Bookworm's Corner

The Great Manga Gift Guide

2010-12-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Last year David Welsh of The Manga Curmudgeon started the Great Manga Gift Guide, where manga bloggers and reviewers made their own lists for the best manga to buy for Christmas. The gift guide has been started up again this year by Daniella Orihuela-Grueber on her website, All About Manga. I've been writing about manga for quite a few months now, so obviously I feel qualified enough to present my own list.

For a list of guides that are likely way better than mine, see Daniella's post. Otherwise, here's my list, starting off with something cute.

For Animal Lovers of All Ages: Chi's Sweet Home by Kanata Konami

Chi's Sweet Home is about the life of a kitten - that was honestly enough to pique my interest. Chi's loses her mom and siblings, but is picked up by a human family and brought into their home, the big problem being their apartment doesn't allow pets. A story about the antics of a cute cat sounds pretty one-note, but Konami consistently delivers cute, funny, and heartfelt stories about the kitten's life. Publisher Vertical, Inc. decided to release Chi's Sweet Home flipped, an act that generally enrages manga fans, but this makes it easy to give Chi as a gift as a gift to kids or adults. And even though this makes the books pretty expensive ($14.99 U.S.) the North American edition of Chi's Sweet Home has been enhanced with soft, bright colors that give this manga the potential to be a great book to read aloud with your little one.

More Chirstmas shopping picks after the jump.

Slice-of-Life Manga: Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi

Though it's a baseball manga, I hesitate to recommend buying Cross Game for your favorite sports fan. Baseball is more of a backdrop for the series, giving a common ground for the heroes and a battlefield for fighting the series' villains. Instead, we have a very simple but heartfelt story about a boy who wants to play baseball, not just because he's good at it but because someone he cared very much about believed in him. And as much as I love the story, I wouldn't recommend this manga so strongly if Mitsuru Adachi hadn't taken such care in the creation and development of his characters. If you know the person you're buying for is looking for something that will get their heart racing this might not be the right gift for them, but I'd suggest it for everyone else on your shopping list.

For the Science Fiction Fan: Twin Spica by Kou Yaginuma and Saturn Apartments by Hisae Iwaoka

I'm generally more of a fan of fantasy than sci-fi, but two great series came out this year, both so equally awesome that I'm bringing them both up here.

In Twin Spica, tragedy involving an accident with a space ship tore Asumi's family apart, but she still yearns to be close to the stars. So she enrolls in the special space academy for high school students so she can learn to be an astronaut, and works with her classmates to be the next generation of space travelers. Conversely, Saturn Apartments introduces us to characters that want to return to earth, having left the planet long ago to live in a series of apartments that circles the earth in a giant ring. Young Mitsu is now old enough to take his father's place as a window washer, but he has to deal with the nagging question of whether his father tried to kill himself, or if he had been desperate to continue living even in this closed-off world. Both are very poignant tales of growing up and the painful yearning for a place you've never been. They're both melancholy, sometimes sad tales (Twin Spica has yet to fail at making me tear up), but they also manage to make you feel just so darn good when you're done.

For the Sentimental Fool: Bunny Drop by Yumi Unita

Bunny Drop is about a young man becoming a parent - by adopting his grandfather's secret love child. Despite the soap opera-y plot summary, this manga is actually not that cheesy, and it's not even about goofy situations despite main character Daikichi's cluelessness about being a parent. Really, it's just a sweet, uplifting story about having a family, and loving each other no matter who the person is our how you came to be together. This manga didn't make me cry like some others on this list, and it didn't make me burst out laughing, but it sure made me smile a whole lot.

For Every Shojo Fan: Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP

The first manga I ever bought was a copy of Cardcaptor Sakura, about 10 years ago. It was the original Tokyopop print run, a small - and flipped! - edition. The new omnibus from Dark Horse brings us the first three volumes of the 12-volume series, when Sakura is given the powers of the cardcaptor and is given the task of gathering up the missing magical Clow Cards. Dark Horse's release of the magical girl manga boasts colored pages and even remastered images. If I wasn't so unwilling to give up my old volumes (this was my first manga, so there's a lot of sentimental value there) I'd be getting this re-release for myself. Fun fights, wonderful characters, beautiful art, and a leading female that manages to be strong and adorable all at once - Cardcaptor Sakura is definitely a great choice for the little lady comic fan, and also quite a few older manga readers.

