Hey guys! Thanks for all the recipes, I copied and pasted them into a file for later use. Maryland is having a lot of summer days, wherein it is hot during the day and it cools off at night. Sitting in front of a fan is one of the simplest and best pleasures during days like this! The late evening heat just isn’t so bad.
I have been reading some comics lately! I got a copy of Sinfest Volume 1 via Sam, our editor, and I am enjoying the hell out of it. It really is one of those things that gets better in print – since it’s built on all the structures of a traditional newspaper strip, there’s something nice about reading it in the same format as I read Calvin & Hobbes.
I should preface this next book by saying that while I admire books in other languages, typically I don’t get into them the way I do books in english … I don’t get too attached. That said, Yuko brought a book back from Japan called Gunjyo Schooldays by Aki Irie … the title sounds corny, but it’s a manga collection of short stories all with a slightly surrealist bent. It’s a little hard to make out the themes in some, and in others it is pretty transparent. I am totally in love with it and I’ll likely go pick up the others. It’s put out by Beam Comix and Enterbrain – I’ve actually been looking for a translation of it, but sadly I don’t think such a thing exists. It’s too bad – the stories look utterly charming. Actually, I’m also wondering if any of you out there have heard of it! Let me know what you know. :)
I’m having a hard time recalling anything else I’ve read recently – my schedule has mostly been a flurry of work, e-mails, general day-to-day stuff and wrapping up loose ends that piled up during the convention season. What are you guys reading?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 11:02 PM and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Right now I am working my way though Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour. I have read it before but that was years ago (probably 10+ years). It is a hard book to make it through, but very interesting if you are into witches and ghosts or reading books where half of the book is one of the characters reading a book.
Once I finish it I plan on digging into Orson Scott Card’s Empire. I am hoping to get to it before Shadow Complex (a game based in the same universe as the book) is released next week.
After that I want to read the latest Ultimate Spider-man hardcover collected edition and then near the end of the month the latest novel in S.M. Stirling’s second Emberverse series is due out. The first Emberverse series are some of the best post-apocalyptic novels I have ever read.
I remember reading all the Ender’s Games books a while back – hadn’t heard of Empire! Will investigate.
Ultimate Spiderman, from what I recall, started off pretty great!
If you enjoyed the Ender books, be sure to check out the latest additions “A War of Gifts” (a short story) and “Ender in Exile” (wrap up between the two Ender/Bean story branches). I felt these particular books were lacking in gusto compared to the earlier ones but… I was still happy to read them. I’m a sucker for anything in the Ender-verse. :)
Empire’s a really basic action-thriller book with obvious right-wing bias [I think a character says something like 'Those democrats are protecting the terrorists! They just don't understand what needs to be done!!!']. The Ender’s Shadow series is pretty great.
Card’s very up-and-down. He can write something great, or he can write something crazy, and there really isn’t a middle ground.
Bah, commenting too much on books, though, I’ll stop. At least I’m back reading Applegeeks after way too long forgetting. :P
Recently I’ve been reading Hiroki Endo’s Eden, which is amazing, and rereading One Piece for some light fun.
In terms of non-graphic novels I just read Stieg Larrson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Girl Who Played with Fire, which kept me up far past my bedtime reading. Always a good sign. Ive also just finished the advance readers copies for Catching Fire (the sequel to hunger games) and the new terry goodkind book (law of 9s) the first was stellar, the second dreck.
If you like non-fiction Susan Gilman’s book Undress me in the Temple of Heaven is riveting. It is about two college girls who after graduating decide to backpack in the newly opened Peoples Republic of China. Things slowly start to unravel and what begins as an innocent trip turns into a trip from hell and even puts their lives at risk. Seriously awesome and worth sticking through the slow boiling to reach the end.
Eden IS amazing … if you like that and haven’t already, check out Tanpenshu. Two volumes of short stories by Endo … great stuff, in my opinion.
I’ve been wanting to read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for quite some time … I’m going to take “past my bedtime” as a recommendation. :D
Temple of Heaven sounds terrifying by virtue of the fact that it is non-fiction – I will have to check it out.
Tanpenshu is awesome. I’m actually trying to figure out how to be able to turn a couple of those into short films!
Another of my favorites that I reread at least once a year is Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
well i am currently watching an anime called Bakemonogatari (you should check it out) that is based on a novels created by Nisio Isin. i am reading the author’s earlier series called zaregoto and his death note novel. he’s bout your age check it out
Update: i am amazed. i google “Gunjyo Schooldays” and guess what is the 1st thing pops up in google? your rant. the third link is to the site called baka manga update, famous archive of all mangas. i gonna see if i can get some friends to translate this series.
