Short manga reviews, Part 1 September 26, 2007

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been reading a lot of manga lately. A lot of manga. So much, in fact, that I had to split what was going to be one post into three parts because otherwise it would have been ridiculously long.

Hoshin Engi vol. 1 by Ryu Fujisaki
The Yin Kingdom was ruled by a great king, until he fell under the spell of a sennin (a supernatural being; called a demon on the back cover, but I don’t recall the story itself actually using that word) named Dakki. Dakki and her sennin pals rule greedily and ruthlessly. Taikobo, whose family was killed on the orders of another sennin who seduced a succession of emperors, is sent on a mission to rid the world of Dakki and those sennin who are ruining the kingdom.

Hoshin Engi takes a while to develop. The backstory and terminology are just kind of dumped on you in the first couple of chapters, which I had to slog through. There’s a glossary at the end, which didn’t really help me. And I never really got a feel for any of the characters beyond their role as hero, enemy, ally, etc. I was also troubled by the depiction of the two most powerful women in the story so far as evil. The manga is based on a classic Chinese story, The Creation of the Gods, but it still bothered me.

Love*Com vol. 1 by Aya Nakahara
Risa Koizumi is the tallest girl in her class. Atsushi Otani is the shortest guy in class. They can’t stand each other, their arguments resemble comedy routines, and all their classmates, and even their teacher, think they would be the perfect couple.

Love*Com supposedly stands for Lovely*Complex, since both Koizumi and Otani have a complex about their height, but Lovely*Comedy would be just as fitting. The story is simple, and Nakahara’s art is likewise uncomplicated and on the more realistic end of the spectrum. If you’re looking for a straightforward (no cross-dressing! no blackmail! or supernatural beings!) but effective romantic comedy that is actually funny, give this one a try.

Oh My Goddess! vol. 1 by Kosuke Fujishima
Keiichi Morisato meant to call his roommate, but dialed the Goddess Technical Help Line instead. When the goddess Belldandy tells Keiichi that she will grant him one wish, Keiichi rashly asks for a goddess like her to always be with him. Before he can change his mind, his wish is granted. Belldandy will be living with Keiichi…if they can find a place to live. Keiichi was living in an all-male dorm in college, but he’s kicked out when Belldandy is found in his room. Then there’s the effect of Belldandy on others. She’s beautiful, she’s smart, and she can do magic.

For such a classic manga, I have to admit to being a bit underwhelmed. It’s the manga version of “It’s not you, it’s me.” Because I can see how it would appeal to others. But it’s not as immediate as other manga series I’ve been reading. I suppose this is partly because I’m not a hardcore manga reader (the amount of manga I’ve read this month is an anamoly), and this is more subtle in terms of art, humor, and story than the manga I enjoy. That said, the comprehensive cultural and translation notes alone make this volume worth reading.

Pearl Pink vol. 1 by Meca Tanaka
Ten years ago, Tamako asked Kanji if he would marry her. Kanji agreed, as long as Tamako became brave and strong. Now they’re teenagers and Tamako has done her best to be strong, but Kanji has absolutely no memory of Tamako, nevermind his promise to her. Tamako’s mother is now a famous actress, but her image is built on innocence and purity, so it wouldn’t do for the public to learn that she was a teen mother. Kanji’s father is her manager, so it appears that best solution is for Tamako to live with Kanji and his father.

There are some interesting gender dynamics going on. Tamako is a tomboy and Kanji is a better housewife than Tamako would ever be, even going all Beauty Pop on her when Tamako gets dressed up. His father likes to try on Momono’s (Tamako’s mother) costumes along with her. But as short as this series is (I think it’s four volumes), I won’t be finishing it. I just didn’t care about any of the characters or the plot, which would be okay if it had something else going for it, like humor. I know, humor is subjective, but while I found it occasionally funny, it was just not enough to keep me reading. Not to mention those kinda icky moments like every time Kanji goes on about how soft Tamako is.

