Of Swords and Parasols

Prose books read in 2013: 101

Graphic novels, manga and otherwise, read in 2013: 242

(I had several periods of bingereading manga, and it shows. it'll probably happen again this year, especially since I spent a while last night marveling at the fact that there is apparently NO END to the amount of manga that I can load onto Kyoko. I mean, I'm sure there is, I just haven't found it yet. I also intend to read as much classic shoujo as I can this year, recs are welcome.)

How the meme works: Go through the poll and click on any books you've read, not this year, but ever. For manga, if you read the series but haven't read the specific volumes listed, that counts.

Then we get to see how much our reading overlaps.

There's at least one "I didn't know how else to classify it..." category.

( poll here )

prose books: 140
manga & manhwa: 35
non-manga/manhwa graphic novels: 7

Including some I have notes typed up on but haven't actually posted on yet, I think I posted on about 3/4 of the books I read this year.  I read very little historical fiction, but a lot of books in other categories overlap, and I read a fair number of memoirs and biographies this year.

For those not familiar with how this works, just vote for anything you've read.  If you see something and go "Why would Megan read that?" the answer is probably "because there was nothing else on hand."  (There are a few of those.  And then some.)

poll @ my LJ

So, this comes with a poll, which I was going to try to have in both the DW and LJ version of this post instead of only at LJ, but DW logs me out everytime I try to create it. So, if you watch The Vampire Diaries please go here and vote on your favorite character of the main three, the pairing of those three you'd go with if you had to, and your favorite character overall. If you don't watch the show, then just keep reading.

Either way, don't worry, this is not a stealth “If you like Damon or Damon/Elena you fail!” (or “If you like Stefan or Elena/Stefan, you fail!” for that matter) post. I mean, I have my (frequently strongly voiced) opinions on all three characters, but like and ship who you will without fear of judgement.

So, this was basically prompted by a recent discussion about Team Guy shipping in fandom, where you have a M/F/M triangle and fandom makes their preferences known by declaring themselves “Team Guy A” and “Team Guy B.” I have a lot of issues with “Team” shipping, which often seems to create the perspective that the important thing is not the girl in question and her feelings, but wanting your guy of choice to “get the girl,” with terms like “worthy” and “deserving” and “earning” thrown in. Insert a “women are not prizes and love doesn’t work on a points system” diatribe here. F/M/F triangles and shipwars happen too, but not nearly as widespread or as frequently as M/F/M. (Compare Zuko/Katara/Aang to Mai/Zuko/Katara, if you will, though that’s a bit skewed by the latter not really being a factor until the final season.) Anyway, for The Vampire Diaries specifically, the conversation went into the fact that Team Stefan was really Stealth Team Elena, because people who prefer Damon/Elena seem to have Damon as their favorite character, and people who prefer Elena and/o Stefan as a character tend to prefer Elena/Stefan, and support is based on “Damon loves her and I sympathize with him and it’s redeeming” vs. “it’s what she wants and what makes her happy.” This isn’t a universal absolute, of course, but a general observation.

For general purposes here, I’m using “triangles” in the fannish sense and how the fanshipping relates to the feelings and opinions expressed by the characters in canon, and the relationships shown, as opposed to the straightup case of the canons creating “Character A torn between Character B and Character C,” though there’s obviously plenty of overlap, and a focus on at least one side being regular canon or “endgame“ canon.

For the most part, shipping triangles seem to fall into four categories:

Triangle A: Girl dates Boy A. Girl and Boy A break up. Time passes. Girl and Boy B hook up. Fandom bickers over which pairing they prefer.

Triangle B: Girl and Boy B share a canon, but never express romantic interest in each other, and Girl is paired-either directly or by implication-with Guy A. Much of fandom prefers Girl/Guy B, despite neither character ever voicing or indicating thoughts on the matter, either for or against it.

Triangle C: The canon implies that Girl has romantic feelings for both Guy A and Guy B. Probably, she’s either involved with or clearly going to be involved with Guy A, but the writers want you to think there’s a chance she’ll choose Guy B, or at least think about it, and there will probably be at least one kiss, and various secretive looks. Fandom either likes the probable main pairing, or wants the Forbidden.

Triangle D: Girl likes Guy A. Probably, Girl and Guy A are in a relationship. Guy B likes Girl, and confronts her with his feelings, usually with lines like “I know you have feelings for me” thrown in. Girl says “nope, not interested.” Guy B either keeps at it, or pretends to give in but hangs around, pining. Sometimes, there is no Guy A, and Girl basically ends up being pressured into it. Sometimes, Guy A is the Wrong One and Girl ends up being forced to realize Guy B was “right all along” and apparently knew her feelings better than she did. Fandom bickers again.

