EVERY HEART A DOORWAY -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #6

image from Goodreads

What would you do if you found a door that didn't belong? Would you go through it? What if you came back but were irreparably changed?

I chose this book for the Popsugar Reading Challenge number 6: A book with a plant in the title or on the cover.  The cover has a forest of trees on it.

This is the premise behind Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire.  Kids are pulled through doorways to different worlds. Many don't return, but sometimes they come back.  These kids are given a chance to acclimatize back to our world with the help of Eleanor West and her school.

Nancy is the main character in this book, but she has changed since her experience in one of the Underworlds. Her parents send her to Eleanor's school to get 'better'. Here she finds she can be her new self but always hoping she can find the door back to her new home.

She is surrounded by a plethora of other characters that have had similar experiences like hers just in different worlds. Each have their problems.

It also becomes a bit of a murder mystery. It's not a super duper complicated, but it does give a bit of extra spice to the story line.

I read this book in two hours. I recommend it for those that like magical realism and fantasy as well as a bit of darkness.

I would love to see Nancy's world.  If you could go anywhere through a doorway, what kind of world you would wand to find?

THE GUN SELLER -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #3

Image from Goodreads

Okay, when I saw Hugh Laurie wrote a book, I was with the bandwagon that said, "Dr. House wrote a book! I'm down!"

So I knew that he was a musician as well. Those moments on House where he played the piano were real. So I was happy to choose his book for  Pop Sugar Challenge #3: A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction).

It started out swimmingly with a snarky but nice guy Thomas Lang. It ended up with what felt like a thousand characters and lots of political intrigue.

I got a bit lost on who was a good guy and who was a bad guy.

The book was okay, and I'm glad I read it. I wish I had enjoyed it more.

MASQUERADE AND THE NAMELESS WOMEN -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #4

Image from Goodreads

This one was a bit different from the rest. I didn't start to read it as one of the challenge books. I picked it up because it sounded twisted, which I admit, I needed considering all the lighthearted manga and books I've been reading.

Challenge four of the Pop Sugar Challenge is: A book you think should be turned into a movie.

I found that as soon as I got into the book, I actually said to myself (in my head) that I would love to watch this. It was then that I realized that there was a challenge that fit this idea.

I was attracted to the cover at first, but once I read the premise, I hesitated on buying it. I took the plunge and ate that puppy up in one day.

The premise isn't unfamiliar. Serial killer who works with police. The Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay is an example of this.

Masquerade and the Nameless Women was a fun read for me. I would really love to have a second book that pits the serial killer and the rookie cop obsessed with finding him together.

CHINA RICH GIRLFRIEND -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #34

image from Goodreads

I chose this book for: A book that includes a wedding. One -- because I read the first book and wanted to read the second, and Two -- because as soon as I saw it had a wedding in it, I was happy place it there (since I was not looking forward to finding a book with a wedding in it.)

I thought it was not quite as good as the first one. I wasn't a fan of the character Kitty Pong in the first book, and she ended up being a major character in this book.

Astrid's love life gets even more complex as Michael becomes an idiot when he makes millions. His whole personality changes into some monstrous version. I guess it was in him before, but it was sort of shocking to see.

I did enjoy the book enough to go on to the third one.

DRAGON BALL 4-6 3-IN-1 EDITION -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #40

image from Goodreads

Okay, so this one was a no brainer.  I have a huge collection of manga that I have to read, which includes Dragon Ball.

I made it one of my "resolutions" to read some of the completed series I have (as in the ones I didn't read last year).

So I chose Graphic Novel as Your favorite prompt from a past Popsugar Reading Challenge.

This version of Dragon Ball is the only English uncensored version out. The Big Editions from Viz are censored. I even checked with them to make sure.

Anyway, I've watched the entire series of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which i loved.  (Sigh, Vegeta.) So I decided to collect the manga because I like to read the source material.

It was fun. I love it. It's like watching the anime without the filler episodes. I'm hearing the voices and everything.

I could even place this under the nostalgia category, but I have something else in mind for that one.

So who else loves DB and DBZ? Whose watched and/or read it?  Who was your favorite character?

THE LITTLE PRINCE -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #22

image from Goodreads

This was one of the harder ones so far to fill for me.

Number 22 on the Popsugar Reading Challenge is: a book recommended by a celebrity you admire.

