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Wednesday reading meme post-thingy
2 April 2014 07:31 amThough the meme seems to be waning, alas. Ah, well. Won't be the first time I'm behind the shifting winds of fashion.
What I've recently finished since my last post:
Haiku Love tr. by Alan Cummings - A collection of haiku and senryu on the topic, arranged (with a handwave at the tradition of imperial waka anthologies) to roughly along youth/first love -> middle-age/married love -> old age/late and widowed love. The translations are quite good (I had only a few quibbles on style, and none on accuracy) and the selection includes a generous helping from the 20th century. Note, though, it's not a large collection, with most of the space taken with rather nice art from the British Museum.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan - A reread from long ago: shortly after the original series aired with me glued to the TV. A YouTube randomwalk into Vangelis's main theme gave me flashbacks, which I've thus medicated. Now I want to reread James Bruke's Connections.
Tokyo Ravens volumes 2-4 by Kôhei Azano - At first it looked like we'd descended into the land of Second Book Flanderizing of the protagonist's denseness into stupidity and the tediously traditional tsundere into physical abuse (bonus points, though, for making the tsundere cross-dress because Family Duty -- I'll take that trope any day). In each of these volumes, however, the story shows up quickly, forcing the protagonist to be emotionally intelligent for plot reasons early and often. At least in the main novels: the side-stories that are the second half of volume 4 are character-based "comedy" only and eminently skippable.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy - Zooks, but this is pulp adventure. You can see every twist (what few of them there are) ten French meters off, but it still grips you. Effective brain candy when you rilly want escapism and to Not Think.
Handsome Girlfriend volumes 1-9 by Wataru Yoshizumi - Not my favorite mangaka ever but I've liked pretty much everything I've read of hers. This was her first hit series, from before Marmalade Boy, and embodies an even more innocent idea of romance -- not to mention an idealized vision of show business. The handsome girl of the title is one Mio Hagiwara, a teenage actress getting tired of being cast as the rival of her best friend, who meets an up-and-coming director wannabe who compares her to Lauren Bacall (the art almost justifies this). Cue nine volumes of teen celebrity soap opera. Not as good as, say, Yoshizumi's Random Walk, but not bad if you don't want to be terribly challenged and are into Ribon-style shoujo romances.
Tenshi no Uta ("angel's song," also translated as "angel voice") volumes 1-9 by Kumi Makimura - A more nuanced, and possibly more realistic, manga about life in the entertainment industry. Our heroine, Mayu, is noticed by her favorite singer, Yûya, at a karaoke booth singing some of his hits, and after a romantic night together they part without his learning her name. Her mad karaoke skillz later lead to Mayu being recruited by guitarist Tôga as lead singer for his rock band -- which she accepts as a way of entering Yûya's world and so meeting him again. Cue story that's equal parts How Show-Biz Works & angsty love dodecahedron. The best parts may be the concert scenes: Makimura is excellent at conveying the energy and charisma of performers, Mayu and Yûya especially, without the music or motion used to create it. (I'm actually on volume 8 this morning but expect to finish today, so counting this as done.)
What I'm reading now:
The World's Best Poetry ed. Bliss Carmen, volume V - Still enjoying in odd moments of concentration. I will say, though, that the title is a bit inflated, given how little poetry in translation I've met, most from German.
Maria-sama ga Miteru ("Lady Mary is watching") volumes 7-8 by Oyuki Konno - I don't think this is a reread, but I can't be certain, as I've bounced through the series all out of order -- and in any case I know the stories from the anime. (For a series summary, see Wiki.) As we approach the end of Yumi's first year of high school, her onee-sama's onee-samas, the Roses of the student council, graduate. Cue relationship angsts over a two-volume arc. (Am partway through volume 8 but since they're really the same installment counting both as in progress.)
Pen Pal by Francesca Forrest - Early in and got interrupted by events, so have little to say at this point aside from: the voices? -- oh so wonderfully handled. As they need be, in an epistolary novel.
What I officially Did Not Finish:
The first Pimpernel sequel, I Will Repay. Dumas may be just as sympathetic to the aristocratic party, but he at least admits the Revolution happened because Reasons and makes his jerkasses more entertaining.
