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larryhammerAn erratic Wednesday reading post:
Read aloud:
Ocean Renegades!, story and art Abby Howard -- Volume 2 of a series, covering the evolution of life before dinosaurs, visited by a "science magic" time machine that has mysteriously moved from a paleontologist's recycling bin to a trash can at an aquarium. Very detailed and fun, and I learned a lot myself. Being able to connect several animals to ones seen in Ponyo helped Eaglet, but it's dense enough they don't want to read it again (at least for now).
Monkey King volumes 12-14, adaptation Wei Dongchen, art Chao Peng -- Eaglet finds the volume with canonical m-preg (Sanzang and Pigsy) hilarious, despite grumpiness at Sanzang's claim that men can't get pregnant ("Some men can!") and that episode has been reread (and recreated in play) a few times. The volume that opens with a dream and a time-skip was … confusing.
Dragon Masters books 5-12, Tracy West -- Yeah, we kinda binged when we found out there were more volumes, most of them ending with cliffhangers. Thank you, public library. We need volume 13 because cliffhanger -- and yes, it's already on hold.
Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild and For Whom the Ball Rolls, story and art Dav Pilkey -- Which catches us up to date with the series. I still think A Tale of Two Kitties is the best, but the latest does a good job of putting an existential issue in concrete kid-level terms.
DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out, story Shea Fontana, art Agnes Garbowska -- On the one hand, it's yet another iteration of New Green Lantern Jessica Cruz Needs to Grow Her Confidence; on the other, her woobie-ness isn't dwelled upon long, and we get a nice focus on Supergirl's past and character. A solid but not outstanding entry in the series.
In progress:
Godly Empress Doctor (神医凰后), Su Xiao Nuan (苏小暖, which I read as "under-warmed basil" lol) -- Xuanhuan romance. Yes, it's a kitchen-sink of stock characters and standard tropes, but instead of yet another revenge-fantasy, the author uses them for comedy gold, especially in the first 150 chapters. Very much making sure coincidences do NOT favor the protagonist, especially when it's more funny to cross her. Caught up with the old translation at chapter 278 (a new, licensed translation is up to around chapter 140-odd, last I checked, but should catch up soon).
Chaotic Sword God, Xinxing Xiaoyao -- There's nothing here but a ridiculous adventure story, with no psychological or moral depth, but it's less offensive on most axes than the average xuanhuan, so it's been my default brainless entertainment for a while. Up to chapter 715.
Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. Victor Mair -- Still working through this unsystematically, but having a blast in the prose sections, including generous selections from genres I've had little exposure to from smaller anthologies. Joke books, vernacular (as opposed to classical) language short stories, and so on. Worth getting, this thing.
Plus keeping current on a couple webnovel translations.
Finished:
Some Fruits of Solitude, William Penn -- A collection of maxims about the conduct of a good life, arranged into something of a continuous argument. It has the pithiness needed for the genre, but with a decidedly Quaker bent. Not indicated in the text itself: the solitude was during one of his imprisonments for religious controversy.
DNF:
Enchantress Amongst Alchemists: Ghost King’s Wife (絕色丹藥師：鬼王妖妃), Xiao Qiye (萧七爷, "miserable seventh elder") -- Xuanhuan romance with transmigrated protagonist that made me increasingly queasy with its growing preoccupation with sexual violence and sexualized violence. Chucked this otherwise typical revenge-fantasy fodder a little after chapter 200, which was way too late.
Empress of Forever, Max Gladwell -- I was enjoying it, but very slowly, and if I haven't managed to read 10 chapters when it comes due at the library, it's time to admit it ain't happening at this time.
---L.
Subject quote from Space Oddity, David Bowie.
Read aloud:
Ocean Renegades!, story and art Abby Howard -- Volume 2 of a series, covering the evolution of life before dinosaurs, visited by a "science magic" time machine that has mysteriously moved from a paleontologist's recycling bin to a trash can at an aquarium. Very detailed and fun, and I learned a lot myself. Being able to connect several animals to ones seen in Ponyo helped Eaglet, but it's dense enough they don't want to read it again (at least for now).
Monkey King volumes 12-14, adaptation Wei Dongchen, art Chao Peng -- Eaglet finds the volume with canonical m-preg (Sanzang and Pigsy) hilarious, despite grumpiness at Sanzang's claim that men can't get pregnant ("Some men can!") and that episode has been reread (and recreated in play) a few times. The volume that opens with a dream and a time-skip was … confusing.
Dragon Masters books 5-12, Tracy West -- Yeah, we kinda binged when we found out there were more volumes, most of them ending with cliffhangers. Thank you, public library. We need volume 13 because cliffhanger -- and yes, it's already on hold.
Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild and For Whom the Ball Rolls, story and art Dav Pilkey -- Which catches us up to date with the series. I still think A Tale of Two Kitties is the best, but the latest does a good job of putting an existential issue in concrete kid-level terms.
DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out, story Shea Fontana, art Agnes Garbowska -- On the one hand, it's yet another iteration of New Green Lantern Jessica Cruz Needs to Grow Her Confidence; on the other, her woobie-ness isn't dwelled upon long, and we get a nice focus on Supergirl's past and character. A solid but not outstanding entry in the series.
In progress:
Godly Empress Doctor (神医凰后), Su Xiao Nuan (苏小暖, which I read as "under-warmed basil" lol) -- Xuanhuan romance. Yes, it's a kitchen-sink of stock characters and standard tropes, but instead of yet another revenge-fantasy, the author uses them for comedy gold, especially in the first 150 chapters. Very much making sure coincidences do NOT favor the protagonist, especially when it's more funny to cross her. Caught up with the old translation at chapter 278 (a new, licensed translation is up to around chapter 140-odd, last I checked, but should catch up soon).
Chaotic Sword God, Xinxing Xiaoyao -- There's nothing here but a ridiculous adventure story, with no psychological or moral depth, but it's less offensive on most axes than the average xuanhuan, so it's been my default brainless entertainment for a while. Up to chapter 715.
Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. Victor Mair -- Still working through this unsystematically, but having a blast in the prose sections, including generous selections from genres I've had little exposure to from smaller anthologies. Joke books, vernacular (as opposed to classical) language short stories, and so on. Worth getting, this thing.
Plus keeping current on a couple webnovel translations.
Finished:
Some Fruits of Solitude, William Penn -- A collection of maxims about the conduct of a good life, arranged into something of a continuous argument. It has the pithiness needed for the genre, but with a decidedly Quaker bent. Not indicated in the text itself: the solitude was during one of his imprisonments for religious controversy.
DNF:
Enchantress Amongst Alchemists: Ghost King’s Wife (絕色丹藥師：鬼王妖妃), Xiao Qiye (萧七爷, "miserable seventh elder") -- Xuanhuan romance with transmigrated protagonist that made me increasingly queasy with its growing preoccupation with sexual violence and sexualized violence. Chucked this otherwise typical revenge-fantasy fodder a little after chapter 200, which was way too late.
Empress of Forever, Max Gladwell -- I was enjoying it, but very slowly, and if I haven't managed to read 10 chapters when it comes due at the library, it's time to admit it ain't happening at this time.
---L.
Subject quote from Space Oddity, David Bowie.