Reading...
One of the things that has fallen by the wayside this year in everything that has gone on is my reading. I've kept up with reference reading for my work but reading for pleasure has been tough when I was so busy and my mind occupied elsewhere.
But now I'm back with a vengeance. I've got manga on tap - several volumes of Hikaru no Go and Fullmetal Alchemist - the latter is seriously some of the best manga I have ever read. Still chugging through the Buffy comics but have to admit that they are a bit up and down for me. Sometimes if feels cheesy or off and sometimes it's Joss at his best.
I've just finished the second volume of the Moribito series - Guardian of the Darkness. I admit thinking whether Uehashi could really top the first volume - I found myself really caring for Chagum and wondering how a story would be without him. But Balsa's background is gripping and the mythology of her people and her relationship with her foster father even after his death is something that Balsa has to face. It's a shame that it's so long between installments.
I read a great book by an Egyptian author Alaa al-Aswany called The Yacoubian Building. It weaves together the stories of a group of people of different religions, classes, ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations at the time of the outbreak of the first Gulf War. It's a clash of pre-revolutionary Egypt with both the secular regime and the Muslim opposition played out on a microscopic level. The translation is very true to the original Arabic and it's really delicately written, hinting at outcomes rather than hitting you over the head with them.
Also read the latest Stephanie Plum book - the 15th in the series. I'm starting to get sick of the Joe Morelli/Stephanie/Ranger love triangle and luckily Evanovich steers clear of it by putting Joe and Stephanie in an 'off' phase of their reltionship and the Ranger/Stephanie sexual tension is on low. There's some great moments with Carla and a car and is anyone keeping count yet of just how many cars Stephanie has totalled?
Right now I'm cuddling up with Yukio Mishima's The Sailor who Fell from Grace to the Sea and I've got Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss and Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters coming up. (Mistry's A Fine Balance is on my favorite list so can't wait to read his other stuff). I've also got reading as my primary thing to do over the Xmas break so any recommendations are greatly appreciated.
But now I'm back with a vengeance. I've got manga on tap - several volumes of Hikaru no Go and Fullmetal Alchemist - the latter is seriously some of the best manga I have ever read. Still chugging through the Buffy comics but have to admit that they are a bit up and down for me. Sometimes if feels cheesy or off and sometimes it's Joss at his best.
I've just finished the second volume of the Moribito series - Guardian of the Darkness. I admit thinking whether Uehashi could really top the first volume - I found myself really caring for Chagum and wondering how a story would be without him. But Balsa's background is gripping and the mythology of her people and her relationship with her foster father even after his death is something that Balsa has to face. It's a shame that it's so long between installments.
I read a great book by an Egyptian author Alaa al-Aswany called The Yacoubian Building. It weaves together the stories of a group of people of different religions, classes, ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations at the time of the outbreak of the first Gulf War. It's a clash of pre-revolutionary Egypt with both the secular regime and the Muslim opposition played out on a microscopic level. The translation is very true to the original Arabic and it's really delicately written, hinting at outcomes rather than hitting you over the head with them.
Also read the latest Stephanie Plum book - the 15th in the series. I'm starting to get sick of the Joe Morelli/Stephanie/Ranger love triangle and luckily Evanovich steers clear of it by putting Joe and Stephanie in an 'off' phase of their reltionship and the Ranger/Stephanie sexual tension is on low. There's some great moments with Carla and a car and is anyone keeping count yet of just how many cars Stephanie has totalled?
Right now I'm cuddling up with Yukio Mishima's The Sailor who Fell from Grace to the Sea and I've got Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss and Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters coming up. (Mistry's A Fine Balance is on my favorite list so can't wait to read his other stuff). I've also got reading as my primary thing to do over the Xmas break so any recommendations are greatly appreciated.