Scan barcode
roach's reviews
238 reviews
Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction by K.M. Szpara
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.
Interesting ideas and conceptually cool collection, but I just haven't been in the mood for short stories.
No Longer Human by Junji Ito
I'm actually a bit conflicted on this book.
I was very stoked to read a much longer than usual story illustrated by Junji Ito and also see how his style would suit a story that's a bit more grounded than his usual work. And, of course, his art is amazing as always. Lots of fantastic, horrific panels in here, as expected.
But I have to say, as far as the story itself goes, I sometimes wished I would have read the original novel instead because I felt like I was missing some deeper atmosphere or more thorough exploration of the character. The pacing of the manga also maybe was a bit too brisk for what I'd expect or want from such a conceptually rich story of tragedy.
Still a great read, but maybe I was a bit too hyped going in.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have wished innumerable times to meet with a violent death, but I have never once desired to kill anybody.
I'm actually a bit conflicted on this book.
I was very stoked to read a much longer than usual story illustrated by Junji Ito and also see how his style would suit a story that's a bit more grounded than his usual work. And, of course, his art is amazing as always. Lots of fantastic, horrific panels in here, as expected.
But I have to say, as far as the story itself goes, I sometimes wished I would have read the original novel instead because I felt like I was missing some deeper atmosphere or more thorough exploration of the character. The pacing of the manga also maybe was a bit too brisk for what I'd expect or want from such a conceptually rich story of tragedy.
Still a great read, but maybe I was a bit too hyped going in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Suicide
Die Kindermörderin by H.L. Wagner
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
You didn't keep your promise and abandoned me to my fate, to carry the whole weight of shame, the wrath of my relatives, the anger of my father. Do you think I would just sit all of that out? I could sit all of this out? - Surely not! - [...] and when the sky by a miracle would receive me and the unfortunate creature, that's an orphan before it ever had a father, alive, then I would want to, as soon as it began to stutter, tell it not of father and mother but the dreadful words whore and perjury, scream them in its ear until it would start to repeat them.
(Quote translated from German.)
I don't claim to know much about the subject, but I remember a bit of the German literary period of "Sturm und Drang" (transl. "storm and stress") from high school and how it was a movement to embrace strong emotions in storytelling.
So, I was very curious when I stumbled over Wagner's Die Kindermörderin that was written as part of that movement and aims to tackle the consequences of sexualized violence. Rape, to be exact.
I wasn't expecting too much given that this doesn't seem to be a very notable play in comparison to the big titles of the time but I thought it could be interesting at least to see how such a difficult and heavy subject was discussed and worked through in fiction during that time.
Maybe unexpectedly so, Wagner's story deals more with the societal shame of sex out of wedlock than really focusing on the problem of physical violence and missing consent. Obviously sensibilities have changed in regard to that. But exactly this difference could have made for a curious sociological time capsule.
Unfortunately, I never felt like the themes were explored in a very satisfying or interesting way. The characters are not very interesting, especially the male main character and perpetrator of the crime with his wishy-washy moral compass and unconvincing character development. At least in the second half, the woman gets more opportunity to express herself, which probably made for the better bits of writing. But for the most part, this was surprisingly dull and doesn't do a great job at digging into the actually interesting bits of this complicated conflict.
It would be interesting to see this play actually be performed on stage, even if just because it does seem surprisingly gruesome at points, but there are long stretches of little interest throughout.
I don't claim to know much about the subject, but I remember a bit of the German literary period of "Sturm und Drang" (transl. "storm and stress") from high school and how it was a movement to embrace strong emotions in storytelling.
So, I was very curious when I stumbled over Wagner's Die Kindermörderin that was written as part of that movement and aims to tackle the consequences of sexualized violence. Rape, to be exact.
I wasn't expecting too much given that this doesn't seem to be a very notable play in comparison to the big titles of the time but I thought it could be interesting at least to see how such a difficult and heavy subject was discussed and worked through in fiction during that time.
Maybe unexpectedly so, Wagner's story deals more with the societal shame of sex out of wedlock than really focusing on the problem of physical violence and missing consent. Obviously sensibilities have changed in regard to that. But exactly this difference could have made for a curious sociological time capsule.