Man, if it happens that would be amazing. Here’s hoping your friends pick it up!
Dick, Allister Reynolds, Herbert ;)
and…
Rumo: And His Miraculous Adventures by Walter Moers
Alastair Reynolds, sorry
I’m reading The Dresden Files. (book one is called Storm Front) A few are available as graphic novels too, but they truncate the novels a bit.
I think a friend of mine recommended these to me as well … making a note of it!
This series is awesome. I found the first couple to be rough but enjoyable, but man am i glad I stuck with it. Now that I’m caught up having to wait between books is getting harder and harder.
Harry Potter books 6 & 7 (6 on audio book, so its technically not reading), i luv halloween (ultimate twisted edition), septimus heap book 2 physik, infinite typewriters: goats, applegeeks book 1 :o), schindlers list
Hahaha, oh god, you followed our book with Schindler’s List. I want to make a disclaimer now that AG V1 will not be as good as Schindler’s List.
In the finished stack beside me I’ve got:
-Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
-In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
-Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
-Mystic Revolution 2 by Jennifer Brazas
-The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust (whos Dragaera Series I highly recommend.)
HI JES!
Everyone is reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Is it good? It must be good.
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs sounds quite interesting!
I will check out Dragaera!
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies is ok. I’ve heard a lot of varying reviews from other people; as for myself, it was a good distraction during all the CTcon travel time; but in the end it was still Pride And Prejudice.
Ahaha, well put.
Lemme just say:
-Pride and prejudice and Zombies is worth the buy for the cover art alone. Just show it to someone who likes the original and is kind of prudish about it, and then … you shall understand. The actual story isn’t meshed with P+P too well, but … it’s just a really, really dumb book, which makes it enjoyable enough. It gets a bit tiring by the end, though.
-Also: Everything Klosterman writes is great, including his fiction. :D
GHOSTBUSTERS! I read the Ghostbusters Manga – cool stuff. Stephen King’s Christine is WAAAAY better than Carpenter’s movie, also…. applegeeks? :P
There’s a Ghostbuster’s Manga?! So … weird … so many crossovers … Hollows, Ryuk … the fanfiction writes itself.
I’ve heard about Applegeeks, those guys are jerks!
I recently finished ‘The Case of the Missing Marquess,’ a book in a series about Sherlock Holmes’ little sister. It’s probably more for the 8-13 set but I enjoyed it (a friend of mine who is a post-grad student in History recommended it). Hoping to read the rest soon.
Man, that sounds totally adorable.
In the vein of old things made new, Johnny Crossbones is a modern version of Tintin. I haven’t read a lot of it, but I liked what I saw. :)
I recently finished “The Surrogates,” the graphic novel the new movie is based on, in one night. Really good, and I can pretty much already tell that the book will once again be better than the movie.
Currently I am reading “The Soulforge” from the Dragonlance Chronicles. I never really got into Dragonlance before because it looked cheesy and I didn’t know where to start (there are a million of them), but the book is very well written, you don’t really need to know anything about the series to read it, and the main character is one of the most well defined characters I have seen in a while. If you’re a fan of fantasy novels, you should definitely give it a look.
I read some Dragonlance when I was a big younger, but sadly high fantasy is just not for me … :/
The Surrogates I have been wanting to check out … nice to see sci-fi movies making a comeback.
I’m about half done with Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. A good collection of short stories.
I read this! Enjoyed it for sure.
I’ve been reading a lot of AG Lite; I read through the archive in the span of a day and a half. I’ve also been working my way through the Sinfest archives again.
When I’m not at the laptop, I’m usually reading Calvin and Hobbes.
There’s a really handsome leatherbound collected edition of Calvin and Hobbes – Hawk picked it up, if you can afford it it is 100% worth owning. I want to get one of those pillar reading podiums so I can leave it open in my (fictional) library.
I’ve just finished rereading “Soon I Will Be Invincible” by Austin Grossman, and if you don’t know this book you should.
I’ll investigate!
An interesting aside, the author also worked on Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and Tomb Raider: Legends, among other games.
David Brin’s Uplift trilogies (I’m on the last book), Kevin J. Anderson’s Saga of the Seven Suns (really, really good books – this is my second time through (and they’re huge!)), and soon to start Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn. The Uplift trilogies and the Saga are both highly recommended – check them out if you like Sci-Fi (and are looking for new material).
Thanks for the rec!
you will enjoy the sanderson books. theyre seriously amazing. hes probably my favorite current fantasy writer. also his blog Writing Excuses is really really good. (and useful)
I need to go read more of both Brin and Anderson. I’ve read Earth (win!) and a few of Brin’s Uplift series, and a fair piece of Anderson’s Star Wars novels (though I think I ought of read more of his fully original work), but it’s been more difficult to read books since moving farther from the library.
