bookblogging: "well, damn" is more or less the theme here

[cerusee]

As it happens.

YA:

Jones, Diana Wynne: Enchanted Glass
(solid work.

It's really sad to think its probably her last, but she's put out several (good) books in the last few years, so what the fuck could I have to complain about. I have had literally my whole lifetime of Diana Wynne Jones's books; I count my blessings, and find them to be numerous and lovely. This woman has brought so very much joy and wisdom into my life: I reveled in her books alongside my older and younger sisters even when I didn't get along very well with those sisters; we all still love her books today. I have gone back to her stories dozens of times and not found them wanting, not ever. I love her, I love her works, I love everything she brought to my life.

I'm really sad, but I have a lot to be thankful for).

Romance:

Brockman, Suzanne: Over the Edge
(Man, I wanted to like this; I bet I never again run across a military romance author so pleasantly enlightened about feminism and homosexuality. And hey, it didn't suck; she can write a decent sentence, at least. But the sex was never all that sexy, and I only liked the A-plot, not the B, C, or D-plots. Brockman seems like a good person; I wish she was a better writer).

Beverly, Jo: The Devil's Heiress.

Balogh, Mary: A Summer to Remember
(I liked it more as a book than a romance. There are worse complaints, I guess).


Manga:

Azuma Kiyohiko: Yotsuba& vol. 8.

CLAMP: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle vol. 26
(Well, damn).

Nakamura Yoshiki: Skip*Beat vols. 16-20
(Oh, I had so much to say about these volumes! But I didn't write it down, and I kinda forgot most of it. I think it was ranting along the lines of how amazing this manga is for allowing Kyoko to remain the focus of the manga even in a storyline where she'd normally be sidelined--I mean, in what other shoujo manga do you expect a storyline nominally dedicated to mending fences between the delectable leading man Ren and his estranged dad to end up focused on said dad's budding mentoring of/hilarious feuding with Kyoko? (God, that was cool.) I love Nakamura and her genius for writing Kyoko. I could read this for a hundred more years; given the glacially slow development of plot, it would only generate ten years or so of actual story...).

Urasawa Naoki: Pluto vol. 8

Yoshinaga Fumi: Ooku vol. 3.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It makes me sad that that's DWJ's last book! I mean, I still have a bunch left to read, but...

And I know EXACTLY what you mean about the Balogh. (Though, I think that's true of most of the romance novels I like.)

I also agree about Skip-Beat. Naturally.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

When I go months in between reading volumes of Skip*Beat, I sometimes forget exactly it is so fabulous that it's important to have an entire shelf devoted to its 20-and-counting volumes. The art basically sucks and it's paced a tad on the slow side. And then it does something like THIS--making a story about the love interest's angsty past a major, critical, and positive step in Kyoko's personal development in ways totally unrelated to her relationship with the love interest, and I cling to the books and think, I will never find another as wonderful as you as long as I live.

One of the things I like about Jo Beverley is that even in her less-good books, even when I find the overall plot lacking, or I am not totally into the characters, I am still usually moved by the sense of romance between the leads, and the sex scenes are hot and I actually want to read them. I didn't get any of that sex/love thrill from the Balogh. But Balogh's prose is pretty good, and I liked the characters a lot, and I was satisfied by the arc of their story. So I will read more.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

The news about DWJ is so awful.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Why would it be DWJ's last book? (I know she's getting a bit old, but is there something else going on?)

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Apparently, she's been fighting lung cancer for some time, and it just recurred, and she is choosing not to do chemo. So, as my sister told me, she probably has months to live.

[skygiants]

I am wildly repressing the knowledge that this is likely to be DWJ's last book.

(But you're right that there is so very much to be thankful for.)