Obviously, there’s going to be disagreement about what fits into which category at times, and not all triangles fit, but I think most can at least be reflected in the above.

Triangle A is Angel/Buffy/Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy is in love with and involved with Angel. They break up, Buffy later dates Riley. Shortly before Buffy and Riley start having problems (and eventually break up) Spike, who has been hanging around for a while, begins to pursue Buffy, but is thoroughly rejected. Buffy does eventually enter into a relationship with Spike but it’s notable that the sexual relationship they had was not the romantic relationship that Spike had wanted. (Whether or not it may have eventually turned into that without the attempted rape is a separate and debatable matter.) In terms of shipping, it’s noteworthy that the two relationship, though both canon, took place with years and another romantic relationship between them, and do not have an overlap in the canon, or a setup that creates a traditional triangle.

Triangle B is Zuko/Katara/Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Katara/Aang is the fairly obvious “endgame” pairing, but lots of people ship Katara/Zuko, though they only share a few scenes before the middle of season 3. (I understand the trailers and advertisements aired on Nickelodeon also encouraged the pairing, but I’ve only seen it on DVD.) Regardless of which character you think s better suited for/more interesting with Katara, here’s the thing: At no point do either Katara or Zuko voice an opinion regarding the idea of the other as a romantic partner, and they’re never confronted with the idea. No “Ember Island Players” (I probably have the title wrong) doesn’t count. They aren’t confronted with the idea of the other as a romantic partner, but with a propaganda-driven parody of what a group of actors think a romantic relationship would be like. So, fans may have widely and strongly differing opinions about, say, what would have happened if Zuko had joined Aang instead of Azula at the end of season two and Katara and Zuko had gotten to know each other as friends and allies before she started to realize Aang’s feelings and before he became involved with Mai, but the characters themselves never actually voice an opinion on the matter.

Triangle C is Will/Elizabeth/Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean. Will and Elizabeth pretty clearly love each other early in the first movie. The first movie implies that Elizabeth may be intrigued by Jack, and in the second, there’s flirting, secretive looks, and even a kiss, despite the fact that Elizabeth is still driven by the need to find Will, and consistently portrayed as being in love with Will. Now, the reasons for her behavior-she could be drawn to and attracted to Jack but more in love with Will, she could be drawn to the adventurous lifestyle, and imprinting on Jack as the personification of that, but not interested in Jack himself, or she could have just been doing what she thought was most likely to get what she wanted (Will) from Jack-can be debated as much as we want, but whether you think she wants Jack but thinks she should be with Will or is just using Jack, the fact remains that the writers want us to think that there’s at least the possibility that she does or potentially could harbor romantic feelings for Jack.

Triangle D is far too many romance novels and shoujo manga to contemplate. It’s also where I get back to The Vampire Diaries. (Note: I am only discussing the TV show here, not the books.) Elena loves Stefan. Stefan loves Elena. Damon is Stefan’s brother, and also loves Elena. (Ok, it is debatable whether Damon loves Elena or just cares about her and wants to love her, but we’ll go with “he loves her.”) Elena tells Damon “No, I am not interested in you, and even if I did have some interest, that would not change the fact that I am in love with my boyfriend, also known as your brother.” Damon hangs around, he pines. He insists there’s more. She says “No, still not interested. Also still exclusively in love with my boyfriend, your brother.” He murders her brother. Her brother gets better, but that’s not really the point. He pines and sulks a bit and acts like things will just “go back to normal” if he behaves, and she softens because she’s nice, and so he has “character growth” and deprives her of free will, robs her of the ability to state her will or wants (or tell him to get out of her bedroom), and tells her that he’s giving up on her and giving her to his “more deserving” and “good” brother. And then he erases the event from her mind and she goes “I think something weird just happened and I’m weirdly disoriented, but still in love with my boyfriend.”

( More on this type of triangle, The Vampire Diaries and otherwise )

I swear I still read books, and even have comments to make on them!

It's the "what have I read this year that you've ever read" poll!

Books read: 194
Manga/Manhwa read: 115 volumes

The books are skewed by quite a few “quick reads” (I’d say about 40-something [probably more] of the books are ones that can each be read in 2-3 hours, or less). I’m pretty sure that, last year, I said I was going to read as much as I could of Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Georgette Heyer, Terry Pratchett, and Agatha Christie. I succeeded on the last with 17 Agatha Christie books, but I read 1 Austen, no Gaskells, 4 Heyers, and one Pratchett. We’ll see how it goes this year.

