Latest reading
It's been a while since I've last done a reading report, so I thought I'd post this now:
I think I'm going to give up on Ai Yazawa manga Nana. I read books 7-8 (18.-19.) and it only seems that Hachi is determined to completely mess up her life. She can't choose between her boyfriends and now she's pregnant and can't even tell whether it's Takumi's or Nobu's child, since she didn't use protection with either of them :P... And considering what kind of a playboy Takumi is, how stupid can she be!!! I'm surprised she didn't get any kind of a disease as well on top of the pregnancy!
(20.) Kim Harrison; Lynsay Sands; Marjorie M. Liu; Vicki Pettersson: Holidays Are Hell
These multiple author anthologies that are set in the authors' established worlds are always a mixed bag. Sometimes you can read them without knowing anything about the authors' other work, but quite a lot of the time the stories just don't make that much sense if you aren't yet familiar with the established canon.
Well, I have read one book by Kim Harrison, so I was sort of familiar with the world and some of the charracters. And in this case it didn't matter that much, since the story was set before the timeframe of the main books in the series and had a young Rachel Morgan who wanted to conjure up her father's ghost so that she could ask him whether she should join the agency or not. Of course things go wrong, but she does end up getting an answer to her question in the end. I enjoyed this story the most in this anthology, all the others were pretty forgettable.
I finally got around to getting more of Akimine Kamijyo's Samurai Deeper Kyo. Books 22 and 23 (21.-22.) continue the rush through the Mibu lands. I loved Akari's appearance and especially the part with Akari (all these extremely similar names are going to be very confusing, I suspect :P) and Santera! *sniff* They both know what it is to be treated as a monster just because of their abilities.
The local manga shop didn't have book 24 available, so I ordered it from Amazon instead, but I haven't yet received that package (it'll probably get here early next week). Still, once I get that, I'll be able to continue through all the thus far translated volumes, since I already have books 25 and 26 waiting.
(23.) Kawaii, the book I'm currently reading is great fun. Unfortunately most of the people on my f-list who might enjoy it won't be able to read it, since it's a Swedish book (in Swedish) on jpop, Johnnys and the Japanese boyband fandom. It's very interesting and informative, written from a fannish perspective, and most of all, great fun :). The book is written by Marita Lindqvist, who is the same person who did the wonderful Tokyo Superstars documentary for tv a while ago.
BTW, I'm always surprised at how well I can follow books in Swedish. I did learn some of the language at school (Finnish and Swedish are both official languages in Finland, so every Finnish speaking Finn must learn some Swedish at school and vice versa) but I use it so rarely in my everyday life that my speaking skills are quite rusty. Still, when reading something, the first couple of pages may be a bit of a struggle, but after that I can understand most of the stuff (there might be some words I don't completely get, but I can usually extrapolate their meaning from the context).
I think I'm going to give up on Ai Yazawa manga Nana. I read books 7-8 (18.-19.) and it only seems that Hachi is determined to completely mess up her life. She can't choose between her boyfriends and now she's pregnant and can't even tell whether it's Takumi's or Nobu's child, since she didn't use protection with either of them :P... And considering what kind of a playboy Takumi is, how stupid can she be!!! I'm surprised she didn't get any kind of a disease as well on top of the pregnancy!
(20.) Kim Harrison; Lynsay Sands; Marjorie M. Liu; Vicki Pettersson: Holidays Are Hell
These multiple author anthologies that are set in the authors' established worlds are always a mixed bag. Sometimes you can read them without knowing anything about the authors' other work, but quite a lot of the time the stories just don't make that much sense if you aren't yet familiar with the established canon.
Well, I have read one book by Kim Harrison, so I was sort of familiar with the world and some of the charracters. And in this case it didn't matter that much, since the story was set before the timeframe of the main books in the series and had a young Rachel Morgan who wanted to conjure up her father's ghost so that she could ask him whether she should join the agency or not. Of course things go wrong, but she does end up getting an answer to her question in the end. I enjoyed this story the most in this anthology, all the others were pretty forgettable.
I finally got around to getting more of Akimine Kamijyo's Samurai Deeper Kyo. Books 22 and 23 (21.-22.) continue the rush through the Mibu lands. I loved Akari's appearance and especially the part with Akari (all these extremely similar names are going to be very confusing, I suspect :P) and Santera! *sniff* They both know what it is to be treated as a monster just because of their abilities.
The local manga shop didn't have book 24 available, so I ordered it from Amazon instead, but I haven't yet received that package (it'll probably get here early next week). Still, once I get that, I'll be able to continue through all the thus far translated volumes, since I already have books 25 and 26 waiting.
(23.) Kawaii, the book I'm currently reading is great fun. Unfortunately most of the people on my f-list who might enjoy it won't be able to read it, since it's a Swedish book (in Swedish) on jpop, Johnnys and the Japanese boyband fandom. It's very interesting and informative, written from a fannish perspective, and most of all, great fun :). The book is written by Marita Lindqvist, who is the same person who did the wonderful Tokyo Superstars documentary for tv a while ago.
BTW, I'm always surprised at how well I can follow books in Swedish. I did learn some of the language at school (Finnish and Swedish are both official languages in Finland, so every Finnish speaking Finn must learn some Swedish at school and vice versa) but I use it so rarely in my everyday life that my speaking skills are quite rusty. Still, when reading something, the first couple of pages may be a bit of a struggle, but after that I can understand most of the stuff (there might be some words I don't completely get, but I can usually extrapolate their meaning from the context).