Reading Wednesday!

[oyceter]

Exclamation point! Even though I actually haven't read that much this week.

What I finished reading: Finally! I read some manga—vols. 4-6 of Ooku, which I've had out from the library for who knows how long. 4 and 5 were rereads, since I think I meant to post on them after the Ooku panel during Wiscon in 2011 and never quite got around to it. Now that the story has gotten to where the shoguns have become established as female, the story reads more as a historical recounting, although there are still some interesting bits on gender and gender roles. I'm not sure what I think about Yoshinaga's tendency to introduce one male true love per shogun (at least, per shogun adult enough to have one), and now that I think of it, it's odd how het-focused the relationships seem to be. Obviously there's the whole producing an heir bit and that Yoshinaga seems to focus mostly on relationships between the shogun and members of the Inner Chambers, but aside from one or two instances, there's not much mention of f/f or m/m, despite the Inner Chambers being nearly all male and most of Japan being 75% female. I find this particularly odd considering who the mangaka is. Anyway, hopefully I will be inspired to write an actual post later.

(Also, I keep looking up actual Tokugawa history in Wiki, and I love how the male pronouns for the shoguns are weirding me out now.)

What I'm reading now: Er. I basically started and fell out of various books: Courtney Milan's The Duchess War, the Con or Bust book, Ankaret Wells' Firebrand.

What I'm going to read: Hopefully I will get started on a light novel (my very first!), though I suspect I will actually be reading Ooku 7 as soon as I get it. I am ordering books and getting them in the mail again! I've mostly tried to stop buying physical books, since I still haven't unpacked a ton of boxes in my apartment, but there's no good eink substitute for manga, so physical copies it is.

I was browsing through my Amazon wishlists (which I have finally updated), and I feel like I have missed a generation's worth of manga. Sigh. I also really really really want to do a Skip Beat reread and catch up since CB started watching the SB anime and I am happily watching along with him. Kyoko! I forgot how hilarious you are!

I am also so tempted by the FMA manga boxset, as well as the remastered Utena DVDs.

Comments

[lnhammer]

What light novel(s) are you looking at?

---L.

[oyceter]

Tokyo Demons? Review copy via Chromatic Press...

[laceblade]

omg now reminded that Chromatic Press exists, I got excited all over again.

[oyceter]

ME TOO.

[starlady]

OO, YES.

Also, you've read FMA, right? Because if not, it's phenomenal.

[oyceter]

I've read most of it! I think I stopped a few volumes away before it ended because I hate reading chapter by chapter and decided to just wait until the whole thing came out in the US.

[lnhammer]

That looks like an interesting project. *bookmarks for later*

I've been diving through a lot of fan translated light novels, plus some of the ones out from Yen and Del Rey. (I keep waiting for Kodansha to put out an actually interesting one. It's not like they don't own a lot.)

---L.

[meganbmoore]

Where do you get fantranslated light novels, if you don't mind my asking?

[lnhammer]

The biggest organized group is Baka-Tsuki.org, with a few dozen active projects. They're slanted more towards shounen than anything else but they also, for ex, do Maria-sama ga Miteru and some excellent seinen series. I especially appreciate how most completed volumes can be had in ePub/Mobi/PDF formats. They have links out to partner groups, as well, once you're finished your archive binge.

---L.

[meganbmoore]

Thanks! It looks like they only have one of the series I've been looking for, but i should enjoy browsing the archives.

[lnhammer]

BTW, I assume you know that Manga Updates also tracks novel translations, but in case you're not, the search function is decent.

---L.

[gramarye1971]

The remastered Utena DVDs are indeed fantastic, though now I am wondering whether Nozomi will see fit to bring over the gorgeous Utena Blu-ray boxsets that just came out in Japan. It's one of the few series for which I would consider owning both the DVD and Blu-ray versions.

[oyceter]

OOOOOOOOO. WANT.

[umadoshi]

I love the new Utena DVDs so much!

[oyceter]

\o/! I cannot wait to see the remastered footage.

[meganbmoore]

Glad I'm not the only one who feels a generation behind on manga! My library finally expanded its collection, though, and I've figured out how to convert manga for my kindle, so I intend to overcompensate soon. (Right now I'm devouring Kimi ni Todoke and Kami-sama Hajimemashita/Kami-sama Kiss, and really should post on them.)

[oyceter]

!! Manga on Kindle! Do you have an eink one? How does manga look on it? If I could manage to get manga on my Nook, I would be reading SO MUCH more of it.

[meganbmoore]

I'll pm you.

[lnhammer]

I've figured out how to convert manga for my kindle

Oo -- do tell, if you're willing.

---L.

[meganbmoore]

I'll pm you.