Book Club

[Raspberry Shake]

I finished reading it a while ago, but I still have very conflicted thoughts on Monkeypunch's original Lupin manga, and it's been haunting me since I finished it. Do note this does contain mention of more adult subjects, which is why It's taken so long for me to talk about it. And also why it's in spoilers.

Spoiler

I will now summarize the experience of reading the manga:

Should I be laughing at this? Oh god this is horrible! WHY AM I LAUGHING?

Lupin isn't his usual romantic scoundrel with a heart of gold or thrill seeking adventurer. He's a serial rapist who strikes without reason or remorse, a heartless charlatan, and a cold blooded killer.  In rare moments we can see a more recognizable personality begin to surface, and I think to myself "Yes, now THIS is the Lupin I know and Love!".

And then he throws a knife that rips off all of Fujiko's clothes and jumps on her. Without consent. Oh. Dear.

The weirdest thing about the manga is that despite all of this, it's still REALLY FUNNY. You can open almost any issue and have a good hearty belly laugh. I was going to put in some examples but uh.... it would require a LOT of censoring and I'm honestly not in the mood to do that right now.

Another interesting thing is the episodic structure of the manga. While in the anime it feels more like "join Lupin and the gang every week where they go on a crazy adventure!", in the manga it uses more of a reset button formula, with each story being completely isolated from the last. Monkeypunch takes advantage of this quite a bit, my personal favorite being how Fujiko, instead of being one single character, is instead a new women every week, albeit with the same name, personality and look.

Near the end of the manga it undergoes a bizarre tone change, from one end of the Lupin tone spectrim to the next. I like my Lupin to have a Tintin-esc tone, worldtrotting adventures with fun characters, silly slapstick, but still with real stakes and a serious undertone. And the manga flips right from "raunchy mature pulp" to "pink jacket-esc slapstick looney tunes antics". I kinda prefer the earlier parts of the manga, as this misses the serious plots and the characters seem even further off from the Lupin I know, even if in a better way. The slapsticks still godlike though.

You know, I would probably love this if Lupin just asked for consent. From what I've seen the later manga are far more like the anime in tone, but apart from the few fan-translated scans those are impossible to find anywhere out of Japan (or maybe Italy? I know it's big there). Someday I'll learn Japanese and go on a very Lupin-themed vocation. Someday.

 

[ResettePlayer]

5 hours ago, Russian Philin said:

Lev Tolstoy (" War and peace")

I've had that sitting on my shelf for about four years, meaning to read it. I'll get there! I have read Anna Karenina in the past.

 

5 hours ago, minespatch said:

Also: "WHY IS THIS A 1000 PAGES LONG"

It's also insane considering these people wrote in the ages before word processors. They wrote this stuff by hand or on a typewriter. Maybe that's why they didn't seem to edit anything out.

 

4 hours ago, Raspberry Shake said:

conflicted thoughts

Ah yes, the tortuous feeling of Learning the Origins of That Thing You Like. Hopefully it doesn't corrupt your enjoyment of the anime.

[GetNerfedOn]

On 8/27/2019 at 4:51 PM, DarithD said:

 

Sadly, a lot of books that is accessible elsewhere are censored here, the government are very aggressive when it come to sensitive topics. Personally? i wish i can leave this stupid country so i can enjoy a place where i'm not going to get lynch by having different opinion.

Spoiler

kinda off topic here but this

i'm really sorry you have to go through this intellectual suffering

this entire mindset of books either being viewed as corruptive sources of subversive ideas and being restricted and destroyed, even

and the opposite where those with the privilege to peruse books outright refuse to due to whatever reasons they BS with

this was something which has struck so many nerves within me with rage and disgust and a terrible, deep sadness

and roused some fire in my jaded self

especially as i saw the movie adaptation of The Book Thief

and that scene

that scene where the main character just stares in pure wonderment and joy at the library

it just

it just hurts me that so few people nowadays ever give importance to their books, not knowing in destitute countries like mine a textbook is even a lifeline to the poor kids who live in dingy alleyways

and that someplace in the world repression of knowledge is still rampant

so

anyways

the end of this rant is

this repression and ignorance of books is one of the major sentimental reasons as to why i became a librarian.

sorry. i got carried away.

*sigh*. Anyways,

Halfway through Farewell to Arms. And learning to arrange books by call number. The attention to detail must be immense, which taxes my brain in a non-math manner. I like.

Spotted a copy of The Book Thief; however, it was out of budget.

[Russian_Philin]

18 hours ago, ResettePlayer said:

I've had that sitting on my shelf for about four years, meaning to read it. I'll get there! I have read Anna Karenina in the past.

To be honest, I did not read Anna Karenina, but watched movies about her. As for the book "War and peace",personally, I do not particularly like, but its reading I spent a lot of time.

If you take my favorite book, it is Dostoevsky's " Crime and punishment." In this work, he captured the philosophical meaning of life and showed how people repent when you murder another person. And in General there is a lot of philosophy, there are religious overtones[It's a sore subject for me because I'm an atheist] But I like this book very much.

