What I Just Finished Reading

The Sisters of the Winter Woods – Rena Rossner
Longish and thus under the ( cut )

竹光侍第五巻 – 松本大洋・永福一成 (Takemitsuzamurai vol. 5 – Matsumoto Taiyo & Eifuku Issei)
Being the fifth volume in the story of a master swordsman in Edo-period Japan who is certainly eccentric and quite possibly a fox, or a demon; the sword that haunts him, and all the people who are out to get him.

竹光侍第六巻 – 松本大洋・永福一成 (Takemitsuzamurai vol. 6 – Matsumoto Taiyo & Eifuku Issei)
This volume focuses on several of the secondary characters, and it’s very fulfilling.

竹光侍第七巻 – 松本大洋・永福一成 (Takemitsuzamurai vol. 7 – Matsumoto Taiyo & Eifuku Issei)
Featuring some amazing battle scenes, and the noose tightening around the neck of our protagonist.

竹光侍第八巻 – 松本大洋・永福一成 (Takemitsuzamurai vol. 8 – Matsumoto Taiyo & Eifuku Issei)
The final volume, and holy shit. This series is phenomenal; one of the best manga written.


What I Am Currently Reading

The Girl Who Drank the Moon – Kelly Barnhill
I’m only a few pages in, but it’s a Newbery winner and so far pretty cute.

Intermediate Korean – Andrew Sangpil Byon
Ah, Routledge Grammar Workbooks, how I adore you.

Pax – Sara Pennypacker & Jon Klassen
I admit; initially, I was in it for the Klassen. It’s already made me cry, and I've only read the first three pages.

Japanese Grammar – Keiko Uesawa Chevray & Tomiko Kuwahira
While not a Routledge Grammar Workbook, this has still been pretty excellent. I’ve made it halfway through, and the only real stumbles to date have been some unforgivably careless errors in the chapter on counters and a fill-in-the-blanks narrative to practice particles that only allowed for one answer where multiple particles would have worked.

The Truth About Fat – Anthony Warner
A very mixed bag. I’m 10 pages from the end, so will reserve my thoughts for next week’s entry.


What I'm Reading Next

Fire Logic is still on deck.


これで以上です。

...this time ( Otapyon's *Shacho to Hisho* )

これで以上です。

...I went to South Korea last week. I tend to make multiple visits to foreign countries, returning to my favorite sites each time. But since this was my fourth (fifth?) trip to the ROK, I decided that this time I was going to go somewhere new, dammit. Thus, before departing I made a list of five sights and told myself I was absolutely going to visit at least three of them.

In fact, one of them was ( the first place I hit up upon arriving in Seoul. )

But anyway, enough of that. What about ( the spoils? )

Anyway, good times.

これで以上です。

Imagine my surprise when I got back home, booted up the computer, and discovered that I have Teh Intranets.

( And if that weren't cool enough on its own... )

これで以上です。

( I purchased this manhwa while in Seoul two years ago: ) 

( It also reminded me why I'm not a fan of shoujou )

これで以上です。  

...announcement was not a hoax, as the Japanese are unaware of April Fool's Day.

Then I began to wonder if that was the case after all. Doing some online digging I discover that April Fool's Day is in fact known in Japan. There's even a 'Japan April Fool's Internet Association,' which is so typically Japanese it hurts me.

Some tidbitage to keep you occupied until Sex Pistols finds another home: the holiday was apparently imported to the country during the early 1900s--the urban legend claims it gained popularity as a justification for people lie about the money they'd lost gambling (by claiming they'd been pickpocketed).



これで以上です。