Showing posts with label Asian Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asian Culture. Show all posts

Monday, November 11, 2019

Let's Buy Some Newly Released Mystery Books!



"When a guilt-ridden client has an unexpected change of heart, the Mack team’s careful preparation for his grand jury testimony is blown to smithereens. Now, Charlie and Gil must pull out all the stops to defend him from his new enemies and the estrangement of his father. Meanwhile, Charlie reports for jury duty and unwittingly begins to unravel a disturbing plan to alter the outcome of a crime lord’s conspiracy trial. Before she knows it, Charlie’s dangerous meddling lands a bull’s-eye squarely on the intersection of her personal and professional lives, putting all that she holds dear in jeopardy."


Motherless Child (An R. J. Franklin Mystery Book 2) by V. M. Burns



"When John Paul Rollins is murdered during his niece’s wedding reception, Detective RJ Franklin quickly realizes this case is going to be anything but routine. The list of people who wanted him dead includes just about everyone he’s ever known including the bride and groom. Can RJ put his personal feelings behind him and catch a killer?"

"Amateur sleuth Samantha Washington’s shopping trip to Chicago takes a deadly detour when a man is murdered on her bus . . .

Monday, February 18, 2019

Birthday Book Haul ~ PART ONE


Yeah. Yeah. I want books for my birthday. And that’s what I did throughout many avenues. I shopped at Books-A-Million here. Seriously, they have a better bargain selection than Barnes & Noble. Next to that, my local Book-A-Million is right up the street from my house. Whereas Barnes & Nobles is halfway across town. After spending Saturday with my family enjoying some Cajun food and arguing in the middle of Publix over what's the best kind of sandwich spread; company and tow hit up Books-A-Million. Of course because buying books is the first thing one must do when birthday money lands in said lap.

Well. These are the two I came out with. Additionally, I signed up for their membership program. Which is something I haven’t had since I actually worked for the company.

Anyway, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee was always on my reading list. I want all the Korean drama this books has to offer…
"In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. 
Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history."
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele is also a backlist hopeful read.  One I found for $5.

"Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. 
Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin. 
Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering inequality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country―and the world―that Black Lives Matter. 
When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable."
Anyway, plenty more birthday book hauls down the line.


Monday, December 5, 2016

Sole December TBR (For Now)!

"With a beautiful, powerful, and sexy Madame Chiang Kai-Shek at the center of one of the great dramas of the twentieth century, this is the story of the founding of modern China.

With the beautiful, powerful, and sexy Madame Chiang Kai-Shek at the center of one of the great dramas of the twentieth century, this is the story of the founding of modern China, starting with a revolution that swept away more than 2,000 years of monarchy, followed by World War II, and ending in eventual loss to the Communists and exile in Taipei. Praised by China scholar Jonathan Spence for “an impressive amount of telling material, drawn from a wide array of sources,” Pakula presents an epic historical tapestry, a wonderfully wrought narrative that brings to life what Americans should know about China—the superpower we are inextricably linked with."


~ The Last Empress on Amazon
All right.  All right.  As much as I want to break open my copy of Toni Braxton’s memoir, Unbreak My Heart, I have to take a step back.  After two years, I finally cracked open my copy of The Last Empress by Hannah Pakula back in October.  I got a good 100 pages into the book before I began to feel the swell of tome-size intimidation.  Great story, nonetheless.  It kept me glued, but I just knew getting through the book was going to take some work.  So I put it down for smaller titles in November.  And now I’m back at this monster of a read!  I’m committed to closing out the year finishing at least another big book.  This will be it.
WISH ME LUCK AND NO READING DISTRACTIONS!

The author...

Friday, January 15, 2016

1Q84 | Aomame X Tengo | BOOK 1

Oh, boy.  Oh, joy.  Oh, what-the-Hell-I-like-this-book.
I decided to open 2016 going after my bigger books.  This includes omnibus editions containing a set of series entries of some sort.  Which is exactly where Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 lies.  Containing a total of three books, I recently wrapped up the first entry.  And have yet the precise words to describe the experience.  I don’t think there any concrete words.  Yet, not to suggest I didn’t enjoy the experience–because I did.  And a lot more than my previous–and introductory–reading of Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance.
I just don’t know exactly how to put the experience into words.  So perhaps a quick summary would get my thinking juices flowing.  Or one could hope.
So here’s what 1Q84 is about.  Which is only right for me to walk you through this summary alongside myself.  The little synopsis/premise I collected previous to picking the book (over a year ago) were kind of misty on its direction.  The book itself throws all these terms at you to describe your approaching experience.  Romance.  Mystery.  Fantasy.  All to name a few.  And it’s all those descriptions–in some gradient of each over another.  But I found those descriptions useless, for those grappling with engaging with the book.  To me, the book is a surreal reading experience.  One you have to take in without–I guess you could say–a concrete overture to rely on.  Funny how many Japanese writers put me in this frame of mind after venturing through their books.
The story alternates between two third-person narratives.  Of course they'll eventually float into the same literary space of Tokyo, 1984.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

