Those binaries get reversed so easily
So after about fourteen hours of reading about anime and manga and their impact on western culture, it seems the definition of "manga" most people like to use is "that stuff that's better than traditional American comics." Manga isn't quintessentially Japanese to most people [there exists both European and American "manga"] and it's obviously not an art style so it's just ... "good stuff." It's always described as being gorgeously illustrated, completely original, and so much more realistic than our own candy-coated American comics. It's obviously better!
They of course disregard the fact that a good portion of manga unapologetically objectifies women at best and is downright misogynistic at worst. There's rampant xenophobia, glorified pedophilia [in Cardcaptor Sakura -- I'm not talking some obscure pornographic magazine], and gratuitous violence everyfuckingwhere.
It's not that I dislike manga or that I think all of those things -- er, well, violence at least should never ever be portrayed in a neutral or positive light. My favorite manga [Wild Adapter, Minekura Kazuya] is violent as hell and I devour action flicks. But the absolute (and frankly ignorant) disdain for anything ever created by an American that isn't sucking the omnipresent Japanese MangaCock is getting a little old. So is this glorification of anything that [X] Japanese artist managed to piss out no matter how fucked up and/or generic it is, no matter how shitty the art is, no matter how cardboard the characters are.
Also: good job Amazon, for specifying that the Marvel comics I'm looking at buying are, indeed, illustrated. Pray tell what a comic that isn't illustrated entails?
What's your bookstore?
Borders if it’s something I want a nice copy of, Half-Price if it’s something academic and/or something I don’t particularly want to spend a lot of money on owning. I tend to scrawl all over books I have to analyze, so I don’t like to spend a lot of money on them.
Hardback or Paperback?
I prefer paperback books because, aside from the fact they’re cheaper, they also are easy to lug around. As long as the pages are smooth and the type classic, well-spaced and legible (yes this is what matters to me) I can’t say I particularly care.
Bookmark or Dogear?
Dogear. I’m awful at actually keeping bookmarks. Countless people have bought me very nice bookmarks and they’ve lasted I think two weeks tops. I try to be careful when I dogear, but this is perhaps why most of my books look like they’ve been tossed down the stairs a couple times.
Keep, Throw Away or Sell?
Keep, of course. I tend to sell them if they’ve sat on my shelf for 10+ years without being touched, but otherwise I keep them. I can’t throw books away. I find it criminal. I even have that awful Nathaniel Fick book that I had to read for rhetoric last year because I can’t throw it away, but I can’t sell it (it’s been written all over - with profanity).
Read with dustjacket or remove it?
I never use the dust jacket. It gets in the way, it constantly causes the book to slide around in my hands, and I always manage to tear it. Besides, I like the class of a simple hardcover volume without any gaudy pictures on the front. It also provides a level of anonymity to what I read; I’m really self-conscious about what I’m reading (regardless of what it is) so I like having a blank cover rather than a dust jacket that proclaims, loudly, what I’m reading.
Short story or novel?
It really depends. I like novels because they allow for more complete development of the characters and the plot. You put a real investment into reading a novel, and it’s more consuming - in most cases at least. At the same time short stories are easy - they’re nice things to read while I’m in school, because there’s not a huge investment and finishing them gives me a sense of accomplishment.
I have favorites of both types and of their red-headed stepchild, the novella. It really does depend on the quality of the individual work. Some things function wonderfully as short stories and other’s don’t; this is also true of the reverse.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Chapter breaks. When I’m reading something I want to it’s really the only way to force myself to stop. When I’m reading something I don’t want to it’s an attainable goal that I can plausibly reach.
Buy or Borrow?
Buy. I like to keep my books, and as I said, I have a tendency to write all over them. I hate borrowing books for the most part: I’m a slow reader and it makes me feel like I’m on a deadline to finish the book as soon as possible. I’m also constantly paranoid I’m going to ruin the book.
Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?
Most of what I’m working on buying are “classics” so it’s recommendation in some sense. For more “popular” fiction I tend to just browse and pick up what looks interesting. Not, of course, that I’ll ever turn down a suggestion from someone.
Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?
Neither. A realistic ending. Who really wants a book that isn’t going to be continued to end on a cliffhanger? Things are never going to be resolved tidily, but I find books that end like, say, Oryx and Crake to be too inconclusive - to the point it almost seems like the writer just gave up in the middle of writing something.
Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?