Punch! by Rie Takada
Supposedly, this series is 3 volumes long. Actually, it’s only 2 and 1/3 volumes, since the story abruptly concludes around page 70 of volume 3. The rest of the book is comprised of two totally unrelated short stories (which is mentioned nowhere at all, except for the table of contents, and which makes it look more like chapter titles than short story titles) that I didn’t bother to finish.

So the first 2 1/3 volumes of Punch! are about Elle Nagahara and the two guys fighting for her. Elle lives with her grandfather, the first Japanese Muay Thai world champion, who betrothed her to Ruo, the grandson of his greatest competitor. Elle does not want to marry Ruo, whom she thinks of as a brother. But she’s not having any success finding a guy of her own, since every time she finds a guy she likes, the guys who belong to her grandfather’s gym scare them off. After a chance meeting with Kazuki, she pretends that he is her boyfriend because she’s sure that he won’t be scared off by the other guys. But what will happen when Elle starts to fall for Kazuki for real?

Kazuki, the street fighter with a heart of gold, is the main reason to read the series. Because it sure wasn’t Elle or Ruo. I never understood why Ruo was so bent on marrying Elle, or what her appeal to Kazuki was. But it’s easy to see why Elle falls for Kazuki. Punch! is not as funny as Love*Com, but enjoyable enough. Except for the two COMPLETELY UNRELATED SHORT STORIES IN VOLUME 3, which you should *cough*cough* borrow from the library.

Sorry to See Them Go… September 25, 2007

I’ve just weeded a bunch of my Fear Street series books.  I’m sorry to see them go, but for the sake of hygeine they just had to leave the library.  I am looking for replacements, so if anyone knows of a cheap way to buy them in bulk let me know.  From what I’ve seen the new covers are a little more modern and not so circa 1990. 

Weeding for me is like pulling on a loose string, once I start I can’t help but pull and pull and pull. 

Hip Librarians September 23, 2007

Here’s a link to a very interesting New York Times article published in July, on gen-x librarians. I can totally identify! Are you a hip librarian?

So the lead book review September 22, 2007

in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly is Jenny Downham’s Before I Die (not available online yet Updated: here’s the review). It’s a very positive review overall (grade: A-) and made me even more sure that I’m going to absolutely bawl my eyes out when I get a chance to read it, but the last paragraph of the review is giving me trouble.

Unfortunately, Downham’s publisher has handicapped Before I Die by labeling it a young-adult novel, thus ghettoizing this gem to the back of most bookstores. It’s a shame, because this book is vastly superior to most so-called adult novels with high-school-age protagonists that have been embraced by the literary establishment…

I have so many reactions to these two sentences I don’t even know where to begin. My snarky side wants to say that the literary establishment is missing out on the quality high-school-age protagonist books because they’re too scared to enter the YA ghetto. My defensive side is offended by the implication that either YA lit or teen sections of bookstores, or both, is a ghetto. My more realistic side says that it’s great that a major magazine like EW is so prominently reviewing a YA book, particularly one not written by J. K. Rowling. Because the fact is that although there are a lot of us who read YA books, most adults don’t. My hopeful side wonders if this (plus EW naming Downham a hot new author for fall) will turn more folks on to YA books. My guilty side admits that I made a similar criticism in my review of T. K. Welsh’s Resurrection Men. My curious side wonders (again) how publishers decide what to publish as a YA book, an adult book, or an adult/YA crossover, particularly since a sidebar to the review mentions that David Fickling, who edited the book, also brought us Philip Pullman’s His Dark Material trilogy and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.* And my argumentative side says, without having read the book, that the “most so-called adult novels with high-school-age protagonists” qualifier should not be there because a lot of YA books are superior to adult novels, period.

One thing I know for sure: besides encouraging people to pick up the book, if the point of the review was to also provide food for thought, it certainly succeeded.

