This edition of Kaldath's Corner will be another sharing day. This time around I am asking you all what you are reading ? This can be any book, comic book, manga etc. If you so choose to answer my question in the comments below you are entitled to ask me one question on any topic you so desire and If I am able I will answer as truthfully as accurately as possible.
Myself I am not currently reading anything, but I will give a quick list of the last five bit of literature I have read starting with the most recent:
The Manga: Is This Girl Real
Jun Yoshikawa is a boy with a manga artist for a mom. One night, he gets in a situation with a drunk stranger, Narumi Kawase, and decides to look after her. She becomes a live-in assistant at the Yoshikawa household as Jun takes care of her. This is an age-gap comedy about a pre-thirties, unfortunate beauty with no skills nor a job, and a perfect high schooler who helps out his mom and does the household chores as they live together.
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The Manga: Tora Kiss - A School Odyssey
18 years ago, a powerful monument was discovered on a mysterious island. The momument contained data only certain people could extract – who became students of the island’s school. By being able to extract the data, the students are able to summon a creature that they fight with. Of these people, Satou Taketora is your typical lazy kid who doesn’t do anything, hence he’s ranked dead last. But one day, he’s dragged into a battle with his old childhood friend, but to everyone’s surprise… his summon is more than meets the eye…
Mustang Sally has some speedy shoes to fill. This young superhero has waited her whole life to join Just Cause – the premiere team of American heroes. Now she’s hoping her super-speed will earn a spot on the same team to which her parents and grandparents belonged.
AN OLD GRUDGE FROM AN OLD ENEMY
A chance encounter with the villain who killed her father changes everything. Even though she’s only an intern, Sally devotes herself to finding the man known as Destroyer. With the help of her eagle-winged best friend Sondra and her super-strong love interest Jason, her investigations uncover a sinister plot stretching all the way back to her grandparents’ era. Sally and Just Cause must risk everything to halt Destroyer’s plans and save the entire world.
Book 1 - In a province where magic is forbidden and its possessors are murdered by the cruel Praetor, young Ilan, born with the powerful gift of her ancestors, has only one hope for survival. Concealment. In the shadow of Dimmingwood, she finds temporary protection with a band of forest brigands led by the infamous outlaw Rideon the Red Hand.
But as Ilan matures, learns the skills of survival, and struggles to master the inherent magic of her dying race, danger is always close behind. When old enemies reappear and new friendships lead to betrayal, will her discovery of an enchanted bow prove to be Ilan’s final salvation or her ultimate downfall?
Book 1 - Myranda is a young woman more interested in staying alive than being a hero. Orphaned by a continent-spanning war that has gone on for decades too long and shunned for failing to support it, she has been on the move since she was only a child. One can hardly blame her when she thinks that the chance discovery of a fallen soldier's priceless cargo is the moment that will change her life. No one could predict just how great that change would be. It will lead her through an adventure of rebels and generals, of wizards and warriors, and of beasts both noble and monstrous. Each step of the way will take her closer to the truth of her potential, of the war, and of the fate of her world.
I’m only really reading manga at the moment, so my answers are all manga. I’ve literally just started One Piece. I put off reading it or watching the anime because it’s so long and when I start a series I have to finish it, but I started it and now I’ve locked myself into a trillion part saga. So far, it’s alright, nothing special, but I’m literally only at the part where Luffy first meets Nami, so I still haven’t even met all the characters.
As for others I’m reading, well I’m running three other manga’s currently, Tokyo Ghoul, Attack On Titan and Neon Genesis Evangelion (I have a problem, once I see a series that I want to start, I will start it, even if I haven’t finished another series.) Neon Genesis; I’m still looking for the last volume, but it’s Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of my favourite anime/ manga of all time so…. what can I say. Tokyo Ghoul, well, I like it, the story is good, the characters are involving and the themes are very interesting, so there’s plenty to recommend. Attack On Titan I’m kinda struggling with. I haven’t seen the anime but I know everyone is really hype on it. I picked up the first few volumes on a whim and I’m finding it really hard to get into. It’s not the fact that it’s almost unrelentingly dark (really don’t care about that) it’s just the characters are hard to like or get behind. Then again maybe I just need to give it more time.
As for questions for you K, how about, as we both talked quite a bit about manga & anime; what is your favourite genre of manga/ anime?
Not a manga fan, I’m afraid, but I’m reading a book, right now, that *might* make a good one.
“Charming”, by Elliott James, is about a man named John (with the aforementioned last name), who was born into the Knights Templar, Monster Hunters extrodainaire.. Which was something of a problem, since his Mother was bitten by a werewolf just before he was born!
They’ve been trying to kill him since shortly after WWII, because he’s not ‘human’ enough for them, but without a lot of luck… Then, while he’s tending bar, a Vampire and a Valkyrie walk in, and life gets a bit more interesting…
First book in a series of three, so far.
Besides the usual Dresden Files and Anita Blake type things, I’ll also recommend the “Alien” stories (beginning with “Touched by an Alien”)by Gini Koch, and the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne… {Hey, how many books do you know of where the GOOD Guys (kind of) get to kill Thor?} 😀
I finished re(-re-re-re)reading Wilt by Tom Sharpe yesterday, and I’ve gotta tell you, it gets funnier every time. The main character Henry Wilt is a middle aged English community college teacher who is so bored with his life that his main source of amusement is fantasizing about killing his wife. And that’s just about as much as I can say about the plot without spoiling anything. It’s a bizarre and chaotic little adventure with some of the funniest lines I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it.