What I might read next:
Something easy on this bear of very little brain.
---L.
What I've recently finished since my last post:
Haiku Love tr. by Alan Cummings - A collection of haiku and senryu on the topic, arranged (with a handwave at the tradition of imperial waka anthologies) to roughly along youth/first love -> middle-age/married love -> old age/late and widowed love. The translations are quite good (I had only a few quibbles on style, and none on accuracy) and the selection includes a generous helping from the 20th century. Note, though, it's not a large collection, with most of the space taken with rather nice art from the British Museum.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan - A reread from long ago: shortly after the original series aired with me glued to the TV. A YouTube randomwalk into Vangelis's main theme gave me flashbacks, which I've thus medicated. Now I want to reread James Bruke's Connections.
Tokyo Ravens volumes 2-4 by Kôhei Azano - At first it looked like we'd descended into the land of Second Book Flanderizing of the protagonist's denseness into stupidity and the tediously traditional tsundere into physical abuse (bonus points, though, for making the tsundere cross-dress because Family Duty -- I'll take that trope any day). In each of these volumes, however, the story shows up quickly, forcing the protagonist to be emotionally intelligent for plot reasons early and often. At least in the main novels: the side-stories that are the second half of volume 4 are character-based "comedy" only and eminently skippable.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy - Zooks, but this is pulp adventure. You can see every twist (what few of them there are) ten French meters off, but it still grips you. Effective brain candy when you rilly want escapism and to Not Think.
Handsome Girlfriend volumes 1-9 by Wataru Yoshizumi - Not my favorite mangaka ever but I've liked pretty much everything I've read of hers. This was her first hit series, from before Marmalade Boy, and embodies an even more innocent idea of romance -- not to mention an idealized vision of show business. The handsome girl of the title is one Mio Hagiwara, a teenage actress getting tired of being cast as the rival of her best friend, who meets an up-and-coming director wannabe who compares her to Lauren Bacall (the art almost justifies this). Cue nine volumes of teen celebrity soap opera. Not as good as, say, Yoshizumi's Random Walk, but not bad if you don't want to be terribly challenged and are into Ribon-style shoujo romances.
Tenshi no Uta ("angel's song," also translated as "angel voice") volumes 1-9 by Kumi Makimura - A more nuanced, and possibly more realistic, manga about life in the entertainment industry. Our heroine, Mayu, is noticed by her favorite singer, Yûya, at a karaoke booth singing some of his hits, and after a romantic night together they part without his learning her name. Her mad karaoke skillz later lead to Mayu being recruited by guitarist Tôga as lead singer for his rock band -- which she accepts as a way of entering Yûya's world and so meeting him again. Cue story that's equal parts How Show-Biz Works & angsty love dodecahedron. The best parts may be the concert scenes: Makimura is excellent at conveying the energy and charisma of performers, Mayu and Yûya especially, without the music or motion used to create it. (I'm actually on volume 8 this morning but expect to finish today, so counting this as done.)
What I'm reading now:
The World's Best Poetry ed. Bliss Carmen, volume V - Still enjoying in odd moments of concentration. I will say, though, that the title is a bit inflated, given how little poetry in translation I've met, most from German.
Maria-sama ga Miteru ("Lady Mary is watching") volumes 7-8 by Oyuki Konno - I don't think this is a reread, but I can't be certain, as I've bounced through the series all out of order -- and in any case I know the stories from the anime. (For a series summary, see Wiki.) As we approach the end of Yumi's first year of high school, her onee-sama's onee-samas, the Roses of the student council, graduate. Cue relationship angsts over a two-volume arc. (Am partway through volume 8 but since they're really the same installment counting both as in progress.)
Pen Pal by Francesca Forrest - Early in and got interrupted by events, so have little to say at this point aside from: the voices? -- oh so wonderfully handled. As they need be, in an epistolary novel.
What I officially Did Not Finish:
The first Pimpernel sequel, I Will Repay. Dumas may be just as sympathetic to the aristocratic party, but he at least admits the Revolution happened because Reasons and makes his jerkasses more entertaining.
What I might read next:
Something easy on this bear of very little brain.
---L.