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37 reviews
Sailor Moon 2 (Naoko Takeuchi Collection) by Naoko Takeuchi
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What gets to me more? The use of Usako instead of Usagi? The Miracle Romance? The Power of Love and Friendship? Luna doing her utmost as a lil kitty to offer up prayers for Usagi to seal away Metalia? 🤧
Sailor Moon 1 (Naoko Takeuchi Collection) by Naoko Takeuchi
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
New year, new me. I am starting off by returning to the beloved hyperfixation, Sailor Moon 🩷
I never did try reading Sailor Moon back when Kodansha had a new release in the 2010s, so my experience has largely been via fan scantalations online. While I do appreciate their hard work, it does not compare to the official licensed translations and especially this updated translation. The characters actually soud their age rather than stunted through translation choices (do you translate precisely what is written for purity's sake? Do you alter it to fit the language differences?) And reading the manga physically makes it easier for me to process and see the details (otherwise, I speed-read and ignore the artwork. I'm far more prone to doing this digitally rather than with physical books.)
This edition is essentially the budget/space friendly version of the Eternal Edition. Of the 5 volumes I have so far, only the first 2 include a full color artwork page at the beginning. It comes equppied with translator notes in the back of the book to explain cultural references or outdated tech, although there are no in-text notes to tell you this, so woe to you if, like me, you get a few chapters in before reading them. (Pepperidge Farm remembers floppy discs being the go-to storage method of the 90s. The use of CDs is an edit from the 2000s update to the overall manga which I'm wondering why they even did it when video cassette rental shops also are dated/obsolette...)
All the technical details aside, what a fun series! I love Takeuchi's use of different mythologies.
I never did try reading Sailor Moon back when Kodansha had a new release in the 2010s, so my experience has largely been via fan scantalations online. While I do appreciate their hard work, it does not compare to the official licensed translations and especially this updated translation. The characters actually soud their age rather than stunted through translation choices (do you translate precisely what is written for purity's sake? Do you alter it to fit the language differences?) And reading the manga physically makes it easier for me to process and see the details (otherwise, I speed-read and ignore the artwork. I'm far more prone to doing this digitally rather than with physical books.)
This edition is essentially the budget/space friendly version of the Eternal Edition. Of the 5 volumes I have so far, only the first 2 include a full color artwork page at the beginning. It comes equppied with translator notes in the back of the book to explain cultural references or outdated tech, although there are no in-text notes to tell you this, so woe to you if, like me, you get a few chapters in before reading them. (Pepperidge Farm remembers floppy discs being the go-to storage method of the 90s. The use of CDs is an edit from the 2000s update to the overall manga which I'm wondering why they even did it when video cassette rental shops also are dated/obsolette...)
All the technical details aside, what a fun series! I love Takeuchi's use of different mythologies.
The Wicker Man by Anthony Shaffer, Robin Hardy
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Screaming, crying, throwing up, etc. that The Wicker Man 1973 wasn't a 3 hour long film as it deserved to be but at least we have the book :)
The first half is dull, frankly, but that is to be expected if you read it not long after seeing the film, and especially if you've seen the 99 minute cut (to change the opening to bird watching and tracking a poacher vs Howie getting gossiped about by his coworkers huh). The little details about both Summerisle and its lord are truly far more chilling when fleshed out on the page vs what made it to the film (my mind is still reeling from Howie's visit to the 3 old women). I cannot believe they cut out/glossed over Sergeant Howie's socialism. Talk about a character containing multitudes (very religious, socially conservative, wants the remnants of the feudal system dismantled) 🩷
The first half is dull, frankly, but that is to be expected if you read it not long after seeing the film, and especially if you've seen the 99 minute cut (to change the opening to bird watching and tracking a poacher vs Howie getting gossiped about by his coworkers huh). The little details about both Summerisle and its lord are truly far more chilling when fleshed out on the page vs what made it to the film (my mind is still reeling from Howie's visit to the 3 old women). I cannot believe they cut out/glossed over Sergeant Howie's socialism. Talk about a character containing multitudes (very religious, socially conservative, wants the remnants of the feudal system dismantled) 🩷
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
5.0
Life changing, amazing, brilliant, Shirley Jackson was so ahead of her time
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This had it all: the atmosphere, the mystery, ghosts, paranoia, precocious children, secluded countryside manor, new governess with zero experience but a religious upbringing, a tragic past, and yet..... the way it ended was just. Such a cop out.
I appreciate that James left things ambiguous--are the ghosts real, or is the governess just going insane? But to leave off the question of what Miles did to be expelled, to not even return to the frame narrative that began it all was so lazy. (Or maybe the public domain epub I got wasn't the full manuscript?)