2015's 6 FINAL READS ~ PART 2

All right, friends.  I’m back with the second half of my 2015’s 6 FINAL READS.


I finally, after over a year, sat my ass down to finish reading this volume of the Young Miss Holmes manga series.  And it was fantastic.  I believe I stalled for so long because of the eight-part The Hound of Baskervilles case Christie investigated.  Somewhere in the middle, I lost interest in the case.  Only to find myself enthralled by it during my re-introduction.
But let me back up a little, for those who aren’t familiar with Kaoru Shintani’s Young Miss Holmes.  It’s quite simple: ten-year-old Christie is the protege of her uncle, Sherlock Holmes.  Endowed with his sense of chief intelligence (how theatrical of a description?) as her uncle, Christie spends her time running around England solving murder mysteries.  And a variety of murders she encounters–almost freely.  You see her parents are in India, so she’s aided by a pistol-toting maid named Ann Marie.  Likewise, her servant, Nora, tags along on Christie's adventures.  Though mostly unassuming, Nora stashed a forked tongue whip underneath her petticoats.  
Ann Marie & Nora DON'T PLAY
when it comes to Christie!
Christie’s curious and precocious nature aside, I find these characters bring much of the action and humor.  I perk up whenever Anne Marie or Nora unleashes her respective attacks, in the face of protecting her charge.  It’s equally entertaining watching Christie’s sneaky shenanigans and off-color comments aimed at her "protectorates."  But don't get Christie wrong.  She does bring her guardians trouble, both from her willful behavior and slick mouth.  However, Christie cares deeply for the two.  She's as protective and loyal to them as they are to her.  And this is further shown in the two chapters dedicated to sharing the history of Nora and Ann Marie.
And it’s these two chapters I felt highlighted this volume.  Nora’s chapter follows her life as a gypsy-slave, before finding solace under the care of Christie’s parents.  As for Ann Marie’s story, we get a glimpse into her tragic childhood growing up in America.  Shintani takes us all the way to post-Civil War Georgia, and on into the racial strife during the time.  And you wouldn’t believe what he came up with.  Then again, it may not come as a surprise given the context.
So the list goes for teenage sleuths:
1.  Martha Grimes' pre-teen amateur sleuth, Emma Graham.
2.  Alan Bradley’s sharp-thinking ten-year-old sleuth, Flavia de Luce
3.  And Kaoru Shintani’s ten-year-old Crystal "Christie" Margaret Hope.
It's interesting how each series is historical–in a sense.  Graham takes part in the 60s, whereas de Luce's a full decade ahead.  As for Christie, she's a 19th century girl.  And I can't wait to get into the third and final volume.  I just love this kind of shit.  Smart girls solving mysteries and kicking grown men ass!  Or at least getting them locked up by the law.

