TOP TEN TUESDAYS | Not by the Cover

Last time, I used this weekly tag to break up the monotony. Now, I have them two in a row. Oh lol.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday the ten things that make me pick up a book.

I will try not to make this solely about NA romance. I’m still quite picky when it comes to that genre while I’m pretty much open to anything else. Maybe not Christian fiction. I mean, after strictly reading fantasy and mystery, I managed to find myself up to the eyeballs in romance.

With so many books out there, we all somewhat have stuff that tickles our fancy. Something that makes us pick that one book over the 1500 others in the same pile. Something that we gravitate towards in the sea of different genres available. And here is my list:

(I figured I’ll put the romance related stuff first.)

1. Age gap romances.
   It’s not a guilty pleasure. I genuinely am trash for this trope. If a book features a significant age gap between the main characters, same sex or otherwise, I’m there. Most of my NA reads so far have age gaps and I have a couple more in my ever growing TBR list. I picked up Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas because of this.
2. Royal relationships.
   Or the “rich guy-poor girl” trope in general. What can I say, I grew up watching Taiwanese drama. 😉 I like it better when there’s a royal aspect in a relationship. Not exactly fairy tale vibes but more on the difference in social status.
3. M/M romance.
   Especially if it’s done well. I’ve read many in the past where it’s sensationalized and simply not written well and it turned me off from the subgenre for a while. However, I read how Sarina Bowen does M/M and I’m hooked all over again. Try listening to an M/M romance audio book. You’ll thank me later.
4. Taboo/forbidden relationships.
   Maybe romance, maybe not. This, I can call a guilty pleasure. I hesitate to admit this some times but I can’t lie… this trope makes me so curious. It started with Priest by Sierra Simone. I don’t have to tell you what that is about, right?
5. Adventure thrillers similar to Dan Brown and James Rollins.
   I read and loved all of Dan Brown’s work and same with James Rollins, although I have yet to read all his books. I met him last week and it was amazing. He’s been one of my favorite authors since 2011. Listening to the audio versions of these kinds of books is fun too. It’s like you’re on the adventure with them.
6. Japanese crime thrillers.
   The Japanese write the best crime novels. Keigo Higashino is definitely my favorite. It’s so subdued and very simple. And yet, they really give you a thrill. Some do shock like Confessions and Penance by Kanae Minato. You think you know what’s going on but one the very last page, they spring something huge. It either leaves you so very satisfied… or in tears!
7. True crime.
   I don’t read nearly enough true crime but I do love watching documentaries. I have one true crime novel to read for 2019. It’s slow going but I have the whole year to get through it. I admit, I watch more documentaries but I would also like to read more of this genre.
8. Holocaust/WWII.
   Non-fiction, YA, espionage, thriller… you name it. Yes, even documentaries. Although I didn’t quite enjoy The Diary of Anne Frank. Sorry.
9. Multi-format books.
   Think Illuminae and Night Film. They (literally) break up the blocks of text. And these types of books go by fast because the multimedia aspect takes up space and next thing you know, you’re halfway through the book.
10. If I liked the anime…
    I admit, this is how I find out most of my manga loves. If I liked the anime, I’ll check out the manga… not just to continue the story, but from the very beginning. One of the few mangas I read before the anime is Ten Count because… see #3. 😉 Same with Boku no Hero Academia for a bit until it became crazy popular in the West and the fans terrify me caught up with me and I kind of fell off the wagon. And quite frankly, I don’t want to catch up to the manga source materials yet. After all, volumes count as read count on GoodReads. LMAO.

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That’s my list. It looks more like favorite tropes but it’s not. What a book looks like is immaterial to me because I do most of my reading digitally or audibly. Maybe I should put on here something about the narrator? Then again, I can’t control that. If I can’t with the narrator, I can also read the book, no biggie.

I’m interested to see what’s on your list. 🙂

TOP TEN TUESDAYS | Audio books are BOOKS

To break up the readathon and wrap-up posts, here’s a weekly prompt. I haven’t done one of these in a while.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is an audio freebie.

