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“In a different story, would we still have been enemies?”

#all of us villains #gavin grieve #alistair lowe #all of our demise

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Blue Flag was the perfect book to end the year on. The manga follows a third year high schooler named Taichi Ichinose. One day he decides to help the shy girl from his class, Futaba Kuze, even though he doesn’t like her because she reminds him of himself. That leads to him finding out she has a crush on the popular guy in school, Toma Mita, who happens to be his childhood best friend that he is no longer close with. After seeing how determined she is, Taichi agrees to help her and as he helps her he starts to fall for her. Unbeknownst to both of them though is that Toma actually has a crush on Taichi and Futaba’s best friend, Masumi Itachi, has a crush on her. I absolutely loved this story. I was invested from beginning to end. All of the characters were so lovable. Taichi was a great protagonist. He’s a little pessimistic, but I like seeing negative people become more positive. Futaba was so adorable. Her eagerness to grow and achieve her goal was inspiring. Toma was a sweetheart. Watching him try so hard to continue to be friends with Taichi, who believes they live in two different worlds, made my heart ache. He has such a good heart for a jock. Masumi was admittedly kind of a jerk, but I still ended up liking her because of how protective she is of Futaba. I hope she’s as prominent in the story as the other three. For someone who doesn’t like love triangles I’m enjoying this one so far. It helps that it’s not obnoxious and that I like all the characters. The way I would prefer it to go is Taichi ending up with Toma (that bus scene!) and Futaba ending up with Masumi (I’m a sucker for protective characters). I would love to see two queer couples be the main relationships in a shoujo manga. I’m gonna keep my expectations low though because I’m sure with Taichi already falling for Futaba they’ll end up together. Both of them are great too, so if they are endgame I won’t be too salty. The art was great. I liked how most of the character designs felt original. After reading a lot of shoujo manga it starts to seem like there are many similarities between the main characters of each, but this manga managed to avoid that. Both Futaba and Taichi were such little cuties. Futaba was often compared to a hamster and it definitely worked. I loved the height difference between them and Toma because he is a giant. I’m glad this was the last book I read in 2021 because it had everything I wanted. I want to read volume 2 right away but only if I can get my hands on a physical copy. Why am I only reading manga that my store doesn’t have volume 2 of? This is the second one this month. Why am I doing this to myself? I definitely plan on snatching it up as soon as it comes in though.

#book review #book reviews #manga review #manga reviews #diverse books #blue flag #viz manga #booklr #book recs #manga recs #book recommendations #manga recommendations #lgbt+ books #diverse reads #2021 reads #5 stars #my reviews #*casually leaves this review from 2021 and disappears again*

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Title: Babel | Author: R.F. Kuang | Publisher: Harper Voyager (2022)

#book covers #babel

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Pov: you grew up reading weird fantasy in the early 2000s

#book covers #fantasy books #older books

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My first read of 2023 was a dnf which sucks. It was Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor. I know I’ve never been a big fan of literary fiction, but I still found the premise really intriguing. I only got 70 pages in before I had to call it quits though. For a book that long it was starting way too slowly and I didn’t like any of the characters. I skimmed the rest of it to see if it got any better and it didn’t. The plot seemed way too annoyingly convoluted so I’m glad I called it quits. Still disappointing though since I was excited to read it. Not a great start to my reading year.

#2023 reads #age of vice #booklr #book reviews #literary fiction #dnf

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Blue Phobia

Tsuruyoshi Eri

18 chapters (completed)

action, supernatural, psychological, horror

“Numerous prisoners were sent to mine a mysterious ore which lies underneath a certain island in the middle of an ocean, but after some time turns out there's something strange about the ore. The more you touch it the more it changes your skin and bones into a blue-ish color, and in the end, your entire body will turn into a strange ore.

The people who sent the prisoners, set up a research facility to do various experiments on them and treated them like test subjects.

The story starts when one of the researchers Kai, tries to help one of the patients escape.”

(Source: AniList)

Story: 8/10

This was a really good story. I love this type of setting, where the protagonists are in a laboratory/ prison type of place and the antagonist is always somewhat linked to the government. I don’t really know if there’s a name for this genre, but I enjoy it a lot. It made me think of Shokuryou Jinrou in a way. Although I got the impression that the end was a bit rushed, it was still pleasant.