Nighttime, mostly because I do everything at night and that’s honestly the only time of day I actually can afford to sit down and read. The problem with this is I get involved and don’t want to stop and end up reading all night.
Standalone or Series?
Standalone, or a series that’s only a couple books long and not on-going. I did the Dragonlance thing back in the day, and I could not keep track of what was what and who was who and I like things that are self-contained - though of course I always end up wanting some sort of sequel. I tend to find trilogies & quartets as ideal as far as fantastic story-telling purposes go, and single books good for things that are more artsy, experimental, or character-driven.
New or used?
New if it’s something I’m buying because I want a nice copy of, or I’m pretty sure I’ll like it. Used if it’s for school, or just something I want to check out.
Last 5 books you read
01. Coleridge: The Early Years, Richard Holmes
02. Gods Behaving Badly,
03. The Grey King, Susan Cooper
04. An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
[it counts okay]
05. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Next 5 books you want to read
01. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
02. The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky
[I actually just need to finish it; it’s been on hiatus for three years]
03. When You Are Engulfed In Flames, David Sedaris
04. Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
[finally found a good translation]
05. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
QUICKFIRE
The first novel you remember reading
Alanna: The First Adventure, by Tamora Pierce
I’m absolutely certain that I read novels prior to Alanna, but this is the one that made a lasting impression. I wanted to be Alanna for the greater part of my childhood; I even dressed up as her on Halloween, though me being short, dumpy, not-purlple-eyed and not-red-haired kind of put a damper on recognition. Well, that and the fact that it was kind of an obscure thing anyway.
A book that changed your life
Wizard’s First Rule, Terry Goodkind.
In retrospect the books are tripe - the main character is what fandom likes to call a “gary stu” and the values the book espouses are sometimes very, very silly. Regardless, I still remember quoting the “people are stupid: my mice thinks they are right but my cat eats them anyway” thing ad nauseam & as if it were the deepest thing evar.
A book that made you cry (REALLY cry, not just a shed tear)
The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay
Mostly because I was in love with all three of the main characters, and the ending was tragic in that it was so absolutely senseless. I finished it at a Subway on vacation with my parents & one of my old friends. I was sobbing. I almost threw the thing across the room. It was seriously that upsetting.
A book that made you brood for days
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
I’m not generally one to brood over books, but I did over this one. I think perhaps because it did challenge a lot of the ideas I previously held - especially those concerning the environment. It’s in part what sparked my interest in environmentalism and it definitely played a huge part in sparking my interest in ethics. To this day, it’s my favorite book by a fairly large margin, even if its ending is total shit.
A book that made you laugh
Me Talk Pretty One Day and Clothe Your Family In Corduroy and Denim, both by David Sedaris.
Sedaris is one of those authors who has me in stitches for the majority of his work. He’s good at crafting a story, his writing style is quirky, sometimes something poignant comes out of it and, let’s be frank, most of the humor comes from the fact that these outlandish stories did actually happen. Dragging a typewriter through the woods in the wee hours of the morning because you’re on a meth trip and it seems like the Best Plan Ever is a lot more amusing when you realize that this is the actual experience of a real person, and not some unfortunate fictional being caught in an absurdist drama.
A book you have signed by the author
The Keeping Quilt, Patricia Polacco
I have sundry children’s books signed by guest authors visiting my elementary school. This is one of them; the first one I managed to dig out of the bookshelf of Forgotten Books in my closet.
A book where you have drowned in the language
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Not that this is particularly unique of me as a reader; that’s kind of the point of the book. At least one of the points of the book.
A book you have lost
I’m sure I’ve lent out a couple volumes of manga here and there and never gotten them back, though I can’t say I’m terribly distressed at the idea. Otherwise I don’t think I’ve ever lost a book.
A book given to you by your father
N/A
A book given to you by your mother
The Dark Is Rising, Susan Cooper
I have copies of the five books in the cycle, but they’re all victims of bad cover art and my genius plan to read in the bathtub. Thus I received my British import, hardcover, gold-leafed omnibus edition.
A book given to you by a friend
Mindfucking: A Critique of Mental Manipulation, Colin McGinn
Strangely enough, friends rarely buy me books. I suppose it’s the issue of “I don’t know what she has/doesn’t have” thing - it’s why I don’t buy people books either. Which isn’t to say I’ve never gotten a book - I got four for my birthday & Christmas, though two were specific requests. This one’s significant because it wasn’t a request and the title is amazing.