Unfortunately, I never felt like the themes were explored in a very satisfying or interesting way. The characters are not very interesting, especially the male main character and perpetrator of the crime with his wishy-washy moral compass and unconvincing character development. At least in the second half, the woman gets more opportunity to express herself, which probably made for the better bits of writing. But for the most part, this was surprisingly dull and doesn't do a great job at digging into the actually interesting bits of this complicated conflict.
It would be interesting to see this play actually be performed on stage, even if just because it does seem surprisingly gruesome at points, but there are long stretches of little interest throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, and Misogyny
Moderate: Rape
The Japanese Porn Industry Unmasked: An Insider's Guide by Kaho Shibuya by Kaho Shibuya
This might sound weird to some people, but when I found out that Japanese adult video star Kaho Shibuya wrote a book about the industry and it actually got an English translation, I was genuinely excited.
While there is plenty of English language literature about the Western porn industry with its unique experiences, economy, and history, the Japanese one is an entirely different beast and insider information about it rarely leaves the local language. And Kaho Shibuya, having been a genuinely huge name in that business over the last decade as well as having been a professional journalist before that with a passion for writing that apparently still lives on, it was a perfect match.
And so, Shibuya's The Japanese Porn Industry Unmasked gives a really thorough and interesting account of all the different elements of that environment as well as personal anecdotes, which can be quite funny at times.
She talks about the marketing, the legal work, sex worker's rights in Japan, and the workplace culture on set... The hierarchies between different kinds of adult film actors, how people get into this line of work in the first place and what to look out for if one was actually interested in joining it, with very concrete data and advice.
But also how professionals make fake cum, how actresses (and actors) prepare their body for ridiculous sexual activities without harming themselves, and how the infamously aggressive censoring in Japanese adult media changes the production.
If this subject is something that interests you, then this might be a definitive read, at least when it comes to English language media. It's very informative, well-structured, and gives a very genuine point-of-view from a charming author who has experienced a lot of this world first-hand.
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.25
I still have a morning-after pill a manager gave me "just in case a good last-minute job comes in".
This might sound weird to some people, but when I found out that Japanese adult video star Kaho Shibuya wrote a book about the industry and it actually got an English translation, I was genuinely excited.
While there is plenty of English language literature about the Western porn industry with its unique experiences, economy, and history, the Japanese one is an entirely different beast and insider information about it rarely leaves the local language. And Kaho Shibuya, having been a genuinely huge name in that business over the last decade as well as having been a professional journalist before that with a passion for writing that apparently still lives on, it was a perfect match.
And so, Shibuya's The Japanese Porn Industry Unmasked gives a really thorough and interesting account of all the different elements of that environment as well as personal anecdotes, which can be quite funny at times.
She talks about the marketing, the legal work, sex worker's rights in Japan, and the workplace culture on set... The hierarchies between different kinds of adult film actors, how people get into this line of work in the first place and what to look out for if one was actually interested in joining it, with very concrete data and advice.
But also how professionals make fake cum, how actresses (and actors) prepare their body for ridiculous sexual activities without harming themselves, and how the infamously aggressive censoring in Japanese adult media changes the production.
If this subject is something that interests you, then this might be a definitive read, at least when it comes to English language media. It's very informative, well-structured, and gives a very genuine point-of-view from a charming author who has experienced a lot of this world first-hand.
Salam: Rezepte & Geschichten aus Afghanistan by Imraan Safi
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
I'm not usually one to read cook books, but this one caught my eye and it's really nicely made.
The Afghan/German author put together a whole bunch of cool national recipes from his home country of Afghanistan, giving some neat insight into their kitchen culture, and drawing some connections between Afghan and German cooking. It's all presented in a really stylish way with lots of cool photography.
Really enjoyed flipping through this book and I copies a couple of the vegetarian recipes to try myself sometime.
The Afghan/German author put together a whole bunch of cool national recipes from his home country of Afghanistan, giving some neat insight into their kitchen culture, and drawing some connections between Afghan and German cooking. It's all presented in a really stylish way with lots of cool photography.
Really enjoyed flipping through this book and I copies a couple of the vegetarian recipes to try myself sometime.
Manga Messiah by Kozumi Shinozawa, Hidenori Kumai
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
Thought I'd get through it quicker. The novelty wore off.
Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster
This winter, I was in the mood to give some arctic scifi a shot and Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger sounded perfect for that. A small group of people in a more or less distant future crash-land on a completely frozen, desolate planet with few signs of life strewn about. Even more interesting, the native inhabitants of this planet seem to live medieval lives, which makes for some interesting genre-clashing of scifi and fantasy at points.
I really adore the setting and setup. There are lots of cool idea here with great potential and Foster definitely manages to string together a rather lighthearted, easy-to-read romp. The characters aren't are rather flat and the stakes never bear that much weight, but it got drama, action, and comedy. It made for a decent read with a couple highlights here and there.
It just never became great and it left some things to be desired for me. I wish the book would have spent more time exploring the ice cold wilderness with its limited flora and fauna more than it did. The bits there are are fun, but the book focuses much more on the medieval culture of the indigenous hosts. That is interesting too, but there could have been more.
The final act also delivers some oddly sudden and abrupt action pieces that felt very disconnected. A couple of ideas that could have been fleshed out to make for their own adventure all sort-of discarded to the final pages of the book. One of them including an encounter with another group of brand-new characters that could have made for their own adventure, which makes me wonder if they show up in one of the sequel books again.
Either way, this was a decent read at least and I enjoyed my time with it fairly well. But it didn't leave me very satisfied and I hope the sequels will give me more of what I want from this setting.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
He sailed past an alien gray landscape, a vast confusion of ice and cold sky. Night came hard.
This winter, I was in the mood to give some arctic scifi a shot and Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger sounded perfect for that. A small group of people in a more or less distant future crash-land on a completely frozen, desolate planet with few signs of life strewn about. Even more interesting, the native inhabitants of this planet seem to live medieval lives, which makes for some interesting genre-clashing of scifi and fantasy at points.
I really adore the setting and setup. There are lots of cool idea here with great potential and Foster definitely manages to string together a rather lighthearted, easy-to-read romp. The characters aren't are rather flat and the stakes never bear that much weight, but it got drama, action, and comedy. It made for a decent read with a couple highlights here and there.
It just never became great and it left some things to be desired for me. I wish the book would have spent more time exploring the ice cold wilderness with its limited flora and fauna more than it did. The bits there are are fun, but the book focuses much more on the medieval culture of the indigenous hosts. That is interesting too, but there could have been more.
The final act also delivers some oddly sudden and abrupt action pieces that felt very disconnected. A couple of ideas that could have been fleshed out to make for their own adventure all sort-of discarded to the final pages of the book. One of them including an encounter with another group of brand-new characters that could have made for their own adventure, which makes me wonder if they show up in one of the sequel books again.
Either way, this was a decent read at least and I enjoyed my time with it fairly well. But it didn't leave me very satisfied and I hope the sequels will give me more of what I want from this setting.
Clever! Das Wissensbuch by Barbara Eligmann, Wigald Boning
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.25
The physicist Deniz Ertas calculated that a human would have to gain a speed of at least 20 meters per seconds to not sink in water. That's 72 kilometers per hour - Jesus must have been an exceptional sprinter, should he have chosen this method.
(Quote translated from German.)
Clever! Die Show, die Wissen schafft was a German trivia game show about science that ran between 2004 and 2009, where guests would try to answer questions about live experiments. I remember watching it quite a lot when I was a kid and I have a bit of nostalgia for it.
When I recently remembered this show, I also remembered that there used to be a couple of merchandise products that were advertised during the show and so I thought it would be a funny thing to hunt down an old copy of this tie-in book for a couple of cents online.
Reading this was a neat little stroll down memory lane at first. It's neat to see a piece of media related to something familiar from childhood that was new to me, as I had never gotten one of these books back then. And the book is nicely produced as well with formulaic but neatly edited text about different science experiments and the occasional added picture from the show. The writing was in the exact same style as the writing of the show, which is fairly charming and humorous. I could easily hear the lines said by the voice of Wigald Boning, the show's goofy "scientist", in my head. So much so that I'm almost positive that these texts are mostly copied straight from the show notes.
The book also implements the quiz element of the show by giving the reader questions to answer and therefore guess the outcome of each experiment themselves, as if a participant in the show. It's neat and was probably a good little time-waster for a kid back when it came out.
