Be a Hero!

BookMeme
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession



Baby Sitter’s Club. Back in the day (elementary school) I tried to read every book. I did a report on the author. Even watched the terrible TV adaptation. I was also dorky enough to read the first chapter (basically the same character/basic plot dump) in every book just incase some small new detail was worked in and 'zomg, don't want to miss that!'. The only thing I missed out on was the movie.

For the uninitiated, it was a late 80s-2000 book series based on 6-10 young teens who babysat. Mostly girly slice of life hijinks. With some very cardboard flat protagonists. But hey, lady fiction centered around ladies most of the time, it was novel enough. Well until I discovered anime, and omg ladies can fight demons without the whole 'b-but you're a girl'? (Or in the case of magical girl genre, being a girl is a prerequisite.) :O

Anime Meme

Day 19 - Mandatory swimsuit post



To see more Fukumoto characters in bathing suit glory, this parody MAD.

I really wanted to use this pic (sorta NSFW/Not safe for eyes & sanity), but they actually aren't wearing swimsuits.

Life
Finished Howl's Moving Castle. The ending was pretty cute and cheesy. Though NGL, I do like in the movie how the protag and witch became friends. But the romance makes more sense in the book so~

Rereading through Girl Genius. It is amazing how well written and drawn this comic is. I've reread it several times and keeping finding new little hints and stuff on the pages or in the panels. I really should buy some volumes.

Also, apparently Squenix is launching an online site to read manga. This interests me greatly as I can finish Full Metal Alchemist/start on Soul Eater and not have stacks of books just sitting around.

BookMeme
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Already did this in Day 9.

Day 25 - Any five books from your "to be read" stack

• The entirety of the Sally Lockhart series
• Chris Wooding’s Broken Sky series
• The Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle by Deva Fagan
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
• The Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan

Anime Meme

Day 15 - Post a cute Neko-girl
Day 16 - Post a kigurumi cosplay of your favorite anime character
Don't care for either. Weeaboo heresy I know.

Day 17 - Favorite tsundere

Altessa (the one with the subtle tiara) from Fushigiboshi no Futagohime. Aside from her tsundereness (aimed at pretty much anyone besides her family); she's also a loving sister, perfectionist, determinator and a bit of a cuckoocloudlander (but she tries to suppress her power level). She grows up a lot over the course of the show without completely becoming a different person. Its a natural growth that's really fun to watch. She has many crowning moments of awesome after the halfway point of the show, but my favorite is the Best Artist Princess episode.

BookMeme
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Can't really remember. All my favorite romance is unrequited/super duper chaste/ends before it goes anywhere/or lots of stuff off screen/assumed. Or just plain not canon.

Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
I liked Fablehaven's Gavin and Kendra. Gavin's like a lost puppy with badass dragon controlling skills while Kendra is a nerd coming into her own. Its cute kid's stuff with a tragic end. ( book 4 spoilers ) Sad yet adorable at the same end.

IDK. Does unrequited/super duper short count? Cause Viktor Krum's thing for Hermoine in the Harry Potter series was probably the closest thing to a relationship that I cared for in the series. (At least canonwise~)

Lyra's parents in the His Dark Materials series also have a pretty complicatedly awesome relationship.

For a couple that actually gets together is Eugene/his wife. Though its kinda complicated. And because I never finished the Tears of Artamon series it could very well have a bad end (no clue).

Y do I have a soft spot for messed up relationships?

Oh, oh wait! There's Jack and Myrtle, a mostly upbeat (though troubled at times) relationship that ends well (if only for the fact we only see a few years of it). Essentially its a cheesey teenage romance between an uptight British lady teen girl and a rough space pirate. Probably one of the more realistic (and hilarious) depictions of teen romance I've seen in awhile. While they both seem to care for each other, personal differences and immaturity are big obstacles. Typical opposites attract with a bit of slap, slap, kiss. Well they do get together so its not prolonged and obnoxious. Yet the 'lol teen romance' vibe the narrative has makes it much easier to swallow than ~zomg the one tru teen romance~ that a lot of books have. Which is probably why I hate 9/10 romantic subplots, or like the tragic ones.

Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Ranger's Apprentice series - Will and Halt, Will and Horace. The first is an entertaining grumpy and harsh trainer with stubborn kid. The latter is Horace being a former bully but eventually risking his life for Will. Friendship = risking death, trufax.