Here’s another book I wish to dedicate an entire blog post toward.  But I’m sticking to my year-end wrap up here, as much as it pains me to hold back my thoughts.  You see, I want to write more on the book for a variety of reasons.  More so from the conversations generated by Rodriguez.  
He uses a stream of socially-conscious and opinionated essays to piece together his autobiography.  Some of his opinions may appear debatable, but I lean a little toward thought-provoking.  I’ll break down the subjects he addresses later.  But for the sake of holding myself back, I’ll drop a quick summary of the man.
Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory recounts life as a Mexican-American living in Sacramento during the 60s to 80s.  His story unfolds life as a child understanding a total of 50 English words.  This leads him to a Roman Catholic school for his early education, where his teachers have concern for his inability to grasp English.  Their suggestion is for his parents to speak more English around him, and so they do.  
However, this early circumstance stirs the beginning of Rodriguez's life story.  As a child, he begins to differentiate language and cultural differences between himself and his white classmates (as well as neighbors).  Which language and culture was more acceptable?  Which was correct for him?  His questioning leads to trouble, and a doubtful perspective of his Mexican parents.  Determined to control his future he learns to assimilate to American life.  Of course via its academic system.  This, in turn, causes Rodriguez to find himself distant from his Mexican roots.  To further his troubles, he relays the strife he faces by not finding acceptance in the exchange.  Instead of appearing as a successful middle-class American, he’s haunted by the “minority” label.  A label he rejects as the use of affirmative action grants him professional opportunities.  This troubles Rodriguez–and for obvious reasons.  Still, he never manages to escape his label.
There’s plenty to consider from Rodriguez’s commentary, expressions, and opinions on his inner grapples.  Or more so the Mexican heritage he bypassed in the divide between his aspirations.  Furthermore, he takes apart his religion during the "Credo" essay.  And I kind of recognized his salty view in that arena.  
Nonetheless, it wasn’t until the final two essays that I truly woke to his voice.  When he falls into the subject of his complexion and “minority” labels, I started to connect with his anguish.  Though I smirked as well, seeing how he was the one who denied much of his heritage/culture in the chase for a middle-class "seat."  Which he gained successfully, only to find himself alienated in the processes.  The final essay on his profession ties up his story, and the isolating conclusion of his struggles.  Closing the book comes his epilogue, featuring the silence he endures from his now disconnected parents.
Moving and kind of whiny in all the right areas, I have to give credit how Hunger of Memory drew me into the deep complexities of immigrant children struggling with assimilation and ambition.  And I honestly have to say–I get it.  Not one to toss aside my own background, I do understand what its like to ache for better.  Or to long for a life beyond your parents' road.  But like many things of that nature, it comes with a cost.
All right.  All right.  I can’t say too, too much about this book for a very important reason: I skipped toward the end.  Don’t judge.  Don’t laugh.  Just hear me out when I say I started the book in the spring of 2014 and only now decided to finish it up.  Now I managed to get through 100 pages–back then.  And the book is only 240-or-so pages.  So I figured my new, determined and focused attitude would sail me right through this.  Besides, I enjoyed James’ first Dalgliesh book enough to come this far.  With the expectation of moving further into the series.  So I came pumped and ready to go.  Then almost instantaneously, I got that familiar dry and dull buzz from over a year ago.  James is so meticulous of a crime fiction writer that I found myself soaked too deep into her time frames and mathematics.  I say that as opposed to her crime and character.  So.  I skimmed lightly toward the final 40 pages and tread on to the finish line.  And that’s just the way the damn cookie crumbles.  Judge those who may, but after a year, I consider this a FINISHED READ.
With the intentions of getting the third book somewhere in the unforeseen future.  Cross all fingers.
Nonetheless, since I’m finished whining, I’ll “remind” everyone what happens in this books.
Via Goodreads!
BHAM…
"On the surface, the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is one of the most reputable institutions in London. But when the administrative head is found dead with a chisel in her heart, that distinguished facade begins to crumble as the truth emerges. Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate and quickly finds himself caught in a whirlwind of psychiatry, drugs, and deceit. Now he must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts has resulted in murder and stop a cunning killer before the next blow."
And that's it my friends!  My 6 FINAL READS of 2015.  But remember to please leave your comments on your 6 FINAL READS OF 2015 down below.  I'm currently powering my way through Haruki Murakami's monster, 1Q84.  I'm tackling this one a year later, with the intent of going after my large books this year.  And there are plenty to keep me company.  

In case this is the last post before New Years: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!  Keep READING, DRAWING, AND LIFE'ING.  
Wait.  I think I have another post in me.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Last Night a Bookstore Saved My Life (Acquisitions)

Was my title too corny?  I couldn't help it, as I sit here tapping my foot to InDeep's "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life".  I kind of live for that low disco throb anchoring the track.  It's so sweet that I had to find a way to incorporate it here as an expressionist at work.

It's been a challenging–and I mean challenging–reading month.  I started off strong, finishing the fourth book in Martha Grimes' Emma Graham series (who I still miss).  I then managed my way through the fourth book in Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski series, Bitter Medicine.  I enjoyed my time with Elizabeth Peter's Jacqueline Kirby in her English country house mystery adventure.  And without a doubt Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy feline detective series gave me the warm and fuzzies in its third offering.  Then I stopped by Barnes & Nobles one day after work and picked up the recent release of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, Flesh and Blood.  That's when the high-flying fantastic reading hit the fan.  Between dealing with health insurance madness and a cell phone battery that just wouldn't (thankfully, my replacement came in about forty minutes ago), I just kind of let the rest of this month go all together.  Even my blog suffered!  

