Mythos
4/5 stars
It's a good resource if you're researching the topic of African American women's impact on WWII. It does mention multiple women who were forgotten over time. I do recommend checking the sources it got it's information from if you want even more direct sources.
It was a solid 3 stars. I thought it would be a little different than I expected. It was just a fine read. It was quick but I felt as if it were a book that I would forget rather than remember. I am unsure if I would recommend this. Although the art was great especially when it came to depicting food.
4.6/5
I made a mistake and read this one first. I thought this was really good so at the moment, I'll rate it 4.6 stars rounded up. It's bound to change when I read the other book. For now, I will say that there were only a couple of parts in the books where I felt as if I had missed key information by not reading Firekeeper's Daughter. I will still go and read it, then come back and update my review.
2/5 stars
I was expecting a cute, happy-go-lucky manga about a man bonding with his daughter through learning how to cook. It was all going well until they introduced the students. As soon as Kotori entered as a new character, it started to get weird. I understand that some people justify it as being just a friendship, but it really doesn't seem like it. Instead, it looks like it's building up to eventually becoming romantic, and I can't stand to see this happen again. I may check out the next volume to see if this doesn't happen.
I don't recommend this manga, but if you believe that you can see the weird interactions between Kotori and her teacher, go ahead.
4.5/5 stars
Face down, lying on the ground, trying to process this book.
It's a great book, but god, am I glad that I put off reading this book. I originally planned to read this during finals earlier this year. I am so glad I did not. This book does a great job of portraying loneliness and how suffocating it can be.
I would 100% recommend this book to other people, but I would like to mention that this is a very character-driven book. If this is not your style of reading, then you can go ahead and skip this book.
5/5 stars
I believe this is still ongoing. I'm not that sure.
This is one of my favorite stories I have read. It's funny, silly, and cute at times. Although sometimes the story can be confusing at times. This makes sense since the story is told in snippets of the protagonists' stories. This doesn't include insta love, which was nice to see. I'm glad we managed to see the development in the relationship between Sun Jing and Qui Tong.
I recommend this to anyone who wants a heartwarming queer story. I would say that the story does fluctuate and doesn't completely focus on the romance aspect.
2.5 stars
A whole lot of nothing happens here. I guess the author was trying to get us familiar with the MC. We get to know a lot about her and how she ends up as a lab assistant. But majority of the book is her looking for a job, previous jobs experience, and her last job before she accepts the sketchy job.
3/5 stars
The first volume was more lighthearted, and this continued on into this volume. A few things changed until we started to unlock more of the character's traumas. I believe the reason we started to unlock this is to understand the reasoning behind the character's actions and to see their growth. This seemed to apply more to Fujiwara than to the MC. I'm hoping what we learned about them is more about building up to something that will appear later in future volumes. At this point, I am enjoying the notes the author leaves in the manga about their process and facts about dinosaurs more than the actual storyline. I don't believe I'll drop this series but instead put it off when I need to read something to help me calm down after reading something dark, horrific, or bad.
3/5 stars
Personally, I didn't like this book. I liked the concept, but I couldn't get through the actual book. I have been recommended this book multiple times, but that isn't enough motivation to finish this book. I was personally more invested in the side characters than the main characters. From what I read, Clary seemed to be the I'm-not-like-other-girls trope, which I can't really stand. I only read books with this trope when I am sure that the character has developed and changed. Maybe I would have liked it if I had read it when I was eleven, but at the moment I can't like it or get through the entire series.
1/5 stars
Possible spoilers:
I really tried to like this book but couldn't bring myself to.
Summary:
Our main character, River, is obsessed with the Grace family, which has a complicated history. She is in love with Fenrin Grace, who's supposed to be the most attractive guy at school. He also has two sisters, Summer and Thalia Grace. Summer is gone, whereas Thalia is both beautiful and untouchable. River wants to be a part of their group but knows that they tend to switch friends rather quickly.