Art: 8/10

The art was really pretty!! Everything looked really clean and the background was also detailed which is a good point. The monsters were creepy and made me uneasy, I really enjoyed that!

Cast: 6/10

The story and the art were good and I loved them a lot, but the casting was not up to the expectations. The main character was okay-ish but the female protagonist? She was literally absent from the story. She was useless in a way, that is very sad because she could have contributed so much to the plot. Unfortunately, the protagonist overshadows her.

Enjoyment: 7/10

It was a very good read. I feel like the ending was hastily. It seems that the mangaka was planning to release more chapters, but it got canceled. At some point we get this interesting character with a charadesign that might belong to the main cast but he ends up never speaking? When I first saw him I really thought he would join the protagonist but absolutely not. There are a lot of little details like that that make me think that the author must have written the ending very quickly and it's really sad. With a few more volumes this manga would have been 10/10.

Overall: 7/10

#manga review #manga reviews #book review #book reviews #sounds interesting! #and the art looks really cool

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Completely forgot about this post but I ended up watching The Sandman before reading the comics, oops 😅 The show was absolutely amazing though and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a new fantasy show. All the actors played their roles terrifically and had great chemistry with each other. The story started off strong and kept getting better with each episode. My second favorite show this year after Our Flag Means Death. Can’t wait for the next season!

For the first time in a really long time do I feel the urge to read the source material of a new TV show that’s being adapted from a book, and that is The Sandman. I think the last time I felt this way was when Love, Simon came out, and even then I didn’t feel the urge to read the book before I saw the movie. The trailer for The Sandman just looks so awesome and I’ve always been on the fence about reading the comics that seeing that trailer finally made me want to pick them up. I definitely want to read the comics before I see the show though.

#the sandman #books to tv #comic books

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I really shouldn’t start another book seeing that I’m currently in the middle of four and I’m trying to finish them all before the end of the year. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been in a year long reading slump which has slowed my reading pace significantly. Despite all of that, I just really want to read a book that I’m excited about but if I start another book I’ll stress myself out more so I better not. 

#personal #reader problems #booklr #rambling

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Jonathan my good friend Jonathan Harker

#dracula #dracula daily

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“I mean, most people want to escape. Get out of their heads. Out of their lives. Stories are the easiest way to do that.”

#book covers #book photography

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Lucian Darnay

#lucian darnay #the binding #book fanart #love this!

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Most of the books I read May-August!

#book photography #book spines #book stacks #book piles #impressive! #i wish i had been able to get to that many this summer #i'm also really jealous of those hardcover heroes of olympus books

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From our stacks: Illustration for "Time, You Old Gipsy Man" from Rainbow Gold. Poems Old and New Selected for Boys and Girls By Sara Teasdale With Illustrations By Dugald Walker. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927.

#book illustrations #old books

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nothing better than a good library haul

#book photography #book covers #library books #love the color coordination!

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Hispanic Heritage Month: Delicious Eats!

Chicano Eats: Recipes from My Mexican-American Kitchen by Esteban Castillo

Esteban Castillo grew up in Santa Ana, California, where more than three-quarters of the population is Latino. Because Mexican food was the foundation of his childhood, he was surprised to see recipes for dishes on popular food blogs that were anything but the traditional meals he grew up eating. He was inspired to create the blog, Chicano Eats, to showcase his love for design, cooking, and culture and provide a space for authentic Latino voices, recipes, and stories to be heard. Building on his blog, Chicano Eats is a bicultural and bilingual cookbook that includes 85 traditional and fusion Mexican recipes as gorgeous to look at as they are sublime to eat. Chicano cuisine is Mexican food made by Chicanos (Mexican Americans) that has been shaped by the communities in the U.S. where they grew up. It is Mexican food that bisects borders and uses a group of traditional ingredients—chiles, beans, tortillas, corn, and tomatillos—and techniques while boldly incorporating many exciting new twists, local ingredients, and influences from other cultures and regions in the United States.

