A round up of the weekend's reading

Finally the last thing I read this weekend was volume 1 of Attack on Titan. 4/5 stars

This was the first manga/ comic book I have read this year which is pretty amazing becasue usually they are about half of my reading list.

I have started this series because the anime was recommended to me by one of my students. Turns out there is only one season so far and on further research, the production company that makes it is saying they have no immediate plans to make another. In other words they totally underestimated the extent of the appeal that this show would have. Which in hindsight is a bit silly. 

But I digress. The first volume of Attach on Titan works in about 3-4 of the frist episodes of the series. There was a lot more detail on the back story of some of the characters in the anime and some new characters altogether but I liked the pace of the manga better. Just a pity its not coloured.

The story so far...

Titan (3-15 metre tall humanoid creatures) have taken over the planet (presumably) and drive the humans close to extinction.  The humans now live in a small piece of land ringed by three massive walls with small, almost sacraficial towns jutting out of them in half moon shapes. This has been the situation for 100 years. Then the town where Eren, Mikasa and Armin live on the outer most wall is attached by a colossal titan and the town and the entire wall area is lost. Eren vowes to kill all titans after seeing hi mother eaten by one. Five years later, the three of them have finished there training and are planning on joining the Recon Corps when the second wall is attached by the same colossal titan and thebattle ensues.          

I am loveing this series and have so many questions from the anime that need to be answered. I will be reading the next one this weekend.

Around up of the weekend's reading part 2

The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas 4/5 stars

For a book about thought experiments and the "troposphere" or Mind Space" this book is incredibly visceral.   

The incredibly broken character of Ariel Manto is at times hard to read due to her complete and utter disregard for her own personal safety, both for her body and her mental health. However, the journey this book takes is one that my mum has been trying to explain to me for years. (If it wasn't for the disturbing sexual encounter within I would probably give it to her to read but no.)

I would have been a 5 star book but for two elements. 

1. The explanations of the pain of the lab mice. I have worked with these particular strains of lab mice and I left because of, amongst other things, the occasional mis treatment of them. Nothing as explicit as juggling them or putting live ones in with dead but just little thing I could reconcile with like the unnecessary over breeding and then the inevitable culling.

2. The odd, unexplained militant vegetarianism. I think this must go along with the anti cruelty to animals thing but that tied in with the slight undertones of anti Darwinism made it a little off putting for me.

In short, loved the story and the thought experiment backdrop, didn't like the politics. But just like my childhood, I can pick and choose the bits and pieces I like and discard the bits I don't.  

A round up of the weekend's reading

I managed to finish three books over the weekend (yay me!) This speed reading training is really doing something.

I thought i would give a quick round up of the three very different books.

Firstly we have:

Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton 4/5 stars

Well in a complete change of pace I read a non-fiction book. Its a first for the year. Just a Geek is an autobiograhical account of Wil Wheaton and his coming to terms with his Star Trek: The Next Generation past. I takes the form of augmented blog post from Wheatons website(s). As Wheaton comments that in the beginning, he is listening to that "prove to them all" inner voice so there is a lot of boasting about things that aren't quite true but the agumentation give a good insight into what was really going on and how much he really did strugle. 

I remeber Wil on Star Trek but that not really where I came to know him as an actor. His appearances on Big Bang Theory as himself are great, but what I loved him in was the Sci-Fi show Eureka, where he played a high strung and emotional scientist who often gets quite angry. What I was really happy about was to learn that he is nothing like these characters and really....just a geek like the rest of us, who drops in the odd Simpsons quote too.

More to come. 

In addition to this, I have finally been inspried to read Ringworld because of an account in the book where Wheaton meets Niven and both have a little fan boy moment. Thats kind of cool. So Ringworld, here I come!

   

Attach on Titan

I had Attach on Titan recommended to me by on of my students a couple of weeks ago and this week I have finally come to the end of the season one only to find that there is not season two in the works. 

Let me just say that I loved this series and I have since gone and told the student that i really don't like them becasue I am now going to have to track down the mangas. Said student laughed.

I loved this series, and the sci fi elements are strong, almost steam punk esque.

Not since Evangelian Neon Genesis (and possibly Ghost in the Shell; Stand Alone Complex) have I been so enthralled in the ethos of an anime. 

Things that I loved:

1. The 3D movement gear is so totally differen't from any other propulsion system as its so incredibly cool. I just know that I am way to clutsy and clumsy to pull it off but i so want to try.

2. Trying to work out where this alternative history would fit in in the timeline of humanity. Horses and carts but 3D gear and guns and flares.

3. Working out were all these Titans come from. I thought it was the people that get eaten transformed but now I don't think that is right, are they aliens? Whats going on?  

4. Mikasa's back story perfectly explains her suicidal protection of Eren.

Things that I need to know (or I will die):

1. That key! What is in the basement, was this whole people transforming into titans and experiment by Eren's father or what?

2. What happened to Eren's father?

3.Arwin's back story?

So if you haven't already, watch it, its awesome but be warned, you are going to have the same question I have and you are going to have to do the same hunt that I am currently performing, find me those mangas. On the up side, I have been informed that there is a small spin off manga dealing with Levi's back story so there is that to comfort me.

 

It's been a while!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I went on a holiday where I had no internet so no blogging to be had there. Then i got back and started work again for the year. That has been all sorts of crazy. For startes I don't have my own room any more so I have to move classrooms every lesson, but I did get a funky trolly to carry all my stuff. I feel the need to steam punk the thing but I just had to work out a design. Secondly I have 2 extention classes and a stage 2 upper school so that means sooooo much more planning than I used to have to do. Weekends have been taken up marking, making homework and prepareing for the next week.

Anyway, that is boring real life stuff. The exciting news is that not only have I already read 17 books this year (18 and 19 well on the way to compleation as well.) but, most exciting of all. I had my 30th birthday and had a big party and instead of asking for small things that aren't much bother when people asked me what I wanted, I responded with "something spectacular" and boy did they deliver.  

Pictures to come but the pinicle was my awsome partner who got me (some how, I love eBay) an American first edition, signed Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. To top it off I got presented with it at my party (a week before my birthday) so I got to show off. Needless to say I cried. This book is now, instantly my prized possesion. Douglas Adams Touched My Book!

So, will post some pictures of all the other cool stuff I got soon and some reviews of the books read so far this year. Well on track to reaching my goal of 70 books this year. Yay!