Ptolemy's Gate, Secret at Sea, Pandora Hearts and lots of Viz

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• Chapter Book: I'm addicted to books on CD :)
  
  1. The Bartimaeus trilogy 3: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud.
     - Borrowed from BPL.
     - Read by Simon Jones.
     - The English was at war with the Americans. Bartimaeus had been on earth for a while now and his essence was wearing thin. He was very weak and couldn't fight well, except for spying.
     - Another fun installment of this series. Bartimaeus' back story with Ptolemy.
     - In this volume, Kitty Jones had a bigger role. I'm glad her character is strong and interesting and not totally naive and falling into traps.
     - The end of a very interesting series. I'm currently listening to the prequel: The Ring of Solomon.
  2. Secret at Sea by Richard Peck.
     - Borrowed from BPL.
     - Read by Jayne Entwistle.
     - Funny story about mice and their relationship with humans who lived upstair :)
     - They have hierarchy depending on which house they live in and take the last name of the family, too.
     - Entertaining.
• Manga:
  
  1. Oresama Teacher 11 by Izumi Tsubaki - ebook.
     - Another bad guy sent by the student council president! I don't understand the prez's motives. Did he actually send these guys to destroy the club and try to win the bet for the chairman, or he wanted these guys to meet other kids that were as eccentric as they and therefore would be able to deal with them and they would find out that school/interaction with other students were actually fun?
     - Xmas and New Year celebrations - just in time for the season :)
     - I like the 4-panel and omake :)
  2. The Earl and the Fairy 4 - The End - Original story by Mizue Tani, adapted and art by Ayuko - ebook.
     - The conclusion for #3. Lots of things happens.
     - Tricking and being tricked.
     - Abandoning and being saved.
     - At the end, Lydia was swamped with work :)
     - Nico is awesome and so is Raven.
     - Lydia didn't totally trust Edgar since his actions were conflicting. Like she said, he said he loved her but lied to her and used her as bait, though he did seem to regret doing that and tried to rescue her at any cost ... I wonder if he thought through his plans when Lydia was concerned - therefore she felt like she was only his pawn.
  3. Dawn of the Arcana 7 by Rei Toma - ebook.
     - There were some glitches on this volume last week, Viz says that there are 183 pages, but I was able to read only to 170. It's fixed now. Thanks, Viz.
     - Continues where #6 ends. Nakaba and the group now went to the castle and visit her grandfather.
     - Some secrets revealed. Loki has secrets that he wishes to keep to himself. I wonder what those are.
     - They were sent to mission in Lithuanel to protect Senan from Belquat.
     - There are 2 short chapters of Arcana High. They are too much fun.
  4. A Devil and her Love Song 6 by Miyoshi Tomori - ebook.
     - Well, Anna revealed her intention for going to visit Maria daily at lunch.
     - I'm glad that Maria was trying so hard and she understood the situations and didn't take things at face values to further more misunderstanding. Especially the first reject via cell phone. Maria figured out that Anna derailed her plans and confession.
     - And Shin went to another source to confirm what Anna told him. Good for Shin.
     - Yusuke is such a good boy.
     - One thing I don't understand about Anna's and Maria's fight at the end. But Anna understood what Maria was trying to do so that's all that matters, I guess.
     - I haven't seen Shin with a cigarette, I wonder if he had quit after what Maria had told him or that part of him is not important anymore.
     - Volume 7 is scheduled to be out in Feb 2013.
  5. Pandora Hearts 12-13 by Jun Mochizuki.
     - borrowed from BPL
     - I've been worried for Oz's little sister, Ada, since she seemed to be in Vincent's clutch! I shouldn't be. Vol 12 reveals her secrets, even Vincent was shocked :), and she could hold herself just fine. I'm glad.
     - The new character's design ,Isla Yura, is so creepy.
     - Vol 13 took a terrible turn during Oz's coming out party. Reim is dead. Elliot's older sister is killed. Leo seems to have some secrets but he is loyal to Elliot even though his secret may hurt Elliot. It turned out that Xerxes Break does value his friendship with Reim as revealed in this volume. He went berserk at the end when he found out that his friend was killed by Lily. This series is very dark and blood!
  6. Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time 15: Adapted and Art by Toko Mizuno.
     - Borrowed from ILL.
     - Akane's interaction with Akram. I felt sorry for Akram in this volume. He seemed so trapped and desperate. In fact, everyone of the devil clan was that way, except for Ikutidaal seemed to try to get the clan out of that state.
     - The shikigami is funny :)
     - I'll get the whole series and reread from end to end sometime next year.
  7. Bakuman 17: Story by Tsugumi Ohba and Art by Takeshi Obata
     - borrowed from BPL
     - Toru Nanamine is back and causing trouble with his new and improved system.