Author Topic: What are you reading? (Read 327173 times)

B E C K · « **Reply #1230 on:** Feb 03, 2024, 02:12:36 PM »

Read most of the chapters of Maria no Danzai and, man, it's kinda hard to get through. It veers into torture pr0n, which disgusts me and so I skipped a bit of that shit; yet everything else about it has me hooked. That said, if this ever got an anime I don't think I'd be able to watch it.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1231 on:** Feb 03, 2024, 04:40:42 PM »

You ever read Boy's Abyss? That's some real misery pr0n. I fell off out of distaste. I'll give Maria a look.

B E C K · « **Reply #1232 on:** Feb 04, 2024, 07:21:39 AM »

I'll do you one better: I've never heard of it.

So I tried to listen to an audio version of the Saint's Magical Power is Omnipotent and, man; It's literally "hot guy this" and "hot guy that" within the first three minutes. This doesn't bode well.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1233 on:** Oct 13, 2024, 08:22:54 AM »

So, I don't know if you guys are familiar with DC's new "Absolute" line of comic books. It's basically taking their established characters and starting from scratch with a new continuity aligned with more modern tastes. Or with an eye towards accessibility, I suppose. Although not really, because almost all of the characters/concepts are just going to be regurgitated from the existing lore. A "reimagining" if you will.

Absolute Batman is the initial foray, and I've read the first issue. It's kind of messy. One of the criticisms I see leveled at Batman in recent history is that he's just a rich white "cop" who goes around beating the shit out of struggling brown people. Which, while reductive, isn't entirely without merit. Absolute's answer to this is to take away Bruce Wayne's wealth.

He's just a common man
Working hard with his hands

They haven't addressed it yet, but I really hope they get around to it eventually: if Batman has limited resources now, how did he manage to research, develop, and manufacture his suit and various gadgets? Because that shit can't be cheap.

They've also introduced Alfred so far, who seems to be this badass secret service type dude. I wonder if the two of them will eventually partner up, and that's how this Batman will end up with some kind of budget. But then won't he just be a dog of the government? Is that any better than an independently wealthy brute?

Like I said, it's only the first issue, so time will tell.

One thing I neglected to mention, Bruce's fellow poverty pals that he grew up with seems to be mostly comprised of all the people who will eventually go on to become his greatest enemies. How convenient! How stupid and lazy.

Oh, and they made Bruce a real thicc boy here. I'd say he most resembles Frank Miller's depiction of Batman in the Dark Knight Returns. He's a real California redwood of a man.

I'm not sure what the full breadth of the Absolute line will be. I do know they're also doing Superman and Wonder Woman, and I'm probably most interested in Wonder Woman, because God knows DC has never figured out what to do with her. I wonder if any character has been rebooted as frequently as she has. "New creative team, new creative direction" is practically her slogan at this point.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1234 on:** Oct 13, 2024, 01:20:09 PM »

God damn if comics people aren't still fucking functionally retarded.

B E C K · « **Reply #1235 on:** Oct 13, 2024, 09:12:02 PM »

Quote from: jonhammstein on Oct 13, 2024, 08:22:54 AM

Absolute Batman is the initial foray, and I've read the first issue. It's kind of messy. One of the criticisms I see leveled at Batman in recent history is that he's just a rich white "cop" who goes around beating the shit out of struggling brown people. Which, while reductive, isn't entirely without merit. Absolute's answer to this is to take away Bruce Wayne's wealth.

He's just a common man
Working hard with his hands

Make him poor? When the easiest shit is just make him Latino or something? Change Martha Wayne to whatever race you want and, bam, now he's mixed. They could even give Bruce an invisible disability or two. Give him ADHD or some shit. That shit worked for Percy Jackson. And none of that would change what makes him Batman. You can't make him poor. Who the fuck wants to self-insert as a hobo in a bat costume? His wealth is part of the appeal, dammit.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1236 on:** Oct 14, 2024, 01:06:00 AM »

To give DC some credit, they also just published a one-shot called the Lobo Cancellation Special, and reading it was like stepping back in time. Vintage Lobo, all the way. It's probably one of my favorite things that I've read in recent memory.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1237 on:** Oct 23, 2024, 06:23:36 PM »

Good news, everyone! The first issue of Absolute Wonder Woman is excellent. Nicely drawn, smartly written. It earns my seal of approval.

Rama · « **Reply #1238 on:** Jul 06, 2025, 08:57:18 AM »

Well, I’m reading water for water for elephants. Since my promotion to manager of the sunrise Beach library, I have to read the book club book every month with the little old ladies. I have read a bunch of books that I do not give two shits about and this is one of them.