For some good non-fiction, I’ve been reading “Prisoner of the State,” the memoirs of former Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang, who secretly recorded them during the house arrest he was placed under by the Chinese government after the Tianamen Square crackdown. Pretty interesting stuff.
Then there’s also “Public Enemies,” the novel from which the movie of the same name is adapted from. While the movie focuses on John Dillinger alone, the book is pretty extensive and goes on to retell the stories of Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly, the Barker Gang, and Bonnie & Clyde. Wild times were had during the Depression is all I can say.
Both sound interesting … I’d like to catch that movie, too.
Picked up “Hammett: Complete Novels (Library of America #110)” by Dashiell Hammet. The novels are “Red Harvest,” “The Dain Curse,” “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Glass Key,” and “The Thin Man.” Not manga. Just pure hardboiled fiction.
Oh wow, that sounds like a good time. So it’s a big compendium of hardboiled fiction? That sounds awesome.
Actually, the book itself is thin, printed on thin paper, and I need to my reading glasses to read the small text. At $23 on Amazon, this is cheaper than buying individual paperbacks (if they exist since the novels were published in the 1930s).
I finished reading “The Night Angel Trilogy” by Brent weeks this week.
Couldn’t put the series down- finished all three books inside 10 days.
I recently finished that series, great potential in the first book got me hooked, but the conclusion in the third book was pretty disappointing in my opinion. Felt like he just got tired of it and slapped on a quick ending to be done with the series rather than exploring all the interesting characters and settings he introduced.
I just picked up a manga from my comic book store’s new release shelf called “Ooko – the inner chambers”, a manga being translated by VIZ. The wonderful girl who sells me these things said her sister loved it and she though it was sort of “Y: The Last Man” except in Edo Japan.
It kind of is. In an alternate Edo Japan, a disease wipes out most of the men eventually stabilizing at about 25% of the previous population. Women take over all the jobs including Shogun while men are carefully raised so they don’t fall ill and basically kept around as precious breeding stock.
caveat: it’s aimed at girls.
It’s probably not a manga for the ages but I did enjoy it, so I’ll throw the title out there.
I am def curious about this … thanks for the rec, I am going check it out! The fact that it’s aimed at girls is the kicker, I think.
correction – it’s “Ooku” with a “u”
(I really shouldn’t have made three separate comments but I keep thinking of more things to say. Sorry if it’s a bother)
the big downside of Ooku is the “ye olde english” they use. I was laughing at the dialogue sometimes.
To make it worse, I just finished my annual re-read of Ivanhoe wherein they manage to talk like it’s olden times and not sound funny doing it. The contrast made it that much worse.
I’ve been pretty slow with reading things this summer, which is sad. I have been reading City of Bones, I’m not very far yet, but it seems okay for a series aimed at teenage girls. Other than that I’ve just been reading the manga Kaze Hikaru which is a historical story based on the shinsengumi. Oh, and I’ve been making my way though Marvel’s Civil War as well.
Just finished “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss. It started off slow and predictable – but once Kvothe (the main character) started to tell his own story I was hooked. I am truly looking forward to the next two books in this trilogy.
I also have recently read the “Way of Shadows” trilogy from Brent Weeks which was very good and the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson which was very unique and enjoyable as well.
Name of the Wind is great. The world of magic/alchemy that he creates is truly engaging as are the characters. The beginning is rather run of the mill fantasy, almost over the top, but entirely worthwhile. I have recommended it to many friends and they have all greatly enjoyed it. Looking forward to the sequel.
Over the summer I caught up on the series I’ve been reading. First was David Weber; Storm of the Shadows (and Honorverse novel), By Heresies Distressed (Safehold Book 3), as well as reading the first two Safehold books again. I highly recommend David Weber as an author to read. He’s a very good sci-fi author, and its rarely easy for me to put his books down.
After that I moved to reading John Ringo. I read two books for the Posleen War series Yellow Eyes (which was okay), and his newest Eye of the Storm. If you’ve read any of the series you must pick up Eye of the Storm. Ringo is a fast paced, action filled military sci-fi read. One nice thing about Jon Ringo is that you never have to wait long for another book his next book comes out in October, with another following in Feb.
A Tokyopop title called “Orange” by Benjamin. More a visual treat than anything else, but still nice. ‘couple years old now though.