I'm not really into admiring celebrities much. Maybe a shallow glance at Facebook and People magazine blurbs about them. So it was hard to find one that I truly admire.

I ended up choosing Emma Watson. She is an advocate for many things. She also took her education seriously despite becoming a star as the bookworm witch, Hermione Granger.

She recommended The Little Prince.

I look back on the book and I still have no idea what I read. It was an amalgamation of children's story, philosophy, fantasy, life lessons, and I don't know what else.

It's the sort of book that takes two or three readings to get the deeper meanings of the work.  It's worth another read.

What does The Little Prince mean to you? Let me know in the comments below.

23 MINUTES -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #18

image from Goodreads

And so we come to the next of the Popsugar Reading Challenge books. The challenge parameter is: A book that takes place in a single day.

The proper name for these types of novels is called Circadian novels.

This one is by Vivian Vande Velde. She writes YA novels. My two favorites by her are Dragon's Bait and Companions of the Night. The first is a fantasy about a girl, a dragon, and revenge. The second has a girl, a vampire, and people trying to kill them.

The one I got from the library to read is 23 Minutes. This one is about a girl who can turn back time. She can only go back 23 minutes and only 10 times. Each "playback" (as the main character calls it) had unique elements each time.

I think the author did an amazing job. She told the same 23 minutes completely different each time. I must admit there were small repetitions, but event those were dissimilar.

I enjoyed the book immensely.

What would you change or fix if you could go back 23 minutes?

CRAZY RICH ASIANS -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #25

image from Goodreads

So I was at Walmart last Sunday. I was doing a bit of shopping and ended up passing the book section. (Yeah, okay, I deliberately went there. That section just calls to me and I cannot resist its temptations.)

Anyway, I saw this and picked it up. I had seen the movie with my sister when it went into Red Box. I enjoyed the movie enough to check out the book.

I'm glad I did. The book had way more drama than the movie. Not that the movie didn't have drama. Only the movie was more geared toward the comedic side of things.

The con is that there were A LOT of characters to keep track of including family members, and friends, and friend of friends, and kids of friends.  Also, there were footnotes that translated the language. They were translated the one time but sometimes things were used more than once. I didn't want to go back and look for the translation again.

I enjoyed the book.  Oliver has got to be one of my favorite characters in the movie and the book. Peik Lin Goh is another. I totally had Awkwafina's performance in my head as I read it.  She was amazing.

One of favorite lines that Peik Lin says is: "I have no idea who these people are. But I can tell you one thing—these people are richer than God."

Have you read or watched the movie? Who was your favorite character?

THE MARTIAN -- POPSUGAR READING CHALLENGE #14

image from Goodreads

This was on my reading list for the longest time. And I mean the loooongest time.

I saw it at the library and put it on my reading list (in hardback). I watched the movie; it was still on my reading list.  I got the paperback last year --- and it was still on my reading list.

So I finally broke down and picked it up for the Popsugar Reading Challenge #14: A book set in space.

Let me tell you, I loved it!!! I highly recommend the book.

The book was intelligent and funny and just plain cool.  The book had a bit more depth (naturally) and had some great new bits not seen in the movie.

One of my favorite scenes is still the moment where he calls himself a space pirate.  My other is when he razzes Carl Sagan about colonizing Mars.

So what were your favorite scenes or lines from the the book or movie?

GOOD 2019 EVERYONE!!

I've been busy for the last few months. The real life job has been full of books, books, and more books.

I had to use up the money from (I think) three grants before they expired. That meant A LOT of processing.  The good thing is that our public library now has a decent manga collection that I feed with my regular funds. 

The cool thing is that the stats for the collection was astounding. It had super high stats for the year.  It did better that some of our other collections. Woot!

Image from Playway.com

And it was not only books. There were a ton of playaways. Those are audio books. Tiny, portable, and can go just about anywhere.  They run on a AAA battery. 

I had two major projects in the works that had to be done. A major weeding of my Juvenile and YA sections.

Other than that, life has been going on. We were sadden to lose one of our fur babies. She was 17.

We were all depressed.

A month later, my brother brought home an impy little turd named Reba. She is a tiny 7 lb. bundle of Speedy Gonzalez energy. She has two motions stop and light speed.  She is also a sand worm from Dune. She burrows under the covers like one.  Nothing like getting a frigid nose butting your arm at 3 a.m. so she can bury herself under the covers.

I have decided to do the Popsugar Reading Challenge again. 

