vivdunstan

Catching up with this, and another 6 titles finished since my last post:

( earlier titles )
1. Colostle Complete Edition by Nich Angell
2. Wild Card: Let the Tarot Tell Your Story by Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt
3. Insomniacs After School volume 5 (manga) by Makoto Ojiro
4. Doctor Who: The Ruby's Curse by Alex Kingston and Jacqueline Rayner
5. Notebook by Tom Cox
6. Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

Of the new ones the Colostle solo RPG/journalling game was fun, but not something I decided I'd want to play. An original fantasy setting, with solo gaming mechanics, based on random tables.

The Tarot book was fantastic, and really got me feeling more confident about doing self readings.

I continue to *adore* the Insomniacs After School manga series, which is being slowly but steadily published in English translation.

The Doctor Who book was somewhat fun, and a new tale about River Song. But it ultimately felt a slog to read through, and was overly muddled. I'm guessing Jacqueline Rayner wrote most of it, though Alex Kingston had some input too, and got top billing.

Tom Cox's Notebook is a varied hodge podge of often amusing rambling thoughts. I loved it! I had backed the digital edition, but not read it yet. I ordered a signed paperback from Tom a few weeks ago. He has lots of his books after the collapse of Unbound (who owe him thousands of pounds) and is selling them on.

And we read Kiki's Delivery Service - the original novel the Studio Ghibli film is based on - for my book club. I've not seen the film yet. A very young read, but still charming.

Great morning in Broughty Ferry after my quarterly blood tests in Monifieth. Breakfast at Bowmans (see pic), buying Sacred Grounds coffee beans (roasted in Arbroath) loose from Love Your Planet, a fab woollen throw from interiors shop Time & Tide, and a manga book from The Bookhouse. Great wee town.

Many more books finished since last time, so I need to do a catch up! Luckily easy for me to do, since I note the books I've read, plus a rating, in Goodreads.

I'd been slowly reading the Sisto and Marchese Middle Earth book, and finally finished. An absolutely brilliant book, for both the newcomer to Tolkien's worlds, and old timers. So much useful reference material I even bought myself a print copy after finishing the Kindle version.

I continue to adore the Insomniacs After School manga series. It probably helps that one of the lead characters looks uncannily like a schoolboy version of my husband! But it's a charming and gentle slice of life, including hefty astronomy elements. I expect to read all of this.

I learned about Intellect Books' Fan Phenomena range of books from the Glasgow Worldcon dealers' room, which I was browsing from a distance. The Lord of the Rings book is very out of print sadly. But I've got the Doctor Who one to read, and first read a bargain copy (£3) Game of Thrones one I picked up secondhand. A huge range of essays exploring different perspectives of fandom. Worked even for me who has never properly read or watched Game of Thrones.

A Darker Shade of Magic got better and better for me as I read it, after a slightly rocky start. I expect to complete the trilogy. And probably go onto the sequel trilogy that is newly starting.

The Phantasmagoria magazines/books were things I'd picked up a while back. Print on demand books from Amazon, large format, collecting a huge range of articles, art work, reflections, and fiction by and about the subjects. The MR James one was a solid 5/5 stars for me. I am keeping it.

The Girl From The Other Side manga wasn't a hit for me. Just too strange, though it got more interesting on the way through.

( earlier books )
1. Why We Love Middle-earth: An Enthusiast’s Book about Tolkien, Middle-earth & the LOTR Fandom by Alan Sisto and Shawn Marchese
2. Insomniacs After School (manga) volume 3 by Makoto Ojiro
3. Fan Phenomena: Game of Thrones edited by Kavita Mudan Finn
4. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
5. Phantasmagoria Special Edition Series #3: M.R. James
6. Phantasmagoria Special Edition Series #2: The Lovecraft Squad
7. The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún (manga) volume 1 by Nagabe

Lots more books finished in the last month.

A couple of mangas. One disappointing (The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls), the other superb (Insomniacs After School), so much so that I intend to carry on through the whole series. Which is slowly being printed in English translation (I think there are 13 books in the Japanese original).

London Tide, the play version of Dickens's Our Mutual Friend annoyed me intensely. But I am glad I read it, if only for completeness sake, as a huge fan of the original novel.

The first Bridgerton book was fun, until something hugely morally questionable happened. I don't think I'll reread the book in future as a result. But I do intend to continue the series.

I loved The Black Bird Oracle, the latest in Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches series. Would recommend it without hesitation. Though only if you've read the original trilogy first. Reading the previous book (book 4) is not necessary before reading this one.

I am now onto a reread of The Lord of the Rings, starting with The Fellowship of the Ring. Happy, happy place. Plus loads of non fiction.

( earlier books )
1. The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls Vol. 1 by Masanari Yuduka
2. London Tide: based on Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend by Ben Power
3. Bridgerton: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
4. Insomniacs After School (manga) volume 1 by Makoto Ojiro
5. The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness

Just finished my 42nd book of 2023, the Manga Classics version of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Much to like, but ultimately it condenses the enormous novel down too much to fit into a much shorter manga format. An admirable attempt, but the story and characters deserve more room to flourish. 3/5

Here are my main current reads and expected to be for the next few weeks. I’m finishing off one novel, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, and shortly starting Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries for my book club. Also in pure fiction I’m reading the manga version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Which does have quite a challenge storytelling wise to condense that plot down. It’s interesting to see some of the choices they’ve made. In fictional non fiction I’m reading the large print Tolkien book The Fall of Numenor, and the Obverse Books Black Archive book about the recentish Flux series of Doctor Who stories. And finally I’m still reading and enjoying John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed.

Lovely book arrivals today from my local bookshop in Broughty Ferrry. Heartstopper graphic novel and a Haunted Dundee book which looks fantastic, and if I’d known about before I’d have bought yonks ago!

Although the bookshop is our local one it was easier for me to order online from them. They used to do free local deliveries, but now it was sent by Hermes/Evri. I feared it might go all the way down to the Midlands hub for sorting, which was making me feel rather guilty. But no, the local hub - in Perth, I think - processed the package efficiently, and sent them back to me fast.

Heartstopper is for reading after I finish my current manga book. Heartstopper volume 1 is surprisingly chunky! Though I think it should be a quick read, certainly faster than my 500 page or so manga book (I’m 7/12 chapters through that), which also has much more content and panels packed into each page.