I kind of got through by watching Golden Girls, playing Tales of Xillia 2, and fitting in a short story/manga or two to keep me reading.  However, all personal stuff aside, let's get back to how I abandoned the 22nd book in Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series!  Or better yet, be on the look out for my review.

Nonetheless, I'm here to share a few of the recent acquisitions I've gathered through the month of November.  Because if I wasn't reading books, I was buying them.

The Mysteries!


1.  The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Seeing that Emma Graham was coming to an end, I frantically searched for something similiar to take her place (at least until Mrs. Grimes writes the fifth book).  I didn't want to let twelve-year-old Emma's voice go after Fadeaway Girl.  So I am happy to say that I discovered Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series immediately following.  Flavia de Luce is a ten-year-old girl detective; and where Graham's series takes place in 60's US, Luce's is 50's UK .  So we have era and adolescence all spinning in the same vein of detective fiction.  I only hope Flavia is as witty, clever and smart-mouthed as Emma.  And despite all those hopes, I trust that she's a different girl all together.

2.  Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

I did a video where I talked about how I'm unable to jump right into the middle of a series with any kind of comfort.  I must start from the beginning and work my way down.  In that video, I related my owning book three [Blanche Cleans Up] in Barbara Neely's series about a black housekeeper who solves mysteries.  The series has been on my radar for years, but I've only owned the third book.  After watching the video again, I realized I had no excuse for not starting Blanche's story.  So, I finally ordered the first book, Blanche on the Lam.

3.  In the Game by Nikki Baker

More on detective fiction, black women, series, and radars comes In the Game by Nikki Baker.  We're going to double (or even triple) minority realms here.  You see, this series not only revolves around a black woman named Virginia Kelly, but she's also a black woman who happens to be a lesbian.  My radar was buzzing with this series for quite some time, and I finally got my hands on the first book, In the Game.  Rumors has it that Virginia Kelly has a nasty attitude as she goes about solving murders in Chicago's lesbian community (or further out).  From my understanding, said attitude has turned some  readers away.  We'll just see about that.  As most of you know, I'll be the first one to tell you about it.

From Korea to Japan


4.  The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee

This is certainly not my first foray into Korean-American author Chang-Rae Lee.  I was first introduced to him through his debut, Native Speaker.  Native Speaker was somewhat of a frustrating read for me.  Its context, concerning a Korean-American's alienation from Americanized concepts of culture, attitudes and behaviors, was the best thing ever.  I got the purpose (exchange that with any other word) of the book.  However, while that's all true, I also felt like shaking Lee's character, Henry.  It's all filled in his narrative, but man did he make a mostly inexpressive and sober narrator.  Long story short, recently Chang-Rae Lee popped to mind.  I researched his publications and decided on The Surrendered as my second take.

5.  1Q84 by Haruki Murakami  

My coming to 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is almost a direct reflection of my coming to The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee.  Both authors I read years ago and, for no imaginable reason, held back from until recently.  The difference is that I, like many, seemed transfixed by the length (and maybe even cover) of 1Q84.  It's always been on my radar, screaming "buy me read me" since its release.  I suppose I was hesitant because of its size.  Nonetheless, I read (as well as discovered) Murakami's Dance Dance Dance years ago, finding myself more or less gripped to the author afterwards.  I gave him a try, and that was that.  So here's to attempting 1Q84.  Because it's three books combined into one, my plan is to take them one book at a time.  1157 pages begs to be piecemealed.

What's Missing!

A few books I'm kind of waiting on...

6.  Pay Dirt by Rita Mae Brown

7.  Buffy Season 10 Volume 1: Rules by Christo Gage

8.  A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jin

The "Gotta Go" Pile:


December should not be like November–or even October for that matter.  I want to just let these last few days in November idle on by before I decide which book on this list will break open the final sprint of 2014!  With that said, happy reading everyone.  If you've read any of these books, please use the comments section to share your thoughts.  I'd love to hear them.

Monday, June 23, 2014

The Gold Fleur

Hi, everyone.  Blogger has been acting a straight fool lately and I've been impatient with it.  I don't know what the issue is, but nothing’s loading properly--including this new blog post on my latest drawing.  Nonetheless, I think I'm there.  I think it’s doing its job, and now it’s time to share my process again through a series of images.

I've named this image Fleur.  The character’s name is still unavailable to me.


