January '07

TAILCHASER'S SONG
-T. Williams-fantasy
-326-a story about a cat, cats and their forebearers. It was an earlier book of Williams. I just found it boring. Maybe because I don't like cats anyway?

PLUM PIE
-PG Wodehouse-fiction
-252-a series of short stories about various Wodehousian characters. The first one is a Jeeves and Wooster, but the rest all deal with other such nimwits as seem to populate England :-) I didn't find these particularly funny, perhaps because I just couldn't get into mocking dumb people? I don't know.

TSUBASA RESERVOIR CHRONICLE #10
-Clamp-manga
-185- I have decided to include manga and graphic novels in my book reading list. Not as a way to artificially inflate my numbers, but just because they are books and this about all the books I read, period.

THE RIDDLEMASTER OF HED
-P. McKillip-fantasy
-222-the first in the Riddlemaster Trilogy. A destiny is forced upon the Landheir of Hed, a peaceful island of farmers. Stylewise, this was very prose. I could see the hints of her verse poking through, but nothing like some of her later books. Found this to be a little confusing and hope the next 2 books will shed more light on this new world.

TSUBASA RESERVOIR CHRONICLE #11
-Clamp-manga
-183-the race for Sakura's Feather continues. Only the top 6 make it through somebody's sabotage of the race so far. And I like the Black Makona in XxxHolic better. The White Makona is just too "wanna-be-cute". Of course, White can't hold his liqueur like Black, so that is hilarious.

THE CIRCLE: BLACK: THE BIRTH OF EVIL
-T. Dekker-fiction
-408-Thomas Hunter, the main character, goes between worlds in his sleep and perceives each as a dream of the other. In one world, our world, it is 2010 and a virus is about to be released that will destroy all humanity unless the demands of the evil villian, the only one with a vaccine, are met. In the other world, the world is divided between good and evil. An unfallen world in the good side, where the "first man" is tempted to fight the evil, on its own terms, and he loses, dooming his world to terrible slaughter, with only 7 enclaves of safety. And that is where Black ends. I am looking forward to the next 2, Red & White.

THE CIRCLE: RED: THE HEROIC RESCUE
-T. Dekker-fiction
-381-the adventure continues. In the Forest world, 15 years pass, in which Thomas becomes a warrior and defends the enclaves. The Enclaves fall, and Ellyon[God] comes as a man and saves a small remnant. In "our" world, Thomas saves Monique, but her antivirus doesn't appear to work and Thomas is shot by Carlos, point blank in the head and has been dead for 3 days when the book ends. I like Dekker. The "Books of History" are precursors to the books in Showdown. I find it interesting to see authors who use and reuse specific ideas and whatnot.

THE CIRCLE: WHITE: THE GREAT PURSUIT
-T. Dekker-fiction
-370-finishes up the series. Thomas dies in our world, giving his blood as the antidote, but in the other world, Rachelle dies, and a year later he meets the daughter of Qurong[Tanis] and falls in love and sacrifices everything[or so he thinks] to gain her. A picture of Justin's love for them, His bride. The books? They are not a precursor, but the real deal. Showdown is a direct sequel to this series in dealing with the Books of History. Now I want to go read it again.

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST #1
-H. Arakawa-manga
-183-just saw this at the library and wanted to see how it compared to the anime. Most instances if falls short, many scenes are not as fleshed out as in the anime, probably due to size constraints. Won't be tempted to buy it, that is for sure.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION #1
-Y. Sadamoto-manga
-171-after watching the anime, I thought it was time to read the manga. A series as full of hopelessness and despair as the creator was during his 4 year mental breakdown. Rejects and castoffs trying to save the world. All hope and optimism are gone. I am going to try to read up to the current volume[#9 I believe]. Depends on if the local libraries have them or not.

BLINK
-T. Dekker-fiction
-389-as you can tell, I am on quite the Dekker kick. I like his stuff. A genius[IQ of 190 and Einstein was 165'ish] suddenly starts being able to see the possible futures. At the same time, a Saudi princess is embroiled in the schemes to overthrow the current king and install a hardline Muslim. Their paths converge and God is shown to be the One True God. A little romance, a little action, a little intrigue and a little worldwide action, and this is what you get. Thoroughly enjoyable.

ONE PIECE: ROMANCE DAWN
-E. Oda-manga
-207-Luffy D Monkey wants to be a pirate as a child. He can't be. He accidently eats the devils fruit and becomes a gum gum man[ie, he is elastic now], but is cursed with never being able to swim[a very bad thing for a pirate]. Fast forward several years. Luffy is now trying to be King of the Pirates by finding One Piece[the greatest treasure of all]. Starts out in a rowboat by himself. Starts trying to pick up crew. Hilarious! I just burst out laughing several times.