“Oryx and Crake,” a novel by Margaret Atwood. It’s a projected social commentary, much to do with the nature of Humanity and the extensions thereof- humans, played out in a fictional (future) setting through the characters Jimmy, ‘Snowman,’ Oryx, and ‘Crake.’ “…we also learn about a world that could become ours someday.” i read this book for one of my classes, and i really got into it.
i just finished reading Dresden Files 2-5. They are written by Jim Butcher. They were quite good. if you have ever seen the show they had on for a short time on the Sci Fi channel ( now known as Sy Fy,) the books are pretty different from the show, and there is only one or two episodes that i know that followed one of the books actual plots.
I’m currently reading Witches Inc by K.E. Mills. It’s the second book in the Rogue Agent series. K.E. Mills is also known as Karen Miller, in which she has some other really good books. It seems to be that any book that she has recently written (in like the past four years) is between 550 to 676 pages long.
I just recently finished “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, and once I got past the first couple of pages I could not put it down. The main character/narrator’s unique outlook on life and quirky way of describing what he learns while he’s growing up made the book pretty amazing.
The was also the third and last volume of the Novelization of FLCL, which was definitely the most awesome of the three. Not just because the last two episodes it corresponded with were awesome, but because it helped to expand on and explain some of the things that the anime left unexplained, along with just describing the action in some rather interesting ways.
Mangawise, i’ve been reading this pretty cool series called 1520, about two 15-year-olds who through some sort of curse are reverted back to 10-year-olds. Either one can go back to 15 with a certain trigger, but that causes the other to go down to 5-years-old. It’s much more interesting than it sounds, and the setting and characters essentially make the story more fun.
Beyond that, there’s been 1/2 Prince, a Taiwanese manhua about a girl playing as a male character in a virtual-reality mmo, Hourou Musuko, about a pair of transgendered elementary-school students as they grow up, Chi’s Sweet Home, and Sketchbook.
I’ve been rather fond of Fuyumi Ono’s series, The Twelve Kingdoms. Only the first three (of what, it seems, will be five, if the Wikipedia article is accurate) volumes have been published in the US. I am also unable to read Japanese, so I can only wait for Tokyopop to publish each volume. Beyond that, I primarily read webcomics (surprise). My A-list folder (i.e. those I read regularly) is as follows:
Megatokyo
Misfile
Slightly Damned
Order of the Stick
Erfworld
Schlock Mercenary
Girl Genius
8-bit Theatre
Punch an’ Pie
Wapsi Square
Shortpacked!
Exiern
DMFA
Twokinds
YOSH!
xkcd
Looking For Group
Three Panel Soul
Johnny Wander
Dork Tower
Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki
ZAP!
Candi
Two Lumps
Geist Panik
Flaky Pastry
Starship Moonhawk
Across the Multiverse
Something Positive
Charliehorse
Night Zero
Striptease
Flipside
Applegeeks
Garanos
I suggest checking out any of these you don’t already know, but I especially recommend Night Zero (an awesome post-apocalyptic photographic novel) and Garanos (a beautifully drawn fantasy comic with very down-to-earth characters).
Hmmm lets see. Besides my web-comics, There has been The Death Gate series, Dies the fire by S.M. Stirling, The Honor Harrington series by David Weber. His Majesty’s Dragon and Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik. Ugh too many to name.
As for the webcomics (besides this one of course and some of the ones mentioned by LT)Theres Goblins, Looking For Group,Shadowgirls (Lovecraft/gilmore girls on opium i swear!), Dungeons & Denizens, Questionable Content, Menage a 3 and Eerie Cuties.
This summer I’ve had to read The Bean Trees for school, and that was actually a really good book (as well as last year’s Catcher in the Rye.) I haven’t seen very many good books recently and I’m only really into fantasy (not that Twilight crap). I’m thinking of saving up a good amount of money and planning a trip to Borders for a book-buying binge in their fantasy section.
I mostly just read manga. I follow webcomics, too, but I only really read Johnny Wander and Applegeeks regularly.
All of the Dresden File books
sir apropos of nothing
questionable content
ctrlaltdel
looking of group
drmcninja
johnny wander
Most comic books
Having gone though all of “A song of ice and fire” this holiday I can’t recommend them enough
I’m also going to have to suggest any book by Jeffery Deaver. “The cold moon” is probably my favourite. Seriously some of the best mystery novels around
Hrmm, quick digging around and found that indeed that manga has neither been officially translated nor fan translated.
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=22459
Just finished reading “Jurassic Park” by Crichton which, too my surprise, was amazingly entertaining. Fantastic and thrilling. Just started on Coelho’s “Witch of Portobello” before moving on to The Lost World.