Oh! And also? If you're quoting Frank Miller as an ideal of normative western values I ... think it's fair to say you're doing it wrong.
They of course disregard the fact that a good portion of manga unapologetically objectifies women at best and is downright misogynistic at worst. There's rampant xenophobia, glorified pedophilia [in Cardcaptor Sakura -- I'm not talking some obscure pornographic magazine], and gratuitous violence everyfuckingwhere.
It's not that I dislike manga or that I think all of those things -- er, well, violence at least should never ever be portrayed in a neutral or positive light. My favorite manga [Wild Adapter, Minekura Kazuya] is violent as hell and I devour action flicks. But the absolute (and frankly ignorant) disdain for anything ever created by an American that isn't sucking the omnipresent Japanese MangaCock is getting a little old. So is this glorification of anything that [X] Japanese artist managed to piss out no matter how fucked up and/or generic it is, no matter how shitty the art is, no matter how cardboard the characters are.
Also: good job Amazon, for specifying that the Marvel comics I'm looking at buying are, indeed, illustrated. Pray tell what a comic that isn't illustrated entails?
What's your bookstore?
Borders if it’s something I want a nice copy of, Half-Price if it’s something academic and/or something I don’t particularly want to spend a lot of money on owning. I tend to scrawl all over books I have to analyze, so I don’t like to spend a lot of money on them.
Hardback or Paperback?
I prefer paperback books because, aside from the fact they’re cheaper, they also are easy to lug around. As long as the pages are smooth and the type classic, well-spaced and legible (yes this is what matters to me) I can’t say I particularly care.
Bookmark or Dogear?
Dogear. I’m awful at actually keeping bookmarks. Countless people have bought me very nice bookmarks and they’ve lasted I think two weeks tops. I try to be careful when I dogear, but this is perhaps why most of my books look like they’ve been tossed down the stairs a couple times.
Keep, Throw Away or Sell?
Keep, of course. I tend to sell them if they’ve sat on my shelf for 10+ years without being touched, but otherwise I keep them. I can’t throw books away. I find it criminal. I even have that awful Nathaniel Fick book that I had to read for rhetoric last year because I can’t throw it away, but I can’t sell it (it’s been written all over - with profanity).
Read with dustjacket or remove it?
I never use the dust jacket. It gets in the way, it constantly causes the book to slide around in my hands, and I always manage to tear it. Besides, I like the class of a simple hardcover volume without any gaudy pictures on the front. It also provides a level of anonymity to what I read; I’m really self-conscious about what I’m reading (regardless of what it is) so I like having a blank cover rather than a dust jacket that proclaims, loudly, what I’m reading.
Short story or novel?
It really depends. I like novels because they allow for more complete development of the characters and the plot. You put a real investment into reading a novel, and it’s more consuming - in most cases at least. At the same time short stories are easy - they’re nice things to read while I’m in school, because there’s not a huge investment and finishing them gives me a sense of accomplishment.
I have favorites of both types and of their red-headed stepchild, the novella. It really does depend on the quality of the individual work. Some things function wonderfully as short stories and other’s don’t; this is also true of the reverse.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Chapter breaks. When I’m reading something I want to it’s really the only way to force myself to stop. When I’m reading something I don’t want to it’s an attainable goal that I can plausibly reach.
Buy or Borrow?
Buy. I like to keep my books, and as I said, I have a tendency to write all over them. I hate borrowing books for the most part: I’m a slow reader and it makes me feel like I’m on a deadline to finish the book as soon as possible. I’m also constantly paranoid I’m going to ruin the book.
Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?
Most of what I’m working on buying are “classics” so it’s recommendation in some sense. For more “popular” fiction I tend to just browse and pick up what looks interesting. Not, of course, that I’ll ever turn down a suggestion from someone.
Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?
Neither. A realistic ending. Who really wants a book that isn’t going to be continued to end on a cliffhanger? Things are never going to be resolved tidily, but I find books that end like, say, Oryx and Crake to be too inconclusive - to the point it almost seems like the writer just gave up in the middle of writing something.
Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?
Nighttime, mostly because I do everything at night and that’s honestly the only time of day I actually can afford to sit down and read. The problem with this is I get involved and don’t want to stop and end up reading all night.
Standalone or Series?