I sketched the actual drawing probably three months ago and just left it, for some reason. Therefore, I don’t have the penciled version. Nonetheless, as of recently, I went through the process of inking the drawing and adding all the particular areas that would require shading/shadows regarding the flesh (I use Copic markers for this). Besides using the usual colored pencils to add tones to the eyes, I also used a screen/pattern early within the process as the backdrop. Because the process only gets messier, I try to have this construction part out of the way as early as possible. Anyway, at first I meant to apply the screen/pattern as the shirt, and then realized there wasn’t enough paper. I like it better as a backdrop, though. So having carefully carved out the negative space, I added it on as needed.


Now on to the colors. Water coloring is always my base of choice because it’s light and covers space quick and easily. Because I decided his shirt would be yellow—in semi-accordance with the gold fleur de lis within the backdrop—I painted it a light yellow. Just as his hair would be brown, I gave it a light-brown color. However, as seen, I covered the hair with a dust of brown-toned chalk pastels before I applied the yellow chalk to his shirt. I’m all about layers. Get the base color, and then add more and more colors!


Because I like layers, I try to add the darkest color first when it comes to chalk pastels. Why? Because it can get messy. Adding the dark color first allows me to clean up the edges before applying lighter colors. As seen in this image, I added a yellow chalk pastel to his shirt as well as a flesh color to his skin tone. As for the hair, it was time for a layer of colored pencils toned and streaked through his hair to give it vibrancy (I eventually use a tissue to blend the three mediums that layers the hair). Furthermore, I used wooden beads and brown string to craft the drawstring area of his shirt. As for his undershirt, I applied a ragged piece of actual denim to give it form.



Almost finished. I streaked his hair with a gum eraser as a form of highlights, and then gave sparks (an actual whiteout pen) and further flourishes to his eyes and the glisten of his lips. On the crafting aspect, I used more string to construct him gently gripping a necklace consisting of bejeweling stickers, and a gold cross sticker. I went through several designs of the cross from what I had available before I decided to stick with a gold one. This cross, in particular, matches his earrings, which are also stickers taken from the same batch.


The final part. Immediately, after I scan a drawing, I revive its color in PhotoFiltre. Hey, it’s all I got. The reason I do so is because digital images come out differently than the original. So I found it best to give some digital brilliance to the colors. Nevertheless, because the image is further decreased to portrait size, I also made corrections and adjustments. One of those corrects were to brush a matching brown color over the wooden beads that makes up the drawstring of his shirt. This was to cover the dry crafts glue peeking out. Other adjustments called because certain aspects tugged at me. Like his lips. I brushed over the glisten I originally intended, deciding it looked best without. I also touched up the glisten in his eyes by applying a softer gray over them to bring down the brilliance. Sometimes you have to make little adjustments as the digital image always looks differently than the actual one. A little clean up in an otherwise never-perfect drawing.

I have about four other images I’ll be sending off before turning them into journals and other items on my Zazzle shop, this one included. Until then, let’s come up with a name for him.

I sometimes get message from people asking me what inspires me to draw in this style.  Then there are some who pinpoint it right away.  In any regard, I idolize Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon) and Miwa Ueda (Peach Girl) and their shojo manga drawings.  I love the youthfulness, softness, and simplicity of shojo-themed drawings.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Yes, Her Storytelling is Afloat

Taken from The Floating Girl blurb

...After a hostile takeover aided by a deceptively perky college intern, the Gaijin [Foreigner] Times has adopted a comic book format to attract more readers.  It falls upon Rei [Shimura] to write something glowing about the history of comic book art.  During a weekend of research and relaxation at her boyfriend Takeo's beachside house, Rei stumbles on an exquisitely drawn modern comic book that reveals the disturbing social milieu of pre-World War II Japan.

Rei's exhaustive search for the comic book's twenty-something creators leads to three college students.  When one of them turns up dead in a scene straight out of the comic, the art story turns into a murder investigation.  Rei finds herself floating through strip clubs, animation shops, and coffeehouses to get the true story--and to save her own skin.


I sigh with both contempt and elation.  The Floating Girl is the fourth book in the Rei Shimura mystery series, and I’m starting to notice a peculiar trend of loving every other book in the series between the four I've read at this point.  For some reason, I find myself disappointed in the lukewarm, watered-down offers between said other books.  However, first I should be clear in stating that The Floating Girl was a step better than the second book in the series, Zen Attitude.  Zen Attitude was so disappointing and tepid that I took a two-year hiatus from the series after stumbling my way through its rootless mystery.  Nevertheless, The Floating Girl was not the knockout that The Salaryman’s Wife [Book 1] and The Flower Master [Book 3] were.  In all respects, the problem came from the contriving events sprinkled throughout to encourage and push an already mushy mystery.  Mushy in the sense that there were too many structural threads dangling, trying to come together by force; furthermore, through the behaviors and actions of rather quasi secondary (or third) characters.  