I know, I know. I tried in 2015 and didn't finish. This time I've planned ahead and found books to fit the categories ahead of time. So now I just have to read them.  Plus, I decided to do a reading log to go with it.

I've labeled the reading log with each of the Popsugar challenge categories ahead of time. Now I just fill in the pages with the books I choose.

I've also decided to pledge a set number of books in the Goodreads reading challenge, which I've never ever done before. I officially read 300 books (okay, mostly manga) last year. This year I said 250.

Sounds like a lot, but it's not really.

I also want to downsize my billions of books. So I'm bound and determined to read them and get rid of the ones I don't want anymore. 

So how has your January treated you?

ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER

Hi everyone.

Yes, I've been absent for a long time.

I've been grinding hard on the whetstone of life.

Work has been a big thing with Summer Reading Program in June and July. It was a blast. We did rocks, fossils, geodes, clay sculptures, and music. The theme this year was Libraries Rock.  Very easy to interpret into different things like music and geology.

And before that, I was having fun creating a new manga and light novel collection with grant funds for the library. Yes, it sounds horrible. Our public library has had no manga or graphic novels for the entirety of my life until last year.

I was a kid in a candy store! There are so many series that I couldn't make up my mind to get. But I had a poll I did and narrowed it down.

 I have Fairy Tail, Assassination Classroom, Death Note, Black Butler, SAO, and, of course Dragon Ball. As some of my shonen series.  Ouran HSHS, Black Bird, and some smaller shojo series.  For the kiddos, I got Legend of Zelda, Yokai Watch, and a host of new Disney/Tokyo Pop manga.

All in all, my colleague and I processed about 600+ manga on top of the regular monthly orders throughout 2017.

I've been reading quite a a bit too. My new obsession is light novels.  There are so many out there now. According to an article from Japanese Times, Yen On (a manga and light novel imprint of Hatchette Book Group) has had give or take a 1000% increase in four years.

I am definitely on this bandwagon. I love Sword Art Online, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon ?!, Death March To a Parallel World Rhapsody, No Game No Life, Your Name, Log Horizon, Arifureta, Irregular at Magic High School, I've Been Killing Slime For 300 Years and I Maxed Out My Level.

Many series are in the Isekai genre,  Isekai is the "I died and got reincarnated into another world. I was transported to another world. I was sucked into a video game world." or any variation on that theme.

In my experience so far, I find I want to read the books after watching the anime. Death March was one such series.  The anime only from book 1-3. There are now six books published. And now I hope the anime gets a second season so I can watch the next books come to life again.

Wow, that was a huge tangent I went off on.  Heh heh heh.

Anyway, that has been my life for the last while.

If you're a manga or anime fan give some light novels a try. If you are new to the light novel franchise,  there worlds to explore that can only be found in them.

If you have a favorite or want to ask about mu latest obsession, give me a buzz.

FULL METAL ALCHEMIST IS LIVE!

I just found the live action Fullmetal Alchemist movie on Netflix!!

So watching it as I type!

For those who do not know, FMA was created as an anime in the late 90s as well as a remake called FMA Brotherhood in the 2000s.  It was based on the manga of the same name.

There are anime movies as well as ovas for each series.

This has been on my watch list since the news of its production was released.

If it is as awesome as I hope, this will be a preorder.

Already two things I know will happen that will destroy me.  All I will say is Hughes and Shou Tucker.  Those that have seen the anime will know and those who haven't will not be spoiled.

I will now go hide with my tissues and blankie waiting to bawl my eyes out without regret or remorse.

WELCOME TO WINTER!

As yesterday was the Solstice, I'm wishing everyone a wonderful winter.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

MY NLA CONFERENCE: CRAZY LIBRARIANS RUNNING AMOK!

Hey everyone! Happy Halloween, Samhain, Dios de los Muertos, and whatever else you want to celebrate!

This is my post for the NLA-MPLA 2017 (Nevada Library Association- Mountain Plains Library Association) conference that took place in Tahoe.  It was three days of Hard Rock, Harveys, and librarians from all over the states.

We arrived for the early bird sessions.  I went to the Early Literacy one. It was an eye-opening session. It made me think about how important it is for kids to be happy and supported and to help them to learn to read.  I loved the booklet that was given to us. It is a very useful tool.

The vendors were all amazing. The A.W.E. station and the book vendors were really interesting.  The swag was awesome.