Other Gift Ideas

The manga listed above are all series that I would personally recommend to anyone, but there are still other comics that would make great gifts for the right reader.

Cactus's Secret by Nana Haruta is a typical high school romance story, but it's a cute light read that would be perfect for the pre-teen crowd.

Another light read is Hyde & Closer from VIZ Media's Shonen Sunday line, and unlike most shonen manga this one caps out at 7 volumes, so you don't have to feel guilty about getting a friend hooked on this series.

If your shopping for a history buff, or you want to get your kid to learn a bit about world history, Penguin came out with two fantastic biographies in manga form: The 14th Dalai Lama and Che Guevara.

Kingyo Used Books is basically a manga about how reading manga is wonderful. It's great for the bibliophile in your life, or good for the person who wants to learn about out-of-print or unlicensed manga classics.

My Manga Wishlist

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. I have not stopped hearing about how wonderful this manga is. It's a hardcover, making it a bit pricey, so on the Christmas list it goes.

Spice & Wolf. I just read the third volume for a review, and I loved it. Now I want to fill in the holes.

Very, Very Sweet. This is a manhwa, which I've read the last volume of (again, for a review). That was enough to get me to enjoy the story, so now I want to read it all.

One Piece omnibuses. It's really inevitable, right? I'm going to own this series eventually. Might as well start now and get it over with.

So how much do you disagree with my list? What are going to buy for presents? And what manga or comics do you want?

Things That Would Make Me Buy an eReader

2010-11-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to see them everywhere - the Kindle and the Nook - I even actually saw a mother using an iPad with her baby. They're online, in electronic stores, and even at the forefront of chain bookstores. eReaders. They're closing in on me, and the whole corporate world seems determined to make me buy one.

Well, that's too bad, 'cause I don't want one.

At least not right now. I love paper books - the look, the feel, the weight, the smell - and I'll never want to give them up. But eReaders aren't exactly going to go away, and I've accepted that as an unrepentant bibliophile I'll have to get myself one. Some day. The list isn't long, but there are a few things I'll need to have, or be assured of, before I can guiltlessly spend my pay check on one of these contraptions.

Add Comics and Manga. Most of my book-spending money goes towards manga and graphic novels, which sucks since those are also the most expensive books I buy. It would be great to use me eReader to read a book I'm not so invested in I have to own it, but unless it's cutting the costs on the biggest hole I'm throwing my money into, a $200+ device just isn't worth it.

Lower the Prices! I know, the iPad has all those awesome comic apps, and even a couple of manga companies like Digital Manga Publishing and VIZ Media are throwing their stuff on the device. And it's in color! But have you seen how expensive an iPad is? Yikes. That's more than my down payment for grad school. Who can afford that thing? I might not even mind the lack of comics if I could buy an eReader on the cheap.

Convince Me Print Won't Die. This is a big one, actually. I know a lot of people are welcoming the advent of digital in part because it will finally free up that shelf space, but that makes me nervous. I'm a collector, and I'm a little nutty; I like having the actual physical thing that I can look at and touch and feel and smell. I won't mind giving that up for books I don't care as much about, but for the books I love I don't want the privilege of holding the bound up paper to go away. I just need someone to convince that print and digital can get along, and that print doesn't have to die.

Do you guys have an eReader? If not, what will it take to get you to buy one - or will you never cave?

Embarrassing Reads - Comic Books and Hedgehogs

2010-11-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

Recently I read the second volume of a manga series called Kingyo Used Books. Basically, the series is composed of a bunch of one-shot stories about people, the manga they read, and how said manga can affect or even alter their lives. All of these stories are episodic, so some of them stick out to me a little more than others.

The one that stuck out this time was the chapter called "One Percent Man", about a tough street punk, who also happens to really love a manga made for women and girls. Part of the problem he has to overcome is his embarrassment of even asking the store clerk whether the next volume is in stock yet, afraid that these complete strangers will know his little secret. I really connected with this guy, and I could think of one good reason why.

