So, its been the first few days of daily bookblogging, and I must admit, I'm quite enjoying it.
It does help to structure my reading and movie watching a bit. And it's also helping balancing my story-devouring and work.
Who knows, I might become an actual organized person, and not just one being good at faking being oganized!
For now, in an attempt to bring a bit of structure to my posts, I allocated themes to every day of the week.
You'll find I'm a very ecclectic reader (I like all genres, except horror), and to me, this allocating of themes makes sure I present you with a diverse mix.
It also allows me to plan posts better, and group books and movies (because honestly, I watch/read too much to present you with just one review/opinion piece a day...And you'll ind, at times, I'm very opinionated).
You'll also find, when I review, I'll more often write opinion pieces instead of 'book report-style' reviews.
I often don't feel the need (or just plain don't have time) to rehash the plot of a book/movie, because that's what the blurb is for.
It's really easy to find the summary of a book/movie on GoodReads or IMDb (and I usually include quick links), so you can go and read that for yourself.
When I read reviews by other people, I'm always interested in what they liked/disliked about a story and why, not the gazillionth rewrite of the blurb.
That being said, on occasion I'll include a short summary. (Note, this is how I feel at the moment, I reserve the right to change my mind in future!)
Well, I suppose that's enough rambling on about that subject for now. Sundays are reserved for a weekly digest, and a sneak peek to what's coming up next week.
I started this week by binging on the manga Hajime no Ippo (really, of the 8 volumes I read this week, 5 of them were read on monday...) Now, this series is not something I'll be reviewing on the blog, because I suppose it's not very interesting hearing a die-hard fan drone on.
I'll just talk about it in this post for a short bit ;)
Hajime no Ippo, by Morikawa Joji, is the story of a teenager, Makunouchi Ippo (Ippo being his first name), who's not sure what direction to take in life, and then discovers boxing. Turns out, he's a natural talent, but his drive to better himself is amazing.
It is crazy how much I love this series.
It is rather violent (after all, it is about pro boxers), but it's never senseless. There are a lot of technical explanations about boxing, especially in the first couple of volumes, as Ippo is learning. The consequences of fighting are also discussed regularly.
And the way the fights are drawn/written, is really awesome. I found myself, on more than one occasion, on the edge of my seat, biting my lip and shuddering when a particularly strong hit lands.
But as I said before, it's about more than just the fighting, it's also about friendship (it's really rare for me to like all characters in a series, and really, each and every character in this series is great), about the drive to always better yourself, and that hard work will get rewarded. It presents a great set of moral values in an unexpected setting.
The last thing before I'll shut up about this (for now, anyways), is this: I love the wordplay in the title. Often, you'll find, in Japanese manga's etc, phrases with double meaning, which gives it a whole other dimension, but this often does not come across in the translation to English.
'Hajime no Ippo' plays with the fact that, not only is Ippo a given name, it also means (with the kanji that it's written in) 'first step'. So the title can both be interpreted as 'the beginning of Ippo', as well as 'the taking of the first step'. This double meaning really sums up what this series is about, as we not only see Ippo growing from a youth into a man, he grows step by step.
(And for those interested, it was also turned into an anime series, and it's really close to the books).
Besides binging on manga, I also read Jules Verne's A voyage in a Balloon (opinion on this will be part of next tuesday's post, which will be Verne-themed), as well as J.M. Barries What Every Woman Knows (not sure where to fit in that review, but I'll find a spot).
Furthermore, I read 'Life Lessons from Catsass' by Claude Combacau (for which I received an e-ARC), and you'll be able to read my thoughts on this really funny book in the upcoming post of July 3.
Other reads this week:
- Bats, Creatures of the Night (full post on June 21)
- The Frog Prince (full post on June 26)
Movies seen this week:
- Leap! (full post on June 23)
If you can't wait to hear my opinion on a certain book, follow me on Goodreads, I usually post a short version immediately after finishing a book. My reviews there are always updated with the link to the longer blogpost.
Same goes for my movie reviews, you can check them out on Rinema!
To round off, a quick look at what's coming up next week. As mentioned, Tuesday will revolve around a couple of works by Jules Verne, Wednesday will be batty, and Frilly Friday is going to be really frilly!.