My favorite had to be the Rocky Mountain Puppets.  Their presentation was enjoyable and I loved every minute of it.  I hope we have the chance to get them here.

I was sad to miss the book signing with Dan Bar-el, but luckily, he was nice enough to sign extra books for those that couldn't make it.  He was one of the NYRA (Nevada Young Readers' Award) winners this year.

We stayed in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  There was a place to get good coffee. Needed my fix of chemical dependence or I can't function as a human.

We had a lovely dinner and lunch at the Lucky Beaver just across the street and a couple of doors down. Yummy, yummy food and some 'unique' titles for their meals.

All and all, I had a wonderful time with lots of fascinating information and great people.

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Reflections #atozchallenge

REFLECTIONS

So I was hedging on whether to do A to Z this year.  I was totally not going to do it.  Then, I watched Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale in theaters on March 9th.  It was a fantastic edition to the SAO franchise.  I loved it.  I love the anime and the light novels.

It inspired and excited me so much that the idea for this year's theme popped into my head then and there.

Thus, I ended up changing my mind.

So I did a headlong frenzy of name finding. I internet searched anime lists, I scoured my anime shelves and manga books, and racked my brain to find those ever elusive Q and X letters.

I had to hedge on only one this year. Stupid X.  But my X post happens to be in my top ten of absolute favorites. So, all was cool. I was happy about it once I resigned that there wasn't an X anime character name that I had watched and liked.

My first post was prewritten on March 13th and it went on from there. I finally got Y (yes, I finished Z before Y) on April 26th.

But the most wonderful thing was I didn't get sick in the midst of April like I usually do. So that was fantastic.

So onto the awesome and not so awesome.

Thank you everybody who visited my blog this year.  Real life kicked my bootie this year with Summer Reading Program prep as well as other catastrophies.  So I couldn't get to other blogs as much as I wanted. I wish I could have visited more but life before fun sometimes.

I really, really missed the linky list.  It was handy to tab out 10 or more blogs and see what was happening on them.  I had a few regulars but not many new ones popping up on my blog this year.

So that was the not so awesome.

The awesome was there were some amazing A to Z blogs I did find. There was the snarky and hilarious posts about Mythology, Hair Bands, and Folklore.

Here are some of the anime characters that didn't make the list that I love as well:

Agil - Sword Art Online
Amon - Witch Hunter Robin

Creed Disketh - Black Cat
Chidori Kaname - Full Metal Panic

Ein - Cowboy Beebop
Edgar - Earl and Fairy

Gintaru - Gingitsune
Goku - Dragon Ball

Hiei - Yu Yu Hakusho
Hagi/Haji - Blood+
Hayate - Pretear

Yuuko Ichihara - XXXHolic

Karma Akabane - Assassination Classroom
Kurapika - Hunter X Hunter
Krusty - Log Horizon
Klein - Sword Art Online

Levi - Attack on Titan

Mikona Modoki - XXXHolic and Tsubasa
Mamoru Kusanagi - Blue Seed
Major Motoko Kusanagi - Ghost in the Shell

Lucrezia Noin - Gundam Wing

Okarin - Stein's Gate

Ryo-Ohki - Tenchi Muyo
Raven - Earl and Fairy

Sephiroth - Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
Sadao Maou - The Devil is a Part Timer

Twilight Sazuka - Outlaw Star
Trunks - Dragon Ball Z
Thoth - Kamigami no Asobi

Vincent Valentine - Final Fantasy VII Advent Children

Yu Kanda - D Grayman
Heero Yui - Gundam Wing

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Zechs Merquise, Killua Zoldyck #atozchallenge

Zechs Merquise is the mysterious and gentlemanly OZ Gundam pilot. His past is hidden like his face behind a mask. He is one of the leaders of Oz in Gundam Wing.

He faces one of the five young Gundam pilots from the spaces colonies in combat, dueling him in the Arctic because their battle was interrupted.

He was once the crown prince of the Sanc Kingdom (say-nkt) whose family and kingdom was destroyed by the United Earth Sphere Alliance. Millardo Peacecraft died and Zechs was born.

He turns back on OZ when his sister Relana becomes a player in politics to end OZ's tyranny.

☇☇☇☇☇☇

Killua Zoldyck is Gon's best friend in the Anime Hunter X Hunter.  He is also the shining star of the Zoldyck family of assassins. Seeing him for the first time, one wouldn't think so since he acts just like a normal teen. He calmly rides his skateboard as he initiates a conversation with Gon during the first test of the Hunter's Exam. Although there are a few subtle hints that he is more than he appears before the exam.