For a few years in high school, I was a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan. Not of the video game - the comic book. Every month I'd whirl the little comic rack in my mall's Walden Books until I found the new issue of Sonic or Knuckles the Echidna, and then I would buy it - always in a bag, with the cover facing towards me so no one could see it through the plastic, or behind another book if there was thankfully something else I wanted to buy that day. I hid the comics in a box, under my bed. No one was supposed to know about it.

Here's where I got ridiculous.

One day I go to the comic rack, and it's not there - no new Sonic the Hedgehog. Was it not out? Did I get the date wrong? Did the store stop carrying it? I expressed these worries to my mom, who simply told me I should ask the cashier if they had it. Yeah, easy for her to say! She wasn't going to be the one to be humiliated asking for a children's comic about a blue hedgehog. But I needed to have it, I needed to know if it was out. So my mom asked for me, while I hid behind a shelf.

I'll repeat.

I hid behind a shelf while my mom asked about my comic book.

I was a teenager, capable of speaking words, and not so socially inept that I couldn't talk to salespeople. Yet the idea of asking someone if they had that comic utterly paralyzed me, and I only popped out when the woman pulled out a copy from an unpacked box behind the counter.

Now I'm in my twenties, and I still buy comics, graphic novels, manga, and children's book, for myself. I've even bought copies of the Sonic the Hedgehog archive books in recent months (I have 7 of them now, and I'm waiting for a Knuckles collection). And I'm not really embarrassed to do it anymore, reading the stuff with my parents, at work (on break, of course...), even plopping down in the bookstore cafe and reading my comics and kids' books right there.

Hiding while the store clerk pulled out my comic book was not one of my proudest moments, for sure. But I still hadn't figured out I just needed to be who I was going to be, and like what I was going to like, and everyone else can just shut up and let me read my book.

So what have you been embarrassed by? And are you over it yet?

Visiting an Old Friend - A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle

2010-10-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

I read A Ring of Endless Light at least a dozen times as a kid, and you can tell. The pages have turned brown and the corners are worn to a round edge. Corners are ripped off, and the crease on the front cover is so distinct I'm surprised that part of the book is still intact. The spine is cracked clean, and the only thing keeping this paperback together is a good amount of yellowing Scotch tape.

I'm sure I know why I bought this book as a kid - there's a dolphin on the cover, and if you'd asked my Elementary self what the coolest creature was, "dolphin" would have been my answer. But why did I read it again? And again and again and again, until we have this almost broken book that most people would see as trash?

* * *

A Ring of Endless Light called me from its place on the shelf - it was time to open the crumbling age-stained pages again. But why?

Death is a big part of the story: it happens before, after, and throughout the pages. There's death away from the characters, near them, and death that occurs right in their hands. The book doesn't hide any of these things, but it took me years to realize this was a story about death - dealing with it, living in spite of it, living because it's there.

My grandmother died a few weeks ago. Great grandmother, actually - Gram to all of us. A healthy, 90-year-old woman, until she fell a couple months before. She got better, but she wasn't the same. I don't think any of us were surprised that she stayed with us just a little while longer.

In Madeleine L'Engle's book, the dolphins stay close to Vicky after she experiences death. They hold her up, bringing her out of the darkness and up into the light. That was why the book pulled me back, I think, and maybe that's why the pages held me so fast as a child.

* * *

In can't really remember why I this book so many times, clutching it so hard I almost tore it in two pieces. Maybe I had something I had to be carried through, and I felt as safe in the pages as Vicky did being cradled by the dolphins. Or I just read the book because the main character, Vicky Austin, is an affirmation to me - a "poetic soul" who's not sure of her burden in life, I felt connected to and influenced by her. (I do know my desire to be an English major sparked when Jeb Nuttely gives her that advice.)

Or maybe it was something else, or everything, coming up all at once or at each different time I turned the pages.

Or maybe I just liked to read it.

Not that it matters. I thought I wanted to know why I returned to this book so many times, and I went back thinking I would figure it out. But that would just ruin it. A Ring of Endless Light was important to me then, and that makes it important to me now.

