My Girl, Sir Philip, Julie, Narnia 3, The Bride, and These Old Shades.
7b. 1 volume of My Girl (マイガール).
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Manga Updates
Story and Art by Mizu Sahara
From Kazé Editions
Depuis qu'elle l'a brusquement quitté il y a cinq ans, Masamune Kazama n'a plus aucune nouvelle de Yôko, l'amour de sa vie. Jusqu'au jour où on lui annonce qu'elle est morte, et qu'elle laisse derrière elle une petite fille… qu'elle a eue de lui. Pour ces deux êtres brisés par la perte, le souvenir de l'absente va devenir un lien indestructible, mais leur amour sans concession pour Yôko suffira-t-il à faire d'eux une famille ?
Un drame tendre et mélancolique sur l'amour, la mort, et la vie qui éclôt au milieu des larmes.
Some points:
- loosely translated: Since she abruptly left five years ago, Kazama Masamune has no news of Yoko, the love of his life. Until he is told that she died, and she leaves behind a little girl ... she got him. For these two people broken by the loss, the memory of the absent will become an unbreakable bond, but their uncompromising love for Yoko enough there to make them a family?
A tender and melancholy drama about love, death and life that blooms amidst the tears.
- I don't remember how I got interested in this series. It's similar to Bunny Drop except that the little is really Kazama's daughter. She's the same age as Rin and as sensitive. She does have a loving grandmother but she'd rather live with Kazama. Her grandmother does help out by taking care of her when Kazama's sick or busy with work.
- Kazama's relationship with his parents, his mother in particular is a bit rocky. I guess since both of his parents worked when he was younger, he wasn't very closed to them. It looks like this little girl will bring them all together.
- There is also a little boy whose parents are divorced but he lives with his father who's working too hard. I think he'll become her friend.
- Kazama wasn't as thoughtful as Daichi, the first week she was with him. His boss askedtold him to go to a drinking party with an important client. He couldn't refuse, so he left the girl by herself at home, promised to be home by midnight, and he came home at 2 am or something. Who would leave a 5-year-old by himself or herself?
- This is a short series with only 5 volumes. From the author of Voice From a Distant Star. I really like the art and there are color pages. I'll be getting the rest of the series.
- The premise is similar to Bunny Drop, but the story is told with a bit of melancholy since both main characters had lost someone very dear to them.
Bottom line, very interesting slice-of-life series.
8. Sir Phillip's Folly. First sentence: "The atmosphere in the Poor Relation in Bond Street was glacial."
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Written by Marion Chesney
Some points:
- borrowed from lpl (A)
- This is a fourth volume of The Poor_Relation series of the author that I had read the first volume last month, the second volume the week before, and third last week.
- Sir Philip is the trouble child in this volume ;)
- There is also Arabella and her widow mother!
- Fun fast read.
Bottom line, reread? sure. Recommend? If you like light-hearted Regency romance.
9. Julie of the Wolves. First sentence: "Miyax pushed back the hood of her sealskin parka and looked at the Arctic sun."
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Written by Jean Craighead George
Some points:
- borrowed from lpl (B)
- Very interesting story about an Alaskan girl.
- The book is divided in 3 parts. First part, the girl tried to survive in Alaska with the help of a pack of wolf that she befriended and learned their language. Second part, her back story on the reason she was in the wild by herself. Third part is a continuation where part 1 left off.
- I really enjoy the character, how she tried to survive and how smart she was to learn wolf language and remembered things her father had taught her.
- I was so sad when Aramoq was killed and the bird died at the end! It's a bit distressing in the second part about Daniel's family.
Bottom line, reread? maybe. Recommend? Yes, if you like reading about nature, Alaska, and Eskimos.
10. The Chronicles of Narnia - The Horse and His Boy. First sentence: "This is the story of an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between, in the Golden Age when Peter was High King in Narnia and his brother and his two sisters were King and Queens under him."
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Written by C.S. Lewis
Some points:
- borrowed from lpl (B)
- read by Alex Jennings
- Delightful story. I enjoy it very much
Bottom line, reread? definitely. Recommend? Of course.
11. The Bride (Lairds' Fiancees). First sentence: "The deadwatch was over."
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Written by Julie Garwood
Some points:
- ebook borrowed from lpl (B)
- I was curious about this book after reading the review from DearAuthor.
- It's interesting.
- There is a implying murder at the beginning of the story because there is italic voice.
- Somewhat arranged marriage.
- Somewhat fast read.
- I like Jamie a lot.
Bottom line, reread? maybe. Recommend? If you like romance and arranged marriage.
12. These Old Shades. First sentence: "A gentleman was strolling down a side street in Paris, on his way back to from the house of one Madame de Verchoureux."
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Written by Georgette Heyer
Some points:
- borrowed from lpl (B)
- I was curious about this book after reading the review about another the book of this author which mentioned this one from DearAuthor.
- This is my second attempt. I borrowed it once last year, read the first page, and got distracted by other books, so I had to return it since there was a hold that I couldn't renew or I had renewed 2 times already. This time I determined to read past the first page and finished it.
- The story reminds me of The Count of Monte Cristo because the main character was out to revenge who had wronged him, not that he had never wronged anybody but that's not the point ;)
- I'm not sure if I like Alastair. Maybe I'd like him better if I had known more about him. I've bought The Black Moth (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Moth-Romance-Georgette-ebook/dp/B0062NT2DU/) and have reserved Devil's Cub. I'm thorough!
- Once I got past the first chapter, things move faster for me.
- It's entertaining. I like Leon and other people around Alastair.
Bottom line, reread? maybe. Recommend? Sure.
- Rambling
- I was checking to see where the French is with Nodame Cantabile. They just published #13 Aug 2011. #14 will be out April 2012. I guess sojei doesn't do well in France, either :( I was reminded that Tomoko Ninomiya also has another shorter series published there called Tensai Family Company.
Unfortunately, all six volumes are oop! It does look interesting. There are Japanese bunko still available at Kinokuniya. So I went to the French publisher Kaze and searched for the title and found out that all 6 volumes of this title is available via iBooks since Dec 23rd 2011 (here) I do have access to an iPad with iBooks installed, but I couldn't find Tensai. The annoying thing is the search function is not as good as Amazon. It only lists top authors, NY bestsellers, features, and popular stuff. Grrrrr! Needless to say I was a bit frustrated. Googling some more showed that Apple just added 25 countries to iBooks. It seems that to add other countries to iBooks, I need to use iConnect but I can't find the menu that the webblogger showed. By then, I admitted defeat. - Via Manga Conseil (my main and sole source of info on manga released in France) 2 volumes complete 5 volumes on going (manga updates). A manhwa about cooking and slice-of-life. Isn't the cover pretty? It seems that the whole volume is in color, too.
- Also via Manga Conseil Panini has licensed Hiyokoi by Moe Yukimaru (manga updates) which I have seen on Japan comics sale list from ANN many times. The first volume is released in July. I look forward to reading it in French or hope that it will be licensed in English!