His parents have high hopes for him to become the next leader despite having older siblings.

This is a family that is beyond dysfunctional.  Torture as punishment (I mean whips and chains and other various devices) is like grounding for them. His father finally lets him return to his friends, knowing that letting him go would return him to the fold eventually.

Killua has no qualms about ripping hearts out of people when he's in a bad mood.

He changes when he meets Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio. He becomes stronger and softens at the same time. His loyalty to them puts him in harms way more than once.

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Yusuke Urameshi #atozchallenge

To die to save a life can be noble especially if the person doing the saving is an unrepentant street fighter and slacker with a cruddy home life.  This is what happens to Yusuke Urameshi in Yu Yu Hakusho.

He found out that the boy he tried to save would have survived without his interference so his death was basically in vain as Botan tells him. She then goes to explain that he could come back to life since his death was unexpected although the conditions to return were strict.

After his return, he becomes a Spirit Detective for Koemna.

Yusuke's smart-mouth, delinquency, intimidation, fighting, and huge chip on his shoulder all conceal that he is a kind individual that loves his friends deeply.

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

And because this is the one of the final A to Z posts, here's a bit of trivia: the writer Togashi Yoshihiro is also the writer of Hunter X Hunter. He is also married to the writer of Sailor Moon Takeuchi Naoko.

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Xingese Prince #atozchallenge

Xingese Prince Ling Yao is the twelfth crown prince of Xing and is from the Anime Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Ling Yao is one of the new character that was introduced in this remake of FMA. 

 He comes from the kingdom of Xing, which is in a state of crisis and chaos.  He becomes involved with the Elric brothers and with the homunculi when he fuses with the Homunculus Greed. 

He ends up becoming a pivotal character in the series.

He travels from his home country of Xing to Amestris for the Philospher's Stone, which has similar characteristics as the one of fable. But to make this stone, it requires to a horrible sacrifice.  People in FMAB fight and die to find and have this stone.

He is highly trained in martial arts, which definitely comes in handy during the show. He also has studied the Xingese version of alchemy, which led him west to find the Philosopher's Stone. 

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Washu Habuki, Walter C. Dornez #atozchallenge

Washu is the 'mad scientist' of Tenchi Muyo and the other various Tenchi shows and spin-offs. She has a lab in the closet of Tenchi's house.

She was, at one time, a goddess. She sealed her powers and memories away and came down to the third dimension to study the multiverse.

Ryo-Ohki

Her life wends through thousands upon thousands of years as a three dimensional person. She becomes a mother but the father takes him away. She creates Kagato, Ryoko, and Ryo-Ohki.

When we see her in Tench Muyo she is in a childlike body.

𝖂𝔚𝒲𝑾𝕎

Walter is the butler and somewhat bodyguard of Hellsing.

 He is known as the Angel of Death when he was in the field. He was a foul mouthed and callow youth, taunting his enemies and wantonly killing them. His weapon of choice was razor wires.

He grew out of the youth and turned into a dignified gentleman. He also produces the weapons that Alucard and Seras use. Now, he kills with swift efficiency.

A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Vegeta #atozchallenge

And we are back to the dulcet tones of grunting and yelling as warriors power up in another edition of Dragon Ball Z.  This time is the enemy turned Z Warrior, Vegeta, prince of all saiyans. (Of course, Frieza destroyed the saiyan planet and all the saiyans are dead except for Goku and Vegeta, but really does that matter to royalty.

Vegeta is as arrogant as the mountains under the ocean are high and an ego as long as the distance between the moon and sun. He thinks he's the best of the best because he is prince.  He doesn't understand how Goku can be more powerful.

Vegeta comes to Earth to take it over and sell it, which gets all the Z warriors involved.  After the epic showdown between Goku and Vegeta, Goku lets him go despite Krilin's warning to kill him.  Goku proves that he is right when Vegeta helps them on Namek later.

His quest to beat Goku becomes one of the long running threads in the series. It goes from pride's sake to one where he wants to push himself farther.

He returns to Earth, still cold and snotty and ruthless.  He slowly mellows as time goes by. He even becomes a family man. A hardened warrior going to an amusement park with his son. Yeah, not something I pictured either but it happens.