ONE PIECE: BUGGY THE CLOWN
-E. Oda-manga
-194-The continued adventures of Luffy. Has one pirate hunter on his "crew" and tries to pick up a girl for his navigator. She's a thief and that brings Luffy into conflict with Buggy, another infamous pirate, who also ate of the devils fruit, but he can separate his body at will and move the parts independently. Ends as they face off.

ONE PIECE: DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
-E. Oda-manga
-195-beats Buggy and is about to foil a plot to kill a rich heiress.

DEATH NOTE #1
-T. Ohba-manga
-195-ok, this is a seriously disturbing series. A shinigami[demon] drops a deathnote book, which shinigami use to kill humans to gain their life, and it falls into the hands of a teenage genius, who then starts killing criminals. A super investigator, also a supersmart teen, called "L" is called in to investigate. This series is a battle of wits between L and Light. The thinking that goes on reminds me of myself, in a scary way, not a complimentary way.

DEATH NOTE #2
-T. Ohba-manga
-197-non-criminals are now killed. Light has crossed the line. He will kill criminals, but also whoever attempts to apprehend him. This definitely deserves the Older Teen rating. The mind of a psychopath.

HEIR OF SEA AND FIRE
-P. McKillip-fantasy
-207-sequel to Riddle Master of Hed. Mainly about the woman he was betrothed to. Turns out she has shapeshifter blood. I don't remember much about it, and I just finished it today. That says something, not good.


DEATH NOTE #3
-T. Ohba-manga
-194-gets deeper into the battle between L and Light. But a new Kira appears on the scene.


DEATH NOTE #4
-T. Ohba-manga
-204-the new Kira turns out to be a model who is in love with Light. She has made the eye deal with her Shinigami. Turns out to be a hindrance to Light so she ends up giving up her deathnote, and hence all her memories about it are gone. Light ups the ante and requests lockdown for himself to prove he isn't Kira to L. Ends as he is going into his cell.

DEATH NOTE #5
-T. Ohba-manga
-200-Light gets Ryuk to get rid of his Deathnote, so he forgets everything concerning it. Rem gives Misa's deathnote to someone else to save her, per Light's orders. So "Kira" is now a business person amongst a group of 8, and L and Light[who is now dedicated to bringing Kira to justice since he doesn't remember that he WAS Kira] are trying to figure out who. I like this series. I was wondering how the author was going to stretch out the battle of wits between L and Light, but with this "give the Deathnote" away plot, it really is good. I will probably buy this unless the later volumes make that impossible.

R.O.D.-READ OR DIE #1
-H. Kurata-manga
-214-a woman with the power to manipulate paper as she wishes is in the employ of a english govt agency finding rare[read dangerous] books. I was not at all interested.

R.O.D.-READ OR DIE #2
-H. Kurata-manga
-194-read it because I'd gotten volumes 1 and 2 out, so I had them both at home. Won't be reading any more.

SHAMAN KING #1-6
-H. Takei-manga
-I really like the story line-a young boy is training to be a shaman and it is the time of the choosing of the new Shaman King[happens every 500 years]. I saw the anime, thought it was definitely Foxboxed[or f*boxed to be honest], but interesting. I like the story so far, but I will never buy it, the layout was pretty crappy. Cheap, scenes cut off at the bottom or sides was what I noticed the most. I'll keep reading it though.

HARPIST IN THE WIND
-P. McKillip-fantasy
-257-the finish up of the Riddlemaster Trilogy. I hardly understood a thing that was happening; it was much more poetically oriented like her later books. Morgon becomes the land-heir of the One and defeats the shapechangers, locking them into a mountain. It was just extremely confusing. I would not recommend this series as a first tryout for McKillip.

TRIGUN #1
-Y. Nightow-manga
-358-the anime covers this same territory. I liked the anime better.

HUNTERS OF DUNE
-B. Herbert & K. Anderson-scifi
-524-the immediate sequel to Chapterhouse. I liked it, a lot! Follows the escaped no-ship, which breeds some gholas of Dune's past, and Murbella, who rises to unite the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Maitres against the Enemy who drove the HM's into the Old Empire. Meet Norma Cenva, who is the Oracle of Time now, and Omnius and Erasmus, who survived and for the past 15,000 years have been building up forces to once and for all wipe out humanity. Very complex threads. The 2 prequel trilogies are a must read to fully understand the ending and certain references. I look forward to the concluding novel.

DEATH NOTE #6
-T. Ohba-manga
-217-the 3rd Kira is uncovered and Light's plan seems to be unrolling. Just don't have a clue what it is. Misa is dumb, period. Ends with the 3rd Kira being cornered.

HUNTER X HUNTER 1-6
-Y. Togashi-manga
-a young boy wants to be a Hunter, like his father. These volumes cover his, and the friends' he meets, trials to become Hunters. I like it. Optimistic, upbeat, but lots of fighting.