[ResettePlayer]

Finally finished October by China Mieville. It's a chonky one! History book about the process of the Russian Revolution. Strangely hope-inspiring in spite of how things turned out in 20th Century Russia. Delectable prose, and definitely a recommended book.

[minespatch]

Page 300 of Atlas shrugged: Rand has stopped being a train otaku and gone with a mystery search for people who worked in a factory. I'm glad the genre shifted. It was awkward reading about a woman's love for railroads.

[ResettePlayer]

I have declared my love for the art of Jorge Corona on this thread based off the comic Middlewest, and that lead me to No. 1 WITH A BULLET, another comic he worked on (this time with Jacob Semahn, Jen Hickman, Steve Wands and Erin Levy).

  As you can see, these covers are awesome.

The thesis of this comic is centred around the sexual harassment women are on the receiving end of, especially of the online sort, and especially for women who work in the entertainment industries. However, that does not detract from the quality of the comic. It's a polished, solid piece of work, and stronger for having a fundamental purpose.

Genre-wise, it's "near future" with some horror/thriller elements. And boy does it do that well. There was at least one point in the comic that had my heart rate increasing, which cannot be said for everything that tries horror.

It's more explicit in language than imagery (imagery is more "implicit", but yanno... viewer discretion is advised. Also blood and mild gore.)

Spoiler

 

 

 

[minespatch]

3 hours ago, ResettePlayer said:

The thesis of this comic is centred around the sexual harassment women are on the receiving end of,

Sounds a bit like the book I own "Tenth circle" by Jodi Piccoult.

So........ Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged changed genres again from being a mystery story and now a soap opera involving affairs. I'm not exactly what genre Atlas Shrugged is.

[GetNerfedOn]

I've finally found enough time to finish A Farewell To Arms. The attention to detail caught me... and the ending made me rather morose, but not overly so, which i like.

[ResettePlayer]

Read Pablo by Julie Birmant and Clement Oubrerie. A Graphic biography of Pablo Picasso. Award winning, apparently. Maybe I'm not artistic or bohemian enough to appreciate it, 'cos it felt like it didn't make very good use of it's hefty 342 pages. Some pages and spreads tried to do interesting things, and honestly I would have preferred less pages that do more, yanno? 

It was fine. It's intent was to show the earlier days of Picasso's career, and it did that. In the end, it felt like it was more about Fernande, Picasso's main girlfriend and narrator of the book, but I understand that it was probably a good choice to show Picasso's weirdness from an outside perspective. There were areas of needless fluff that I suppose were there to make it more fun. It was fine. More for entertainment than information certainly.

[Raspberry Shake]

The Hobbit. Again..... yeah, I've been reading this book annually since I was six.

BUT. I found something very important this time around.

In his speech to the dwarves at the start of the book, Bilbo mentions the Last Desert and wereworms. So why is this detail so important? Hell, the entire thing could just be Hobbit lore nonsense!

When the Númenóreans sailed and colonized the east of Arda, nobody knows exactly how far to the east they went. Until now! You see, the Last Desert , would have to be waaaay to the east of Arda (before Ea remade it, of course). You know what else lied at the far east of Arda? A land called the "land of the sun".

Hobbit lore, which is what the Last Desert and wereworms are, is often based in fact, if highly distorted (see Orliphants). Take into account that the Númenóreans settled mostly in the west coasts of Middle Earth (who else do you think all those ominous ruins belong too?), perhaps the tales of the lands that the Númenóreans visited passed into myth, then folktales, and eventually found themselves in Hobbit lore.

 

But yeah, that's my wild conspiracy theory.

[minespatch]

Got back from California and taking a break to read this and

I got the first book at a bargain book store and the other my father picked it up for me at Wackos. They're both really good. I highly recommend.

[minespatch]

My father got this for me from Target. I'm enjoying this walkthrough/art tutorial/Disney potshot mixture.

[ResettePlayer]

Finally finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss last night. I liked it, though people's complaints about Kvothe are completely valid. I was drawn strongly enough to the extravagantly detailed worldbuilding that, all things considered, I like this book. If you are more keen on characters than worldbuilding, the book probably is not for you.

[minespatch]

Finished Hotel Oblivion:

Spoiler

Let me guess.... Another decade of waiting?

 

[Raspberry Shake]

Just started reading Howl's Moving Castle. I've been trying to branch out my fantasy taste from... just Tolkien, and this is another win. It's similar in tone to the Hobbit, very witty and lighthearted. Unlike the film adaptation (By far the best Ghibli film ever, change my mind. Spirited Away is great, but it doesn't hold a candle.) it's setting is more traditional, no steampunk / Victorian inventions or anything.

Also, one detail I really love is how the way Howl's castle moves is left to the imagination. The book never tells how, and just lets the readers creativity run wild.