B E C K · « **Reply #1239 on:** Jul 06, 2025, 10:02:13 AM »

Is that supposed to be a romance book? I can't tell.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1240 on:** Jul 08, 2025, 05:48:51 PM »

Anybody read the manga Versus? I had never heard of it, but someone on the OPM subreddit brought it up while they were complaining about the current state of One Punch Man, and I was like, "What's all this then?"

And I kind of get it. While OPM has kind of been treading stagnant water for quite some time now, Versus seems to be delivering on the concept of non-stop escalation. I do hope they have an ending in mind, though, because it could very easily wind up in the same boat as OPM.

Anyway, nice art, cool characters, outrageous scenarios... I'm liking it quite a bit.

Rama · « **Reply #1241 on:** Jul 11, 2025, 09:29:59 AM »

Quote from: B E C K on Jul 06, 2025, 10:02:13 AM

Is that supposed to be a romance book? I can't tell.

It was….and the other suitor got trampled to death at the end, but he was a dick who was bad for her in true romance book fashion

B E C K · « **Reply #1242 on:** Jul 11, 2025, 06:48:48 PM »

Nothing gets me wetter than elephants and spouses being abused and a guy getting flattened. So hawt!

Rama · « **Reply #1243 on:** Jul 12, 2025, 07:18:39 AM »

Indeed.

Anyway finished that and now I’m reading Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz. My actual choice. I read this a while back, but I couldn’t remember how it ended so I’m reading it again.

B E C K · « **Reply #1244 on:** Aug 11, 2025, 06:51:43 PM »

I read some of The Oblivious Saint Can't Contain Her Power: both the manga and the light novel. I read most of volume 1 for the light novel. It's written in first person and the first person perspective flips through multiple people. Is this a Japanese thing? Because I've read a couple of other Japanese light novels that also did something similar. Why do they do this? First person. That's one fuckin' person.

This one's especially egregious though. It flips through, like, four different people and the narrative voice is the fucking same for everyone. I can give a pass to it doing this twice at the most. You can't switch from the main character to her sister to the bodyguard to the prince. Granted, the majority of the story stays with the main character. But ultimately, I don't need to be in everyone's fucking head. It feels fucking lazy to not be able to convey things like her guard's backstory without just defaulting to going inside of his head. If you have the need to switch like this, then don't write in first person. I can't help but wonder if the characters did have their own voice but it didn't translate well when put in English.

B E C K · « **Reply #1245 on:** Aug 23, 2025, 08:54:55 PM »

I'm trying to read more so I tried Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. I don't remember Howls Moving Castle but I liked it and I also liked Earwig and the Witch. CL has a bunch of four star reviews on Goodreads.

What the fuck.

It starts out okay. A tiny bit dull at the beginning. Then it gets interesting and I was starting to get invested. Then it falls face-first straight off a cliff. This is part of a series, too. Can't wait to not read more.

None of the characters are likeable except one who appears halfway through. You get tired of everyone lying all the goddamn time. And it's always a weird choice to make a child as evil as possible. Sorry for the spoiler. This is a children's book from 1977 anyway and you're not reading it, so whatever.

Why do people reference this and say Rowling cribbed from this book for Harry Potter? Because they're both British female authors who write about magic and both hate fat people? The first Harry Potter book is way better than this. I couldn't even finish this.

B E C K · « **Reply #1246 on:** Sep 07, 2025, 12:15:43 PM »

I read the book adaptation of Pretty in Pink. Yes, that movie. Yes, the book is based off of the movie and not the other way around. Specifically, based off of the screenplay and using the intended ending.

It's decent. Tells us more about how Andie/Molly feels about her mother. Leaves it less ambiguous that Steff and Blaine are no longer friends. Some people might say that wasn't ambiguous at all. I thought they were just upset at each other, I didn't think the friendship was over.

Is Duckie still fucking annoying? You bet your ass he is.

Does the book fix Blaine? Kiiiinnnnd of.

Blaine's still comes off as being self-satisfied in the end and I feel like this character honestly needed to suffer more. As it is, he sort of ends up where he started: admiring Andie from afar and wanting her but unable to have her. I already had a problem with him in the movie but reading the story makes it clear that Blaine has no trajectory. That's why he's fucking boring and any fans of this movie either simp for Duckie or for Steff.

Really, the movie should've been Steff going after Andie, Andie's trust in him being punished, and Steff suffering for it. Steff's the one who's been quietly wanting her for four years. He's the one who waits for her in his car. He's the one who brings up that they'll never see each other again once they graduate. The house Andie dreams about and admires is Steff's house. A story between the two of them makes far more sense than nothing-burger Blaine.

