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20/3/13 10:02What are you currently reading?
I'm rereading Heart of Thomas -- I wanted to reread a bunch of my shounen ai / BL stuff if I got on the proposed WisCon panel about BL, and thought it made sense to get started early.
Especially since I didn't realize how long it would take me. It's so much denser and more dialogue-heavy than contemporary manga are.
Hagio Moto's technique is ridiculously good. I keep realizing this anew every time I read her work. It's easy to go "LOL melodrama" but that doesn't accurately reflect what it's like, reading it -- she's good at the moments that aren't melodrama, the moments that are just boys roughhousing, having food fights, playing at fencing. (And I can say from watching over the preteen pack at my library, it's a bit idealized but also rings surprisingly true.)
I am having many Thoughts about the representation of sexuality, but I will probably wait till I've reread a bit of Song of the Wind and Trees.
(I hope to at least skim the English translation, if I end up on that panel, but it's still on order at the library. AND NYPL too!)
What did you just finish reading?
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson. I see why it is so polarizing, but I enjoyed it a lot! It is definitely a little bit darker and more sexual and id-vortexy than the average YA novel, and I think the casual attitude towards sex is a bit out of the mainstream for YA, but... there's no reason why it SHOULD be out of the mainstream, you know? I like that the dystopia is more complicated and ambiguous than in a lot of YA novels, and I like that it's so much about creating art and how we can or can't change the world through art. There were times when I thought it wanted to be a longer book than it was -- there were aspects I wanted to see in greater detail -- but better for a book to leave you wanting more than wanting less.
I'm rereading Heart of Thomas -- I wanted to reread a bunch of my shounen ai / BL stuff if I got on the proposed WisCon panel about BL, and thought it made sense to get started early.
Especially since I didn't realize how long it would take me. It's so much denser and more dialogue-heavy than contemporary manga are.
Hagio Moto's technique is ridiculously good. I keep realizing this anew every time I read her work. It's easy to go "LOL melodrama" but that doesn't accurately reflect what it's like, reading it -- she's good at the moments that aren't melodrama, the moments that are just boys roughhousing, having food fights, playing at fencing. (And I can say from watching over the preteen pack at my library, it's a bit idealized but also rings surprisingly true.)
I am having many Thoughts about the representation of sexuality, but I will probably wait till I've reread a bit of Song of the Wind and Trees.
(I hope to at least skim the English translation, if I end up on that panel, but it's still on order at the library. AND NYPL too!)
What did you just finish reading?
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson. I see why it is so polarizing, but I enjoyed it a lot! It is definitely a little bit darker and more sexual and id-vortexy than the average YA novel, and I think the casual attitude towards sex is a bit out of the mainstream for YA, but... there's no reason why it SHOULD be out of the mainstream, you know? I like that the dystopia is more complicated and ambiguous than in a lot of YA novels, and I like that it's so much about creating art and how we can or can't change the world through art. There were times when I thought it wanted to be a longer book than it was -- there were aspects I wanted to see in greater detail -- but better for a book to leave you wanting more than wanting less.