laceblade

I've been trying to read LeGuin's Hainish cycle, somewhat in order. I really liked Semley's Necklace, which was a lot like Rip Van Winkle. Why doesn't more SF deal with the effects of FTL travel?
I enjoyed Planet of Exile and Rocannon's World mostly for the prose, but liked Semley's Necklace better.
I've also read "April in Paris," which is unrelated to Hainish stuff but in the same collection of short stories as Hainish stuff.

Phantom Thief Jeanne, vols. 1-3 - I really enjoyed these. I love Maron's hair, which is always perfectly drawn. Viz's release is very pretty.
I think this is the first time I've seen virginity explicitly/textually linked with mahou shoujo power. The threat of rape is used repeatedly in the third volume, which I really didn't care for.
The primary love interest also makes comments that he might not be able to "help [himself]," and wants Jeanne to stop being a Phantom Thief, :[ Very controlling, sometimes disturbing images of him holding her wrists against the wall while towering over her to argue. Ugh.
What does attract me is Maron's loneliness, her desire for strength/fortitude but eventual acceptance that she can and should rely on her friends while she's not yet strong enough to do everything on her own.
Also loved Maron's facade of cheerful strength, which covers up her loneliness. I hope to read more of this rerelease.

After volumes 19 and 20, I've finally abandoned One Piece. I seem to never be able to make it past ~20 volumes with shounen, or at least that's been true of this, Naruto, and Bleach. Fullmetal Alchemist is a well-loved exception.

Pamela Dean's Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary is hard to describe, but I absolutely loved it, definitely going on my list of favorites. I think it might be my favorite by Dean.

Vampire Knight, volumes 1-5 - I've read the first few volumes before, but now that the final tome has been released, I thought I'd reread & go straight on through to the end. I'd forgotten how heinous this is.
Everyone's hair always looks wet. Sucking of blood is used an excuse for everyone to bit/like one another while having mid-orgasmic facial expressions. The omake pages are literally titled, "Vampires covered in blood are forbidden from entering this page!" AMAZE. Self-aware manga-ka are the best.

One Salt Sea - Fifth Toby Daye, which I enjoyed a lot, possibly even more than #3, which had been my favorite.

Please Save My Earth, vol. 1 - This was a reread from a lonnnnng time ago. Sadly, my library system doesn't carry the rest of the series, and I'd have to outer-library loan every single volume after this. Not sure if I'm interested enough to keep doing that, but I'd also really like to see where the story goes, after only knowing the beginning for about a decade.

Fangirl - I pretty much devoured this. Over-identified in a few places, as I had a hard time making friends in college, spent a lot of time in my dorm room, etc. There's a lot of mental illness running through the pages of this book, so cw for that.

Arrows of the Queen - Someone at Tor.com is reading a reread of these Mercedes Lackey books. Having never read any Lackey ever, I thought I'd join in to learn about "sparkle ponies" that have often been discussed at WisCon.
I think I referred to reading this book as like eating cotton candy. SPARKLE PONY SCHOOL?! WHERE YOU GO AFTER BEING CHOSEN BY A PONY TO HELP RULE THE KINGDOM?! Amazing.

Malice - another fantastic book by Higashino, although this one was NOT about Detective Galileo, as the last two published in the US were. I love the writing. I'm completely unable to guess how things fit together, and I just really love Higashino as an author and wish that more of his books were translated into English.

How to Save a Life - With this, I've now read all available Sara Zarr books, I think? I usually suck these books down in about a day, becoming completely enthralled, and this one was no different.

ATLA: The Rift, part 3 (final) - I really enjoyed this as an end to this third post-ATLA series trilogy. Is Gene Luan Yang doing more? I really hope so!


I know there have been a bunch of other comics I've read after borrowing them from people from comics club, but I'll have to do those after my vacation!

Heidi - As a child, I imprinted on the movie version of Heidi, which had Jason Robards & cast Jane Seymour as Fraulein Rottenmeier. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that I devoutly watched Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, every week (yeah, I know).
Heidi is a book about miserable people whose mental & physical woes are cured by the fresh air & impressive views of the Alps. Or possibly, faith in God.
There's a weird trick with this one. Despite the fact that I really don't believe in, "God has a plan, so everything will work out, you just need to trust him" & also tend to abhor the "person is paralyzed and then magically cured!!", it works for me in this book because the "cure" works first for people who are sad & visit the mountain. They eat good food, they get stronger by being outside. And after Heidi comes back from Frankfurt & becomes a little more "learned," people become less crabby/fearful both because they reconcile their relationships with God & also because they meet one another through Heidi, & are able to help solve one another's problems.
Peter's grandmother can never sleep at night because their house is rattling, & she's afraid it'll cave in. Heidi's irritable grandfather comes & patches it all up before the winter, & so Grandmother is able to sleep & grow a little stronger.
Also, Heidi's able to pull strings with her rich friends in Frankfurt to supply the Grandmother with soft bread she can eat (rather than the cheaper brown bread she can't really handle), & also transport the bed she herself slept on in Germany so that the Grandmother's head can be elevated at night.
It all works out, like some kind of feminist utopia. The book was written in 1880, so ymmv. I really liked it.