I will say, however, to have the governess so concerned with the children's innocence that sheliterally suffocates(or frightens him to death) one of them in her attempt to shield him from the evil only she could see was SUCH a stroke of genius/insane commentary on the Victorian ideals of childhood innocence. Henry James, I hope your serial Gothic horror story got people good and terrified over more than just ghosts 🩷
I appreciate that James left things ambiguous--are the ghosts real, or is the governess just going insane? But to leave off the question of what Miles did to be expelled, to not even return to the frame narrative that began it all was so lazy. (Or maybe the public domain epub I got wasn't the full manuscript?)
I will say, however, to have the governess so concerned with the children's innocence that she
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After seeing the movie for absolute years, I decided to finally read the book and wow the changes between the two! I don't know what it was about the 90s and adapting books for film in such a way as to create a wholly separate yet good adaptation but Practical Magic is one of them. (As far as I'm aware because I have yet to read the book, Fried Green Tomatoes is another example of this.)
Super poetic prose which I didn't entirely mind (I wouldn't call it purple prose), but the lack of chapter breaks or nice paragraph breaks sucked as a reader with Other Things To Do than spend the whole day reading.
Super poetic prose which I didn't entirely mind (I wouldn't call it purple prose), but the lack of chapter breaks or nice paragraph breaks sucked as a reader with Other Things To Do than spend the whole day reading.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault
Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Absolutely beautiful descriptions of nature. Leagues better than the film adaptation and it's no wonder why when Hudson completely breaks Abel and the reader follows him through grief. My mind is still reeling about Abel's later reflections on what it means to kill and when it becomes murder, be it killing animals for food or killing other humans to stay alive, and what it all means as a biblical parallel (Rima's forest as the Garden of Eden, the snake bite vs the snake head haunting him everywhere, Cain killed Abel in the Bible but here Abel is the one who kills his "brother") tl;dr this is my Old Man and the Sea. Enough teaching Hemingway in middle school lit. Give me William Henry Hudson!
Siddartha by Hermann Hesse
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Should've read this 10 years sooner when I was taking that class on Buddhism and all the terms were still in my brain, but I still needed this just as much now, today 🩷
Basically, a very poetic retelling of the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, with heaps of Buddhist philosophy mixed in.
Basically, a very poetic retelling of the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, with heaps of Buddhist philosophy mixed in.
Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Maybe I'm rating it so high just because I am through with the Dollaganger Series (as written by VC Andrews herself) and elated to finally read something else or the series itself grew on me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Gotta say, however, that it is 100% bullshit that Cathy kills herself after Chris dies . I do not care about any reasoning behind it, any "power of love" stuff, and so forth. It was so unecessary after EVERYTHING she overcame and after, ya know, the whole second book wherein she resolves to love anyone other than him. I'm supposed to believe she couldn't find a new purpose, a place firmly within her sons' lives without Chris by her side? Cathy, the woman who seduced her mother's second husband as an elaborate revenge plot??? Hello??
Also have to say the ending.... wasn't my idea of "happy ever after." Like Bart becominga televangelist ? As a good thing, as a redemption/look how Normal and Adjusted he is thing? After all the ways god and Christianity was straight up used to abuse the family. Nah. That's nightmare material.
Gotta say, however, that it is 100% bullshit that
Also have to say the ending.... wasn't my idea of "happy ever after." Like Bart becoming
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Incest, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Alcohol, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by VÃtÄ›zslav Nezval
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Possibly my new favorite book?? It has it all: the horrors of menstruation and coming of age in a society that limits you to your body and youth. Vampires. Secret passages and rooms. Magical jewelry. A subtle change in the world around you that you can't unsee or run away from, but that you must meet heads on. That love is the answer, that love can heal when other aid fails. So much of it reminds me of a dark fairy tale.
A word of warning for its contents! Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a Gothic, surrealist tale therefore it contains: attempted rape (non-graphic but nudity is mentioned), incest between brother and sister (non-graphic, it's a matter of their feelings for each other), brief incest between father and daughter (non-graphic, more a realization of shared desire in the moment), and as the classic Gothic tropes go depictions of the clergy as lustful and a sermon filled with innuendo.
A word of warning for its contents! Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a Gothic, surrealist tale therefore it contains: attempted rape (non-graphic but nudity is mentioned), incest between brother and sister (non-graphic, it's a matter of their feelings for each other), brief incest between father and daughter (non-graphic, more a realization of shared desire in the moment), and as the classic Gothic tropes go depictions of the clergy as lustful and a sermon filled with innuendo.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Incest and Rape