Diversity Spotlight Thursday #20

Diversity Spotlight Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Aimal @ Bookshelves and Paperbacks, and is all about highlighting diverse literature. Diversity Spotlight takes place every Thursday, and it will be featuring three books in any given week: A diverse book you have read and enjoyed A diverse book that has already been released but …

Review: Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 3 by Izumi Tsubaki

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 3 by Izumi Tsubaki My rating: 4 of 5 stars Drawing comics is hard work, as high school boy and shoujo manga-ka Umetarou Nozaki and his motley crew of friends-turned-assistants know well. But being a manga pro doesn't necessarily make Nozaki great at everything. In fact, Chiyo is about to discover …

ARC Review: Tokyo Ghoul: Days by Sui Ishida, Shin Towada

Tokyo Ghoul: Days by Sui Ishida My rating: 4 of 5 stars Ghouls live among us, the same as normal people in every way—except their craving for human flesh. Ken Kaneki is an ordinary college student until a violent encounter turns him into the first half-human half-ghoul hybrid. Trapped between two worlds, he must survive …

Books that travel: Soundless enveloped by Sound

This is a new feature I am trying out, where I take my books places to see. As an introvert, reading is a mostly indoor activity for me. But sometimes those books need to see sunshine and beautiful places, so I will try to take some good ones to some beautiful places. And Japan is …

Books that travel: The Young Elites in Tokyo

Let me start off by saying that I have a love-hate relationship with travel. I love to explore new places, or even revisit for nostalgia, but I hate getting out of the house when I could be reading and resting. Traveling alone is a bit of a challenge for a social introvert like me. But …

Review: Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 4

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 4 by Fumi Yoshinaga My rating: 5 of 5 stars We move on to the change in the society. While the Inner Chambers are still the focus of the story, we also see what is happening in the villages, and what is creating the society known in the first volume, …

Review: Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 3

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 3 by Fumi Yoshinaga My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ooh, the story keeps getting better and better. Still chronicling the 3rd shogun, we see a marked change in her temperament. She has learned to become a shogun and not just act like one, but even with all the power …

Review: Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 2

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 2 by Fumi Yoshinaga My rating: 4 of 5 stars Further in the Oooku story, the 8th shogun investigates why even though the power has shifted to women, do women still have to take on masculine names for their positions. Why does the entire framework of their government show the …

Review: Ink

Ink by Amanda Sun My rating: 4 of 5 stars On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, …

Review: Shadow

Shadow by Amanda Sun My rating: 4 of 5 stars Shadows, the prequel to Ink in the Paper Gods series, tells the story of Katie and Tomohiro in a dual perspective. Set before Katie comes to Japan, it delves into the sadness and despair of both the characters and how troubled they are. Katie has …

Review: Darker Than Black: Shikkoku no Hana Volume 1

Darker Than Black: Shikkoku no Hana Volume 1 by Yuji Iwahara My rating: 5 of 5 stars God, I love this entire franchise. I loved the anime's 1st season and even the OVA - but the first manga series was a disappointment. This one, was on par with the original anime and retains many characters …

One day