My problems with these books are:
1) This book is the Walmart version of Twilight. Twilight was more enjoyable because I could actually find enjoyable moments within all that mess.
2) We have an all-white cast with one token, possibly a South Asian character. I wasn't really sure what her ethnicity was. All the characters are either problematic or show no growth throughout the book. Thalia has no other interesting character traits other than how she dresses. Summer is transparent. She doesn't hide anything and just tells River everything. Fenrin is only shown as unattainable and hot. It is stated that he is possibly bisexual, but this is used to show how the other characters are biphobic/queerphobic. Trigger Warning: From River to Fenrin's own mother, they both use the word “disgusting” to describe Fenrin. River because Fenrin's kissing another boy. His mother likely called him that for the same reasons. This was a breaking point and they almost immediately dropped it.
3) River is practically obsessed with the Graces. This is shown through their thoughts and is a recurring problem as they can be creepy and borderline stalker-like. We learn that River isn't her real name. She does everything she can in order to become a different person. She does so in order to please others. Specifically, people she doesn't even know well. She is constantly putting other girls down. From judging their mannerisms to how much lip gloss they have on. Again, I know sometimes you can read a book and not like the main character, but she has no redeeming qualities, and this affects all the other characters, who barely have a personality.
4) SO MANY TROPES THAT I DESPISE. I can usually excuse tropes I dislike. I'm not like other girls' tropes, using diverse characters to give other characters “development”, “mean girl” status, etc. All these tropes combined can only make a mess of a book. Perhaps they would work with a better set of characters, but the current set is not worth reading. In addition, the writing isn't that good either. It's a rather slow story, and there are parts where you feel as if the problem was just added to create drama or some form of plot which there was none of.
5) I skimmed the book all the way to the end. Without any spoilers, given the ending was a set up for you to go read the other book. It leaves you with a cliffhanger.
To summarize, the characters suck, there is no plot, there are so many bad tropes used, and this book has no redeemable qualities. Go read Twilight or any other book that's better than this one.
4.6/5 stars
(Rating stayed the same)
I loved the story. I think I started reading this in middle school, but I never finished it because I could not figure out what was happening. It was not until I picked up this comic book series after watching Sandman on Netflix for the third time that I realized this. I was on the waiting list, so it took me some time to get it. The difference between the series and the Netflix series was slightly noticeable to me, but that was expected.
This issue had a slow start at the beginning, but it didn't necessarily bother me. In this instance, I think it enhanced the narrative. The art occasionally bothered me because of how offputting it made some scenes seem. The villain was also intriguing. The fact that they were not good people and were unquestionably insane added complexity and darkness to the story. Death ended up being my favorite character, as expected. Her introduction, her relationship with her job, and her brother were all things I enjoyed. That is all I can say for now.
I do recommend it, but be sure to check the triggers because it can occasionally get quite dark.
2/5 stars
I was expecting this to be interesting considering it was similar to other light novels I have read in the past. One of the biggest aspects that keeps me interested in the series is usually the characters. In this case, I liked very few of the characters that were presented to us. The stories could get confusing to follow at times, leaving me to reread certain sections multiple times. In some cases, I had to go back to another section in order to understand what I was reading.
I got halfway through the book before deciding against finishing it. Overall, I would not personally recommend this book to anyone. If you're going to read it, expect to be confused while reading this book.
2.8/5 stars
Update I didn't love it. I am genuinely surprised I didn't like it considering that it had all the factors for me to love it. Don't get me wrong, I love the characters, especially Inej. Unfortunately, I wasn't pulled into the story, and it took me an eternity to finish this book. The pace threw me off so much. It felt like it went so slowly. There were moments where I was invested, but by the time I got to the heist, I was genuinely just skimming through in order to get it done. I haven't quite quit on the series yet since I really love the characters, but if the pacing doesn't get better, I might just have to give up on it and perhaps give it another chance later on.