My knee-jerk reaction is to talk about how much I love anisong but then I realized that this is a book blog and I’m sure y’all won’t be interested in that lol. That’s okay. I myself have not listened to English-language songs in 5+ years so no judgment here.

Podcasts? I love them. I wish I can listen to more, especially the true crime ones. So why don’t I? Well… audio books.

I’m lucky that I can freely listen to audio books at my job. I’ve gone through so many in the past couple of years and enjoyed the medium very much. Honestly, I never thought that I would come to love audio books. I first tried it when I was reading Game of Thrones by George RR Martin, half reading and half listening. Then back when I was rereading Jane Eyre yearly, I found the audio version on Spotify. Now, Aidios has blessed us with Overdrive and Hoopla. I never looked back.

Coming up with my favorite audio titles was easy. Listening to these books on audio definitely contributed to my enjoyment of the books – whole series – and I don’t think I’ll love them as much if I read them myself. Of course, the opposite is also true. I have DNF’d audio books because either the narrator didn’t click with me or for Japanese fiction specifically, I had an issue on how the narrator pronounced certain names and places. 😉 Most of these books I own physically anyway so who knows.

I could have included more titles but for some of them, I loved the narration but couldn’t care for the story itself. All The Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater is one of those. Thom Rivera‘s narration was amazing. However, I can’t remember anything about the story. I recently sort of DNF’d You by Caroline Kepnes on audio because I just couldn’t get into it.

But enough of the negative. Here are the ones that I liked:

1. The Sigma Force series by James Rollins.
   Narrated by Various.
   I’ve read majority of the series on audio. Almost all of them are available on Hoopla, no wait time. Listening to adventure thrillers is always a joy. It’s like you’re going on an adventure yourself. It doesn’t matter who narrates it, I love James Rollins’ work. They’re very enjoyable to read also. And by the way, I’m going to his signing this Thursday at Vroman’s Bookstore!
2. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.
   Narrated by Cassandra Campbell.
   There’s something atmospheric about Japanese fiction on audio. This book is just… gorgeous. I encourage you to read it, listen to it. It has less than 5 characters but a story so rich, it will stay with you for a long time.
3. Goodbye Paradise and Hello Forever by Sarina Bowen.
   Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Dake Bliss.
   I honestly prefer to read my NA but when it comes to M/M romance, audio FTW! LMAO. I like another Teddy Hamilton performance, When It’s Real by Erin Watt. Call me crazy but there’s something about a male voice rumbling in your ear while reading out loud passages of… you know what I mean. Plus these books are told from two perspectives, thus, two narrators.
4. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee.
   Narrated by Christian Coulson.
   Two words: Tom Riddle. At least in the Chamber of Secrets movie. He brought Monty to life. He brought the whole book to life. I laughed out loud… something I rarely do for audio books. I also listened to the sequel on audio but I prefer this one more because of the narrator.
5. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.
   Narrated by Rebecca Soler.
   I read all four books on audio. There was no way I’ll be able to do that back-to-back without the help of audio books. Especially Winter. I think Rebecca Soler’s narration played a huge part as to why I devoured this series so fast. She did all the voices, especially Iko; I waited for all her parts and oh how I loved them all. This was some solid narrating. It’s amazing.
6. The Conqueror’s Saga by Kiersten White.
   Narrated by Fiona Hardingham.
   Thank Aidios for audio book narrators. I don’t have to figure out how to pronounce foreign names. I do own all the books in hardcover, signed, but I listened to this series on audio. I encouraged my brother to do the same and we both loved the hell out of it. Her voice between Lada and Radu are so distinct. For everyone else really. If you’re interested in reading this series but intimidated by its scale, try the audio.
7. Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino.
   Narrated by David Pittu.
   I normally go back and forth between reading and listening to Higashino works. This one is by far my favorite narration. The characters felt so alive and there was not a dull moment. Higashino’s style of writing is not entirely fluid, more episodic. David Pittu makes it so seamless. And he pronounced all the Japanese in a way that it didn’t annoy me.
8. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.
   Narrated by Xanthe Elbrick.
   This is one of those special cases where I chose to listen to this after DNF’ing the physical book. There is a character in the book named Death. But it’s pronounced as Deeth, like teeth. They explain it in the book early on but I just couldn’t. I read both Graceling and Fire and was looking forward to Bitterblue but it took me almost a year to give up on the “Death, like teeth” situation and listened to the audio book.
9. Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor.
   Narrated by Khristine Hvam and Kevin T. Collins.
   I listened to the last two books in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy including this stand alone spin-off about Zuzana and Mik. I loved how Khristine Hvam portrayed Zuzana and I wanted more of that. I got a whole book of it!
10. As for my 10th pick, I can’t help it. Please try listening to ANISONG. Anime songs. Theme songs. There’s a special kind of joy when you hear opening/closing songs from your favorite anime performed live. My brother and I have attended a couple of such concerts and we’re hoping to attend Animelo Summer Live someday. Go pick your favorite anime of the moment – Say…
    • My Hero Academia. The Day by Porno Graffitti.
    • Haikyuu. Imagination by SPYAIR.
    • The Idolmaster: Side M. Here’s the PV for Glorious Stage Side Makuhari.
    • B-Project. Muteki*Dangerous by THRIVE, KiLLER KiNG, and MoonS.
    • And my personal ultimate favorite, from Your Lie in April, Hikaru Nara by Goose House.