I just read batman: the killing joke by Alan Moore, but lately I’ve been trying to catch up on series I’d lost track off for one reason or another, such as “trigun maximum” and “rurouni kenshin” and Ken Akamatsu’s “negima!” those need to hold me over until the books I was actively reading (hellsing and MPD psycho where at the top of that list) come out. -_-’
As far as comics go, it’s pretty limited. I’m more of a BOOK person.
But have you ever given http://www.diggercomic.com a read?
As far as comics go, I’m making my way through the Lucifer series, released by Vertigo. Its an off-shoot of the Gaiman’s Sandman series following the character Lucifer, whom is not the horned devil everyone personifies him as in most versions of his tales.
I don’t really read comics, but I just read the Goon, part 7, and it was incredible. I’d assume the other parts are same, but then again I don’t get them for free. [I work at a bookstore, hooray.]
Right now for books I’m reading The Crying of Lot 49, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Infinite Jest [for the fifth time: it's the best book ever written, IMHO], as well as random other books. And … I’m writing a book. Yeah.
I just read Inherent Vice, too … it was pretty good, I thought.
Well…been reading Transmet off-hand (they have it at the library). Also reading “The Rest is Noise,” which is a very comprehensive book on 20th century music (though primarily focuses on what I like to call “artistic” music (minimalism, neo-classicism, musique concrete, etc.)).
Got on hold a book I’ve been wanting to read for 4 years now: City of God by Paulo Lins. Meirelles and Lund took only a small portion of the book (the stories of Buscapé, Zé Pequeno & Bene, and Mane Galinha) and made it into a movie that scored several Oscar nods (and would have won some, were it not for Lord of the Rings). A brutal yet brilliant book on Cidade de Deus and other favelas in Rio.
book of odes
…Lower back tattoos for girls……
[...] If you like to go out and you’ve been paying attention, one thing that you have been noticing is the popularity of lower back tattoos for girls. They are among the most popular tattoos out there [...]…
Late, but I picked up a hardcover copy of Neil Gaiman’s version of The Eternals for $10. I’ve enjoyed it so far.
Also, I am taking your recommendation of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. I just need to wait until I get my scholarship money to get a volume or two of it. Come to think of it, I need to get Applegeeks too.
the Annihilation saga by Marvel is exquisite. also the follow up, Annihilation Conquest. The good thing is, you dont need to have a great knowledge of each character they introduce.
also, Kingdom Come by DC.
I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, a recently written book that i believe to be high fantasy in the order of Tolkien. I’m currently reading a sci fi book called Armor, by John Steakley , and it’s actually also quite good.
comic-wise, I’m re-reading blackest night, it’s an awesome part of the green lantern saga.
I am in the middle of “The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer” by Neal Stephenson which I picked up after reading his book “Snow Crash”. Also reading “iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business” which I found while working at the airport last year.
And I just picked up “Hawaii” by James A. Michener which looks interesting but long. 1036 pages long! But if you have heard about Michener’s location based novels you know that he starts with the land and moves you forward in time through the animals and human societies of the place till you end up at modern times. I picked it up because I will be traveling to Hawaii this winter and am interested in learning a little bit about the place I will be visiting beyond what the travel books tell me.
I’ve just finished a book called Child 44. Its excellent for people that like mystery and danger. It takes place in Soviet Russia in 1953 and it will instantly hook you in! I must confess though, I listened to the CD version of it while on a road trip. I’d probably grab myself the book version if I got the chance though.
Other than that, I like reading the manga Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro (Private Evil Eye Neuro) wich is a Shonen Jump title. They are close to fan translating the last few chapters of it and I am so hoping that they actually bring it to the US.
I lowered my standards enough to be able to read the DaVinci Code, so I’m reading that.
I’ve been really enjoying Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. So far I’ve enjoyed it a lot more than 1984 and Animal Farm (Orwell’s most famous books), but it might help that I sympathize with the impoverished lifestyle portrayed in the book. It has some hilarious descriptions of broke people, minor events (that seem major to the participants involved, and crappy restaurants.
I’m also reading At Swim Two Birds, which is apparently a famous Irish novel. It’s difficult to get through, but interesting from a writing perspective.
Too many books and too little time. I think the only other thing at the top of my list is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick (and the short story that Bladerunner came out of).
Almost any Philip K. Dick novel is worth picking up. In addition to “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” I highly recommend “The Penultimate Truth”, “Dr. Futurity”, and “The Man in the High Castle”.
Dorohedoro is awesome and new chaps from 10sigh was just released
Heya, I’d be willing to do some of the shorts in Gunjou Schooldays. Looked through the public raws of v1 and some of them are really nice =D Would love to see later vols and what’s good in there. Toss me an email if you haven’t found anyone else yet…