Speaking of people named Sharpe, I recently started getting into the Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series. I love historical fiction and I’ve been fascinated by the Napoleonic era for years. I’m only a few chapters into the first novel, Sharpe’s Tigers, but I’m digging it so far. I hear good things about the movie adaptations starring Sean Bean, who is one of my favourite English actors, so I’ll probably try and get my hands on them as well.
I also tried to make an effort to read the few Discworld novels I hadn’t gotten into yet, but I just ended up reading Night Watch again. I’d say it’s probably the darkest book in the series, which should come as no surprise since it’s based on Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. The main character, Commander Samuel Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is put in a frankly horrifying situation right from the start and has to muscle through it with sheer stubborn tenacity. It’s my favourite one of the City Watch novels who are all excellent darkly comedic takes on both fantasy and detective fiction.
My question is: Would you rather be able to lift 100 pounds telepathically or 10,000 pounds physically?
5: Currently reading “A Discovery Of Witches” not really so great.
4: “206 Bones” Reichs–pretty good.
3 & 2: The King-Killer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss–great. A decade isn’t long enough to write a whole series when you choose every word and carefully compose every name.
1: The Gold Bug by Poe — swashbuckler by a horror master. Dated but great.
Man, I MISS the DiscWorld series. That one speech by Death about fantasy archetypes and ‘fictional concepts’ . . . one of the best speeches in all fantasy literature. Have to get me some copies.
Kaldath? If you could choose a radically different aspect of cosmogony or physics like having the world on top of a turtle or light occasionally shine at right angles, what would you bring into our reality?
@ Herr D
“All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to make life bearable.”
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
Discworld has the best depiction of Death ever.
1. I’m currently reading Night & Demons by David Drake. It’s a short story collection, and there’s really a lot of variation, although I like that a couple of characters have had more than one appearance so far. There’s sci-fi, horror, history, and fantasy type elements, it’s really a mish-mosh of a number of different genres. I grabbed it from the library on a whim, and I’m really enjoying it.
What else have I read lately?
2. The Deviant Strain by Justin Richards. Lo and behold, I pull a Doctor Who book off the library shelf and there’s Nine and Rose! So naturally I took it out and quite enjoyed it.
3. Sword Bound by Jennifer Roberson. A return to two of my favorite characters, Tiger and Del. It was awesome to get back into that world, with more on the way.
That’s my three. There were a couple of other books I’ve read recently but I can’t remember their titles off hand, only that I couldn’t really get into them.
@JR: I never really gave this much thought before, all I can say is the within the last year or so I have been gravitating away from the Shounen type anime ( though I still watch and enjoy those type of shows ) in favor of more Slice Of Life / Romance anime. I also enjoy Harem animes especially if mixed with another Genre such as Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon, or Shuffle.
@Stulte: Interesting question. Give the 100 pound limit on the telekinesis I think I would take the 10,000 lb physical choice. While 100 pounds isn’t all that light and allows for a lot of items that can be moved it does take away A lot of things I would like to have the power for. Such as moving furniture especially upstairs 😀 ….
@Herr D: I am afraid this question falls under the header of unanswerable by me. I am afraid my imagination is not so vivid and my mind set a little too reality based to even contemplate doing such a thing. So I will have to leave it as, I don’t know ?
I’m currently reading Self Inflicted Wounds by Aisha Tyler, one of my favourite actors and comedians. It’s a story about her past, specifically all the times she screwed up and almost set herself on fire, eviscerated herself etc….It sounds pretty morbid but Aisha tells it with such a style that it ends up being one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time.
I also have a number of books lying around half read, mostly because I have the attention span of a toddler with adhd. Including but not limited to such works as The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, The Hollows series by Kim Harrison (one of my favourite series) and all manner of graphic novels. I recently purchased the first half of the Witchblade and Artifacts series.
Man, I really need to find some time to sit down and read all this stuff.
Reading Through the Aegis, a supplement for Ars Magica
Also, House of Chains, from the Malazan book of the Fallen.
Manga:
A Silent Voice (Koe No Katachi). A powerful, occasionally sad manga about the long-term effects of bullying, among other things. It might make you cry a little bit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Silent_Voice_(manga)
Books:
The Powder Mage series. Fantasy novels set in a world where magic and gunpowder co-exist. Mysteries, intrique, cool battle scenes. Very similar to Brandon Sanderson’s works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Powder_Mage_trilogy
I have just gotten into anime (as in literally last month, thanks to Netflix constantly recommending titles to me) and consequently manga, and I am about halfway through the Black Butler series. After that I plan to read either the Noragami or Kamisama Kiss series, whichever is available first from the library.
I have so many as-yet unread free Kindle books I picked up through BookBub and Freebooksy recommendations, it’s not even funny. We had a surprisingly slow day at work Monday, so I started one of them, “Beneath the Mall of Madness” by A. D. Folme. It’s about a guy who I guess is a fairy or something — he hasn’t said yet exactly what he is, but he’s not exactly human and I don’t think he’s a vampire, but he’s been around for centuries and makes his living communicating with spirits. From the title, I was expecting it to be funny, but so far it’s at best droll. It might pick up later; I’m only a few pages into it.
So here’s a question: all the anime I’ve been watching lately has reminded me that the theme of relationships (of any kind) between normal humans and supernatural creatures is my absolute favorite theme in fiction. Do you find you gravitate toward any particular theme?
@Lime: Hmm, I assume you don’t mean Genre like JR asked me, … It took me a while to consider the question. As I said to JR I am gravitating recently towards the Slice of Life, and Harem Genres. I think within those two genres I like watch stories based in high school, such as Nisekoi, and My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU.
Also based on your preference of Normal human/Supernatural or Monster I have a few Anime suggestions for you, ….
Actually I am,
Shuffle,
and if you don’t mind ecchi anime
Monster Musume Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Rosario + Vampire