Blaine could have been the apparent "nice" rich friend who's not actually nice. I feel like that's the more insidious antagonist in this type of story: when one of "them" ("them" being whoever the antagonistic grouping is; in this case, the rich kids) pretends to be different than the rest and puts on a facade of being empathetic and kind. But deep inside they're the same and they will fight to keep the status quo no matter how harmful that is to others. That role in the story would've given Blaine more agency. He could retain his weird crush, too. He and Steff could've still had a falling out over Andie but it should've been a much stronger argument, maybe with punching or whatever. (Duckie shouldn't have been involved in a fight with Steff at all.)

As far as the book presents the original ending, I didn't interpret it as Duckie and Andie ending up together. More so that Duckie is her true, blue friend, even if his love for her can't be reciprocated. And this should've been reinforced with some sort of conversation or something that they'll always be friends or some sappy shit like that. As is, it's sort of open-ended and probably intended to read as romantic.

So whether it's the book or the movie, the story is about this girl struggling with being a poor kid and not having a mom and somehow morphs into tossing her in between different types of creepers. It doesn't make sense for her to have a romantic ending.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1247 on:** Sep 11, 2025, 06:26:31 PM »

Just caught up with One Punch Man....that Monster Association arc was way too fucking long, particularly when you finally realize that Saitama is not in fact the main character of this actual ensemble book.

Recently completed the current run of the Skybound TF comic which was a hoot in general but ended on a random bullshit note that I didn't appreciate. All in all, though, it was enjoyable, even if I'm tired of constant restarts in this franchise.

I downloaded several light novels of DanMachi that I didn't know existed. I may delve back into that universe again, as it's been awhile since I read any of it. The animated adaptation by my perception has been generally great.

B E C K · « **Reply #1248 on:** Sep 12, 2025, 08:15:03 AM »

OPM always felt like something that should've been a shorter story about Saitama and adapted into a concise two cour anime. Then after Saitama's story, it could have several side stories about different characters in that universe which could be also be manga and adapted as specials, movies, or even another series. As it is, it feels like it just drags on forever for no reason.

B E C K · « **Reply #1249 on:** Sep 12, 2025, 10:00:23 PM »

A LN called "Victoria of Many Faces" got announced for an anime adaptation so I thought I'd try reading it. It's kind of dull so far and has some of the cringe prose I found in the LN for "The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent."

For this story, woman is a spy since she was a little girl. She fakes her death to leave the org. Ends up in another kingdom and adopts an orphan girl. Meets a guard captain guy who likes her.

"The silver-haired man pulled along the pickpocket as he showed me the way to the guard post. He told me his name was Jeffrey Asher. He appeared to be in his early thirties and was in top physical shape, judging by his toned muscles. He was around one hundred and ninety centimeters tall and weighed about eighty kilograms. His clothing looked fairly expensive, and he seemed well-to-do. He had deep-blue eyes, handsome features, and a very nice voice. I had a feeling he was quite popular with the ladies."

How the fuck do you know what this guy weighs? Did you fucking carry him? Who even thinks this way?

Doesn't this say the same goddamn thing:

"The silver-haired man pulled along the pickpocket as he showed me the way to the guard post. He told me his name was Jeffrey Asher. He appeared to be in his early thirties and was in top physical shape, judging by his toned muscles. His clothing looked fairly expensive and he seemed well-to-do. I had a feeling he was quite popular with the ladies."

No one's going to read a potential love interest as a fat manlet unless the story explicitly states so. And this thing has a picture of Jeffrey labeled with his name in the beginning pages of the story. Therefore, we don't need the main character approximating his weight or his height like a fucking weirdo.

Also, telling us he has well-toned muscles already tells us he's very fit. And if you think he'd be popular with the ladies, then him being handsome with a nice voice is fucking implied. As for his eyes, throw in a description on the eye color in a different paragraph. I can't stand when people insist of stuffing twenty descriptors in for a character we literally have just met.

B E C K · « **Reply #1250 on:** Sep 23, 2025, 07:40:08 PM »

I've been reading "I am an Inept Villainess." First part of the light novel, then the manga, then back to the light novel. I only did it that way because the light novel start felt kinda slow. The manga helped me get more into the story than the light novel. I finished the most of the first LN and then started into the second.

Takes place in a psuedo-Chinese court ala The Apothecary Diaries. Our heroine is known as the court butterfly: the beautiful and talented niece of the empress and the favorite of the crown prince. Another girl in the court is jealous of the heroine's seemingly easy life. She decides to use daoist magic and pulls a Freaky Friday. They live in each other's bodies and let's just say our antagonist actually does not get the better part of the deal.