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Whew, I haven’t done a long post in a while. I really do love audio books. While composing this, I finished Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard. And I’ll probably start something to add to my Sequelathon TBR.

I’m open to audio book suggestions. Especially Fantasy. I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary romances lately.

WRAP-UP | JANUARY 2019

I wanted to start the year strong but for some reason, I only managed to read six things. It’s not bad but I can’t help but compare. I know I’m not supposed to, I do. I got sidetracked by other stuff, one of them being another book I’m reading long term.

February is shaping up to be the same. Oh well, with two more vacations lined up for me this year, I’m glad I put my yearly goal to 25 books. LMAO.

Anyway, my reading had a rocky start with 3 consecutive 3-star reads but then it was followed by three 5-star reads. Let’s see how my month went.

TOTAL BOOKS READ: 6.

• Kemono Friends: Welcome to Japari Park! Omnibus by Furai – It was entertaining but I very much enjoy the anime more. It follows a different story and ezo red fox’s character is very different vs the portrayal in the manga. This is how I usually enjoy my manga: I stumble upon the anime first then read the manga. I wonder if my enjoyment of the manga would differ if I did it the other way around. 3/5 stars.
• Haikyuu, Volume 26 by Haruichi Furudate – That… was a long way to a 7-4 score. O___O As I understand, it’s going to be like this moving forward. Also, I need to re-read the Nekoma vs Fukurodani vs Nohebi parts because of the new stage play this spring. Super excited for that! 3/5 stars.
• Dr. OB by Max Monroe – I liked it overall but there are some parts that I just could not care about. I felt that there were parts of the story we could’ve done without. Especially the different bodily fluids. Sure, fluff is needed to pad a book but a lot of the extra stuff here didn’t do much for the story. I’d much rather read about the other employees of the hospital or the friends they have than an exploding menstrual cup. 3/5 stars.
• Hello Forever by Sarina Bowen – Holy crap, this was SUPER cute. OMG. I want more books in this series! I read the first one some time last year and that was cute too. I would like to read more M/M fiction and most of the ones I find are rather on the dark side. This one was light and fluffy. I loved it so much. 5/5 stars.
• Torn by Carian Cole – You know me and my affection for age gap romances done right. I lived for the angst and tension between everyone involved. It was definitely a complicated relationship between Kenzi and Toren, considering their situation and age gap but somehow, it all made sense. All the decisions made by all parties were realistic and reasonable. The storyline about the mom was a bit out of nowhere but in the end, I saw why it had to be done. 5/5 stars.
• My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata – I’ve always wanted to read this when I saw this at Kinokuniya. It was surprisingly dark and light-hearted at the same time. It was funny, raw, and real. 5/5 stars.