3/5
Yes, I am done with this book. But I'm aware that I am going to spend the next three months having to come back to this book because the professor wants us to read/analyze certain sections. I know I am going to end up despising it because of this. So I'll review it now. I may come back and change a couple of details later.
It's a good book. It's definitely a different perspective about the transition of feudalism to capitalism with the intersection of the witch hunt. While I do agree with some of her points I don't agree with her thesis as a whole. I do feel like she over emphasizes the effect of the witch hunt in terms of the number of women it affected. I am not that well versed when it comes to the exact details but I do believe it did affect less than 100,000 women.
3/5 stars
You can skip one at least that's how I personally feel. The first chapter did little to capture my attention. Although this felt like it was marketed towards people who like Sherlock Holmes I felt as if there was no plot half the time. The little plot there felt confusing.
I didn't feel like I cared enough about the characters that were present either. Maybe rereading it at a later time will help but I don't think my rating will change.
3/5 stars
This was kind of a curveball for me. I was expecting it to have more of a graphic novel format. It was still a pleasant surprise, although I was thrown off by the constant change in style. It worked surprisingly well considering the story they were telling. The constant switch in focus among characters definitely made this possible as well. The humor isn't for everyone, as it can be considered dark for some. I think some jokes were more about poking fun at bigger conversations that could possibly lead someone to have an existential crisis.
Overall, I am not sure if I would ever recommend this book to other people. Although I personally enjoyed it at times, I didn't enjoy it as a whole. Therefore, I don't believe I would ever reread either.
4/5 stars
I love reading about villains' origin stories. It's always been one of my favorite genres, especially when it's well done like this one. Although we get into Levana's cruel past, we don't necessarily feel pity for her. Instead, we get a better understanding of why she does what she does in other books. At times, this book can get extremely hard to read if you are light of heart. Levana quickly changed from being pitiful to slowly becoming the coldhearted, calculating villain we know and hate/love.
We feel a slight pity for her because we learn that she was manipulated, bullied, and tortured by her older sister. We also learn she was the cause of her face becoming disfigured, causing her to be named “the ugly princess of Luna”. We see how this greatly affects her throughout that series. She always makes sure the glamour is on and is out of sight of all mirrors. Still, this isn't enough to justify all the things she says and does throughout the book. One of the lines that stuck out to me was, “Levana had not seen the bodies, but she had seen the bedrooms the next morning, and her first thought was that all that blood would make a very pretty rouge on her lips.” As the book goes on, we see her sister mysteriously die after being poisoned, making Levana the queen. This only worsened her behavior, solidifying her as we know her in the main series. We still see moments of weakness and humanity, but they are very rare and are followed by horrible actions. Overall, it did a great job of helping us understand her motives without causing us to over-sympathize with her. We see how many more issues this woman has and it actually makes us see her as being worse and crazier than she is in the main series.
This has definitely become a favorite and I would recommend it to anyone reading the Lunar Chronicles. It gives you more information about Lunar society, but you also come out with a better understanding of who Levana is. Reading this isn't really necessary as we get some of this information from the main series.
3/5 stars
Summary:
Kanata Tanaka and Kazuki Yoshikawa are middle-schoolers who are revered by the other students for their air of maturity, good grades, and so forth. They are, in fact, unbeknownst to most folks, childhood friends who hide their friendship due to the discomfort of the attention they get separately from others. This gets complicated because they eventually fall for each other and start going out.
It's a rather quick and fun read. There isn't much drama other than the one caused by Nihito. The manga mainly focuses on the main couple, but we get glimpses of other characters. I wasn't really sure what was happening between Nihito and the music teacher. It seemed as if he either hates teachers or he just hates singing. Perhaps this will be addressed in volume two. Overall, I give it a 3 star rating.
