again. I've picked up a book in the middle of the series and end up spending a while trying to work out what's going on.
In this case it's "Pirate King" by Laurie King. For the first time, I actually had to step away from a book I was reading in this manner and go look up one detail - why Sherlock Holmes was in it and what his relationship was to our hero.
That worked out, I've been enjoying the book thus far, but there's a part of me that's bothered at finally having been bested by a serial series. Most books are written such that things you can't work out are also not that important, and who knows, maybe this sticking point would have been addressed later in the book than I've gotten too.
Of course, its not enough to make me start series at the start all the time. But it may make me a little more careful.
In this case it's "Pirate King" by Laurie King. For the first time, I actually had to step away from a book I was reading in this manner and go look up one detail - why Sherlock Holmes was in it and what his relationship was to our hero.
That worked out, I've been enjoying the book thus far, but there's a part of me that's bothered at finally having been bested by a serial series. Most books are written such that things you can't work out are also not that important, and who knows, maybe this sticking point would have been addressed later in the book than I've gotten too.
Of course, its not enough to make me start series at the start all the time. But it may make me a little more careful.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Rewind
Top Ten Tuesday is a regular feature on the Broke and Bookish blog.
This week's list is rewind - we get to pick an earlier topic we missed. So I picked top ten literary jerks.
1. Courtland Gamboge, Shades of Gray series - Nothing redeemable about this guy. Heck, in the story I didn't even like reading about him. I never got the feeling he was going to win. I never got the feeling he'd do serious harm. He was just a hateful, horrible jerk without purpose for me.
2. Luke, Freakangels comics - Only reason he's not no. 1 is that he serves as an actual tension-building character in the series so his jerkness serves a purpose. But this guy... ugh. he obtains the ability to control minds, so just guess what he uses it for. Just guess. :-/
3. Matoba Seiji, Natsume's Book of Friends series - You work for him? It means you're expendable and he'll use you as he sees fit. You're a yokai captured by him? It's slavery or death? and you're completely unattached to and unafilliated with him but he wants your help? He'll make it happen. Whatever he has to do, say or threaten, consider it done. Ugh.
4. Cordelia Delgado, The Dark Tower series - Sold her neice to a much older man to bear his child, against her wishes and by coersion, likely to get a comfortable life for herself. she's terrible to Susan all the time , she's horrible to most other people around her, and at the end... just ugh.
5. Joffrey Baratheon, A Song of Ice and Fire - Perhaps the paragon of jerks. Only this far down the list because he's in a world that sort of manufactures jerks, and you can see how his came about and was fostered.
6. Carcer, Night Watch (Discworld book) - One of those guys who never cops to understanding just what it is he did. Oh, he knows. He gets that he's a murderer. Revels in it even. But drapes himself in claims of innocence like a robe, and it's infuriating.
7. Izaya, Durarara series - He's willing to do just about anything for his own amusement.
8. Percy Weasley, Harry Potter series - Here's my moment of shame - I actually really like Percy. I found his arc pretty strong. I sympathized with someone who loved his family but didn't want to be like them, didn't want to live so poorly, to be laughed at by people with power, to be harnessed by his name his whole life. So he struck out on his own, and while he made massive mistakes and made choices that made him a true-blue jerk, he learned from it and I can't hate.
9. Hal Jordan, DC Comics/Mr. Fantastic, Marvel Comics - I'm sorry, I can't help it. They're jerks!
10. Quentin Coldwater, The Magicians - I don't necessarily mind when a jerk is our main character. But I want the jerk to have some redeeming qualities. Quentin managed none. I hated him by the end and wished for nothng more than his death. Alas, I was disappointed in even this.
1. Courtland Gamboge, Shades of Gray series - Nothing redeemable about this guy. Heck, in the story I didn't even like reading about him. I never got the feeling he was going to win. I never got the feeling he'd do serious harm. He was just a hateful, horrible jerk without purpose for me.
2. Luke, Freakangels comics - Only reason he's not no. 1 is that he serves as an actual tension-building character in the series so his jerkness serves a purpose. But this guy... ugh. he obtains the ability to control minds, so just guess what he uses it for. Just guess. :-/
3. Matoba Seiji, Natsume's Book of Friends series - You work for him? It means you're expendable and he'll use you as he sees fit. You're a yokai captured by him? It's slavery or death? and you're completely unattached to and unafilliated with him but he wants your help? He'll make it happen. Whatever he has to do, say or threaten, consider it done. Ugh.
4. Cordelia Delgado, The Dark Tower series - Sold her neice to a much older man to bear his child, against her wishes and by coersion, likely to get a comfortable life for herself. she's terrible to Susan all the time , she's horrible to most other people around her, and at the end... just ugh.
5. Joffrey Baratheon, A Song of Ice and Fire - Perhaps the paragon of jerks. Only this far down the list because he's in a world that sort of manufactures jerks, and you can see how his came about and was fostered.
6. Carcer, Night Watch (Discworld book) - One of those guys who never cops to understanding just what it is he did. Oh, he knows. He gets that he's a murderer. Revels in it even. But drapes himself in claims of innocence like a robe, and it's infuriating.
7. Izaya, Durarara series - He's willing to do just about anything for his own amusement.
8. Percy Weasley, Harry Potter series - Here's my moment of shame - I actually really like Percy. I found his arc pretty strong. I sympathized with someone who loved his family but didn't want to be like them, didn't want to live so poorly, to be laughed at by people with power, to be harnessed by his name his whole life. So he struck out on his own, and while he made massive mistakes and made choices that made him a true-blue jerk, he learned from it and I can't hate.
9. Hal Jordan, DC Comics/Mr. Fantastic, Marvel Comics - I'm sorry, I can't help it. They're jerks!
10. Quentin Coldwater, The Magicians - I don't necessarily mind when a jerk is our main character. But I want the jerk to have some redeeming qualities. Quentin managed none. I hated him by the end and wished for nothng more than his death. Alas, I was disappointed in even this.
Monday, April 15, 2013
The book is better
I've said this often of movies, but the same is true of comics.
I recently read the new Gambit series in its trade form, and while I liked it as a series of issues, I definitely liked it *more* as a collected whole.
I think part of it is the immediacy of the story. you don't have a month in between pieces to forget details of what happened, slip out of the mood the previous book had put you in, etc.
But I also think part of it is pacing. A good comic should end on a beat that makes you want to find out what happens next, but with individual issues it incites that feeling and then laughs at you for weeks. The collected book definitely feeds into a sense of immediacy, helping it feel like everything's happening on a realistic timescale.
Sometimes I swear I'd be better off by just waiting for trades.... but then how would I know what to get *in* trades? :)
I recently read the new Gambit series in its trade form, and while I liked it as a series of issues, I definitely liked it *more* as a collected whole.
I think part of it is the immediacy of the story. you don't have a month in between pieces to forget details of what happened, slip out of the mood the previous book had put you in, etc.
But I also think part of it is pacing. A good comic should end on a beat that makes you want to find out what happens next, but with individual issues it incites that feeling and then laughs at you for weeks. The collected book definitely feeds into a sense of immediacy, helping it feel like everything's happening on a realistic timescale.
Sometimes I swear I'd be better off by just waiting for trades.... but then how would I know what to get *in* trades? :)
Friday, April 12, 2013
Books for March
Didn't get to as much as I'd hoped to last month, due in large part to an agonizingly slow read, one which I didn't even manage to finish up in March and will be on next month's list. Still, this was a moth with a lot of new and a lot of GOOD. I was very pleased :)
As always, there may be spoilers behind the cut.
As always, there may be spoilers behind the cut.
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