ATLA FCBD offering - I was so excited to read this because Faith Erin Hicks did the art!! GO FAITH!!! An excellent story for Free Comic Book Day, & we got to see Suki be a badass.

Journey Into Mystery featuring Lady Sif, volume 1: Stronger Than Monsters - borrowed from garrideb through our comics club. Sif is kind of like a lady-version of Thor. No prior knowledge of Asgard/Thor stuff is needed, which is good, because I've never seen his movies & am only aware of him as he appears in the Avengers movie. This was pretty decent! I put volume 2 on hold at the library, although I think the story was canceled after just two volumes.
It'll be interesting the next time I reread my beloved Runaways, as I've now read other stuff by most of the authors!

Sea Change - Continuing in my quest to read books from the 2013 Tiptree Award Shortlist. I'm going to be lazy & crib the Tiptree Award's description:

This debut novel tells a dark, fairy tale-like story of a young girl and her best friend, Octavius, who is an eloquent, intelligent kraken. When Octavius is captured, Lilly sets out to rescue him, bargaining with a greedy circus master, a witch, and a pair of gay bandits. She is transformed by her quest, giving up everything she has known, including her gender, to save her friend.

And it does pretty much that! An okay read, but this writing style didn't really grab me.

Angel & Faith, s10 #2 - Still okay-ish?! I'm feeling Faith's plot more than Angel's at the moment. I hope they team up again.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - This was a reread, although I didn't remember much of my first read except that I liked it, lol. AND I STILL LIKE IT. The gods, Yeine, political intrigue up the wazoo, this is just great. I know some people have griped about the writing, in how the narrator is flashing forward and back sometimes, but it really works for me as an honest first-person perspective, and that's how I feel when I'm reading it - not at all like I'm uncomfortable in the hands of an inexperienced writer.
I reread it so that I can read the rest of the trilogy. N.K. Jemisin is one of the Guests of Honor at this year's WisCon, which is why I'm try to hustle through some of her books before Memorial Day weekend. I'm really looking forward to the next one, especially because it gets away from the uber-privileged people of the first book. I'm eager to see what this world looks like from someone else's perspective.
I was stopped by two strangers - one on the bus & one on the street - who told me how much they love this book.

• What are you currently reading?
Cold Steel - Picking up right where Cold Fire left off! I’m finding it hard to focus on this one, maybe because I really prefer mass market paperbacks to trades, maybe because I’ve just been kind of busy. BUT still love this trilogy.

X-Men: Curse of the Mutants - I’m reading the first collection of this story arc. As far as I can tell, this precedes the X-Men series I’m currently buying/reading by Brian Wood, & explains how Jubilee became a vampire. So far it’s pretty silly & I barely know who anybody is, but I think it’ll be helpful in figuring out wtf’s going on in the current series. Plus, the current title is doing some “Battle of the Atom” crossover event, of which I only think I have part of the story, so I’m not really eager to catch up until they return to their own story.


• What did you recently finish reading?
Pretty Deadly #1 - Someone posted a nice review on this somewhere on DW, & now I can’t find it but I am still too lazy to write in depth about it. It’s a neat premise, great art.

Saga #15 - That ending, tho!

Sandman Prelude #1 - I never got around to finishing the first run of Sandman, but this one’s okay?! idk. I picked it up but find myself way more into J.H. Williams III’s page layouts/use of color/etc. than I am into the story.

Salvation of a Saint - I got this from the library becaude I’d liked The Devotion of Suspect X. I may have liked this one more, I’m not sure. I wish that more of Keigo Higashino’s books were translated into English. Nobody knows of a place online where to find translated Japanese novels such as these, do they? ;)
In the meantime, I have lots of other novels lying around the apartment by Japanese authors that I need to read.

