(no subject)

rightstuf.com's current sale is 33% off manga from Yen Press.  I think I have up to the current releases on Antique Gift Shop and Spiral (even though I'm behind on both), though I need whatever else is out of Shoulder-A-Coffin-Kuro, and should read what I have of Comic to see if I want more. 

Has anyone read You're So Cool or Angel Diary?  I think I remember someone posting on Angel Diary a while back, but can't remember who.

Recs are, as always, welcome, though I'm not sure I'll be getting much here.

Sale ends Wednesday.

ETA:  And right after I hit "save entry," the mailman delivered the box from the NetComics sale a few weeks back!

ETA 2:  Hmm...Haruhi Suzumiya manga and light novels both... *ponders even though she has yet to see the anime*

xxxHolic Ch 164-166

( spoilers )

No spoilers for Tsubasa for an hour or so.  Putting lunch in the oven then catching up there.

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Ch 198-200

( spoilers )

Ok, coments are a Tsubasa and xxxHolic spoiler free for all. 

YOUR THEORIES! CRACK AND SERIOUS!  GIVE THEM TO ME!  Use spoilercode for other Clamp titles, please.

Spoiler code: <span style="color: #333333;background-color: #333333">Spoilers here.</span>

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

The daughter of a greengrocer, Maisie Dobbs was forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Lord and Lady Compton after her mother’s death. When Rowan, Lady Compton, catches her attempting to read a book in Latin, she decides to make a pet project of Maisie and have her trained by Maurice Blanche, a friend and psychologist. From there, Maisie moves on to attend Cambridge, and become a nurse is WWI, and then to open her own detective agency in 1929. When she’s hired to investigate what seems to be a very open-and-shut case of infidelity, she begins to suspect that someone has been murdering veterans.

A little under half of the book actually takes place in the “present” of 1929, with the middle half , and bits near the end, taking place between 1910-1917, covering from when Maisie came into Lady Rowan’s employ, to her first stint at Cambridge (she left Cambridge to be a nurse, planning to return, though whether or not she does is left open for questioning) and her time in the war, also covering her ill-fated (we learn it ends badly at the very beginning of the book, though not how) with Simon Lynch, a doctor. Of these parts, I found Maisie’s time at Cambridge and in the war the most involving.

The aspect of detecting through psychology in the 1920s is an interesting one, and the book is very good. Maisie as a character, though, while I liked her throughout, didn’t completely grab me until near the end when some of the final holes in this part of Maisie’s war experiences were filled in. This, I think, is because both the adult and child Maisie are introduced as Very Special, a tactic than can backfire, and the end of the book introduces a very tragic flaw. One interesting thing that I noticed (and that I was happy to see brought up in the notes at the end) is that, throughout Maisie’s backstory, she has a number of female friends, but in her present, she seems to be completely isolated outside of the people of Lady Compton’s estate, and Billy, a war veteran who works for her. Interestingly, these friendships-and every relationship in Maisie’s life, outside of Simon-is a relationship of circumstance, not choice, and most are instigated and pursued by the other party. This isn’t something that’s explored in the book, but Winspear indicates it will be in the future.

Though technically a better book than a lot (though not all) of the similar books I’ve been reading this year, and absolutely wrenching at times, I wasn’t as grabbed by this one as others. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the most interesting aspects are also in some of the others. Suzanne Arruda gives me a heroine who was an ambulance driver in the war, and Rhys Bowen one who was educated far beyond her station-in a world less accepting of such things-and both do so without introducing her as Very Special, and the simple gap of decades likely keeps the aspect of war veterans from being quite as good as it is with Sayers. This sounds fairly critical, but the only criticism I have is how Maisie is introduced as Very Special (which she is able to back up, making it much more of a non-issue) and I look forward to more books in the series.

manhwa: Comic Vol 1

Alice Song is a high school student who likes to draw comics, and who had a crush in junior high on her student teacher, Sean Hwang, who went on to become an editor. When her friend enters a comic of Alice’s in a contest without Alice’s permission, they’re both surprised when Alice wins third place, making her the only high school girl to ever win. When she goes to the publisher’s office, she meets Mr. Hwang again, and he takes her with him to meet Saturn Kang, a popular shounen (or whatever it’s called for manhwa) artist who’s late turning in his work. Alice is surprised to learn that, despite his popularity, Saturn is actually only her own age, and Mr. Hwang gives her to Saturn as an assistant for the day. Saturn is a complete jerk even before her nervousness makes her botch the work. Actually, I think it’s half of why she was nervous.

The next day, she learns that his real name is Patrick, and that he attends the all-boys school next to her own school. When she demands an apology for his behavior, he bites her on the ear. Then she gets bullied by his girlfriend for “stealing” him. At that point, I was about ready to close the book in annoyance. And then she punched him in the face and knocked him in a fountain when he assumed that everything was her trying to spend more time with him because of her non-existent crush. It was milder than what I felt like doing to him at that point, but an improvement. It also seems to make him like her, as he then arranges with Mr. Hwang to see her again professionally so he can get revenge.

I like Alice ok, but did I mention that Patrick is a jerk? So far, his only redeeming moment was saving her from the bullies. However, seeing as how he created the situation in the first place, I find it hard to give him even that much credit. There’s an indication that some of it comes from him seeming to only like women who like Mr. Hwang, but again, not helping much. Mr. Hwang, for his part, is rather dull, and while Alice’s friends and the other creators we’ve met have potential, none did very much.

I have the next two volumes, so I’ll read them before making any final decisions about the series. One thing I will say about it: I’ve tried a couple other series involving making manga/manhwa, but haven’t finished the first volume of any. Nothing wrong or even annoying with them, they just didn’t grab me, whereas I did read all of this, so it must be doing something right.

RG Veda Vol 6

OMG RASETSU’S HAIR! IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN YASHA’S! *insert own interpretation of “better”*

Moving on…

( Spoilers have giant 90s hair. )

Wallflower Vol 16

( Spoilers involve personality transplants via head injury. That is not a spoiler here. )

ETA:  *looks over LJ for the day*  Yeah, so, apparently it was a slow day otherwise.  This is a lot even for me...