* Haddon’s book, of course, was published in both children’s and adult editions in the UK, but solely as an adult book here in the US. I suppose this was also on my mind because I looked up Meg Rosoff’s upcoming What I Was on Amazon.com a few days ago and was surprised to see that it looks like it’ll be published as an adult book here, but a juvenile title in the UK and Canada.

more links September 20, 2007

Entertainment Weekly names Jenny Downham a “Hot Author for Fall” (and Chelsea Cain, too)

Kassia Krozser’s must-read take on why newspaper book review sections are really failing. (Choice bits: “…sportswriting is often more compelling and emotionally engaging than literary criticism,” and “Writing about books should not inspire boredom, it should inspire someone to buy and read books.”)

Speaking of newspaper reviews, Melissa Walker had the brilliant idea of offering review copies of her debut novel, Violet on the Runway, to high school newspapers.

And we’ll definitely have to check out Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology when it comes out next year. They’re looking for contributors, by the way. (via Comics Worth Reading)

If you work with students and/or teachers, you may find some of the websites featured in ResourceShelf’s current Resource of the Week useful.

Teen Read Week, October 14-20 September 19, 2007

Teen Read Week is in one month. Are you ready?

I’m still planning my events, but I think it’ll consist of:

• 2 games (name the author/title of the YA book based on the cover—which I’m stealing from someone either on YALSA-BK or YA-YAAC—plus a “Guess the Theme” display, in which I’ll display some books and teens who guess the theme correctly can win/enter to win an ARC or gift card, and which I’m hoping to turn into a monthly thing)
• the launch of our teen book group (crossing my fingers)
• one food program (make your own trail mix? something else? still trying to come up with something), and
• three crafts (two scrapbook-type crafts that I just have to make samples for, and the last a make-and-take, but I’m still trying to decide what to do. We did marble magnets as a make-and-take last year for TRW and origami during spring break, so maybe duct tape crafts?).

If we still had a movie license, I’d show a funny movie, but since I decided to let the license expire, that’s one more program I need to come up with.

Yes, yes, I know the theme is LOL @ Your Library, but sometimes I think themes make it too hard. We try to be clever and fit our programming to the theme (or try to think of a clever name for the program/theme) when the point, in my opinion, is really to have programs specifically for teens and to promote teen reading.

Anyway, Liz has a great post on the importance of TRW, and for more programming ideas, check out:
YALSA’s 2007 Teen Read Week page
TRW wiki
Alternative Teen Services
Zee Says

Plus, during the entire month of October, Readergirlz will feature an author chat every day as part of the 31 Flavorites Authors for Teens (via Little Willow). The list of authors is impressive, including Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Ann Brashares, Ellen Hopkins, Sonya Sones (Sonya Sones! I can’t believe no one thought of her for the SBBT or WBBT. Ah, well, maybe next year), and more.

Battle of the Josh Schwartz shows: Chuck vs. Gossip Girl September 19, 2007

Josh Schwartz, creator of “The O.C” has two new shows on TV this fall, “Chuck” and “Gossip Girl.” I don’t watch anywhere near enough television to do an adequate job reviewing them, but here’s my $0.02.

Chuck: Chuck receives an e-mail that leaves him privy to government secrets and the target of the NSA and CIA, who both want their information back. Unfortunately for these agencies, all their intel is no longer on a computer, but in the head of a nerd: Chuck, who works at Buy More as the supervisor of a Nerd Herd (think Best Buy’s Geek Squad).

Okay, so it’s totally implausible and some of the effects could have been better, but it was still fun. Not as immediately “OMG! What happens next?”-intriguing as previous shows I’ve gotten hooked on, but good enough and fun enough that I will watch tape the next couple episodes. Why is it that all the new shows I want to watch are on when I’m at work and can’t watch them?

Watch the pilot episode of “Chuck” on Yahoo! (Updated: download expired )

Gossip Girl: You know the story. Based on the books by Cecily von Ziegesar about rich kids in New York and the anonymous, all-knowing Gossip Girl who makes public their every move.