One example of the above concerns took place in an ocean scene, within the coastal town of Hayama, Japan.  
At this point in the book Rei has theorized that the Japanese crime syndicate, known as the yakuza, who frequent a beach bar in the area, organized the book's murder.  However, having sly interviewed two individuals at the bar, she comes to the conclusion that both are unconnected to the yakuza or the murder.  She can't pilfer any information they don't own, after all.  So what does Rei decide to do next?  She decides to go for a swim to appear unpretentious to the curiously eying innocents to her cause.  That's right.  A swim.  Then this severely staged and cooked-up event happens...

Hayama ~ Societeperrier.com
I coughed violently, whipping my head around so that I could search for swimmers near enough to call to for help.  Ten feet away were a couple of teenagers shooting each other with water guns.  They had been having so much fun, they'd missed the fact that I'd almost drowned.  I knew now that seaweed had not pulled me down--rather, it had been the curved rubber pipe of a snorkel.  Now that the job was done, the man calmly slipped his snorkel in the side of his mouth.

"How are you?" he asked conversationally.  It was like hearing someone talk with a cigar in his mouth.


"Fine," I replied automatically.  I looked at him.  He had flat, unhandsome features, narrow eyes, and chicken pox scar on his forehead.  He was balding.  This was no Kunio Takahashi, that was for sure.


He raised a hand over his eyes as a shield against the sun and looked straight at me.  His gaze was chilling.  "You asked the wrong fellows about business," he said.  "I can tell you what you need to know."


He really was yakuza.  Even though the hand over his eyes had all the fingers intact, I suddenly knew.  The fact that he still had his pinky finger meant that he hadn't been punished for making any mistakes.


I said, still spitting out some water, "I don't think so.  You're more interested in hurting me than helping me."


"I was simply trying to get your attention.  At the bar you didn't notice me."  The man spoke politely, with a faint accent from the Kansai region.  He sounded very different from the working-class joes I've mistaken for gangsters.


"You almost killed me," I said.


"No," he said.  "My superiors have no interest in harming you."


One: He did try to kill her.  Or at least you would think that's how high the stakes have gotten in her investigation.  Nevertheless, instead it was all just a ridiculous show to "get her attention."  Two: How awkward and forced this scene is!  Or is it really just me?  I don't care for the author's setup if it concludes to something so inorganic as a confrontation in the middle of the ocean with a fully gilled yakuza gangster who thought it better to toy with our sleuth instead of taking her head on.  So I guess what I'm trying to say is how do you go from interviewing potential suspects (who didn't know they were suspects), to taking a swim, to having some gangster submerged in the ocean watching you, who then attempts to drown you to "get your attention?"


Please help me out here!  

And there were plenty more of these contrive events.  One of them involves a randomly unnecessary army of motorcycle bousouzoku (Japanese for "reckless tribe") terrorizing Rei, but having no true purpose to the overall mystery other than delivering her lost address book.  They drove in on their bikes heightening the tension.  However, one of them simply threw a package; they drove out.  No conversation.  No nothing.  So what was in the package?  The address book Rei lost previously at the beach bar.

Please help me out here!  Please!  

Those are only two examples, which most likely attributed to the week and a half it took me to soak into the book and close it out.

However, let me share what I did like about this book--so enough of the unbelievable.  As always, Massey dishes out the details and dealings surrounding Japanese culture.  As mentioned in the blurb I shared, the theme of The Floating Girl is the Japanese youth subculture.  Apparently, that brief, awkward scene with the bousouzoku was meant to be an illustration of Japanese subculture.  Which was probably why it came across as a random injection of sorts and not a sound storytelling device.  Nonetheless, much of the subject of subculture in the book revolves around manga and anime; I glowed happily whenever Sailor Moon's name was mentioned.  The other half takes on Rei's constant struggle with owning her Japanese manners.  Being half-Japanese, she acknowledges what Japanese manners require, yet given the situation, she usually does the opposite.  This is always hilarious.  So if all else fails, I do enjoy Rei Shimura herself.  