ATLA: The Search, #3 (final) - I might not have liked this as much as The Promise, but I like them well enough. I know I’ll reread, etc. Anyone know if GLY is planning to write more ATLA? I’ll miss them if he doesn’t :/

Killjoys #3-5 - I caught up on this series & was feeling blergh until issue 5. There are a lot of details that feel lost on me, or like I don’t quite get the plot, which is a thing that annoys me. Hopefully it goes away when I read them all at once.

Captain Marvel - where I left off through #17 (final issue for this arc) - I wish it were possible to read these but drop all the crossover events. I can’t stand those, :/ #17 was fabulous. I still love Felipe Andrade’s art, & I am SO EXCITED for Ms. Marvel. Sad that we have to wait a while for both.

Trillium #4 - The last page said, "The End," & if it is the end, it's kind of sad & pointless. However, there's supposed to be a Trillium #5, so idk what the hell's going on.

Hawkeye Annual & #13 - It was really nice to return to this series. I love the writing. Kate Bishop has the voice of raanve in my head. The Internet leads me to believe that issue #14 came out, but I can't find it anywhere in my apartment. WOE because if I could read more I'd do it ASAP!

• What are you currently reading?
Nothing, really? About to start Young Avengers #4

• What did you recently finish reading?
Killjoys comic preview from FCBD: This was really fast-paced, I think too much so?? mergh. Maybe I need to reread it :[

ATLA FCBD short: "Rebound," featuring Mai on the cover, :D after her breakup with Zuko, Mai's depressed & hanging out working in her aunt's flower shop, in the Fire Nation.
I am continually impressed by Gene Luen Yang's ability to write the ATLA characters true to form (here, in The Promise, & now in The Search), and also honestly look at how the political aftermath of the events would leave these kids, their families, & their societies. I see these comics as the true successor to the original show, rather than the slapped-together & sometimes irresponsible Legend of Korra.
(PS: Gene Luen Yang tweeted at me?!?!)

Saga #11 & #12 - lots of emotions in these two issues! I still love the dialogue, the art, ad the pacing. I'm sad this is going on hiatus for a while so they can build up a backlog. Does anyone know how long the hiatus is supposed to last?

Star Wars: The Assassination of Darth Vader, another short from FCBD. This was the flip side of the ATLA one about Mai. This takes place shortly before movie IV. Written by Brian Wood, basically a Vader monologue about what a badass he is, as we watch him kill his would-be assassins. Forgettable.

Willow: Wonderland, #5 (final) The end, by which I mean the final page, was great. I'm not sure I'll ever want to reread this, though.

Buffy Season 9, #19 (Welcome to the Team #4) - ( Spoilers )

Angel & Faith (& Spike) #20 - Working through some heavy shit in this issue. I still like it so much. I very much appreciate Spike's presence, & sort of wish he'd shown up earlier rather than having his own 5-issue spin-off. Buffy comics are pretty dialogue-heavy. It's a thing that irritates me a little when I compare them to other series.

Buffy Season 9, #20 (The Watcher) - a POV of Xander's manpain, but at least in the end I felt very justified by my disgust with him.

Angel & Faith #21 - I didn't think that the mission that started off the premise of this series would remain its focus, & now I'm just afraid to see what happens! We're now in the final arc. I'm scared/excited to keep reading, ;_; ( Spoilers ) With this, I'm now caught up on Buffyverse comics! \o/

Wild Ones, volume 2: There was a great triumphant moment at the end of this volume. So, obviously Sachie & Rakuto are working to keep their yakuza-ness a secret from their high school classmates. Due to some strange turns of events, this secret is basically threatened to be revealed. And in this AWESOME scene, Sachie is a total badass, and basically says, "Yeah, so I'm yakuza. What of it? You wanna go?" OMG THIS BAMF RN.
They walk it back a little by having Rakuto tell her classmates, "Oh, she was just acting for this school event, isn't she a great actress?! Hahaha."

Wild Ones, volume 3: More of the same. It's like...there's not a lot going on in this series that's special? Mostly the same shoujo. I'm a little creeped out by how much time Sachie's grandfather & Rakuto spend talking about who Sachie should/shouldn't be spending her time with, instead of allowing her to make those decisions herself. ("I don't want my granddaughter to grow up to be with someone in the yakuza...") Also some typical shoujo things, where a dude with strong feelings for a girl ends up in awkward body positions where he's directly over her body, etc., in images that look a little disturbingly like a prelude to sexual assault (but it never goes there).
There's a satisfying moment in this volume, too. Rakuto is asked to perform a pointless rescue mission of Sachie. He's being "tested" & there are a lot of arbitrary rules to follow. In the end, he's about to miss rescuing her by the certain time limit, but then Sachie stands up to her captor, says, "There's no rule saying that I have to wait to be rescued," & jumps out the window (into Rakuto's arms). Immediately afterward, the captor says something about Rakuto always saving her, and Sachie is defiant, saying, "No! We save each other."
MANGA, YOU ARE WORKING MY WAY INTO MY HEART.
Thus far, the series has not really addressed the seedy work performed by all of the men surrounding Sachie's life. I'd like to know way more about their ties to their community, whether they actually kill people, etc.

