[33-39/75] Reading Digest
So! I went to York this week, and my Susan/Bookshops OTP has now expanded to include Borders.
Seriously, I had never been in Borders before now. I think I described it as "the bastard child of a threeway between Waterstones, WHSmiths, and HMV" and the description stands. Especially because the nearest one is STILL nowhere near me, dammit. No, seriously, there isn't a SINGLE BOOKSHOP in the town where I live. I FEEL DEPRIVED.
Anyway, part of my sudden love for Borders is that they had a clearance sale going on when we went, and I managed to get a stash of manwha and bad sci-fi at around a quid each. I consider that a perfectly acceptable way to win my heart.
Anyway, quick and dirty reaction shots of half this haul (including a couple from a while back):
[33/75] Comic (Volume 2) by SiHyun Ha: Of all the manwha I got, this is the one I'd be miffed about not being able to read again. (In fact, I managed to LOSE this for all of a minute and was quite put out.) The romance (Well, such as it is) feels predictable - cool, aloof young man with a certain amount of Mysterious Angst and a Secret Identity, plus an earnest young woman who is hardworking and trying to get the respect of both the young man and the older guy she's got a crush on? You really think I can't see this coming a mile away?) but the OTHER stuff - the girl wants to be a manwha artist, and the guy is a published one she bullies into taking her on as an assistant - makes me happy! I enjoy reading about making comics or publishing books, so I will put up with retarded romance for stuff about manwha + guy getting pwned by a girl he intially dismisses + AWESOME ROOMMATE + guy being a dick and still helpful at the same time (It's a THING, all right?) = HAPPY SUSAN.
[34+35/75] Lone Wolf and Cub (Volumes 14 and 17) by Kazuo Koika & Goseki Kojima: I have the feeling that this is one of those series you have to had read almost the whole way through to have it make sense. Then again, I'm not sure - going off the volumes I've read - I could take seventeen closely packed (I'm serious, the books are SMALL, and considering how detailed the linework is that's not necessarily a good thing. Eyestrain ahoy!) volumes, which all presumably consist of "Guy and son travelling somewhere, their journey interrupted occasionally for a bloodbath." I have a feeling I might put up with it if I knew what was going on, but really - I approve of journeys+bloodbaths, but this feels repetitious and flat to me.
[36/75] Heavenly Executioner Chiwoo (Volume 3) by Park KangHo & Lee HaNa: This feels like an RPG. No, really - in the first few pages the characters yell about "turns," cast sleep, and bitch about missing the character who'd been put to sleep. Plus the FLEE! sequence. It's fun! Apart from that... The art's nothing special, but the story itself is quite interesting! I'm not so sure I'd dig the rest of it up if it wasn't on the cheap - like I said, it feels like an RPG, to the point where I'd swear I'd played something like this - but it's not a bad read.
[37/75] The Royal Palace Goong (Volume 1) by Park so Hee: Predictable shoujo rubbish is predictable? Daft humour + two people who don't like each other getting married + royalty = something I would give to my little sister full of confidence that she will LOVE IT TO DEATH. But for me - not so much.
[38/75] Courageous Ali and the Heartless King by Tariq Mehmood: Even for a kids' fairytale, I'm pretty sure this is DAFT. Not funny daft, but daft-story sort of daft. I may offer it to my nieces though and see what they think of it; I don't think much.
[39/75] Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Volume 1): This is really cute artwise, and has more Sora-Donald-Goofy dorkery than the game - although the rest of it is kinda... Not what I remember from the game. All I bought it for though was to remind me what happened in the games (which is why I'm eyeing up the rest of the KH books...), and it does that pretty well!
Coming up next: Storm Front by Jim Butcher, Runaways 3 and 4 by Brian Vaughn, and Young Avengers: Sidekicks. After that, I have a pile of bad sci-fi with my name on. \o/
Seriously, I had never been in Borders before now. I think I described it as "the bastard child of a threeway between Waterstones, WHSmiths, and HMV" and the description stands. Especially because the nearest one is STILL nowhere near me, dammit. No, seriously, there isn't a SINGLE BOOKSHOP in the town where I live. I FEEL DEPRIVED.
Anyway, part of my sudden love for Borders is that they had a clearance sale going on when we went, and I managed to get a stash of manwha and bad sci-fi at around a quid each. I consider that a perfectly acceptable way to win my heart.
Anyway, quick and dirty reaction shots of half this haul (including a couple from a while back):
Coming up next: Storm Front by Jim Butcher, Runaways 3 and 4 by Brian Vaughn, and Young Avengers: Sidekicks. After that, I have a pile of bad sci-fi with my name on. \o/