STATS:

• 1596 pages
• 2 audio books, 3 manga

While I received a crapton of Nendoroids and otaku merch in January, I did not purchase a single book. I started watching book hauls on Youtube again but my self-control is still very strong LMAO. I still love my Overdrive and Hoopla library apps, mainly for audio books and both have been a huge help.

 

#T5W | 2019 Reading Resolutions

This week is a freebie so we’ll be talking about my 2019 reading resolutions.

January is basically one big wrap up and look ahead. This is my “look ahead” part. I actually wrote it down in my bujo… reading resolutions rather than ordinary resolutions. That’s more doable, in my opinion.

I won’t keep you long. I’ve been sitting on this list ever since I missed the topic at the very beginning of the month. Good thing there’s a freebie week.

1. Read more New Adult.
   I keep acquiring NA titles but I still hesitate on reading most of them. I feel uneasy when I notice that I’m reading one author’s entire backlist over something else in my TBR. Or I’d read a recent acquisition vs a longtime TBR resident. I also have feelings of not wanting to burn myself out of a certain trope that I like. But at the end of the day, it’s okay to go through an author’s work back-to-back-to-back even if it’s not in a series. Yes, it can get repetitive and trope-y but I really do enjoy them a lot. It’s also okay to double up – reading and listening – to books from the same genre. I just have to pace myself and go genre breaks from time to time.
2. Read more manga.
   … apart from the list of things I’m catching up on currently. There are so many manga series out there… on-going, finished, BL. Try something new. Binge-read a finished series. Get over my preference of tankobon volumes vs chapter releases.
3. Participate in more readathons.
   Tome Topple and Smutathon introduced me to books that I wouldn’t otherwise try to read. It also somehow forces me to read more, to read under time pressure, and make it a point to make time to read because I have a goal. And no, it does not take the fun out of reading. I’m also getting better at not being pressured by challenge prompts and JUST READ.
4. Read physical books.
   I may be favoring e-readers and audio books lately but I still like and own a lot of physical books. Especially signed ones. I went through a year of buying books left and right, collecting, and completing series. Then eventually, I did good and bought less than 10 books in six months. A lot of my Japanese fiction books are in physical format so maybe I’ll start with them.
5. Read true crime novels.
   Venture into the non-fiction world through by favorite subgenre. I’ve always wanted to read true crime but my podcasts scratch my itch. I’m reading one right now but no pressure… I’m treating it as a long-term project.

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Wasn’t that easy? 🙂

What are your reading resolutions?

TOP TEN TUESDAYS | This year, maybe?

My January posts are looking like one big review and wrap up of my 2018 reading activities. Thanks to these weekly prompts, I get more motivated to actually sit down and write out these posts. It’s quite interesting to me to read other people’s best/worst lists and other similar topics. I hope you’re finding mine interesting too.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday the ten books I meant to read in 2018 but didn’t get to.

But here’s the thing… I’m not much of a TBR person. I use my GoodReads “to-read” list mostly to catalog the books that either I own or NA titles that I want to read but I’m just waiting for a sale on Kindle. LOL, I know… it makes more sense in my head vs on paper. Anyway, the point is, I don’t do TBRs. I may have a list of things that I want to read at that time but nothing set in stone. Also, I no longer follow new releases so I have no idea what’s up and coming. I’ll try to make it to ten but we’ll see.

One last thing, this is NOT a 2019 TBR. At least, not officially. Some of these titles will be read this year but I’m not out to strike them all out of this list in the next 12 months. I might be able to do that but I won’t be making a conscious effort to do it. And now, on to the list!

