update-age
Jul. 4th, 2006 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreNo real plans today. Would be a family dinner or some such, but Mom and Dad are on their anniversary cruise, and Jen and Myles are in Stanford with her parents, I think. So, mostly just enjoying being off today.
Drove by the movie theater. Think I'll try for the 12:50 showing tomorrow, before heading in to work.
The cats think that I should be getting up around 8 even though I don't get to bed until 2 or 3. I need to discuss that with them...
"Doppelganger" by Marie Brennan(fantasy) One of those "on a whim" buys, that fortunately paid off. I can't recall the last time I got on a new fantasy series on the ground floor, with no recommendations, and had it pay off(hopefully it'll hold true again for the book I just started) From the back of the book, I was thinking it might focus on the "doppelgangers as fetches" theme, but, while it's clear the writer is familiar with that, that wasn't the case. Largely a "new way magic works/truth of magic" book, but one that works quite well, and has interesting characters. And the "new magic" actually is rather interesting.
"A Crowning Mercy" by Bernard Cornwell and Susannah Kells(historical fiction) Cornwell's name is on the cover, but I suspect he's more of a guiding force for his wife in this one and occupies the back seat. A rather good book set during the British Civil War, it focuses more on what it is to be a puritan-raised woman of that time more than on the war itself(though the war is very important to the book) It sinks a little too far into that for comfort once or twice, but was rather good and I plan on getting the sequel soon.
"Ironhand's Daughter" and "The Hawk Eternal" by David Gemmell(fantasy) These are likely my last gemmell books for a bit...not because they were bad, but because the rest of the ones I have are an incomplete series that I'm working on completing. The first book is a rather good book in the "King Arthur's child sent through time" theme, despite a dark period in the beginning. The second started off a very good book that reminded me of the first Rigante book, then it took an odd time/interdimensional travel turn and the last 70 or so pages were a little too hard to follow. Still, a good place to end the gemmell reading, for a while.
"The Concubine's Tattoo" by Laura Joh Rowland(historical mystery) Well, it seems someone told Rowland how generic and dull Aoi was, and so she thankfully was not mentioned or alluded to at all. Reiko, as I expected, though not completely historically correct, is a considerably more interesting and likeable character, though I think she and Sano fell in love a little too quickly(overcompensating, methinks) The mystery this time(though slightly overcomplicated) was also quite good, and had a more logical resolution than the others, in terms of Sano solving it.
Trades/Manga:
Black Cat Vol 2-3: I had a few quibbles about this one in the first book, but they've mostly been erased. The storyline is solidifying and is pretty interesting, though not an incredibly unique one for a manga. A little annoyed that it looks like Rins will only be an occassional presence, though.
Death Note Vol 5-6: I understand that a lot of people think that Death Note started to stop being good around this point, but I rather like the new direction, even though I suspect it won't last. Light is considerably more interesting and likeable now, for one thing, despite the annoying tendency he's developed to hit L(granted, never without justification, but still...)
Flight Vol 3: I wish they'd put out smaller, semi-annual volumes of this, instead of one fat book a year, but I'll take what I can get. The first 100 or so pages are probably some of the best stories of the series, with the rest being about 50/50 interms of my liking them vs being lukewarm about them, with an edge to liking. That's about normal for these series. Still, even if the ratio was lower, I'd still be getting it, just for the originality of most of the material.
Fruits Basket Vol 13: As a Kyo fan, this volume made me insanely giddy. It also vastly increased the Ayame love(hence the current default icon) and eased my anti-Yuki feelings(ok, was never quite anti-Yuki, just not overly big on him)
Hikaru No Go Vol 6-7: I had forgotten the insane cuteness that is Sai and Hikaru. Great as always, though I'm a touch annoyed at how the old supporting cast has been almost completely written out...I like the new guys well enough, but...
Inverloch: Binged on the entire backlog(after the first 5 chapters that are in print) over the weekend. Hopelessly addicted. Lovely art, interesting story and great characters...It needs to hasve daily 3-4 page updates. All go here.
Seven Soldiers of Victory Vol 3: I was worried I wouldn't like this one, as the only series(aside from wrapping up Zatanna and Klarion) from the second set was Mister Miracle, due to my New Gods love, and that was a leery looking forward to. Fortunately, Bulleteer and Frankenstein's Monster were both pretty good, as was MM(though it has to be viewed as not happening within DC continuity) Looking at this volume, I've decided that it works best as a possibilty that's being acted out just outside of regular DCU continuity...it doesn't work as something separate completely, but loses all logic and solubility if it happens squarely in the DCU. The concept, however, makes it viable as a sideburp. And now, I understand, I must wait many many moons for the last trade, as the finasl issue has been pushed back to October...sigh...
Threads Of Time Vol 7: Well, it only took an eternity for Tokyopop to get this one out. More focusing on the action here and less on the side stuff. Pretty good, though I think the back story at the end of book 6 caused me to raise my expectations a little more than I would have otherwise. Now lets see how long it takes them to get to vol 8...
DVDs:Nausicaa: It's been waiting for a while...I think I was afraid of being let down. I wasn't, but I spent a lot of the movie being distracted by noticing how it served as a template for many of his Miyazaki's later movies, particularly designs for "Castle in the Sky" and themes for "Princess Mononoke." Not my favorite of his movies, but several steps above many, and above most other environmentally aware shows.
Sakura Wars TV Collection: This one was surprisingly good. I concede that I wasn't expecting a lot, and it WOULD be noticably better without the mecha. It manages pseudo-early 20th century Japanese life and culture with considerable charm, and has an interesting plot. And, while I'm not fond of the vocals for it, the animation for the second set of ending credits) has to be the cutest and funnest anime ending theme ever.