Lurker > Juhanor

cuh posted...

Speaking of, B&N sent me an email letting me know that theyre extending my premium membership for one year, free. Dunno why but Im super happy about it :)

Ace, thanks B&N! I'm also super happy today because I don't have to engage with my Presidency course for a week. Colors seem brighter, smells sweeter etc etc etc lol
The Borders I remember had a really nice magazine section, manga all along one wall (and this was back before the medium had really taken off over here), a nice upper floor with novels etc. Probably not a whole lot different from B+N these days, tbh. I saw a video of it recently actually, I'll try and find it again...

Funcoot posted...

If any of you are ever in Portland, make sure to check out Powell's. It's a local book store offering new and used, and it's just massive.

I've heard of Powell's, would love to check it out. Sounds like heaven!

MJOLNRVII posted...

I miss this. There was one by where I go shopping for non-grocery stuff and now there's a Dave & Buster's where it used to be. I always liked it more than Barnes & Noble, and local smaller bookstores almost don't exist around me anymore(thanks Amazon).

I just don't like audio/e-books so going to places like Borders was always fun for me. The B&N I go to is kinda far, which impacted how often I'd go to places like that.

It was always great to have the option, you know? I've had a few local book stores open up in recent years and found a few pre-existing ones but it sucks when any of them shut down.

cuh posted...

Haha thank you for your in-depth reply! And yes Ill let you know! I still need to finish my current set of books (Proust)

And cheers to the end of another great Reading Thread

Cheers!
This one seemed to go pretty fast, lots of great readers ITT

MJOLNRVII posted...

Ended up talking about Cosmere and Secret Project stuff with two people at a Barnes & Noble today. It was such a random occurence but pretty cool that it even happened just because I was hovering around Brandon Sanderson stuff.

Oh nice!! My nearest B+N is a bit of a drive away, I think I might have mentioned before the selection is a coin flip when it comes to quality. Also I've never seen the store/shelves layout the same way twice lol.
Anyone remember Borders bookstore?

cuh posted... 100% agreed on his panel work, he almost stands alone on transcribing the quality of dreams to the medium...maybe there's an argument for Herriman and Krazy Kat, but it was definitely McCay's area of expertise.
Now to be fair -- I haven't read Little Nemo in full, so I don't know if he always does the wake-up, but yeah, you nailed it lol.
Like you though, from what I've seen, that's how they end...and he did another strip called Dream of the Rarebit Fiend under the pen name Silas with a similar theme to Nemo, just with adults having weird dreams after eating Welsh Rarebits before bed, that has the wake-up end.
And he managed to work the same ending into his once-lost comic strip, Dino!!
But other than that little pet peeve, I've got no complaints against McCay. Fantastic artist and Little Nemo is definitely on my list to read. If you pick it up LMK, I'll grab a copy (on Amazon since its cheaper!) and we can have a little book club.

I just have to get through some Navy and American Lit this weekend <_<

New thread for everyone!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80687106

cuh posted...

The art looks really cool. I've never heard of Little Nemo before, though

I'm actually somewhat familiar with McCay! He was a very exacting animator and highly imaginative artist, although my personal pet peeve in regards to the endings of his strip work...I won't spoil them unless you ask.
One funny anecdote from his animation side:
In 1927, McCay attended a dinner in his honor in New York. After a considerable amount of drinking, McCay was introduced by animator Max Fleischer. McCay gave the gathered group of animators some technical advice, but when he felt the audience was not giving him attention, he berated his audience, saying, "Animation is an art. That is how I conceived it. But as I see, what you fellows have done with it, is making it into a trade. Not an art, but a trade. Bad Luck!"

Taschen sale until the 4th!
https://www.taschen.com/en/

DuranOfForcena posted...

i can count the number of times i've been inside a bar in my lifetime on one hand lol, with digits to spare. just not my kind of scene.

I'm a teetotaler so same but Idk, something about it seems appealing. The seltzer or ginger soda maybe...?

cuh posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/365bcdd8.jpg
Picture of Proust at a garden party. Pretty badass, imo

Oh nice
Are you familiar with Louis Wain btw?

cuh posted...

Random questionhas anyone here read a book at a bar?

I haven't but a quiet bar seems like a perfect place to read. Very classy!

cuh posted...

TCs Navy history arc is definitely not what I was expecting

LOL me neither!!