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1. The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin.
   I fully intended to read this in 2018 but I always got the mood to pick it up during my vacations. I told myself that this book will be my last read of 2018 but then I went to Japan and no reading was done at all.
2. Balance by Lucia Franco.
   Super hot and super-duper taboo. I’ve skimmed through this book and oh man, it’s quite intense. I want to read it so badly but I didn’t feel I was ready. Some time this year, I hope. 😉
3. Mecha Samurai Empire by Peter Tieryas.
   I told myself I’ll read this while on the plane to Japan. Nope, didn’t happen. I’m thinking of picking up a physical copy because I have a hunch that this is one of those books that I’d rather read a hard copy vs digital. I hope I’m right.
4. Vengeful by VE Schwab.
   I pre-ordered a signed copy and I had all the intentions of reading it as soon as possible. But I had readathons lined up when I received this in the mail and for some reason, it got pushed back until I had no desire to read anything else but New Adult books. But VE Schwab is one of my favorite authors of all time so I’ll get to this sooner rather than later.
5. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown.
   Another signed pre-order. I even have an ARC copy. I planned to read this during Tome Topple but it was right in the middle of AX2018 so yeah, that’s as good as a vacation. No reading was done apart from 3 chapters of this book. I stopped not because of disinterest but I had no time. Then I heard not too favorable things about it from Red Rising fans so… yeah. Idk.

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And honestly, the rest of the list is made up of New Adult titles. Towards the end of 2018, I got reintroduced to NA and romance and I finally found stuff that I liked. A LOT. But again, I’m in no hurry. I have a lot of older NA titles on my TBR list but I do find myself reading my recently acquired stuff. Eh, reading has no rules! LMAO.

 

T5W | The Most Disappointing Reads of 2018

This week, we are talking about the most disappointing reads of 2018.

Thanks to these weekly prompts, I have the motivation to do year-end posts like this one.

You see, I’m quite easy to please. I am pretty generous with my 4 and 5 stars. I give it almost immediately after I finished reading. So for me to rate something a 3 below, that meant I didn’t really like it or I had time to brew and think about it. My 5 stars are mostly knee-jerk reactions while my low ratings went through a process. I can’t explain it but there you are.

And since I give out high ratings left and right, it was quite hard to find books that disappointed me. I’m usually pretty good at picking things that I might like more than everything else. And for some genres, I don’t go in with the highest of expectations. I tend to have strong reactions – positive or negative – towards a work but I admit I have a hard time rating some books low. But hey, what’s bad to me might be good to you. It’s all relative.

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Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet by Leisa Rayven.
I’m treating this as one entry. I also own the 3rd one in the series but I’m not sure if I even want to pick that up. (I might because it features the only character in this whole thing that I liked.) I listened to this on audio and while I did enjoy the dual POV narration, the characters were not good. I admit, I went into this series with high expectations. I remember this being one of the first romance/NA-ish books that caught my interest. It resonated with the theatre lover in me and I was all for it. The premise had potential. The writing was nothing special. But the thing that killed it was the main group of characters. I could not wait for the book to be over and once it was, I almost hate-reviewed it. Just… no.

The Young Elites by Marie Lu.
This hurts a bit. I loved all the other Marie Lu books I read so I had high hopes for this one. Like with the previous entry, I did not like the characters, especially Adelina. This book didn’t leave much of an impression on me that I can’t even remember what happened. But I do remember disliking Adelina. A lot. Now, I’m not even sure if I want to continue. I own all three books in the series… signed. And I know they are readily available on audio. But yeah, do I want to continue? Not sure.

The Library of Souls by Richard Denney.
This one was hard, guys. I like Richard’s booktube content and I know how hard he worked on this book and how excited he was for it. But it needed some major editing. So much that the errors were super distracting. Again, the premise had something good going on for it but it read like a draft. I wanted to love it, I really did. But I just couldn’t get over the technical mistakes because there were so many.

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas.
I was expecting some nice little novella about the rest of the Circle but noooo, we got another Feyre/Rhys sexfest. Nope. Gimme Azriel.

Sinner by Sierra Simone.
Honestly, I went in for the smut. What I got was profound and philosophical views about life, love, and death. Whut? Priest was HOT. This had its moments but because of the first book, I was expecting something along the same lines as that. I expected taboo smut from Sierra Simone and yes, this had that but I expected… hotter taboo smut, I guess? Eh.