2/5 stars
I tried reading the manga based on a friend's recommendation. They had told me that it had less fan service than the actual anime. I tried to read it while ignoring the fan service, but I couldn't understand the plot and where it was heading. It did have fun moments, but I don't believe their worth reading through the whole manga for.
1/5 stars
I'm going to try to give my review of this manga without as many spoilers as possible. The reason I rated it a one is because there are too many problems that are in this book. The art is great, but the story is just terrible.
(1) A lack of clearly defined boundaries
When they first met, there were no boundaries established. Even when a person was uncomfortable, nothing was said about it.
(2) Borderline incest
It literally says in the first few pages that it is a secret/forbidden romance between two sisters. Not only that, but it was also brought up more than once in the story, making the argument that the author doesn't see them as sisters obsolete.
(3) There was no consent given.
Basically, what happens is that Mei gets assaulted and pretty much takes it out on Yuzu when questioned about it. It happens a lot for it to be the first volume.
(4) Fetishizing
At this point, the glaring incest and lack of consent pretty much lead one to believe that this is for people who fetishize wlw. There is too much fan service, and there is an ongoing theme around boob sizes.
(5) No plot
So far, there is no ongoing plot, other than no communication and constant assaults. There have been other characters introduced, but they don't add much to the story.
For all these reasons, I rate it a 1/5. I'm not comfortable enough to read any more volumes as I have no hopes of this getting any better.
3/5 stars
This is one of those books that I'm going to have to reread at a later time. Usually, graphic novels are an easy and fast read for me. This wasn't the case with this book. While the art is extremely captivating, I had a hard time grasping the story itself.
Although I was interested in the premise, the more I read, the less I was interested in reading the book. Even though I finished it, I barely retained any of the story. At the moment, I can't say I recommend it.
2/5 stars
I believe that a shorter version of this book would have been better. I stopped reading at around 75%. The poems do deal with many serious topics, including eating disorders, SA, etc. Some are well executed, while others are not. The poetry itself didn't flow well either, and it relied a lot on cliches and fairy tales. After a while, it felt as if the concept of fairy tales was being forced. I had a hard time reading it and just kept going because of the photographs.
I wouldn't recommend this book unless it was for them to see the pictures that are included alongside the poems. I'm sure that there are other books with similar concepts that have better execution than this one.
Keep kids interested and entertained no matter how many times I read it to them. Great way to calm them down.
ꕤ ꕤ Reading Tracker - 2024 ꕤ ꕤ
Goals
1) Read 312 books
Only really going to be possible due to reading manga and long commutes.
2)DNF books more often
Got better at it last year but need to keep the same energy going.
3)Read 115 non manga/graphic novel books (6/115)
I know I'm never going to really stop reading less manga/graphic novels . Instead, this type of goal is more achievable.
4)Keep the spreadsheet up to date
Failed at this last year. Hopefully I'll get better this year since I'm more familiar with the format this year.
5) Listen to 15 audiobooks until the end (1/15)
Probably going to be more but the goal is to finish them without switching to the physical book halfway.
Monthly Books
January
Isekai Omotenashi Gohan Manga Series (4 volumes): 4⭐
A Witch's Printing Office, Vol. 1: 3 ⭐
I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World & Became Unrivaled in The Real World, too Vol. 1: DNF
I Had That Same Dream Again: 4⭐
Sh*t My Dad Says: 3⭐ (debatable)
Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More, Vol. 1-2: 4⭐
Congratulations the Best is Over: 3.5⭐
Hungry Ghost: 3.5⭐
Have Coffee After School in Another World: 2.7⭐
ダメスキル: 1.5⭐
Ume's Recipes: 3⭐
Ramen Wolf and Curry Tiger, Vol 1-2: 4⭐
Handheld Pies: 2.5⭐
Dungeon Meshi World Guide: 3⭐
Rooster Fighter Vol. 1: 2.5⭐
Mooncakes & Milk Bread: 4.5⭐
The Night Circus: 2.5⭐