So with all that said, I look forward to the fifth book in the series, The Bride's Kimono.  I think that overall I'm not going to find many mystery series taking place in Japan with a female sleuth of Japanese origin.  Nor a writer who likes the spread the knowledge.  Even if it sometimes come across through a spin of forced, graceless storytelling.     

Saturday, February 1, 2014

January Reading Wrap-Up

January was a very good month.  My year of blogging and book tubing remained strong, just as I’d planned and continue to work on.  Set the stage and keep on performing… so to speak.  In any regard, time to wrap up my January reads as we move on into February.  My list is incredible short because two of the books I’ve already written about on Comic Towel.  If you’ve read any of these books and have something to share about them, please feel free to do so.  Who doesn’t love discussing books, right?

Beside finally finishing Laurell K Hamilton’s airless Anita Blake novel, Affliction, and Maya Angelou’s inspirational collection of essays in, Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now, I finally managed to catch up on Steve Bein’s multi-layered genre novel, Daughter of the Sword.  I also devoured Jung Chang and Jon Halliday's Mao.  Needless to say, I am now pleasantly--pleasantly--satisfied with them both.


Daughter of the Sword

Daughter of the Sword combines elements of urban fantasy, historical fiction, and crime fiction into one fantasy seen cavorting down some mean and murderous Tokyo streets.  To a degree, however.  The fact is that the narrative switches between several time periods between 1587 Japan and 2010 Tokyo.  Nevertheless, the story begins with Tokyo detective, Mariko Oshiro (the only female detective in the city so noted within the text), in the midst of placing a cap on a string of narcotics dealings taking place within the city.  Almost inadvertently, her sister collides into her latest sting operation, troubling Mariko’s position.  Go easy on the drug-using sister?  Or book her?  Mariko goes easy on her sister and later finds criticism for her actions via her partners.  It’s already troubling being the only female detective in Tokyo--now this.  What troubles abounds Mariko gets worst when the new station lieutenant, Lieutenant Ko, gathers Mariko into his office for a critical rundown of her previous operation.  In basic terms, he’s a straight-up asshole to her for a variety of reasons besides the fact that she is a female cop.  Nevertheless, with his rank, he decides to put Mariko on probation from working Narcotics cases, and in turn, sends her on “shit cases” involving an elderly Japanese man who recently reported an attempted burglary of his home.  Someone tried--but obviously failed--to steal one of his many ancient swords.  To be specific, his Master Inazuma sword named Glorious Victory. 

Reluctantly taking on the case, it's here that Mariko is introduced to Yamada, the elderly man who reported the attempted burglary.  With this introduction comes a budding friendship and a peek into the legend by the ancient Inazuma swords--which consist of three swords providing three different utilities to its wielders.  Now, while Mariko’s case seems packed and all well and good, what really sets this story off is the leaps into the past we experience as the narrative switches.  I should clarify that the book remains third person, however the narrative changes by providing interlocking plots that illustrate the purpose and power behind each Inazuma sword via characters from ancient Japan.  This was especially fun for me because I love Asian ghost stories and Japanese Kwaidan tales.

Now, the third narrative point revolves around the actual villain and his quest to retrieve the three Inazuma swords.  Meanwhile, he wields the bloodiest of them all, Beautiful Singer, around Tokyo leaving a trail of bodies for Mariko to follow.

The way this book comes together between these three points is what kept the text fresh and engrossing.  You get the history behind the swords, as well as the case, as well as the desperate actions of the villain, all rolled into one.  It’s also told through a solid beat, or voice, that is consistent throughout the ride.  Therefore, the switches between narratives didn’t drag through certain areas to impress you with monologues on tradition and culture.  All that was woven into the voice.  A personal plus for me was that the book wasn't urban fantasy underneath the veil of chick lit.  Therefore, no romance was present enough to override the plot.  That, my friends, is gold country right there!  I recently bought the second novel in the series, Year of the Demon, and will be sinking my teeth into it this month.  Steve Bein.  You have a new fan.


The Unknown Story: Mao

Without a doubt, The Unknown Story: Mao, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, made for a thick and concentrating read.  There was absolutely nothing light about this 600+ page elephantidae of a biography uncovering the life of one of China’s [add your own adjective here] leaders.  I walked away from reading the book mesmerized, puzzled, and a little appalled at this leader’s tenacity to beat an entire country of people down, particularly through the use of vicious indoctrination and starvation.  Now, much of this I’m familiar with having read books (fiction and non-fiction) revolving around the atrocities of China’s Cultural Revolution.  However, there was no way I could know--or even come to understand--the truth behind its history.  This book provided that truth; some agree some disagree.