This is getting an anime next year. Barring horrible animation, terrible directing, or another massive Covid outbreak, there's no reason this should not be the next Apothecary Diaries. The adaptation really has to fuck it up.

There's a variety of female characters and some interesting friendships. I think where it falls short is with the male characters. There's no guys like Jinshi, Lihaku, Basen, or Gaoshun. Or even fun kooks like the quack doctor, daddy/uncle doctor, or the strategist.

In Inept Villainess, the crown prince character has some good traits but he's just too much of a simping douchebag. His half-brother guard captain man, who also appears to also be set up as a possible love interest, is good-looking but with all of the appeal of a piece of cardboard. Eunuch guy's just a normie eunuch guy. Maybe more male characters come along that are fun but the pickings be slim.

Looking forward to this one. I hope it's good. And after Betrothed to My Sister's Ex, I hope we don't have another fucking speedrun of blazing through the story at breakneck speed.

B E C K · « **Reply #1251 on:** Feb 08, 2026, 10:05:11 PM »

I've been enjoying audio LNs from a completely legal source.

The first volume of 7th Time Loop and Silent Witch as well as the first volume of The Twelve Kingdoms, which has been undergoing re-release but divided up the first volume in two parts as Japan did it this way.

I've read volume 1 of The Twelve Kingdoms a long time ago but I don't remember any of it. I have to say, it's so refreshing to listen to this story. Modern media is nothing but constant fucking spoonfeeding to brain-rot retards and this story instead invites the reader to discover the world. Even knowing about the world and story already, the entire thing is keeping me engaged.

The anime is truly a different creature from this novel. The novel is a portal fantasy steeped in mystery. What's going on? Why is she in this strange world? What's her purpose here? Who is Keiki? Why isn't anyone saving her? Etc.

I can completely understand why the anime adapted it the way it did, only because trying to adapt this story exactly as it was written wouldn't have been possible. Or more so, it would've been something no one would've wanted to have done. The story relies on the reader's immersion of Yoko's experiences and learning little bits of information about the world and her situation. The anime tries to sort of do this but at points it realizes the average anime viewer only has so much patience. At the same time, as slow a story as it is in novel form, the anime feels way more bogged down. Especially with the additions of Asano and Sugimoto's increased role, both of these interfering with the pace in Yoko's adventure.

B E C K · « **Reply #1252 on:** Feb 14, 2026, 11:53:20 AM »

I had to report for jury duty--blah--so I brought a book with me. Like an actual book. Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin. I admire her as a person, I do, but I couldn't finish this thing. It's not a long book and it's not a difficult book in terms of vocabulary or sentence structure. On those two fronts, it's very accessible and readable. I may return to it and finish it. I mean, it's my copy that I own so I'm in no rush.

The story's supposed to be Lavinia's perspective in Virgil's The Aeneid, with Lavinia being the last wife of Aeneus. I got almost half-way through and then the book was just about various people dying.

Bambi gets shot
Jim get an arrow through his throat
And Randy and Johnny die
And Donald dies too

Like, those aren't any of the names or anything. But the main character's told the world's most needlessly wordy prophecy that took nearly a whole page and I just rolled my eyes. Then the story proceeds to go through all of the deaths and I lost interest.

I read ahead a little bit but then the conflict is resolved and there's still a third of this book left?

Also, the book does a weird time-jump thing intermittently and also has Lavinia actually interacting with Virgil's ghost or something. Those were, uh, choices, I guess.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1253 on:** Feb 20, 2026, 01:02:44 PM »

You ever read Rumiko Takahashi's Byoki? It's giving Inuyasha without the Ranma. What I mean by that is that the male and female leads aren't constantly bickering with one other, and it's a big gulp of fresh air.

jonhammstein · « **Reply #1254 on:** Feb 20, 2026, 01:05:01 PM »

Sorry, it's called Mao.

B E C K · « **Reply #1255 on:** Feb 21, 2026, 07:53:43 AM »

Nope, no idea what the old gal was churning let alone that it's also getting an anime this year.

B E C K · « **Reply #1256 on:** Mar 06, 2026, 09:55:41 AM »

The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent LN is still kinda cringe. I wonder if the translation is to blame. I gave up reading this but then found the audiobook. I actually really enjoy it as an audiobook. It's read by Veronica Taylor and she does a fantastic job.

B E C K · « **Reply #1257 on:** Mar 26, 2026, 10:43:26 PM »

I'm trying to read the Iliad. A few pages in and I'm already confused. A great-ass sign!