Banned Books Week: This Year's Challenged Books

2010-09-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

Saturday marked the beginning of Banned Books Week, a week sponsored by the ALA in which we take a look at books that have been challenged or outright banned from schools or libraries. The ALA also released it's yearly list of challenged and banned books, many of which I've read and loved myself. I noticed on the list that although many of the challenges never followed through to a banning, some of the schools ruled to keep the book with a 'Mature Reader' sticker on it, or require parental consent. I'm fine with that - this at least encourages some form of conversation, where trying to ban a book is like covering a child's ears or taping her mouth shut.

You can read the full list of 2009-2010's banned or challenged books yourself, or look at a list of most frequently challenged books. For me, here's a short list of this year's challenged books that caught my eye.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This was challenged because parents found the language "vulgar and racist." It's about a Native American boy that decides to attend the white kids' school - of course issues of race will come up. Real issues, that kids should really be aware of so that maybe their generation can change something. It was retained on the reading list, but now a committee that includes parents will meet to decide whether books are appropriate. At least there's discussion.

Geography Club by Bent Hartinger. A story about a gay boy trying to fit in, this was challenged as being "obscene or pornography". I don't have the book with me to check for specific passages, but I don't remember there being any more sexual talk than in your average young adult novel. So then books about gay kids are porn?

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead. I didn't read this series myself, but I find it's banning hilarious in a morbid way. In one school district the entire series was banned "for sexual content or nudity." But here's the kicker - the book series hasn't even been finished! "Stephenville ISD actually banned books that have not yet been published and perhaps even books that have yet to be written. There is no way the district could know the content of these books, and yet they have been banned." That's judging a book without a cover.

Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. Here's another funny. This dictionary was pulled from an entire school district because of the inclusion of a single term: "oral sex". I'll admit, I learned my fair share of "not nice" words by looking them up in the dictionary - it keeps you from being laughed at for asking what others see as dumb questions. Besides, banning a whole book because you're uncomfortable with one word? It's like punishing the entire school because one kid's a rude little prick.

Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. This series was banned, but not for giving readers a brain aneurism. The content was "too sexual" for some librarians. But the real punch in the gut? The librarians even asked parents to not let their kids bring these books to school. Twilight is certainly not my favorite, but at least these girls read something. I thought librarians were supposed to promote reading.

Dragon Ball Manga Series by Akira Toriyama. I love this manga - it's hilarious. But it also has sexual innuendo and the kid doesn't always know how to wear pants, which is why a 9-year-old's mom had it pulled from his middle school. Funny how the super violent Dragon Ball Z is more age appropriate.

Fight censorship and read a banned book - maybe I'll Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, maybe A Wrinkle in Time, or maybe I'll run out and buy a copy of And Tango Makes Three. What about you?

Amazon.com Widgets

New Blog

2010-09-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

Even with the piles of things I never finish, I never feel like I have enough to do. That's how this blog comes about.

What will we be doing here? Well, I love books - I love to read books, hold books, display books on my shelf. I'm a bibliophile, all the way through, and there's no going back from that. I also like to talk about books, and so this is what this blog is for. It could be a whole book, a chapter, a sentence - there's no determined pattern, at least not yet. If something strikes me, it's what I'll write about.

What kind of books will I write about? Books that I like (and sometimes books that I really, really hate). And what kind of books do I like? Fantasy, children's literature, travel writing, essays, classics, slice-of-life, coming of age, manga, graphic novels, comics, literature... basically, anything that's interesting.

Will I only write about books I'm reading? No. I'm giving my lazy self some room, and saying that longer posts about something I'm reading will come out every two weeks. This gives me a chance to finish what I'm reading, write out my post, and of course read other stuff in between. To fill out the blog, I'll also post news and thoughts I feel are relevant. Also as a writer, I am infatuated with words in general, so any time I stumble across a fantastic term or idiom, I'll post my discovery (or rediscovery) here.

That's all for now! Real posts will begin within the week, and I hope you plan to stick around. Leave comments and subscribe, because the more people I know are reading this, the more motivated to continue I will be.

Would you like to find me elsewhere on the 'net? I also have a general writing blog, a Twitter and a Facebook page.