What a spread of information!  From Mao’s Communist beginnings, his many rivalries (I saw Chiang Kai-shek more like a nemesis; only one I voted for between the two), his usurping of the Red Army, and the fate of his wives; this book was just an uncontrollable wealth of information page after page.  Let’s not even forget to mention Mao's ugly Purges, kidnapping schemes, poisonings, and failed attempts to spread his Maoism across the world as China starved.  This book was explosive to say the least, and I enjoyed every minute of delving into the dept of this man.  It was an exhaustive ride, but very much worth the trip.  Guided by Chang and Halliday’s near seamless writing, I found myself devouring every bit of painted descriptions, character (though they are actual historical people) portraits, and factual (rather documented) pieces of dialogue.  However, I must say that in the beginning I was gathering a “textbook” feel for the book, but eventually their storytelling operation took over the more I understood the role and names of the historical people this book was written around.  Only then did each event unfold ceaselessly until its end.

More could be written on this biography--lots more.  As usual, any biographer will receive their share of criticism about their interpretation of history.  Apparently, Chang and Halliday received theirs in bulk.  Nevertheless, for the individual that I am, I am happy to say that I found myself complacent with what I received from this book.  I can’t weight fact from fiction because I‘m not an expert or historian on the subject of Mao.  All I can say is that I read the book, soaked into the history/story, and found myself a lot smarter and informed at its end.  That’s good enough for me.


What I'm Currently Reading

A couple of weeks from now will mark a year since I had this particularly book.  After digging into the depths of Mao, I thought it was time for some light reading... with a little post-apocalyptic zombie mayhem.  Domino Falls (second in a series) by the married writing duo, Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, had been staring at me from its sleeper position on my shelf for quite some time.  I figured what the hell, I could save money buying books by reading what I already have.

At approximately 179 pages into Domino Falls, I have to say that I like the first book in the series, Devil's Wake, a little better.  Mainly because in Devil's Wake we are introduced to the zombie outbreak on what is known as Freak Day, as well as the immediate chaos that followed.  Plus, we witnessed how the cast of characters came together, which is always fun.

In Domino Falls, the pacing has slowed down considerable from chase scenes, survival tactics, and shootouts.  This is done in favor of building character conflict/discord/relationships, survival-town huddling, and a creepy mystery hinting to something out of The Walking Dead's Governor's secret room.  I haven't gotten into that part quite yet to tell what is happening, but it's definitely happening.  I'm kind of upset that I put the book down a year ago after stopping about 20 pages in.  The shift in pacing between the two books is necessary.  So what was I thinking?

Nevertheless, the draw of this series (when is the 3rd book due?) is the fact that the main cast of characters are people of color.  It's the same cast of survivors, ranging from late teens to mid-twenties, that were introduced in the first book, Devil's Wake.  From African-American to Native American, the seven of them (plus a dog) find themselves manning and avoiding the politics that make up the survivors town/colony inside Domino Falls.  While several of the cast of characters annoy me, I can't help but grin because I know them so well from the first book.  Should something happen to one of them, I don't know how I'll handle myself.  With that said, I don't think all eight of them will come out of this novel together.

After I post this, I'm seeping back into their world.

Books That Didn't Make It

There is one book in the month of January that I bought and couldn't find myself to finish.  I found it at my public library's bookstore.  It's called The Healing, by Gayl Jones.  I haven't decided whether I should give the book another try or not, but as of right now, it's on my TD pile--To Donate.  I've never read Gayl Jones, but I am a complete sucker for African-American writers who are of a certain age writing with a certain wisdom and vernacular that reminds me of butter on toast.  While I don't doubt that a book about a traveling faith healer is absent of some of the elements I love in African-American writers, Gayl Jones's The Healing just missed its mark with me.  It wasn't so much that the narrative is written in a stream-of-conscious fashion, it's the fact that her dialogue is un-punctuated!  If you have the patience to re-read lines to determine whether you are comprehending inner monologue or actual dialogue, then good for you.  For me, it's not worth the headache.  Maybe one day I'll get there, but I'll have to settle for what I am familiar with in this instance.  I can read The Healing to be absorbed into a story, not to find myself reading the equivalent of stepping carefully over shards of glass.  Sad that I didn't make it...

Thanks for catching up with me.  I'll share my latest video explaining as an extension to this post.  Well, actually, this post in an extension to the video.  (^.^)



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