Wild Ones, volume 4: The feature of Sachie shooting a fake gun at a festival GIVES ME LIFE. STOP TEASING ME, MANGA. I want Sachie going on missions with her yakuza crew, pwning people.
Anyway, Sachie leaves her home to go to a festival WITH SOMEONE ELSE. Even though she'd rather be with Rakuto, SHE CAN'T SAY NO.
Back at her grandfather's place, all the men bemoan her absence, & remember how before she came to live with them, they ate instant meals every day. THANKS FOR ESTABLISHING THE ONLY GIRL IN THIS SERIES MAKES EVERYONE'S MEALS DESPITE GOING TO CLASS AT HIGH SCHOOL. Has anyone ever made a list of all manga in which girls provide food FOR EVERYONE?
This is a reason why I like xxxHolic - Watanuki is the one doing all domestic tasks (he's the dude protagonist).
It turns out that Sachie can't stay away for a single night. Rakuto shows up in Okinawa to essentially kidnap her home. (He literally picks her up and steps directly back on to the train he came from, sending both of them farther away from home instead of towards it.)
The end of the last chapter epitomizes what I both love & hate about this series. Sachie drops her wallet & then gets into an altercation when one dude tells her to step off because he's part of a yakuza clan.
Sachie's face turns angry & bamf-like, and she yells, "Turns out that we're part of the same world!" But then you turn the page & Rakuto shows up to say, "I told you so many times to go straight home. What am I going to do with you, Sachie?" UGH.

Venus Capriccio, volume 2: I'd forgotten that Akira is a little exoticised for his "beauty" (whenever the word "beautiful" is used, Takami, the narrator, makes sure to say "even though he's a guy"). He is beautiful in part BECAUSE he is part European, apparently.
Anyway, Takami gets a job at a restaurant, so Akira gets one there, too, to "watch her." Takami's grumpy about this. When she accidentally serves people the wrong salad, he intervenes to apologize on her behalf & also serve the correct food.
He arranges his schedule to match hers to walk her home & calls someone else to do it when he is unavailable.
One night, some hoodlums show up in the restaurant & hit on her. Takami is handling it, but there's no need because Akira shows up to spill water on their heads.
They leave, and he berates Takami. "You're still a girl, Takami. Wake up and recognize that. You're too vulnerable. It's dangerous for you to be walking the streets alone at night..."

It's so gross. I feel like Venus Capriccio and Wild Ones are both communicating the same message: It's romantic for a boy to step in & control a girl's life: Who she sees, where she goes. There isn't room for any men in a girl's life except for her romantic interest. And any misfortune she experiences for daring to [exist outside the shelter of home after sunset / talk to men / etc.] is absolutely her fault.

If anyone's wondering why I prefer series with just girls & no men lately (i.e., K-On!, AKB0048, etc.), this is a huge reason why.
The volume picked up a little after that - I still enjoy watching Akira and Takami play the pinao. I enjoy this series' art. I just still had some smoldering rage going on.

Some Glee fics:
drowning in your dizzy noise by timorous_scribe - Santana and Rachel, three fail-starts and one take-off. Assumes events up to 4x17 'Guilty Pleasures.' (NSFW)

Mixed Media by parsnips - Cooper Anderson lands a role on a show called White Collar, & so obviously the entire Glee Club becomes involved in the White Collar fandom. Blaine-centric, which I usually don't enjoy, but this fic is HILARIOUS & I loved every part of it.
He's a professional. He knows about pointing.

• What do you think you’ll read next?
idk. Likely more comics. I don't want to knock on comics b/c they can be super important & meaningful, but I'm still feeling not up to the emotional complexity of novels.
The Anna Karenina book club next meets during WisCon, & I had to return my copy to the library a while. I am not feeling compelled to finish it, especially as someone mentioned that more [redacted] happens.
I also stopped reading Kokoro for that reason, too.
I have more Wild Ones manga waiting for me at the library.