Read some more US Navy history.
Highlights:
From 1793 to 1815, Britain lost 17 frigates to the French -- nine of which they recaptured
In the same time period, France lost two hundred and twenty-nine frigates to the British
Regarding America's navy, so far--basically 1775-1807 is what the readings have covered--it seems to have gone through periods of support and restraint. As part of the Marine Committee, John Adams wanted America to have a strong Navy during the Revolutionary War, but circumstances didn't favor this; America had neither seasoned warship builders nor the means to cast heavy guns. In the 1780s, after America had lost Britain's protection and trade, and had vessels being raided by North African corsairs, Adams favored peaceful negotiations to resolve the conflict; Thomas Jefferson on the other hand, wanted to build frigates and push the pirates back. Then come the 1800s, Jefferson was--with merit--concerned about Britain taking offense to an American navy of any substance, and so focused on the construction of a gunboat navy for home defense.
Last highlight: while Jefferson was in France, he and James Madison exchanged letters and goods between each other. Jefferson was essentially Madison's literary procurer, once sending him a shipment of 207 books; meanwhile Madison returned the favor with flora and fauna from America.
To the surprise of no-one ITT, I'd rather have the books lol

Killmonger posted...

Do comics count too? Ive gotten around to reading Future Imperfect and it was a very solid Hulk read. Now I need to start back reading an actual book. Like with a lot things, I have a habit of picking it up and never finishing it.

Comics 100% count ITT, I probably read more comics+manga on average than books these days.
Haven't read Future Imperfect though I'm familiar with it via later pop ups.

mazingetter posted...

Drizzt, always. He's why I used ranger as a second class when I played AD&D 2e. The Crystal Shard is my first D&D novel, back in 1990.

I think my first was...either The Thousand Orcs or Weis+Hickman War of Souls trilogy. Loved Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance.
Drizzt is a great character, solid pick. Artemis was probably my fav, Bruenor third after Drizzt.

mazingetter posted...

Rereading the Icewind Dale trilogy.

Nice, favorite character?

Finished Huck
"All right, then, I'll go to hell." got me, flat out awesome.
The last twelve chapters were awful though, legit screw you Tom Sawyer.

Just a few chapters of Twain left, then some commentary to read on the novel.

Finished the readings for American Presidency, Debating the Presidency, Immigration in America and US Navy: A Concise History; still have Six Frigates and the rest of Huck to tackle.

The presidency is particularly interesting and can basically be summed up as "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Two parties formed out of each claiming the other wasn't being American or loyal enough to the Constitution and trying to disparage if not outright suppress the other; people behind the scenes conspiring to influence those in power...it's a very familiar story.

22 chapters into Huckleberry Finn so far, progressing nicely.
Currently reading from American Presidency by Milkis and Nelson.
https://i.vgy.me/jLjmqB.jpg
Hamilton playing 5D chess??

Happy MLK Jr Day everyone
https://i.vgy.me/OTl7t3.jpg
DoesntMatter posted...

why that would make me feel so low down and ornery and mean

Me too LOL

cuh posted...

Juhanor, is this the edition you were reading? Im honestly very intrigued and may bite the bullet. I couldnt find it digitally anywhere btw (I tend to prefer digital copies for comic books/graphic novels): https://a.co/d/f2pjSyj

Also congrats on enrolling in courses again!! Sounds exciting. I honestly would love to do the same, as I didnt discover my love for literature until after college

Thank you! And yes that's the exact edition.

So last fall I returned to college after ten years(!!!), next semester starts in a couple days.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is for the American Literature course I'm taking, trying to get it read before the official start so I'm ahead a little bit--four courses but twelve books!
Currently on chapter 8, 35 to go.

Latest Usagi came out so I caught up again
I like that he just started running when he realized Jei was on his trail
Also
https://i.vgy.me/60LGWZ.jpg

Didn't read anything today, might start some Mark Twain tomorrow.

EyeWontBeFooled posted... Oh yeah, he's always solid, but KC he was firing on all cylinders.
https://i.vgy.me/yEiuZ0.jpg

Read the next Tpffer, M. Crepin
https://i.vgy.me/8f73Oe.jpg
https://i.vgy.me/8yZpf5.jpg
https://i.vgy.me/iuuHJw.jpg
He's already sizing you up bro...
cuh posted... Aw yeah, good deal!!

cuh posted...

that is so freaking cool
your posts are always sending me down a new rabbit hole

Aw, that makes me so happy lol :D
Since I started keeping my list and making these threads, I've encountered so much variety in my reading thanks to everyone's different tastes and trying to pursue different avenues of interest. It really is like a book club lol.

ImAMarvel posted...

