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LG

Familiar Diversions

I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.

Currently reading

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 1
Dojyomaru, Fuyuyuki, Sean McCann
Progress: 103/374 pages
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Jeff Lindsay
Progress: 424/470 minutes
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story
Mary Downing Hahn
Progress: 184/184 pages
Parental Guidance
Avery Flynn
Progress: 40 %
An Offer From a Gentleman
Julia Quinn
Progress: 102/358 pages
The Twisted Ones
T. Kingfisher
Progress: 385/385 pages
Educated
Tara Westover
Progress: 315/730 minutes
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2
Satoru Yamaguchi, Nami Hidaka
Progress: 24/171 pages
Graphic Medicine Manifesto
MK Czerwiec, Kimberly R. Myers, Scott T. Smith, Michael J. Green, Susan Merrill Squier, Ian Williams
Progress: 26/172 pages
Ao Oni: Mutation
Kenji Kuroda, Karin Suzuragi, Alexander Keller-Nelson
Progress: 30/152 pages

Reading progress update: I've read 233 out of 233 pages.

Baccano!, Vol. 2: 1931 The Grand Punk Railroad: Local - Ryohgo Narita, Katsumi Enami

Well, I'm done. This barely squeaks into the $3 range, bringing my Booklikesopoly total to $34. Can I make it to at least $50? We'll see...

 

Although I admit the anime was confusing as heck the first time around, I really enjoyed it. I had originally hoped that reading the books the series was based on would add another level to my enjoyment. The first book was fun enough, despite the terrible writing, and I'm looking forward to getting to the point where the anime was left behind (Book 4? or Book 5?). But man, Volume 2. This time around the bad writing actually did interfere with my enjoyment, and it didn't help that Narita chose a confusing way to tell this portion of the story. All of the fantasy elements that could have been present in this volume as part of a big, climactic reveal were instead saved for Volume 3, something I only know because I watched the anime and know where all of this is going.

 

I'm reminded of this article about a Japanese editor who blasted the light novel publishing industry for being filled with authors who just plain can't write. “The version they put out on the Internet was the result of them using every last bit of their skills, and there’s no way they can do any better.” Ouch.