Standalone, or a series that’s only a couple books long and not on-going. I did the Dragonlance thing back in the day, and I could not keep track of what was what and who was who and I like things that are self-contained - though of course I always end up wanting some sort of sequel. I tend to find trilogies & quartets as ideal as far as fantastic story-telling purposes go, and single books good for things that are more artsy, experimental, or character-driven.
New or used?
New if it’s something I’m buying because I want a nice copy of, or I’m pretty sure I’ll like it. Used if it’s for school, or just something I want to check out.
Last 5 books you read
01. Coleridge: The Early Years, Richard Holmes
02. Gods Behaving Badly,
03. The Grey King, Susan Cooper
04. An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, David Hume
[it counts okay]
05. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Next 5 books you want to read
01. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
02. The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky
[I actually just need to finish it; it’s been on hiatus for three years]
03. When You Are Engulfed In Flames, David Sedaris
04. Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
[finally found a good translation]
05. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
QUICKFIRE
The first novel you remember reading
Alanna: The First Adventure, by Tamora Pierce
I’m absolutely certain that I read novels prior to Alanna, but this is the one that made a lasting impression. I wanted to be Alanna for the greater part of my childhood; I even dressed up as her on Halloween, though me being short, dumpy, not-purlple-eyed and not-red-haired kind of put a damper on recognition. Well, that and the fact that it was kind of an obscure thing anyway.
A book that changed your life
Wizard’s First Rule, Terry Goodkind.
In retrospect the books are tripe - the main character is what fandom likes to call a “gary stu” and the values the book espouses are sometimes very, very silly. Regardless, I still remember quoting the “people are stupid: my mice thinks they are right but my cat eats them anyway” thing ad nauseam & as if it were the deepest thing evar.
A book that made you cry (REALLY cry, not just a shed tear)
The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay
Mostly because I was in love with all three of the main characters, and the ending was tragic in that it was so absolutely senseless. I finished it at a Subway on vacation with my parents & one of my old friends. I was sobbing. I almost threw the thing across the room. It was seriously that upsetting.
A book that made you brood for days
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
I’m not generally one to brood over books, but I did over this one. I think perhaps because it did challenge a lot of the ideas I previously held - especially those concerning the environment. It’s in part what sparked my interest in environmentalism and it definitely played a huge part in sparking my interest in ethics. To this day, it’s my favorite book by a fairly large margin, even if its ending is total shit.
A book that made you laugh
Me Talk Pretty One Day and Clothe Your Family In Corduroy and Denim, both by David Sedaris.
Sedaris is one of those authors who has me in stitches for the majority of his work. He’s good at crafting a story, his writing style is quirky, sometimes something poignant comes out of it and, let’s be frank, most of the humor comes from the fact that these outlandish stories did actually happen. Dragging a typewriter through the woods in the wee hours of the morning because you’re on a meth trip and it seems like the Best Plan Ever is a lot more amusing when you realize that this is the actual experience of a real person, and not some unfortunate fictional being caught in an absurdist drama.
A book you have signed by the author
The Keeping Quilt, Patricia Polacco
I have sundry children’s books signed by guest authors visiting my elementary school. This is one of them; the first one I managed to dig out of the bookshelf of Forgotten Books in my closet.
A book where you have drowned in the language
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Not that this is particularly unique of me as a reader; that’s kind of the point of the book. At least one of the points of the book.
A book you have lost
I’m sure I’ve lent out a couple volumes of manga here and there and never gotten them back, though I can’t say I’m terribly distressed at the idea. Otherwise I don’t think I’ve ever lost a book.
A book given to you by your father
N/A
A book given to you by your mother
The Dark Is Rising, Susan Cooper
I have copies of the five books in the cycle, but they’re all victims of bad cover art and my genius plan to read in the bathtub. Thus I received my British import, hardcover, gold-leafed omnibus edition.
A book given to you by a friend
Mindfucking: A Critique of Mental Manipulation, Colin McGinn
Strangely enough, friends rarely buy me books. I suppose it’s the issue of “I don’t know what she has/doesn’t have” thing - it’s why I don’t buy people books either. Which isn’t to say I’ve never gotten a book - I got four for my birthday & Christmas, though two were specific requests. This one’s significant because it wasn’t a request and the title is amazing.
Oh! And also? If you're quoting Frank Miller as an ideal of normative western values I ... think it's fair to say you're doing it wrong.