[Pab10Suarez]

Em I like read but i don't have the habit, so i was thinking in starting to read some short texts, somebody knows some of these?
(also some advices are welcome too)
Thx

[ResettePlayer]

1 hour ago, Pab10Suarez said:

Em I like read but i don't have the habit, so i was thinking in starting to read some short texts, somebody knows some of these?
(also some advices are welcome too)
Thx

The only ones that come to mind (that should be in the Gutenberg Project archive) are The Yellow Wallpaper and I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream. Both of which are horror.

[ResettePlayer]

Read Understanding Comics and Making Comics by Scott McCloud. Now, as someone who wants to work in comics these books are required reading, but I do think they may be good for someone who is interested in the craft from a purely academic standpoint. Especially Understanding Comics. But yeah, they're good books, pointing out a lot of things I haven't thought about before.

[GetNerfedOn]

I've been so busy with schoolwork, extracurricular activities and running Sanctuary lately that i havent been able to read much

I did manage to read 20000 Leagues Under The Sea. Its fascinating, especially with the description of the technological marvel that is the Nautilus.

 

However, one thing I have managed to do is make a book list of my elder brother's mini-library. Thus i shall extend my librarian-in-training services to the book club - if anybody would wish their books ordered in Excel, I'd be willing to try while i still have free time

[ResettePlayer]

'kay so Middlewest Volume Two came out this month and. Well. Basically as my interest was naturally waning and I was thinking that maybe Middlewest vol. 1 wasn't quite as amazing as I thought it was, vol. 2 comes around and blows my mind in much the same way. This comic!! It's so good!! Things are ramping up and getting darker! It makes me feel feelings and pace around restlessly in the kitchen pondering how valid and valuable comics are.

Recently I have also read Rumble Volume One: What Colour of Darkness by John Arcudi, James Harren, and Dave Stewart. It's very good as well! It's more or an urban fantasy type thing with excellent art, action, and goofs. I'll definitely follow this series through.

Spoiler

 

A few weeks ago I also read Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite and yeah it was good too! I love some of the superhero designs and subversions, and the crazy surreal feel of the whole thing. Also a story I'd like to pursue, though it doesn't quiiiiiiite hit the spot like the above two comics.

Spoiler

The Seance and time kid are definitely my favourites.

 

[minespatch]

On 11/27/2019 at 11:12 AM, ResettePlayer said:

A few weeks ago I also read Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite

YES! Glad you got to read them!

On 11/27/2019 at 11:12 AM, ResettePlayer said:

The Seance

https://www.deviantart.com/ohthehumanityplz/art/Seance-s-Unseen-Taunt-156503726

Almost done with Atlas Shrugged. The book is rubbing me the wrong way how the genre shifted from a mystery about a motor to a self-insert love quadrangle. Dagny is trapped in a Objectivist's shangrala and has to work under her senpai to pay off her debts of living in the place. It kind of disgusts me that Dagny is trapped by the Jesus Christ figure in the book because he LOVED HER???

I just wanted to learn the mystery of the motor... Not Fifty Shades of Grey for Objectivists.

 

 

[GetNerfedOn]

Now that holiday break has given me three weeks' worth of free time, I shall thus be able to read once more - and read I have  

I'm currently reading For whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, and rereading my Redwall Series of books. I've also done some sorting all over the house and tossed out lots of old, unused textbooks - now our house looks less cluttered. About the books trashed - fear not, they're mostly workbooks run past their use because we had us rip off pages in the workbook that were to answer, leaving them more or less useless for future use.

I'm starting to get entranced by Hemingway's method of presenting romance smack in the middle of grueling war, and focusing on it instead of the violence in war (which I admittedly look forward to seeing romanticized depictions of, but I'm slowly beginning to realize the error in that way) while presenting the latter in detail.

[ResettePlayer]

I don't think I ever talked about Black Hammer here. Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. This comic series is pretty highly acclaimed and it's easy to see why. Since I just finished Age of Doom Part II, which ends the main story (spinoffs not included).

Age of Doom Part II is probably the weakest in the series (four volumes), but it's still worth reading. There's still good stuff, even with some bullcrap thrown in at the last minute to wrap things up in a comic with a limited page count.

Overall, the comic is about superhero stereotypes and tropes and the subversion thereof. I don't know if it is the most accessible to random readers--having some knowledge of the history of superhero comics as a genre is pretty much essential. Not that you need to be a scholar, or even a reader of superhero comics, but since the comic is pretty much about all the tropes and stuff, a little bit of knowledge really enhances the experience. 

There's also a lot of great puns. And by "great puns" I mean terrible puns. Puns so terrible they are amazing.

[GetNerfedOn]

Now that i managed to spare some time to read, I've begun on the long-awaited Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. Currently at Drowned Wednesday and all i can say is that a more appropriate title would be Arthur's Bizarre Adventure.

Imagine being a normal 12-year-old who suddenly finds himself thrust into the the role of recovering several valuable artifacts from the embodiments of the seven deadly sins who abused their power and completing the last will and testament of a god while their existence on earth is threatened with foreclosure, plagues and evil realtor henchmen, all while suffering asthma attacks and the general fear and unease of being handed so much responsibility, wishing only to be returned to his promising normal life.

yep, it's that bizarre, and I'm liking it so far