(no subject)

[fredericks]

Today was the meeting of nycbookclub. Twas fun. nemesisbecoming, laughingirl, and sternel were in attendance. I kept envisioning that sternel would look vaguely like Christian Bale due to her icon; I am such the crackhead. Puff and Pao was a cuter meeting place than I'd originally though, since I'd scoped the place out during the daylight hours. It was just us four, the counter help, and the sweet sweet smell of scrumptious puff pastry. None of us really liked the entirety of Battle Royale (and yes, bitch from the Customer Service desk of the Barnes and Noble at Rockefeller Center, we all pronounced it "roy-AL"; please go frack yourself) but there was something to be gained from the experience of reading it and at least we didn't cop out (*ahem*). The next book we'll read is The Kite Runner, a work that normally wouldn't be my cup of tea. Oh well; these things are for expanding one's horizons. Or some gorram thing of that nature.
*

Me whine - I'm feeling particularly lonely, tired, and strained. I need more sleep than I'm getting. I feel like I've been in classes forever, but it's not even been five days yet. Argh. I keep getting the urge to punch things. Things and people. Usually people. And not in a playful manner, either. I'm unsure if people are acting more fracking idiotic than usual or I simply have a smaller tolerance for bullshit at this point in time.

*
Got the 4th GN of Mike Carey's Lucifer in the mail yesterday, and read it during the trek back from the book club meeting this evening. I laughed a few times. I do so like the way Carey captures Morningstar and the clever way religion is approached. And Michael in exile? W00t! Let the hijinks begin. More funds are required to continue my Lucifer journey.

*
My brother has a MySpace account. He's stuck up a picture of himself, my mom, and my dad there. The picture flatters none of them. He refers to himself as a "gangster". No, forgive me; as a "gangzta". W...TF? This from the kid who is an altarboy and has attended Catholic school for most of his life. I think the Netspeak bothers me more than any of the other silliness, though. *sigh*

End Transmission

PS - My Chemical Romance's Hang 'Em High? Really nifty.

Comments

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it as violent fluff, but it's not something I can see myself picking up to re-read in the future unless I'm really feening for some Tarantino. The characters (IMO) came across as one-dimensional: Shuya was the Mary Sue whom all the girls loved, everyone was either "in love" or wistfully thinking about it, the two homosexuals of the story were stereotypes to the extreme (the highly effeminate gay + the highly aggressive sexually abused/molested man-hating lesbian), and backstory was rushed through for most of the characters in a page or two with slightly confusing shifts from 1st person to 3rd person (from my limited exposure to manga and anime that does fit the style, I know, but it's not something I'm entirely comfortable with). It's characters more than plot that keep me coming back, and the only student out of the 42 I really felt for was Shinji; I was surprised by how much I connected with him, even though he was burdened with the same "Wow, love *heart*" dialogue as everyone else. I'm still trying to decipher why exactly that was, and I'm not going to say more because you've not finished the book.

That all being said, I did mouth "holy shit" a couple of times during the course of my reading during particularly nailbiting scenes, and I didn't see a twist or two that happened. I liked stuff, but not enough to say I liked the entire thing.

[tjfalcon.livejournal.com]

Well I think the viewpoint shifts from 1st to 3rd person is probably due to translation issues.

As for the twists, you can see them coming, you just don't know exactly how they'll twist.