I'll go back to Manga, but here's a book to tide you over

The Lady by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is an odd book, it doesn't really match McCaffrey's other works and it's really a shame she didn't write more like it. I never had a horse girl phase, but some of my friends did and I always thought it was kind of stupid. We lived in a city, most of us would never see a horse let alone ride one. This is the first and only horse book I've ever read and it makes me see why girls go horse crazy.

The book is set in Ireland in the 70's, and it has a surprising number of focuses. Sure it's about horses, but it's also about a family, and about a young girl becoming a grown woman, and about politics and about love. One interesting factor is the coverage it gives to the rights of women, which is a pretty deep topic to cover in a novel. McCaffrey does it pretty well, she gives us enough detail to see that the issue is important but she doesn't overwhelm or get preachy. That's important in a novel, since most people will go to a non-fic book (or Wikipedia, lol) for hard facts.

I've read this book about five times and while there are a few details I don't like (extra marital affairs, anyone?) something about this book really draws me. I think it may be how the characters really feel like real people. They have flaws, and some of those flaws are pretty big, but I still think it would be neat to go visit them and learn about horses and riding. That's a pretty big thing to learn for a horse book hating girl.



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Flicking back and forth over Flickr

I found my flicker account again! So I might actually use it again, depending on how easy it is to get pictures off of my camera and phone. The new phone links photo's right to Facebook at the press of a button but it's more difficult for Flickr. Then again Flickr isn't a privacy seller like Facebook so it's definitely has an edge.

Cantarella

Cantarella is a rare manga that follows real historic people, in this case the Borgia family. The main character is Cesare Borgia, and the narrative follows him as he grows up and takes on his destiny. I enjoyed how it tried to follow a more neutral path than many other stories about this family. For people who have enjoyed the Assassins Creed games you might find this confusing, but then Cantarella takes a lot less artistic license than the games.

The art is gorgeous.
One thing that might be a bit off putting is the amount of violence in this series, although I don't think it's excessive considering the time period. There is also a bit of mystical stuff to hinder the true historian. Cesare's father sells his son's soul to become Pope, etc. Given that this is set in medieval/ Renaissance period I think that it still fits the the story.

I haven't read much of this series yet, but I plan to finish it soon. I really started to feel for the main characters and how they were trapped and shaped by the ambitions of the people around them. Of course it's easy to enjoy if you are new to the story, or if you already know it and can see the foreshadowing. At the very least it makes reading about history fun and rich, and oh so pretty to look at.

Hikaru no Go

Now back when I was a kid and manga was new to these shores manga for boys mostly consisted of harem manga, with full fan service, and giant robots with people in them beating each other up. Things have changed since then and there are a lot more options and genres available.

One genre I see a lot of now is sports manga like Prince of Tennis, Whistle, Rebound and many others. These generally consist of one Joe average who loves the game but isn't really very good at it and often is the worst player on the team. They usually end up succeeding through some special inner skill and a whole boat lad of determination and love of the game. I'm sure you recognize the plot from any number of western sports movies.

Hikaru no Go is a little different than most of this genre; firstly because Go is more like chess then football, and secondly because Go is usually played by old men and not boys. To get around this the main character, a punk kid named Hikari Shindo, is haunted by the ghost of a great Go player named Fujiwara-no-Sai. In order to get his life back Hikari starts to learn to play Go, mostly to keep Sai off his back. He unwittingly starts to love the game and eventually finds himself playing against the strongest player in his age group as Sai. This starts a rivalry between the boys and Hikari vows to reach the other young man so that they can play as equals.

For someone who could easily have Sai switch in whenever he starts to lose Hikari is surprisingly honest. He never cheats except by ignorance of the game and often has to keep Sai from playing when he shouldn't. Unlike other boy types there is almost no violence 9other than a few school yard scraps) and no sex or other things you might like your young men to avoid. It's manga like this that proves you can tell a good story, and keep boys engaged, with out resorting to an "R" rating.

"Boy Manga"

Because I started reading manga at a young age I've found it pretty easy to narrow down my choices to things I know I will like. Because I started at a time when girls thought boys had cooties and vice versa I often choose to avoid "boy manga." I have some pretty serious stereotypes about it too, although I prefer to call it genre classification. :) Over the next little while I'm going to challenge myself to read some of the less objectionable and bring my new opinion to you. Basically it's a chance for us all to learn something new, and that's where the fun's at.

My new shiney!!

I got a smart phone for my birthday, so now I can keep up with the 23 things on the go. I haven't found apps for them all yet, but I'm still looking for them or for alternatives. I might even catch up to my peers in web connectedness (yeah, right). Come by and I'll show off. :)

Smile boxed up

I think I'm going to leave this one, at least until later, because it wanted to download something to my computer. I can't do that at work! Bad Smilebox, no biscuit. So I'll try it at home sometime, and see what I can send. Not sure I'll use it for much, I like being creative, but I think it might be too noisy for me. Yes I am a grump, and the examples just seemed too busy. Maybe for my mom, she loves singing cards etc...