Reading Far Sector, by N. K. Jemisin. First time ever reading her work but this is some really fucking good stuff. I love good sci-fi like this and Green Lantern is probably one of the potentially best sci-fi properties between the Big 2.

Far Sector looks dope, that's a bad ass GL design.

hexa posted...

However, the doomsday is still seven months away, and I don't like the idea of spending seven months in this city. I don't like this book anymore

Uh oh...if it doesn't pick up it sounds like it'll be a real drag...

Another from the Great Unread Stack, The Complete Comic Strips of Rodolphe Tpffer, with translations by David Kunzle.
The father of the comic strip begins with M. Jabot, a sort of farce about a middle class fellow pretending to be upper crust and eventually making his way into high society. It was pretty hilarious. Interesting art and punchy text.
https://i.vgy.me/7JbBKN.jpg

hexa posted...

Doomsday 1986? by Wolf Detlef Rohr.

Wow, that's a really catching title! I wonder if the doomsday will go through or if it'll be averted.

Read a few sections of The Lost Jack Kirby Stories; paraphrasing one stand out passage, Orion was going to go on a killing spree at the end of the unpublished issue 12 of New Gods...WTF!!! And apparently it saw print in Absolute Fourth World?! I'm gonna read a strip next but yeah the re-read of Fourth World has definitely moved up on my list.

DuranOfForcena posted... I'm not sure if this is helpful but after a quick search:
"Weve temporarily disabled reading progress updates on our homepage due to a high volume of traffic to Goodreads. You can still update your reading progress by visiting any book page, scrolling down to My Activity, and updating your page number or percentage next to Progress. Please visit Goodreads Help for more information."

2023 Roundup - Total Read - 66
Manga - 7, Stars - 0
Comics - 40, Stars - 4
Strips - 10, Stars - 0
Books - 6, Stars - 2
Artbooks - 1, Stars - 0
Euro Comics - 2, Stars - 0

Star Qualifications:
-Ending makes me tear up
-Text or art pulls at my soul

Book Highlights
First - Old Gods and New about Jack Kirby's creation of Fourth World, finished on 1/6. Really interesting book, though I didn't appreciate the spoilers for the slightly more obscure "part three."

Starred - East of Eden and The Dying Earth; EoE was amazing, perfect ending, and Dying Earth was just great sci-fi.

Last - The Dying Earth again, finished on 10/27.

Comics Highlights
First - Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers, aka that obscure "part three." Unfortunately cut too short, only 14 issues IIRC. Finished on 1/8, and still a firm believer that Kirby is "King."

Starred - A Rose for Ecclesiastes from Heavy Metal; Judgment Day!, By George!!, and In Gratitude... from EC Comics. Rose is technically a short story but had accompanying art in HM, which I think was really gorgeous and effective; and the EC stories were just solid social commentary/sci fi/fantastic. Al Williamson could really draw it all, good-looking guys and gals as well as great monsters and vistas.

Last - My World by Wood, 12/29. Not my favorite of his work, but certainly a striking piece--definitely earned its praise.

Manga Highlights
First - Baron, finished on 3/21. Genuinely one of the craziest manga plots I've ever read and one of the least focused on the title character to boot. The artwork makes me think "dependable."

Starred - Surprisingly nothing really blew my mind last year!

Last - Bleach, 15 volumes or so done as of late November/early December. The redraws/censorship/funny TL kind of annoys me but it's all for the sake of friendship--I think my buddy is on v18, probably wait until he hits 20 to catch up again.

Strip Highlights
First - Krazy Kat 1916-1918, finished 1/30. Still holds up, lots of beautiful pages. I should read the next three years soon...

Starred - Zilch, strips are usually solid in consistency but nothing mind-blowing or tear-jerking.

Last - Popeye v2, finished early December. Pretty good strip, he's fun to read but I liked him a little better as a sailor full of grit vs comically overpowered.

Artbook Highlights
First and Last - Kirby Art and Style, 3/23. Too many promotional images, artwork too small! It didn't turn me off artbooks per se but it sure looks that way from my list, lol.

European Comic Highlights
First - Megalex on 6/19. I dunno, I vaguely recall lots of weird futuristic body "horror" stuff...some guy grew wings...maybe a sex scene...the cover is the most memorable thing, lol.

Starred - Nothing!

Last - Latah on 6/20. I think this one was alright, some kind of Vietnam War/jungle warfare mixed with "something is stalking the squad!" and a twist ending.

