Title: Anansi Boys
Author: Neil Gaiman
Published: 2005
Genre: Is Gaiman his own genre yet? He should be.
Pages: 451 (plus this edition has an interview and other stuff at the back)
Anansi Boys! Actually, I bought the paperback edition probably already in 2006 or 2007, but since I always tend to have a large pile of books to read, I kept putting off starting this one until a friend of mine convinced me that it was about time I read it.
Charles Nancy's basic opinion of his father always was that he was an embarrassment. At least until dad went and died. Well, he had a heart attack at a karaoke stage, so perhaps that counted as embarrassing as well. But when Charles, or Fat Charlie, as he is known as, even if he isn't that fat anymore, goes over the Atlantic for the funeral, he starts to find out what kind of a man exactly his late father was. Fat Charlie also finds out that he's not an only child: he has a brother, Spider, who he decides to invite over. Spider accepts, bringing along his room, and a whole lot of trouble.
I've had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Gaiman in person, however briefly it was, in 2003. He drew a quick sketch of Morpheus for me on my copy of the Kindly Ones, and he's also drawn a pretty spider to the end of this book. That doesn't really have anything to do with Anansi Boys, but I've kind of been staring at this for ten minutes now, unable to write something sensible about the book that doesn't give too much away. But let's try it. Anansi Boys is about families, and how nice and horrible they can be. And it's about gods, and it's written by Neil Gaiman, who is one of the most original writers out there and if you haven't checked this out yet, don't be an idiot like me and keep putting picking this one up for too long.
(American Gods next...!)
"There was karaoke. There was dancing. The old man got up to sing, on the makeshift stage, not once, that evening, but twice. He had a fine voice, and an excellent smile, and feet that twinkled when he danced. The first time he got up to sing, he sang 'What's New Pussycat?' The second time he got up to sing, he ruined Fat Charlie's life."
perjantai 28. elokuuta 2009
Shout out loud!
Title: Shout out loud!
Pictures and words: Satosumi Takaguchi
Published: 2006 (1996 in Japan)
Genre: Drama/comedy/romance say the books themselves
Pages: 5 times ~180 pages
Oh hi there. Long time no update. Yeah, I've been a bit lazy with the internets. But here we go!
Shout out loud! is one of my five favourite manga series (the others are Hellsing, Princess Knight, Yami no matsuei and Tokyo Babylon, in no particular order), and the first time I read it was some six years ago, when it was scanlated on the net. That's scanned and translated, unofficially by fans. It was pretty much love at first sight: Takaguchi's art is very beautiful and effortless. It's not generic manga art with the big eyes and stuff, although it has its fair share of SD expressions and other usual effects. But not too much to disturb the flow of the beautiful black ink.
What's it about then? It's about a voice actor, Hisae Shino, who, at the age of 33, finds out that he's the father of a 17-year old hockey playing boy, Nakaya. Nakaya's mother has died, and he has decided that he wants to live with his father instead of his mother's family. Shino, unmarried and quite naive, is happy to take him in, but isn't quite prepared for everything that having a kid brings along. For one, Shino has to start making a lot more money, which means taking all kinds of jobs, even yaoi CD's.
Throw in the colleague who becomes more than a little interested in Shino, and the hockey coach Nakaya suddenly finds very interesting, some more colleagues and even a horny teacher, and both father and son are soon involved in some hot man-on-man action. Uh, that makes Shout out loud! sound like a dirty, dirty yaoi series. But it's quite sweet, really. The characters are real enough that you'd want to slap them every now and then, and like I said, the art is very pretty. And! It's also interesting to have a look at how voice actors work.
Kind of hard to choose a quote, or to quote a comic book, so here's the cover of the last album, featuring father, son, and the man who wants to get into daddy's pants (er, one of them, anyway!).
Pictures and words: Satosumi Takaguchi
Published: 2006 (1996 in Japan)
Genre: Drama/comedy/romance say the books themselves
Pages: 5 times ~180 pages
Oh hi there. Long time no update. Yeah, I've been a bit lazy with the internets. But here we go!
Shout out loud! is one of my five favourite manga series (the others are Hellsing, Princess Knight, Yami no matsuei and Tokyo Babylon, in no particular order), and the first time I read it was some six years ago, when it was scanlated on the net. That's scanned and translated, unofficially by fans. It was pretty much love at first sight: Takaguchi's art is very beautiful and effortless. It's not generic manga art with the big eyes and stuff, although it has its fair share of SD expressions and other usual effects. But not too much to disturb the flow of the beautiful black ink.
What's it about then? It's about a voice actor, Hisae Shino, who, at the age of 33, finds out that he's the father of a 17-year old hockey playing boy, Nakaya. Nakaya's mother has died, and he has decided that he wants to live with his father instead of his mother's family. Shino, unmarried and quite naive, is happy to take him in, but isn't quite prepared for everything that having a kid brings along. For one, Shino has to start making a lot more money, which means taking all kinds of jobs, even yaoi CD's.
Throw in the colleague who becomes more than a little interested in Shino, and the hockey coach Nakaya suddenly finds very interesting, some more colleagues and even a horny teacher, and both father and son are soon involved in some hot man-on-man action. Uh, that makes Shout out loud! sound like a dirty, dirty yaoi series. But it's quite sweet, really. The characters are real enough that you'd want to slap them every now and then, and like I said, the art is very pretty. And! It's also interesting to have a look at how voice actors work.
Kind of hard to choose a quote, or to quote a comic book, so here's the cover of the last album, featuring father, son, and the man who wants to get into daddy's pants (er, one of them, anyway!).
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