But reading this book cover to cover like one reads most books was probably not the best idea as things started to become very repetitive and dull after a while. A lot of the experiments and questions also dealt with really basic little everyday knowledge that just isn't interesting enough to read a couple pages of elaborate explanations about.
And considering that all of these experiments must have been taken from the show, I don't really see a point in grabbing this book instead of just watching the episodes.
Clever! Die Show, die Wissen schafft was a German trivia game show about science that ran between 2004 and 2009, where guests would try to answer questions about live experiments. I remember watching it quite a lot when I was a kid and I have a bit of nostalgia for it.
When I recently remembered this show, I also remembered that there used to be a couple of merchandise products that were advertised during the show and so I thought it would be a funny thing to hunt down an old copy of this tie-in book for a couple of cents online.
Reading this was a neat little stroll down memory lane at first. It's neat to see a piece of media related to something familiar from childhood that was new to me, as I had never gotten one of these books back then. And the book is nicely produced as well with formulaic but neatly edited text about different science experiments and the occasional added picture from the show. The writing was in the exact same style as the writing of the show, which is fairly charming and humorous. I could easily hear the lines said by the voice of Wigald Boning, the show's goofy "scientist", in my head. So much so that I'm almost positive that these texts are mostly copied straight from the show notes.
The book also implements the quiz element of the show by giving the reader questions to answer and therefore guess the outcome of each experiment themselves, as if a participant in the show. It's neat and was probably a good little time-waster for a kid back when it came out.
But reading this book cover to cover like one reads most books was probably not the best idea as things started to become very repetitive and dull after a while. A lot of the experiments and questions also dealt with really basic little everyday knowledge that just isn't interesting enough to read a couple pages of elaborate explanations about.
And considering that all of these experiments must have been taken from the show, I don't really see a point in grabbing this book instead of just watching the episodes.
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny
Die Löwen von Bagdad by Brian K. Vaughan
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.5
At the end of every day, I watched as the horizon devoured the sun in slow, steady bites and shed its blood across the azure blue sky.
(Quote translated from German.)
I was very interested in a xenofiction story set in war-torn Iraq. Even more intriguing when I learned about the real-life inspiration of it: A news story that went viral in 2003 when lions were roaming the streets after the zoo was destroyed by bombs during the US invasion.
The set-up was obviously ripe for an exploration of war and freedom through the eyes of a non-human, uninvolved point of view.
While the concept in itself is really cool and I enjoyed Niko Henrichon's art quite a lot, Brain Vaughan's writing was lacking. His initial idea is very cool and I give him props for that, but the character dialog is a bit too one-note and edgy. The constant bickering between the lion characters became tiresome fairly quickly and the story was plagued by some typical tropes of fiction that tries to be a bit darker and shocking than it probably needed. Some of it comes across as ridiculously dramatic and gratuitous, without actually adding much to or making us of the genuinely great setting.
I still had a decent time with this short read overall, but I get everyone who isn't able to overlook the weak aspects of this graphic novel. It certainly could have been much, much better.
I was very interested in a xenofiction story set in war-torn Iraq. Even more intriguing when I learned about the real-life inspiration of it: A news story that went viral in 2003 when lions were roaming the streets after the zoo was destroyed by bombs during the US invasion.
The set-up was obviously ripe for an exploration of war and freedom through the eyes of a non-human, uninvolved point of view.
While the concept in itself is really cool and I enjoyed Niko Henrichon's art quite a lot, Brain Vaughan's writing was lacking. His initial idea is very cool and I give him props for that, but the character dialog is a bit too one-note and edgy. The constant bickering between the lion characters became tiresome fairly quickly and the story was plagued by some typical tropes of fiction that tries to be a bit darker and shocking than it probably needed. Some of it comes across as ridiculously dramatic and gratuitous, without actually adding much to or making us of the genuinely great setting.
I still had a decent time with this short read overall, but I get everyone who isn't able to overlook the weak aspects of this graphic novel. It certainly could have been much, much better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Animal death, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty
The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron
Robert Byron's Road to Oxiana really isn't the kind of book I usually read. I only grabbed this classic travel memoir out of curiosity after I saw it mentioned in one of the other books about Afghanistan I read earlier this year. I didn't exactly know what to expect from it.