Happy reading to all of you!
It does help to structure my reading and movie watching a bit. And it's also helping balancing my story-devouring and work.
Who knows, I might become an actual organized person, and not just one being good at faking being oganized!
For now, in an attempt to bring a bit of structure to my posts, I allocated themes to every day of the week.
You'll find I'm a very ecclectic reader (I like all genres, except horror), and to me, this allocating of themes makes sure I present you with a diverse mix.
It also allows me to plan posts better, and group books and movies (because honestly, I watch/read too much to present you with just one review/opinion piece a day...And you'll ind, at times, I'm very opinionated).
You'll also find, when I review, I'll more often write opinion pieces instead of 'book report-style' reviews.
I often don't feel the need (or just plain don't have time) to rehash the plot of a book/movie, because that's what the blurb is for.
It's really easy to find the summary of a book/movie on GoodReads or IMDb (and I usually include quick links), so you can go and read that for yourself.
When I read reviews by other people, I'm always interested in what they liked/disliked about a story and why, not the gazillionth rewrite of the blurb.
That being said, on occasion I'll include a short summary. (Note, this is how I feel at the moment, I reserve the right to change my mind in future!)
Well, I suppose that's enough rambling on about that subject for now. Sundays are reserved for a weekly digest, and a sneak peek to what's coming up next week.
I started this week by binging on the manga Hajime no Ippo (really, of the 8 volumes I read this week, 5 of them were read on monday...) Now, this series is not something I'll be reviewing on the blog, because I suppose it's not very interesting hearing a die-hard fan drone on.
I'll just talk about it in this post for a short bit ;)
Hajime no Ippo, by Morikawa Joji, is the story of a teenager, Makunouchi Ippo (Ippo being his first name), who's not sure what direction to take in life, and then discovers boxing. Turns out, he's a natural talent, but his drive to better himself is amazing.
It is crazy how much I love this series.
It is rather violent (after all, it is about pro boxers), but it's never senseless. There are a lot of technical explanations about boxing, especially in the first couple of volumes, as Ippo is learning. The consequences of fighting are also discussed regularly.
And the way the fights are drawn/written, is really awesome. I found myself, on more than one occasion, on the edge of my seat, biting my lip and shuddering when a particularly strong hit lands.
But as I said before, it's about more than just the fighting, it's also about friendship (it's really rare for me to like all characters in a series, and really, each and every character in this series is great), about the drive to always better yourself, and that hard work will get rewarded. It presents a great set of moral values in an unexpected setting.
The last thing before I'll shut up about this (for now, anyways), is this: I love the wordplay in the title. Often, you'll find, in Japanese manga's etc, phrases with double meaning, which gives it a whole other dimension, but this often does not come across in the translation to English.
'Hajime no Ippo' plays with the fact that, not only is Ippo a given name, it also means (with the kanji that it's written in) 'first step'. So the title can both be interpreted as 'the beginning of Ippo', as well as 'the taking of the first step'. This double meaning really sums up what this series is about, as we not only see Ippo growing from a youth into a man, he grows step by step.
(And for those interested, it was also turned into an anime series, and it's really close to the books).
Besides binging on manga, I also read Jules Verne's A voyage in a Balloon (opinion on this will be part of next tuesday's post, which will be Verne-themed), as well as J.M. Barries What Every Woman Knows (not sure where to fit in that review, but I'll find a spot).
Furthermore, I read 'Life Lessons from Catsass' by Claude Combacau (for which I received an e-ARC), and you'll be able to read my thoughts on this really funny book in the upcoming post of July 3.
Other reads this week:
- Bats, Creatures of the Night (full post on June 21)
- The Frog Prince (full post on June 26)
Movies seen this week:
- Leap! (full post on June 23)
If you can't wait to hear my opinion on a certain book, follow me on Goodreads, I usually post a short version immediately after finishing a book. My reviews there are always updated with the link to the longer blogpost.
Same goes for my movie reviews, you can check them out on Rinema!
To round off, a quick look at what's coming up next week. As mentioned, Tuesday will revolve around a couple of works by Jules Verne, Wednesday will be batty, and Frilly Friday is going to be really frilly!.
Happy reading to all of you!
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