I also completely failed at 50 Books POC, and forgot to crosspost a bunch of them. *sad*

Both of these were affected by my having a major attack of the nostalgia bug, though it really isn’t an excuse. As such, a fair number of these are technically rereads, but they’re books I haven’t read in at least 10 years.

My manga reading, I think, was strongly affected by losing Go! Comi and CMX, resulting in my not following favorites as much, and just trying…random things. I also kinda had an aversion to reading the final volumes of some CMX series that were released due to the whole thing where the rest will never make it to the US. Before starting any new series, I need to read those, as well as the final volumes of several series where I have the last few volumes, but…uhm…don’t want them to end.

For the most part, I listed every book individually, with 2 exceptions. I included Nancy Drew but didn’t list the books in a bout of laziness because I kind of…think most people view the original books as more of an entity, and the individual ones don’t stand out as much? Then with L.J. Smith, I listed most by series because they’re currently available in the omnibuses, but also because most were meant to be read together. For manga, I stated the volumes I read this year, but voting should go by any of the series in general.

I also think I did manage to post on more than I originally thought? But there are still some things I would have thought I’d post on but didn’t. Most were read earlier in the year. Which is when I was reading Nancy Drew, so I probably went “I can post on this now, or I can read some more Nancy Drew, and post on it later! And then didn’t post on them.)

poll at lj


Some of the books I enjoyed the most/had the most fun with. (Expect cringing on certain fronts if you read the older books for the first time.) Urm…my entertainment does not necessarily guarantee high quality. Though it sometimes does.

Jane Austen: Pride & Prejudice
Elizabeth Chadwick: The Greatest Knight &The Scarlet Lion
Agatha Christie: Tommy & Tuppence books
Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca
Georgette Heyer: Lady of Quality & Sylvester
Jim C. Hines: Princess series
Fuyumi Ono: The Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn
Elizabeth Marie Pope: The Sherwood Ring
L.J. Smith in general.
Noel Streatfeild’s shoes books
Gail Tsukiyama: Women of the Silk &: The Language of Threads
Winifred Watson: Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day
Patricia C. Wrede: Snow White and Rose Red

Also, though not on the above list, here are a few YA that I liked a lot that seem to be completely unknown. (Or at least, I’ve never seen anyone else mention them.)

Susanne Dunlap: The Musician’s Daughter
Mette Ivie Harrison: The Princess and the Bear
Nicola Morgan: The Highwayman’s Footsteps
Marlene Perez’s “Dead Is…” books

I started a lot of manga/manhwa this year, and, strangely, didn’t read much in the way of my favorites. But here are some of the more fun/interesting ones I read some of this year:

After School Nightmare
Bamboo Blade
Ooku
Pig Bride
Recipe For Gertrude
Sailor Moon
Sarasah
Young Magician

And as light novels get far less attention than anime and manga, I also want to point out the Spice and Wolf and Book Girl series. Also, I want to kinda…wave my hand in the general direction of Yen Press’s shoujo (Ok, wrong word, but I never remember the right one?) manhwa. Most of the ones I’ve read are pretty good, and while they mostly fall into the “romantic comedy” and “romantic fantasy” categories, I think there’s also a decent variety there.

And obviously, the books mentioned above are no where near all the things I read that I’d recommend, much less that I liked.

The viewing version of this will hopefully be up to day or tomorrow.

 

Hastings is having a 2-for-3 sale on YA/kids/manga books, and I am stocking up. Which has caused me to realize exactly how many YA books I have backlogged. (That, and I'm reading Harry Potter at work. I never read HP because I knew I wouldn't care for it, but I was down to it, Twilight, or thumb twiddling between calls. They're probably a lot better when you read/start reading them at a younger age and/or over the space of almost a decade, but I find them dull, really bad, terribly unsubtle, and frequently rage inducing. I may or may not post more, but I know most of you like them, and the above was probably already close enough to wank. But basically, my brain wants to recover with good YA/kids fiction.)

Anyway. I have many YA books and am a terrible fiction-to-read decision maker, which calls for a poll. Most of these are authors I haven't read before. Some come with captions.

poll at LJ

As yet, Emma remains the only Austen that I've actually read (despite being familiar with all of them), but I have all of them, which means it's poll time. Note: The sooner I read one, the sooner you can get me to do something like read a book about Fanny vs. Mummies.

Poll at LJ.

I shall take a break in spamming to catch up with blogging on recent reads for a poll!

Poll for 2010 reading at LJ.