It was okay. I wouldn’t say it was bad, it was just kind of boring (but maybe that’s because I vaguely knew what was going to happen because I read the book). Though I suppose boring=bad, because it could have been bad in a good, campy way, but just struck me as dull and not as titillating as I thought a teen show with sex, drugs, and booze would be. Except for that first Blair/Nate scene, it seemed more like cool kids showing off how cool they are. Regardless, I won’t be watching “Gossip Girl” on TV, since I don’t care what happens plot-wise or character-wise, as most of the characters were bland and dull, with the exceptions of Jenny and that icky, creepy Chuck. Ewww. Jackie, feel free to keep on hating it, because it’s so not as good as VMars.

And, huh, I never expected to hear a Cold War Kids song on television.

Download the pilot episode of “Gossip Girl” from iTunes.
My So-Called Gossipy Life (New York Times article about an informal panel of 7th graders thoughts on the show).

The Winner: “Chuck,” hands down.

I think I’ve already mentioned that I’m a sucker for YA spy books, used to be a big “Alias” fan (well, seasons 1 and 2, anyway, even though I kept watching even after it got all sucky), and only read one Gossip Girl novel, so it’s not a big surprise that I prefer “Chuck”. But even discounting the spy/action preference, I’d still go with “Chuck”. It’s got a sense of humor, doesn’t take itself so seriously, and is occasionally over the top in a good way. “Gossip Girl,” on the other hand, occasionally over the top in a bad way and just not fun. And Zachary Levi as Chuck (the one from “Chuck”, not GG) is cuter and more crushworthy than any of the guys in “Gossip Girl.” Yes, I am that shallow.

eMusic’s Audiobooks September 19, 2007

I took a quick look at eMusic’s recently launched audiobooks store, which sells DRM-free MP3 audiobooks, just to check out the selection. I only looked at the unabridged titles, which were heavy on the classics, non-fiction, and literary fiction. The only contemporary children’s/YA titles I saw were Eragon, Eldest, and, interestingly enough, Nick Hornby’s Slam (which is due out in print Oct. 16).

It looks pretty much the same as the music store and is easy to browse. Since the audiobooks store is still in beta, I’m hoping that they’ll add the “Save for later” feature available on the music side at some point. And they really need longer excerpts, because one minute is not enough. The store works on a credit system, just like the music. One credit, occasionally two, to purchase a title, and it looks like each credit will cost $9.99. The audiobook will be downloaded in lots of small files, unlike Audible’s large chunks. If you’re already an eMusic subscriber, you can get a free audiobook for signing up for an audiobook subscription. Other listeners would get more out of it than I would, since I mainly listen to YA audiobooks (which means I’ll probably be sticking with Audible), but I’ve been wanting to read In the Woods, so maybe I’ll give it a try.

The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison September 18, 2007

A woman to love an animal and an animal to love a man is the running theme throughout The Princess and the Hound.   As a child Prince George began to speak and understand the language of animals.   However, in George’s kingdom understanding animals is considered animal magic and is punishable by death.  Thus, George supresses his urge to perform animal magic and keeps it a secret.  As a young man George is obligated to marry Princess Beatrice, who is from a rival kingdom.  When they first meet he is entralled by Beatrice’s fierce beauty and nature, but is even more intrigued by her relationship with her hound, Marit.  It’s as if Beatrice and Marit communicate through some unspoken language.  Does she have the animal magic also? In another twist of fate, George is called back to his kingdom to see his ailing father.  He returns to find his father in a near death state, being treated by a mysterious Dr. Gharn whom he suspects might be poisioning his father instead of treating him.  In the end George finds that all of their fates are connected to the animal magic, and realizes that to be true to himself he must reveal his secret.

Harrison is able to blend medieval history with human psychology added with a dash of fantasy fairytale. (This is no surprise since Harrison does have a PH.D in German Literature. For some reason, while reading this book I kept thinking about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.) What’s also interesting is that Harrison chose to tell the story through a male perspective rather than going for the tried and true princess narrative. Readers of historical fiction and fantasy might find the story familiar to other fare, but will be intrigued with the secrets that lay within this fairytale. 

More books! September 18, 2007

Two of our favorite books of the year are now officially available. So go and read them.

• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Gayle’s review)
• The Poison Apples by Lily Archer (Gayle’s review)