WWW Wednesday

[duckprintspress]

Sorry not sorry that I've disappeared for a week. My trip ended up more intense than I was expecting. Anyway. 

I've been traveling since last Tuesday, and as a result I read a l.o.t.

1. What are you currently reading?

I finally have started Lip and Sword by Jin Shisi Chai. The GR and SG reviews made it sound like extremely toxic yaoi, but so far it's way tame compared to some of the manga I read; I'd call it toxic-lite. Tho I was flipping through the rest of vol 1 (of 3) and it does look like it's gonna get more toxic before it gets less toxic. Given my current mood and expectations, that's a plus, just to be clear.

I've also got a couple graphic novels I started but bounced off of yesterday morning once I crossed the "awake for more than 24 hours" point lmao. I'll circle back.

2. What have you recently finished reading?

Because I was traveling, my available reading was entirely either books I brought or stuff on my phone from Libby.

• Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch: read this whenever I needed a mental break from Babel. Sequel to The Nightmare Before Kissmas, somewhat less enjoyable tho I'd be hard-pressed to put my finger on why, maybe because the political parts felt less thought-through and it feels like everything goes right for basically no reason, not because the characters worked hard to make it go right? Also I think because "being really mean to each other is flirting" is just not my thing.
• Babel by R. F. Kuang: I've already talked about my opinions on this a little on the Press's Discord (it's here, if you want to join). I definitely have some criticism and some things I wish it had done differently, but overall, damn. What an incredible book.
• Gwen and Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher: absolute disaster in the pacing department imo, but it definitely had some parts I liked. I wish literally anyone other than Arthur knew how to apologize. It's a little sad that the most convincing/enjoyable relationship dynamic was the f/m Sidney/Agnes side ship. Historical England where Arthuriana was true, with m/m and f/f.
• XXXHolic Omnibus vol. 4 - 5 by CLAMP: okay it's finally grabbed me, lol. Assuming I can borrow the last couple omnibuses without a wait, I suspect I'll finish the series within the next week.
• Haikyu!! vol. 35 - 36 by Haruichi Furudate
• I Don't Need a Script for Love by Umire Konatsu: decent if lightly toxic modern BL erotica manga about two actors.
• My Love Will Last Until the End of Time by Nanako Haida: cute reincarnation BL one shot, could have benefited from more room to breathe (even a duology) but I still liked it.
• Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 10 by Koyoharu Gotouge
• Sating the Wolf by Troy Arukuno: porny omegaverse one-shot with a small bunny alpha and big wolf omega. It's relatively rare to see the dynamics subverted even that much so that was nice.
• Wolf Pack by Billy Balibally: I expected more from this m/m alpha/alpha thing, especially considering what's in Fangs. It was fine with nice world building but I wish there'd been more "there" there.
• Mitsuka vol. 1 by akabeko: first time in a long time I'm gonna dnf a series. I read all of vol 1 but I'm nope for more, on the toxic yaoi scale this was too toxic for me.
• Hitorijime My Hero vol. 15 by Memeco Arii: finally caught up on this. It's starting to do time jumps, so I'm guessing there won't be many more volumes, tho this wasn't the last.
• Acid Town vol. 6 by Kyuugou: this is the last written volume of this tho it's not the end of the story. It's kinda a pity I guess, because as dark as this was it was an interesting series and I'd have liked to see these characters get a happy ending, but given that vol. 6 was published in 2019 I'm guessing we'll never know. At least that means I can pretend it all works out great and no one dies, lol.
• Witch Hat Aterlier vol. 10 by Kamome Shirahama
• Fire Force vol. 6 by Atsushi Ohkubo

3. What will you read next?

I've technically already started Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett, and I'll probably finish it next. I'm also pretty hooked on XXXHolic by CLAMP now, with two volumes to go. I've read every other graphic novel/manga I've got on Libby due within the two weeks, so the what else I read will go on vibes. Now that I'm home I've got physical library books too, but I'd have to look at the pile to figure out what's up next (and right now I don't feel like going and looking).

For novels, I'm actively reading Lip and Sword obviously; I'm in volume 1 of 3 and presumably will read the other two. I've also got The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison on Libby and I'm working hard to convince myself I want to read it despite the ship betrayal. The loan has 11 days left to presumably I'll read it in the next two weeks, I guess, if only because I'll feel bad having made the people who have it on hold wait if I then don't actually read it. 

All that said, I'm traveling again this Friday through Sunday so that'll also be a factor. I am. so not ready to leave again.

Anyway, long WWW Wednesday is long. I'll shut up now.