bookblogging

Novels/prose books:

Klein, Naomi: The Shock Doctrine
(when my dad recommended this to me, he said, "I'm sure you don't have much time for reading these days." Honesty compelled me to reply, "I have nothing BUT time for reading these days."

This book chillingly and persuasively draws the lines between the dots of torture, mental and economic shock, and the radical end of the ideology of the totally unregulated free market. I wouldn't have drawn the line myself, but when I see it, I believe it. Generally, I have no interest in bringing politics into this blog, but I will say this: I have no use for social liberalism if it's coupled with economic conservatism, or: it means nothing to blandly smile on people's right to be gay and alive and not jailed, be anything other than white, and alive and not jailed, or to be a woman, and alive and not jailedl, if you don't also believe in the rights of human beings to be able to have food, shelter, and employment. Economics are politics. Wealth and poverty are political. I've noticed that there is a remarkable consistency on this: it's not considered impolite to talk about money unless you have it when other people don't.

The Dispossessed is still radical when The Left Hand of Darkness has come within hailing distance of the norm. That means a great deal).


Graphic novels:

Geary, Rick: A Treasury of Victorian Murder: The Case of Madeleine Smith
(This reminded me rather of Strong Poison. I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility that Sayers could have been referencing it, although considering how many people must have been murdered with poison over the course of history, and how many of those cases might have been reported and covered in newspapers, there's no particular reason to think that she would have been referencing this one.

This is a less mysterious sort of mystery than most of the books in the Treasury, since it's clearly rather unlikely that Smith didn't murder her lover, but very interesting anyway, as Smith went on to become part of the social sphere of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood).


Van Meter, Jen, author, Christie Norrie and Ross Campbell, artists: Hopeless Savages vol. 3.


Manga:

Oda Eiichiro: One Piece vols. 1-2
(I can see the appeal, but I really don't love it).

bookblogging

Graphic novels/comics/cartoons:

McGruder, Aaron: The Boondocks: All the Rage
(technically a reread, since I read all these strips in the paper--well, most of them, anyway Well-worth the reading for the reprints of news articles and interviews with McGruder).

Castellucci, Cecil, author, and Jim Rugg, artist: The Plain Janes
(I feel that this has the makings of a decent book, but never quite hits the mark. I was pleased that the flat, cliched portrayal of the high school caste system picked up an inch or so of depth by the end of the book, but it's a lousy start, and the thing lacks nuance. I've heard there's a sequel to this coming out--perhaps it'll be better. I'd really rather read a sequel to Kimmie66 or The Re-gifters, or even Confessions of a Blabbermouth, though).

Dirge, Roman: Something at the Window is Scratching
(worth the price of admission, but ye gods, what an inane foreword. "Children's imaginations are so much bloodier and more grotesque than adult imaginations!" I am paraphrasing that, but nevertheless, way to over-generalize on the nature of children's brains, Mr. Vasquez).


Manga:

Usui Yoshito: Crayon Shin-chan vol. 2
(I don't know what prompted me to pick this up, since when I read volume 1 last year, I found the intensity of the toilet humor too off-putting to be funny. Maybe it's the kind of thing that you just get used to, because I enjoyed it more in this volume, and it's certainly not the material that changed.

The copy I read was the old ComicsOne version, not the rerelease by CMX, which come to think of it, is probably only up to vol. 1 anyway. Something I did not notice in vol. 1 that I did notice here: either the translation or the adaptation is awful. It's riddled with typos--I know all books have them, but this has noticeable typos in every chapter--the translator chose not to even try to tackle puns, and left them in Japanese, and the equivalents given for amounts of yen keep changing from chapter to chapter. I suspect that the variation reflects the normal fluctuation of the exchange rate, and that the translation of different chapters took place over time, but it's very jarring, and there's no translator's notes to clarify the discrepancies.

Individually, none of these things are deal-breakers, but cumulatively, they reflect a less-than-professional effort that is inappropriate in commercial work. You may recall I made a similar complaint about Netcomics and Pine Kiss. I'll cut a lot of slack over genuine translation issues, even the deliberate choice to emphasize literalism over smooth dialogue, but I take exception to cases where it's clear that the publisher isn't trying very hard).

Japanese mystery and mystery manga

Crossposted to manga_talk.

Manga fans and mystery fans, I need your help!


I've been asked to put together some mystery-themed Japanese literature and manga for an event next spring. Despite the fact that I am a huge mystery buff, when I went looking, I realized I only know a few mystery manga titles, and absolutely nothing about Japanese mystery prose. Can anyone recommend some titles to me? English-language translations and U.S. publication are preferred, as is stuff that's still in print.*

I already know about Kindaichi Case Files, Case Closed (aka Detective Conan), Kamen Tantei, and Spiral: The Bonds of Reason. I also am familiar with Phantom Thief-esque titles, thriller titles and mystery/horror/supernatural titles such as Ghost Hunt, Lupin III, Man of Many Faces, Death Note, and Monster. Any additions I can make to this list would be greatly appreciated! Please, tell your friends, hit up that guy you met at the con. Reply here, at the entry in manga_talk, or e-mail me at alicegakuen3 at yahoo dot com.



*However, feel free to suggest untranslated, not-in-the-US, and out-of-print material, as long as it's identified as such--if nothing else, it'll be handy background information for me.