February Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabereviews under the cut  Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate

February Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabereviews under the cut  Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate vol 6 It’s been a while since I picked up this series but I was able to jump right back in where I left off! Every time I read it, I am reminded why this is one of the most popular sports manga around right now. The action is SO WELL DRAWN, it’s dynamic, it’s full of motion, I am amazed at how many different angles the author manages to find to draw the same rectangular volleyball court over and over. It also has a helpful amount of explanations of the technical rules of volleyball without every getting over whelming. It’s just really good, y'all!! Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate vol 7 The cliffhanger at the end of vol 6 was so dramatic that I launched right into vol 7! This whole book is taken up by a set of games of Karasuno versus Blue Castle, one of the most exciting rivalries that we’ve had so far. But the core of the story watching the Karasuno players level up their emotional intelligence and communication skills. Watching Kageyama try to smile stuck icy fear into my heart, but watching him high five and compliment his teammates melted it again. Can’t wait to read more! Yotsuba vol 8 by Kiyohiko Azuma I love Yotsuba! It remains one of my all-time favorite feel-good manga series, which makes it rather embarrassing to admit that apparently… the last time I picked up a volume of it was in 2013?? Well anyway, I’m back on it, and my library has bought a good batch more volumes since I last checked, hooray! Quite understandably, I had forgotten some of the secondary characters since I last read this series 9 years ago, but otherwise I was able to pick it right back up again and dive right into Yotsuba’s gentle, silly, sweet world. In this volume Yotuba attends a cultural festival and the costumes, settings, and festival scenes were rendered with the high level of gorgeous detail this series always delivers. Friendship in the Age of Loneliness written and read by Adam Smiley Poswolsky I’ve been making my way through various nonfiction books on friendship lately, and unfortunately none of them has really impressed me, this one included. I like that it’s current enough to talk about some of the challenges of maintaining friendship during covid, and it has many heartwarming anecdotes from the author’s own life and many fulfilling friendships. But I don’t know that any of its advice really stood out as anything beyond common sense. The one quote from it that I wrote down was “Friendship builds rituals, and rituals build friendship” which does feel like a nugget of truth I want to keep thinking about, but that might be the only piece of this book that sticks in my brain long term. The Runaway Princess by Johan Troianowski A young princess repeatedly escapes from her castle to go on lighthearted adventures in the kingdom, meeting various silly or shady characters a long the way. I found the story a little thin, but the art is extremely charming and the book is full of interactive activities like mazes, puzzles, and Where’s Waldo type searches that work very well. Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate vol 8 A dramatic and difficult ending to Karasuno’s set of games with Blue Castle, which I think filled almost four volumes?? How does this author do it, serious. I’m impressed, and curious to see what happens before the spring tournament begins. On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder Timothy Snyder is the author of many books on the rise of fascism and communism in the 20th century, and he put out this very slim volume (just 126 small pages) in 2017 as a response to the Trump administration. The majority of the book remains as timely as ever. It outlines twenty short lessons on how to maintain a democracy, especially in the face of rising political division and authoritarianism. Most of what it boils down to is this: every citizen must be an engaged citizen, because the institutions that protect democracy and civil rights do not protect themselves. He quotes American abolitionism to say “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” To my pandemic-weary brain, this sounds exhausting, so I have also started reading “Pleasure Activism” by andrienne maree brown to try awake further thoughts on this topic. The Nib Magazine issue 11: FoodA wonderful collection of nonfiction journalism and personal essay comics from The Nib, as always. I especially enjoyed Maki Naro’s “Ode To My Rice Cooker”, “Fatteh, My Father and Me” by Yazan al-Saadi and Ghadi Ghosn and “The Industry’s Backbone” by Gerardo Alba and Ally Shwed. I was also very happy to contribute 6 watercolor food illustrations to this issue!A Marvellous Light by Freya Marsk read by David Thrope Sir Robin Blyth, recently orphaned and now in charge of an estate, a London household, and his teenage younger sister, receives the shock of his life when he turns up at what he thinks will be a boring civil service job only to discover that magic is real. Magic is real, and requires paperwork; he has ended up with a liaison position, combing over reports of potential magic sightings and reporting them to either his magical co-worker, Edwin Courcey, or all the way up to the Prime Minister if the problem is serious enough. Things take an even stranger turn when Robin is attacked and placed under a curse by assailants who seem to think he has knowledge of a missing magical artifact. Edwin and Robin did not have a good first impression- Edwin is a prickly, buttoned-up, bookish type, while Robin is a good looking, athletic, traditionally masculine minor noble. But Edwin still feels responsible for breaking Robin’s curse and so takes him back to the Courcey estate, where magic is sunk into the very soil. When it turns out Robin’s processor- presumed missing- was in fact murdered, the pair realize they are caught in a plot much larger than they had comprehended. I enjoyed this book a lot, though it did leave a lot of threads unresolved at the end (it’s the first book of a planned trilogy). It’s kind of a sexy Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel lite, with a distinctly fanfiction feel. On AO3, this book would be rated explicit. Crush by Svetlana Chmakova A very sweet continuation of the Berrybrook Middle School comic series. In this installment, Jorge thinks he is above the wave of crushes, dating, and breakups that are sweeping through his junior high class. Until he realizes that the way he blushes and freezes up around Jazmine from the drama club means that- in fact- he likes her! Jorge is a tall, athletically gifted student but he isn’t a jock. He’s a quiet, shy guy who intentionally uses his size and glare to break up instances of bullying or teasing he sees around campus. He mostly keeps to himself except for his two close friends, social butterfly Liv and football team wannabe Garrett. When he learns that Jazmine, the girl he likes, already has a boyfriend, he prepares to keep his feels secret forever. But junior high is full of drama, and the social landscape around Jorge shifts so fast he can hardly keep up. I’ve been a fan of Svetlana Chmakova’s artwork ever since I spotted it in “Manga Mania: How to Draw Japanese Comics” edited by Christopher Hart when I myself was in junior high. I love the gentleness and simplicity of this world, and the diversity of the character designs. I’m glad there’s already another book out in this series for me to read! -- source link

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