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There you have it. I think these five were the only disappointing reads of 2018 for me. I had high expectations for all of these but all of them fell short. Don’t ask me which 5 are my best picks because that is a harder list to do. XD

#T5W | For the Anime Lovers in Your Life

This week, we are talking about Books to Give ANIME FANS as Gifts.

I have reader friends and anime friends. I have no idea how much they overlap. I hope I find that out with this topic. I know they’re out there somewhere. 😉

I admit I had a slightly difficult time composing this list. I am reading mostly contemporary NA romance lately but in general, I prefer my reading to be more fantasy and sci-fi. However, I lean towards the slice-of-life genre in my anime. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for mecha and isekai but whenever I just want to relax and have an anime playing to pass the time, I like my guys ikemen (playing a sport or an instrument or cooking) and girls kawaii (also playing a sport or an instrument or crushing over someone). Not to say that that doesn’t happen in fantasy anime though.

Here are my picks for this topic. I will also include anime recommendations and explain as best as I can why I associated these books to fans of the anime I will mention.

(I’ve used this photo so many times but hey, I like it.)

The Illuminae Files trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.
One word: MECHA. This trilogy is sort of a space opera complete with airships, machines, robots, artificial intelligence and all that jazz. It fits well with the Gundam and Macross franchises because it’s a battle in space between different airships and planets. I can even mention it to fans of Space Battleship Tiramisu for shits and giggles.

Warcross duology by Marie Lu.
It’s already set in Japan with Japanese characters. It’s an intense tournament, sort of like the Hunger Games minus the actual killing of players. And can you imagine all the colors when this is animated? Some parts gave me Psycho Pass vibes and I really saw it in my head. It’s non-stop action. It’s like watching an anime without filler episodes.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang.
Wotakoi vibes, anyone? This totally has a slice-of-life feel with a lot of romance – and adult – aspects in it. There are anime that toe the line between risque and full on hentai and I love those. I’m currently listening to this book for Smutathon as I type this and oh goodness me, it’s so adorable.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor.
This is for my fantasy anime lovers. Think Phantom of the Twilight — magic and fantasy in an urban setting. It’s a bit on the darker side and that can totally work in anime. Anything goes.

Train Man by Hitori Nakano.
This is cheating a little bit because this already has a live action adaptation. This is a Japanese book written in a sort of Reddit format. It takes a bit of getting used to but it’s so super cute.

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You know, I can cast voice actors for these roles right now if I had the time. It’ll probably the same handful of people though… just like sports anime. XD

 

#T5W | A few months to go

This week, we are talking about Books You Want to Read Before 2019.

I’m not much for TBRs. I tend to read what is available and convenient at that time. Especially when it comes to audio books. I will read it if it’s available. More often than not, the books that I want to read at that moment are so very popular that the waiting list is a mile long. Nope, if all else fails, I listen to a James Rollins book.

But I do have a list of things that I really do want to read before the year ends. This is a quick list. I wanted to have this up when I got to work but now I’m about to leave, I’m still typing this out!

The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin.
I started reading The Broken Earth trilogy this year and I would like to finish it this year as well. I tend to do this every year where I have a series to start and finish for those twelve months. Previous titles were Legend and Mistborn trilogies.

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab.
Tome Topple pick for sure. This is on Hoopla so I know it will be available no matter what. I don’t know, I think because I got spoiled for the ending that I pushed reading this farther and farther back. But I’m still game. I love Victoria’s writing.

Vengeful by VE Schwab.
VE if it’s adult, Victoria if it’s YA. Remember that. 😉 Well, I’m not spoiled for this ending but this was released during a hectic time in my life and I just had no time to read it right away. I will make time before the year ends. Maybe bring it to Japan with me on my trip next month.

Balance by Lucia Franco.
So I went through this age gap NA romance shopping spree some months ago and this came up in every single recommendation, list, review. It’s not only age gap, it’s also forbidden. I’d skimmed through and oh boy, it’s not for everyone. People either love it or abhor it hahaha… I can take it from what little I’ve read of it. I don’t know. We’ll see.

