Reading Wednesday: Can you tell I was on vacation?

• What are you currently reading?
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson - I'm reading this for beer_marmalade & also because lots of my friends have been talking it up.
I'm not really a huge fan, I guess. This seems to be a book where the worldbuilding is way better than the writing. Unlike many sf/f fans, I don't really give a fuck about worldbuilding, so that on its own is not enough for me.


• What did you recently finish reading?
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer - It's been a long-ass time since I've read non-fiction. I saw this in a used bookstore & then checked it out from the library.
This book is about two fundamentalist Mormons who murdered their sister-in-law & her infant daughter in the 1980s. It's about the polygamist fundamentalist sect of Mormonism. It's also about the history of mainstream Mormonism & the violence that's always been a part of it.
Growing up, one of my best friends 5th through 10th grade was Mormon, & was one of the guy friends in our friend-group. So I've been interested in Mormonism for a while & am pretty familiar with its sanitized history.
This book presents a lot of events I was not previously aware of, including the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
In addition to pointing out how young & coerced a lot of people's plural wives have been - from Joseph Smith's to those living in these communities today - the book also focuses on the nature of belief, in people truly believing/knowing they are communicating with God & fulfilling his commands - even when they seem absurd to regular people (i.e., killing your infant niece).
Sometimes grotesque but also fascinating.
I'm sure millions of people feel the same way about Catholicism. Like, I still find the whole "golden plates" premise & Joseph Smith himself absurd, but I'm sure many feel the same way about transubstantiation.
Anyway, I feel like I'm not doing a great job with this review, but I loved this book & might look into reading more by Krakauer.

Shugo Chara! vols. 5-6 - Currently filing this under "okay but not great."
I love Amu's wardrobe (she is the protagonist). The premise of this series is that she feels like she can't be her "true self." She has mini-characters who hatch from eggs & can transform her into truer versions of herself (via henshin).
She hangs out with other members of her school who have this ability, too.
Amu gets a fourth egg with an X on it, which is later revealed to be a diamond. It doesn't reveal an aspect of Amu's true self right away because she's "down."
During the triumphant scene in which this x-egg finally changes into Diamond, Amu says, "I do feel frustrated. There's no one who would feel happy when they lose. Of course I'll feel frustrated if I lose. But losing...getting hurting is not the end of it. If I have the will to try harder the next time...I'll get stronger when I get hurt. People who know loss should be able to shine, too. I still don't know what the real me is like. I might be someone who is wishy-washy. But...I believe in it. I believe in the sparkles inside of me."
MAHOU SHOUJO MANGA, HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME WITH YOUR NONSENSICAL PEP TALKS. That's what I'm here for, & that's what I got :D

Basara vols. 2-6 - I am still SO PLEASED with this series, omg it just fantastic.


• What do you think you’ll read next?
More Basara, more Shugo Chara, & more of the other manga I've got checked out from the library ^_^
It'd be nice to read more non-fiction, too.

Quick Anime Post

Traveling Daru - This was a really cute ~10-minute short.
Daru is a toy who gets left behind by his child-owner in an airport b/c the kid's mom won't stop to pick him up while rushing to make their plane.
SO, Daru travels the world trying to find her. It's basically an excuse for animating lots of gorgeous backgrounds. Worth the 10 minutes, anyway.


Free! - This is a new/currently airing series that everyone & their mom is talking about.
Basically this is a show about boys who love swimming. Similar to Chihayafuru, the main characters formed a bond around this sport when they were young, & are now reunited in high school.
This is the same studio that made K-ON!, etc.
They had originally released some artwork about the characters without intending to do a series. Fans on Tumblr/etc. exploded with fanart & backstories, & because people liked it so much, they made a show.
The dudes have rippling muscles, etc. It is a fanservice show - that's the whole point.
Reading the mantearsflowingfree Tumblr is kind of hilarious. They mock men on the Internet who are complaining that this series is not explicitly aimed toward them, but rather toward female viewers.

Anyway, I genuinely like the show!
Unlike K-ON!, members of the opposite sex exist & have speaking roles. (In K-ON!, I think the only ones around are Mugi's butler & the guitar shop guy - two men in service roles who exist to serve the protags :D)


Servant x Service - This is a new/currently airing series about civil servants in Hokkaido. As I am ALSO a government employee & traveled most extensively in Hokkaido on both trips to Japan, I was really intrigued by this!
Unfortunately, it's sort of a running gag type show where every character is super annoying. There are also a few fanservicey jokes made about the large-busted protagonist.
I wouldn't recommend this to people, although I'll be watching for at least a little while to see if it gets any better.


Chihayafuru 2 - Feels just like season 1. I like the new boy-crazy girl who joins the karuta club just b/c she likes Taichi. She reminds me of Hachiko from NANA.
Don't really care about the new dude.
I ship Kana/Hanano for totes.
There was a quote in episode 4 or so explaining the series' title. Obviously "Chihaya" is the name of the protagonist, but "Chihayafuru" is also the beginning of one of the karuta cards.
lavendersleeves wrote this quote down here:

"Chihayafuru" is a poetic phrase that makes about as much sense in Japanese as it does in English. The translators translated this meaning as "impassionate," which seems apt in that "Impassionate" means either "full of passion" or "without passion." But in the last episode, a character gives a lovely interpretation of the word that I found somewhat inspiring:

"Chihayafuru" is like a perfectly spinning top, turning so fast and perfectly that it appears not to be moving at all. But it deflects everything that tries to touch it without losing balance, without losing calm.
The word is used to describe gods, not humans--it is probably a state that humans cannot achieve. It seems to me to be a state of such focus that one can be lightning-alert and yet perfectly calm. An offensive defense. Or maybe such inner peace that nothing can upset it.

SUPER INSPIRING. Even though "it is probably a state that humans cannot achieve," it seems like something to strive for, every day.


Little Witch Academia - This was a 25-minute short by a new studio. It's a school for witches!
It's hard to summarize the plot without giving shit away (only 25 min!), but this style is basically my mental image of Harry Potter. It was gr9, and they've apparently funded a second installment via Kickstarter. I'll be watching it!
The animation studio has uploaded this to YouTube, so you can watch it here.

Bike Ride #9

It's uh, been a while.

It was raining forever & then it was super hot.

Tonight I ate a lot for dinner & was then complaining on Twitter about how I'd likely feel better if I took a walk or a bike ride, & then were_duck and I took a bike ride together!

Rode to Division St & went into a bar for a drink.

When I went to check the bike out, the docking station thought I'd never checked the first bike in ^^;;;
This was my first interaction with Bcycle's customer service, and it went fine.
While the person on the phone couldn't fix it immediately, she said this sometimes happens. I bought a $5 day pass, which will be refunded to me tomorrow after someone can go to that station & figure out why the station isn't sensing the bike.
It only took about a minute of conversation!

It was nice to ride with were_duck. We saw cute bunnies! Two were adult bunnies and two were tiny baby bunnies O: O: O:

While riding, we ran into my friend Steph who was out for a jog!!

LOL being outside in my own community with my friends!
Anyway, this was a great way to get back into it.

On our way back, the bike path was full of people returning home from Concerts on the Square.
I do like driving my car (a lot), but when I'm biking outside around other people, I feel more like a member of my community (prolly in part b/c I don't really LEAVE my neighborhood lol).