Fablehaven - Kendra and Seth's sibling relationship is pretty neat to read. Its interesting how it grows according the the development of each character.

In Philip Pullman's Ruby in the Smokestack, I really liked the relationships between the main cast. Its kind of the only reason I finished the book since the mystery was a bit odd to me.

Silver Phoenix - Li Rong and Ai Ling. Well Li Rong is pretty awesome, but Ai Ling's straight man part does help make him funnier. Actually Li Rong's relationship with his bro is pretty spiffy too.

Its weird, logically I know I've read a bunch of adult books but I can't for the life of me remember any of them. I always pick the bland ones I guess.

Title: Soulless
Series: The Parasol Protectorate (First in the series)
Author: Gail Carriger
Genres: Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Vampires & Werewolves, Romance
Pages: 384 for paperback

The protagonist, Alexia Tarabotti, is a fuddy-duddy spinster more educated and assertive than she should be. She is also a soulless, a being that 'shorts out' paranormal powers. Combined with a desire to get in on the action, she is a constant problem to Conall Maccon. Essentially he runs the government branch that manages the paranormal along with the local werewolf pack. When Alexia is attacked by an random vampire, she plunges headlong into a mystery that threatens the delicate balance of paranormal and normal.

NGL, aside from the steampunk these aren't really my genres. That said, I really had fun with this book and will check out the sequels. The biggest seller to me is the tongue-in-cheek narrative. You get a solid (if slightly predictable) story, distinctive and fun characters, interesting mixture of mythos and world-buildinging, along with many chuckles. Its not deep, but its quality fun.

( Likes, dislikes, meh. Light on spoilers. )

BookMeme
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)

Arcadia Snips

A crazy awesome thief/escape artist, who does what needs to get done, and does it well. Clever, independent, assertive, aggressive and not in an obnoxious way. And while she has daddy issues, she refuses to let them define her. She is just an awesome, well written character that comes off more as a person than not.

Anime Meme
Day 5 - Anime character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)

Wish - Squirtle Kamina

Trufax.

alg's Book Meme

Join the meme here.

Day 11 - A book that disappointed you



About to commit some scifi heresy here, but Herbert's Dune. IDK, I really loved the first half, but I always get bored by the second. You know who's going to win, you know how, House Atreides bores the tears out of me, and I was rooting for the Harkonens. Basically there's little incentive to read unless you really like the Atreides family/desert folk. And I didn't.

Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times



Phantom Tollbooth. I read this thing more times than I can count. Probably my favorite book as a kid. I really loved the whimsy and the creative ways that abstract concepts came to life. Its a simple, fun kid's adventure book.

I really just loved the last few episodes. I liked Shyamalan as a villain. And the tension held throughout. Muroto was pretty badass in his own way. I also really loved how tight Birdy and Tsutomu were. I really love their friendship. Two characters I wish had more screentime were the spy Birdy punched out and her former teacher. They just seemed like very interesting characters, though admittedly this is a short, actiony cartoon. But the ever cursed Yakuza boss keeps appearing so maybe they will too.

Just started season 2. Its starts off pretty exciting although I'm a bit worried about Birdy getting a bad "end like" Tsutomu did. Also why is the Altan bad kid now working for Birdy's source? Does this ever get explained.

--------------------

Join the meme here. Spoilers under cuts and white text.
Missed a bunch of days so cramming it all here.

Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise

Everyone's in Love/A decent percent of the cast has love as a motivator and its unrealistic or boring

( example ) since they had build up. Like I don't even get the main couple as they had about 2/3 conversations before epic love followed.

Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once Books I dropped one year (2008-2009) and why.

I am a firm believer in one person's personal classic is another person's personal hell so here's a list of books I dropped when I was trying to do a 50 book challenge (but stopped around college) and why.

( list cut )
This list should probably be longer, but I have a habit of reading about 5 pages into a story, getting bored and forgetting all about it. Save for the Monster Blood, these were ones I got to around the halfway point before giving up.