And several manga that I own.
I’m putting them all under one item because they’re manga. They’re easy and fun to read. I still have the 2nd Wotakoi collection, Kemono Friends! Welcome to Japari Park, and the 2nd volume of My Brother’s Husband. I’m 100% sure to get these out of the way before 2019.

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Aaaand this post all but took me ten minutes. XD

I’m interested to see what’s on your list. Maybe I’ll find more titles to add on mine. Have you read any of these?

TOP TEN TUESDAYS | The Backlist

I was supposed to post my September-October wrap-up today but this is a topic that I can’t pass up. Aidios knows how many unread books I have sitting on my shelves… my bedroom floor, in between furniture, on my many e-readers… yeah.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday the ten backlist books I still need to read.

I admit that I haven’t been buying a lot of books lately. I’ve bought quite a few manga, yes, but those are easier to read and they don’t pile up unread. At least in my household. However, I went through an almost binge-buying of books especially last year. I just could say no when Book Outlet or Barnes & Noble gives out coupons. What healed me from that? Anime figures. From one expensive hobby to another lol.

But I still have quite an extensive collection of backlist titles that I’m still interested in reading. Here’s a few that stand out from the rest.

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1. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (and the rest of the Outlander books).
   I put this on hold at about 50%. I simply lost interest. I figured I can buy time until the TV show catches up. Well, we’re almost there and I still haven’t picked this back up. I don’t own every book in the series yet but those that I own are all signed. Yes, including the graphic novel.
2. The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder.
   I’ve owned two copies of this. The first copy I bought was a beat-up mass market paperback. Then I saw a decent hardcover at a used bookstore for $2 so the first one got replaced. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book from people I trust but for some reason, I haven’t picked it up yet.
3. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.
   Going back into my Book Outlet binging days, this book (duology) was all the rage. I still am very interested. However, I want to read this instead of listen to it on audio. I was told that that’s a better way to enjoy this book.
4. United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas.
   If you know me then you know about my love for Japanese mecha. Hell, I’d assemble an Optimus Prime plastic model kit if you gift me one. I’ve owned this book for a while and I’m still pretty much interested in reading it. It’s not available on audio from my usual sources so maybe that’s why it’s taking me so long.
5. The rest of the Rot & Ruin books by Jonathan Maberry.
   I own all the books in the main series. I was obsessed when I read the first book. But for whatever reason, I never continued on. Dust & Decay has been in my Tome Topple TBRs for two rounds, I think? Maybe this one too? If I do, then I should put it on priority.
6. The rest of Escape from Furnace books by Alexander Gordon Smith.
   I read Lockdown and I liked it. Basically, the same story as the Rot & Ruin series. I own all the books but have yet to read the 2nd one in the series.
7. Night Film by Marisha Pessl.
   This is another book that I want to actually read. I own a waterlogged but signed copy of it. I know it’s on audio but with the mixed media aspect, I’d much rather sit down and give it a read.

   The rest of this list are authors of Japanese fiction. I own so many but have read so few.

8. Keigo Higashino. My favorite mystery author. I loved everything that I’ve read from him so far may it be through audio book or traditional means. I still have a few of his translated works unread. Usually because when I start the audio book, the Japanese name pronunciation bothers me. So I’d rather read it.
9. Junji Ito. I want to own all his collected works. I currently have the deluxe editions and am working on the rest.
10. Koji Suzuki. He wrote the Ring series and oh man, I loved that. I own so many more of his books and a lot of them are quite short. I will eventually own all of them and read all of them.

I could’ve filled this list up with the Japanese authors I want to read from. Most of these are acquisitions from my Book Outlet days. I keep adding titles to my TBR, NA mostly lately, but neglect the ones already there. I’m sure many of you do the same. I try to be better but a lot of them are too popular, there’s a mile-long wait list at the library for the audio book. Sigh. One book at a time, right?

#T5W | Happy Halloween!

This week, we are talking about Characters I’d Cosplay.

