WWW Wednesday

[duckprintspress]

1. What are you currently reading?

• The Apothecary Diaries light novel vol. 4 by Natsu Hyuuga: this is due on Libby in like 3 days so I gotta read like the wind 
• 盗墓笔记 vol. 2 by 南派三叔: I'm noticing I'm (finally) getting a bit faster, and I feel like I'm understanding most of it. I might yet be able to catch up to my "1 page a day" plan (I should be at page 70; I'm actually on page 66. so close!)

2. What have you recently finished reading?

• Lout of Count's Family vol. 7 by Yu Ryeo-Han: this volume was mostly scheming, so had less action than the previous one, but yum, that delicious Cale whump. I love how everyone around him is now very obviously like, "oh. so he's full of shit. well then we'll just have to take matters into our own hands."  Like, they were already like that but now it's been dialed up to 11.
• Love and Gravity by Ari North: this was fine, but it touched on some heavy stuff (like eating disorders) and then like. didn't actually engage with them at all? It was weird.
• SHWD episode 3 by sono.N: this moved on from the previous two main characters to focus on two new people and still had all the same weirdness as the other three in terms of plot jumps and stuff... even tho there's only one episode left I decided I don't care enough to bother.
• Imitation Play by Ann Homare: I rather liked this single-volume smutty modern BL.
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 9 by Fuse
• Just Like Mona Lisa vol. 1 by Tsumuji Yoshimura: interesting start to a high school story set in a world where people pick gender and the main character has opted out of that. The reviews are full of people who make me despair for reading comprehension, though, they're all like, "ugh this was so awful for reproducing the same gender essentialism as the real world has" and like THIS IS VOLUME 1 and if you can't see that criticizing that essentialism is clearly going to be the entire point then why did you even pick this book up in the first place uggggh why. "This long series didn't disassemble the thing it's critiquing in volume 1 so it failed" wut.
• The Little Bird Sleeps by the Sea by Yuu Minaduki: I don't like kidfic and had low expectations for this modern BL AU but it was surprisingly sweet.
• A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow vol. 6 by Makoto Hagino: I'm dropping this series. This entire volume was zero communication, pointless jealousy. Whyyyyy do so many HS GL manga titles lean in on jealousy this is annoying and exhausting.

3. What will you read next?

Novels: Don't You Like Me vol. 2 by Lv Tian Yi

Graphic Novels (physical): I really need to knuckle down on these books from the library. Sleepless Domain vol. 1 by Oscar Vega and Mary Cagle is still next, oops.

Graphic Novels (Libby): I got through all of last week's "oh no, this is due imminently" titles but now I have new ones: Yuri Espoir vol. 1 by Mai Naoi and How Do We Relationship? vol. 3 by Tamifull.

In general, I'm trying to reduce the number of things I have in loan and lean more into a "I borrow what I feel like reading that day" model, but I have holds and those keep coming through and messing up my intention to change. Oops? You'd think this would lead me to stop putting holds on things, and yet... (but genuinely I do have fewer holds than I have had in the past...)