(no subject)
Anyone here read Kenneth Oppel's Silverwing trilogy? It would be easier for you to believe my recommendation of his newest series if you had read that one (because it is awesome). The new series I refer to starts out with Airborn, continues in Skybreaker and ends, I assume, in Starclimber, which I don't have yet because it only came out a couple of months back in hardcover. I'm a huge fan of young adult fiction, and of Kenneth Oppel's, so I'm predisposed to liking these books anyway, but if you've not read either of both series (and I really, really, really champion the Silverwing trilogy. They are, without a doubt, some of my all time favorite books)do so. Particularly in the case of the latter, if you happened to read Phillup Reeves' Hungry Cities Chronicles and have a bit of a taste for a kind of alternate version of earth but aren't looking for something so god damned depressing (they were still fantastic books!), I'd really recommend the....I dunno wha to call this series...the Airship triloy? The Airborn trilogy...the Aurora trilogy? At any rate, highly recommended.
Also just finished reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Reading the reviews over on Amazon, I have to agree with a lot of what they said (unrealistic fight scenes, the last third sort of happened waaayyy too easily etc.), and yet I can't help but feeling I completely loved the stupid thing. I suppose because for any other faults she has, I think the author has a really strong voice for her main characters, so even if secondary characters weren't as fleshed out as they could have been, I enjoyed the two main characters enough that it didn't bother me so much. Perhaps I'm too easily pleased, though. But my one complaint with the reviews I read was with the criticism of character names. The two main characters are named Katsa and Po (not his real name, but a nickname). I don't see what's so ridiculous about her name, and I was just telling ageha_ya that I really appreciate stories in which a character has a seemingly ridiculous name (the aforementioned Po) that, by the end of story, somehow becomes incredibly "cool" and dear (Candy and Malingo [Abarat], I'm looking at you!). But oh well, I suppose I can't entirely disagree with the criticism of the naming of most things in the book in general (Katsa is from the Middluns? The whole book I was distracted by a name like that. At any rate, I enjoyed the book a lot. I think the author has a great deal of potential (this is her debut novel), so I'm definitely looking forward to the sequels.
Also? I realized why I've been procrastinating so much on the Job Search (be it here in Japan or at home)...it's not because I'm not motivated or ambitious, it's because Uncertainty is at least better than Knowing you can't find work. Well, also that I, and I'm sure ageha_ya is of a similar mind, am so profoundly unsure of how much I want to Stay or to Go. I do not want to move into a city. I do not want to move away from Shiga. I have a life, so to speak, here. I do not want to continue doing the ALT thing really, either. And I do not want to live too far from ageha_ya. Plus, the longer I live here, the harder it comes to go home and get a job there. To start a "career". I've never once said I wanted to become an ex-pat a live in Japan the rest of my life. Not once. Deep down, truly, I'm a home body. I love my country and the idea of living away from there permanently pretty much lies smack dab in the center of The Unacceptable. On the other hand, there is a part of me that's terrified in returning home and pining for Japan. But not just Japan itself, but the whole relatively easy, decently paid life of an ALT. I don't want to mope and be sad and regret leaving. But as easy and natural as life has become to me here, there's no denying that cultural clashes and language barriers are an every day factor of life and can and will drive you crazy and, well...I'm not sure what else. I suppose I'm at that point in life, as so many people probably are at about my age, that I'm not sure what to do with myself, and the abysmal state of the ecomony doesn't help (although at least with the way the economy is, if you can't find a job you can at least blame it on that instead of just looking like a complete loser who can't find a job :P).
Okay, I'd better stop moping and look at my List of Options.
Also just finished reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Reading the reviews over on Amazon, I have to agree with a lot of what they said (unrealistic fight scenes, the last third sort of happened waaayyy too easily etc.), and yet I can't help but feeling I completely loved the stupid thing. I suppose because for any other faults she has, I think the author has a really strong voice for her main characters, so even if secondary characters weren't as fleshed out as they could have been, I enjoyed the two main characters enough that it didn't bother me so much. Perhaps I'm too easily pleased, though. But my one complaint with the reviews I read was with the criticism of character names. The two main characters are named Katsa and Po (not his real name, but a nickname). I don't see what's so ridiculous about her name, and I was just telling ageha_ya that I really appreciate stories in which a character has a seemingly ridiculous name (the aforementioned Po) that, by the end of story, somehow becomes incredibly "cool" and dear (Candy and Malingo [Abarat], I'm looking at you!). But oh well, I suppose I can't entirely disagree with the criticism of the naming of most things in the book in general (Katsa is from the Middluns? The whole book I was distracted by a name like that. At any rate, I enjoyed the book a lot. I think the author has a great deal of potential (this is her debut novel), so I'm definitely looking forward to the sequels.
Also? I realized why I've been procrastinating so much on the Job Search (be it here in Japan or at home)...it's not because I'm not motivated or ambitious, it's because Uncertainty is at least better than Knowing you can't find work. Well, also that I, and I'm sure ageha_ya is of a similar mind, am so profoundly unsure of how much I want to Stay or to Go. I do not want to move into a city. I do not want to move away from Shiga. I have a life, so to speak, here. I do not want to continue doing the ALT thing really, either. And I do not want to live too far from ageha_ya. Plus, the longer I live here, the harder it comes to go home and get a job there. To start a "career". I've never once said I wanted to become an ex-pat a live in Japan the rest of my life. Not once. Deep down, truly, I'm a home body. I love my country and the idea of living away from there permanently pretty much lies smack dab in the center of The Unacceptable. On the other hand, there is a part of me that's terrified in returning home and pining for Japan. But not just Japan itself, but the whole relatively easy, decently paid life of an ALT. I don't want to mope and be sad and regret leaving. But as easy and natural as life has become to me here, there's no denying that cultural clashes and language barriers are an every day factor of life and can and will drive you crazy and, well...I'm not sure what else. I suppose I'm at that point in life, as so many people probably are at about my age, that I'm not sure what to do with myself, and the abysmal state of the ecomony doesn't help (although at least with the way the economy is, if you can't find a job you can at least blame it on that instead of just looking like a complete loser who can't find a job :P).
Okay, I'd better stop moping and look at my List of Options.