I’m back! In my last post (from over a month ago lmao), I mentioned I went on vacation. Well, I’ve been back for a few weeks. I didn’t go any reading while I was away and frankly, same with the rest of October. I’m getting back into it, don’t worry. Manga and audio books help. I will be posting my joint September-October wrap up probably in the next couple of days and probably a Summer wrap up too, just to keep things consistent.

But I missed this tag! OMG, lists… I missed making lists. I didn’t do the other ones because I knew this was going to be my thing. I don’t exactly celebrate Halloween (it wasn’t a thing where I grew up) but I am a cosplayer. It took me a while to allow myself to add that to my fangirl credentials because I don’t exactly craft my costumes from scratch. I felt insecure compared to those hardcore ones who make their own stuff. But eventually, I was convinced that I wasn’t any less of a cosplayer. My characters got noticed by quite a lot of people, including a couple of voice actors from the source show/video games!

 

Halloween is amazing but who needs a holiday when there are many conventions held at every part of the year? 😉 Here is my current roster of characters (I’ve included links to my Instagram if you need photos):

• Mayuri Shiina from Steins;Gate.
  This is my first official cosplay. I was able to tell that to the producer of Steins;Gate when I met him at AX2018. That felt like a total 360 in my cosplay journey. I’m pretty proud of my Mayuri, complete with a full size upa plushie.
• Yui Hirasawa from K-On!
  Ah, K-On! My original music anime obsession. This was a pretty easy costume. I got mistaken as a Love Live character after the Anisong World Matsuri concert we attended. (I totally wore that costume because her voice actor, Aki Toyosaki, was one of the performers as part of Sphere… as if she was going to see me lmao.) It’s a basic school girl costume that I put together because I have the components then styled my wig with the two distinct clips she had in her hair.
• Gou Matsuoka from Free!
  Heh. Another easy costume. All I had to do is buy the Iwatobi SC shirt and put my hair up. I already have red hair so no need for a wig. One of the JP voice actors, Daisuke Hirakawa (Rei Ryugazaki), saw me in this and commented on it. I pretty much internally flailed my heart out. This is my go-to, no fuss costume when I want to cosplay but don’t want to make the effort. But that was when I still had long hair. 😉
• Hitoka Yachi from Haikyuu!!
  (What is it with all the exclamation points?!) Ah my new favorite costume. Another rather simple school girl costume with a blonde bob. I added to my costume by having the “Potari Sweat” and “Energon” water bottles from the anime. Hell, at the AX2018 meetup, I even had a bottle of Air Salonpas in my bag!
• Fie Claussell from Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel I.
  Specifically the Class VII costume. I’m stupid proud of this effort. I didn’t even make it but I’m super proud of it. I makes my heart so happy whenever people recognize me or ask for photos. My love for Kiseki knows no bounds. I’ve been seen in it by several of the English voice actors, the localization team at XSEED, and the president of Nihon Falcom, Toshihiro Kondo. He made my day by getting so excited over my costume and I made his day too. At least that’s what I want to think lol.
• Platelet-chan from Cells at Work!
  It’s a recent one and it’s another simple costume. If I decide to keep the short hair, I might retire Gou for a while and adapt this as my main less effort cosplay. Specifically the main Platelet-chan’s partner friend. Guys, I have a special history with Cells At Work and a souvenir scar to go with the Tomoaki Maeno‘s autograph. XD

And of course, this is now a T5W without a Harry Potter mention. It’s my most “throwaway” costume because all I need to do is throw on my robe – either the school robes or Quidditch – and I’m done. I do have a wand but I don’t really cosplay any particular character. Just a Slytherin student. It looks AMAZING if you’re a big group walking around in robes at Universal Studios.

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There you have it. I’m back and hopefully, I can keep it up.

I’m actually thinking of retiring some of my current cosplay lineup so I can work on new ones. Still simple and still not making them myself (lol) but I think I can make it work. I have mostly short characters because I’m pretty short myself. So work with what you have, right?

What are you dressing up as tonight? Do you go to conventions too? Do you cosplay?