What I've gathered by now from other people's reviews and can agree with now that I've read the book myself is that Byron certainly has an eager eye and an overflowing passion for architecture but lacks a bit in empathy and awareness when it comes to the people. There are still plenty of interesting interactions with the locals or other travellers, which where also my favorite parts about this book, but those elements are often described with some negligence or disinterest. Not to say that there aren't people in here that he clearly respects but he often writes with dry and snarky wit about the people that is entertaining in its own right but also dehumanizes the people a bit sometimes. And that's even aside from the social sensibilities of a 1930s white guy, like the way he writes about Jews that really shows its time.
But Byron makes up for his snobbishness a bit by his reckless and fearless way of travelling through the Middle East which makes for quite a lot of neat story bits. Though there is also dragging repetition, especially if you're not into the lengthy descriptions of architecture that much. (Though reading his dismissive rant about the ancient Bamyian Buddha statues that were infamously destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, decades after Byron's untimely death, was quite unexpected and almost funny because of that. It was like "oh shit, he actually got to see them!" and then he just verbally pulverizes them like they're Dollar Store monuments.)
I was a lot more into his nature and landscape descriptions which made for some fantastic paragraphs like the opening quote. I also appreciated his bits of history and the references to other travel memoirs from people that wrote about the same locations before him.
Road to Oxiana was definitely an interesting read for me even if it wasn't entirely my cup of tea. But I can see why it is still regarded today as such a notable travel book. Byron is quite the character, has a strong way with words, and reading about the Middle East this candidly during this time is cool.
Also, the final paragraph of his final return to the UK might actually be one of my favorite ending lines to a book:
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Fields of opium poppies surrounded the infrequent villages shining their fresh green leaves against the storm-inked sky.
Purple lightning danced on the horizon. It had rained here already, and out in the desert we could smell the aromatic camel-thorn as if it was on fire. Yellow lupins mingled with big clumps of mauve and white iris. Kariz itself was pervaded by an overpowering scent, as sweet as beanflowers, but more languid, more poetic. I walked out to try and place it. The opium flowers called me, glowing in the dusk like lamps of ice.
Robert Byron's Road to Oxiana really isn't the kind of book I usually read. I only grabbed this classic travel memoir out of curiosity after I saw it mentioned in one of the other books about Afghanistan I read earlier this year. I didn't exactly know what to expect from it.
What I've gathered by now from other people's reviews and can agree with now that I've read the book myself is that Byron certainly has an eager eye and an overflowing passion for architecture but lacks a bit in empathy and awareness when it comes to the people. There are still plenty of interesting interactions with the locals or other travellers, which where also my favorite parts about this book, but those elements are often described with some negligence or disinterest. Not to say that there aren't people in here that he clearly respects but he often writes with dry and snarky wit about the people that is entertaining in its own right but also dehumanizes the people a bit sometimes. And that's even aside from the social sensibilities of a 1930s white guy, like the way he writes about Jews that really shows its time.
But Byron makes up for his snobbishness a bit by his reckless and fearless way of travelling through the Middle East which makes for quite a lot of neat story bits. Though there is also dragging repetition, especially if you're not into the lengthy descriptions of architecture that much. (Though reading his dismissive rant about the ancient Bamyian Buddha statues that were infamously destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, decades after Byron's untimely death, was quite unexpected and almost funny because of that. It was like "oh shit, he actually got to see them!" and then he just verbally pulverizes them like they're Dollar Store monuments.)
I was a lot more into his nature and landscape descriptions which made for some fantastic paragraphs like the opening quote. I also appreciated his bits of history and the references to other travel memoirs from people that wrote about the same locations before him.
Road to Oxiana was definitely an interesting read for me even if it wasn't entirely my cup of tea. But I can see why it is still regarded today as such a notable travel book. Byron is quite the character, has a strong way with words, and reading about the Middle East this candidly during this time is cool.
Also, the final paragraph of his final return to the UK might actually be one of my favorite ending lines to a book:
England looked drab and ugly from the train, owing to the drought. At Paddington I began to feel dazed, dazed at the prospect of coming to a stop, at the impending collision between eleven months' momentum and the immobility of a beloved home. The collision happened; it was 19 1/2 days since we left Kabul. Our dogs ran up. And then mother - to whom, now it is finished, I deliver the whole record; what I have seen she taught me to see, and will tell me if I have honoured.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Moderate: Death