Day 09 - Best Scene Ever

"Professor Von Grimskull's monocycle roared beneath him
as it thundered through the crimson night-sky, the wheel forged
from sheer awesomantium snarling its way across the flaming
dirigible's upper frame. The legion of steam-powered zombie airpirates
had all ready taken control, their engine-ladened frames
churning out thick choking whorls of vaporized smoke; soon, the
zeppelin would crash into the swirling energies of the temporal
anomaly, completing the necrocthulthic ritual and fulfilling the
eldritch prophecy — bringing an end to the universe.

"The bronze-nosed Von Grimskull made a low, deepthroated
snarl. "The Doctor is in... VINCIBLE!""

Taken from Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium.

Join the meme here. Spoilers under cuts and white text.

Day 05 - A book or series you hate

About half of the Chronicles of Narnia. The other half I adore. I generally hate the ones where Aslan acts like a deus ex machina and makes me feel like I wasted my time reading the story. (I'm looking at you The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.) I really liked the ones with Eustace Scrubb oddly enough. He actually felt like he had a personality compared to the Pevensies (even if the personality was huge jerk). I also liked The Horse and His Boy but there's one part I can't stand (( spoilers )). TBH, I have no clue how this book rates on the offensiveness or not (it was written in the '50s) about the Middle East, since I read this book at 12 and I was pretty ignorant then.

I also did not like Neil Gaiman's Stardust. I wanted to but I pretty much knew the ending from the get go and really did not care about anything or anyone. I hated the protagonist and really did not care if he got laid or not. I was actually kind of hoping the lady protag. would kick him in the nuts and have awesome adventures on her own. But it was not to be. To be honest, I feel like the side stories and characters had potential, but I honestly can't remember what happened about that stuff.

I've actually read a few stories like this but can't remember any of the titles so here's a description. Any fantasy adventure book that has the first hundred pages of the hero putzing around his/her hometown. And it has zero plot relevance once the hero leaves. Like it doesn't even build character or anything other than the protag. has the hots for some character or is bored with their dung ages peasant life. I mean, you could just put in some throw away sentences about this part since its so stock and it'll save us all the boredom.

RL got in the way so this'll be in one post. Meme here.

Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about

Uh, there's a bunch so I'm going to spam this a bit.

The Braided Path trilogy. Its an Asian fantasy by Chris Wooding and a pretty good one. And a lot of the main players (including the protagonist) are ladies that do things, so that's a plus. Basically Kaiku is nearly killed one night, and must get behind the mystery of who killed her and how she can survive. The story expands to continent wide battles, political intrigue, and mutants. TBH, I didn't really enjoy the last two books, but that's more personal taste than the actual quality of these books.

Fablehaven series. A kids modern fantasy (not exactly urban, although there are some parts). Two kids visit their grandparents farm only to discover that its a secret preserve for fantasy creatures! Cue ancient conspiracies, more double crossing than you can shake a stick at, a Magnificent Bastard of a villain, and a faery-dragon! No really. Pretty mindless action-adventure, but good at it. Actually I will give it props to realism since there's mentions of a fantasy creature black market and other little details that make the premise seem less ridiculous. Actually, I will also give it props to actually making the fantasy creatures their own beings, with their own wills, desires, and what not. Too often in kidsbooks you'll see a fantasy creature whose job it is to serve the nearest person with little reason whatsoever. Here the kids have to negotiate, often with creatures that think little of eating them. Its awesome.

The Larklight trilogy. More kids stuff, but Steampunk this time. Its an action-adventure/comedy that's pretty tongue-in-cheek every step of the way. Even the romance isn't taken seriously, which is refreshing in a glut of 16 year old romance is tru wuv. Actually what's funny is that in the comedy of the romance, you often get a more realistic look at how two very different people clash than in romances that take themselves too seriously. Though since the story is typically from Art's perspective (and he's still in the girl's have cooties phase) most of the romance is in side snippets. Also, space pirates!

Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months

I'll have to put Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium, which I hope isn't cheating since I did a big old post about it here. The pacing is good. Not a scene, not a description, not even a line of dialogue is a waste. The prose is amazing (though more on the side of funny than deep/meaningful). The plot itself is both exciting and silly (something I really love). The cast is full of awesome characters. Its both a good story and good writing, which is something I find really rare (especially since my tastes are rather odd).

Gavril: *anguished cry to the sea* Astasiaaaaaaaa!
( spoilers to second book... sorta )