In Conclusion
Oh I dunno, not sure what I'll start 2024 with. I want to re-read Hitman again this year but I'm waiting for the first omnibus in the summer. More Heavy Metal would be nice, I'd like to check out Astro City, some more strips, European comics, get through my stack a bit...
I do have another Kirby book sitting on the stack, maybe that for symmetry... :)

Happy 2024 to everybody ITT! Whatever you read this new year, I hope brings happiness to your hearts, peace to your souls, and wonder to your minds.

IIRC last year I did a round up of what I read in 2022, I'll do one for 2023 tomorrow morning. Definitely not as much quantity wise, but I did read some excellent stuff this year.

cuh posted...

omg silly we want to see the other side!!

LOL! Since I already started I'll have to drop the titles and covers as I go along.

First book from the stack down, Best of EC Artisan Edition
Mfw reading their horror selection:
https://i.vgy.me/b7nuj1.jpg

"In Gratitude..." was fantastic, I'd say on par with "By George!!" and "Judgment Day!"

The Great Unread Stack of 2022-2023
https://i.vgy.me/RUAsU8.jpg
I really need to start cracking away at it

cuh posted...

Reading bits of R Crumb I can find for free on OpenLibrary

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c9333ed4.jpg

I know hes extremely controversial >_> but Im fascinated.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
I haven't read any Crumb, believe it or not. His art definitely has a unique look.

I'll have to take a photo of my book stack in the morning, family gifted me a good amount yesterday...and there's still stuff from last year I haven't read yet lol.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Christmas_book_flood

Started reading Initial D
The translation is really bad
https://i.vgy.me/ttxdG4.jpg
REALLY bad
https://i.vgy.me/pfPjTP.jpg

Paraphrasing a line, one of the racers exclaimed "How can his car (a Toyota) keep up with my (Honda) Civic, the most powerful car on the mountain?!"
Absolutely wild so far.

cuh posted...

^^^if I read this, itd take over my entire personality for about three months
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4f292997.jpg

ugh why cant I be him

LOL I know right? He's got style

Finished the second volume of Popeye, considering reading Initial D next.

https://i.vgy.me/A9Y6oy.jpg

That mother portrait is gorgeous, gosh^^^
Speaking of mothers
https://i.vgy.me/OED0la.jpg
;_;

cuh posted...

^^^haha those are cute. My dad loved watching Popeye cartoons when he moved to America

Aw nice, I've only seen Insect to Injury (with the termites). Definitely want to check the others out and see how they compare to the strip.

Started reading Popeye again, god tier material.
https://i.vgy.me/LZ92uC.jpg

Literally bust out laughing 3 for 3 with these strips
https://i.vgy.me/h0geoe.jpg

Before the end of the year I really have to go through my image folder from the last couple years manga/comic reading

Caught up to my friend on Bleach again. Thinking I might read more Heavy Metal or Popeye next.

Maybe I'll finally get to read something this weekend, it's been hectic lately...

cuh posted...

Dementia 21 by Shintaro Kago

I think I've seen his art before but not read his manga, very trippy.

DuranOfForcena posted... That's a lot of breast description, sheesh.

cuh posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c1595108.jpg

DKs Remarkable Diaries

Ah, that got me ;_;
DK is highly underrated, they have excellent visual material.

DuranOfForcena posted...

also, literally every female character has something about her breasts being described as part of her introduction, lol.

Philip K. really thinking with his last name there, huh? lol.

DuranOfForcena posted...

i decided to go with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? a few chapters in now. so far, it is very, uh..... interesting. nothing at all like Blade Runner. got some really weird concepts with the mood organ and the whole Mercerism thing.

Keep me posted on how it goes, I have very vague memories of trying it once when I was young and not understanding it at all.

cuh posted... Thank you so much my friend! 60$ is totally a steal. And from the excerpts you've posted I bet she'll appreciate the translation.

Finished v13 of Bleach and my pal has taken a break, so too shall I.

@cuh What translation of Proust's work are you reading? Wanted to get my sister a copy for Xmas, it seems right up her alley.

Payzmaykr posted...

two British detectives

Nice. Noir or more modern?

3 more volumes of Bleach down.

hexa posted...

What a sigh of relief

Indeed! 32 pages is pretty long-winded compared to 11.

Finished another batch of Bleach volumes. 3 seems a good amount in one sitting.

^^
I'm a big fan of Sana Takeda, she's got a really nice softness to her art style and coloring.
Just been book shopping lately lol.

Didn't read anything today, maybe tomorrow!

cuh posted...

I love books that serve as an education as well and as always, a pleasure to be in this topic with you all

Two sentiments I'll gladly echo! <3