Turnip Greens & Tortillas: A Mexican Chef Spices Up the Southern Kitchen by Eddie Hernandez, Susan Puckett, Angie Mosier (Photographer)

USA Today called Taqueria del Sol “a runaway success.” Bon Appétit wrote: “Move over, Chipotle!” The fast-casual food of Eddie Hernandez, the James Beard-nominated chef/co-owner of the restaurant, lands on the commonalities of Southern and Mexican food, with dishes like Memphis barbecue pork tacos, chicken pot pie served in a “bowl” of a puffed tortilla, turnip greens in “pot likker” spiked with chiles, or the “Eddie Palmer,” sweet tea with a jab of tequila. Eddie never hesitates to break with purists to make food taste better, adding sugar to creamy grits to balance the jalapeños, or substituting tomatillos in fried green tomatoes for a more delicate texture. Throughout, “Eddie’s Way” sidebars show how to make each dish even more special.

Mallmann on Fire: 100 Inspired Recipes to Grill Anytime, Anywhere by Francis Mallmann

“Elemental, fundamental, and delicious” is how Anthony Bourdain describes the trailblazing live-fire cooking of Francis Mallmann. The New York Times called Mallmann’s first book, Seven Fires, “captivating” and “inspiring.” And now, in Mallmann on Fire, the passionate master of the Argentine grill takes us grilling in magical places—in winter’s snow, on mountaintops, on the beach, on the crowded streets of Manhattan, on a deserted island in Patagonia, in Paris, Brooklyn, Bolinas, Brazil—each locale inspiring new discoveries as revealed in 100 recipes for meals both intimate and outsized. We encounter legs of lamb and chicken hung from strings, coal-roasted delicata squash, roasted herbs, a parrillada of many fish, and all sorts of griddled and charred meats, vegetables, and fruits, plus rustic desserts cooked on the chapa and baked in wood-fired ovens. At every stop along the way there is something delicious to eat and a lesson to be learned about slowing down and enjoying the process, not just the result.

Trejo’s Tacos: Recipes and Stories from L.A. by Danny Trejo, Hugh Garvey

From the legendary actor and L.A restaurateur comes a cookbook featuring 75 badass recipes, from lowrider donuts and award-winning vegan cauliflower tacos to a sweet and spicy brisket inspired by Danny’s mom’s barbacoa.

Throughout Danny’s life, sharing good food has always been essential–whether it was home-cooked meals made by his mom while imagining the menu for their dream restaurant or whipping up post-wrap celebratory tacos for his Hollywood friends. Now, with his own restaurant empire growing, Danny shares his favorite recipes for bold, fun, and versatile Mexican food by way of L.A. You’ll come away with the know-how and skills for cooking slow-braised pork shoulder with bacon and chiles for unbelievably flavorful carnitas, turning spiced fried chicken or Mexi-falafel into tacos and burritos, and how to make cotija and chile mashed potatoes that will impress all your friends (especially when served with brisket!).

The book also includes stories about Danny’s lifelong love of food, from the meals his mom made when he was growing up in the San Fernando Valley to a map of his favorite restaurants and hangouts in Los Angeles, how his time in prison led to his acting career and opening a restaurant, and his journey of becoming an AA/NA counselor. Like Danny’s restaurants, Trejo’s Tacos is generous, hospitable, and symbolic of L.A.’s vibrant Latino culture.

#cookbooks #nonfiction #book covers #hispanic heritage month #book recs

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The current library haul. I'm very excited to read these. They all sound dope tbh. Also I'm glad I went today as my library card was upgraded for free into a new one with a better subscription. (Again no additional charge.)

Hopefully by reading I can restock my creativity a bit.

#library books #book covers #book photography

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Strings Attached

So I'm in this book club and it's specifically for women and I figured why not rate some of the books we've read.

This is the first book we've read. It's probably one of my favorites, It's really great and just overall amazing. There are so many plot twists and you'll shed at least one tear. Of course, the first few chapters are sorta boring but that's how it is with all books and then it will get so good you won't want to put the book down. Overall it was a solid 9/10. I also really liked how it took place in the early 1900's it was really spot on. I recommend this book to people who like murder documentaries and people who are dancers and just any woman/female in general.

#book covers #book reviews #book recs #wow! this is a blast from the past! #i remember reading this book back in middle school #and the other book she wrote #and really enjoyed them!