duckprintspress

1. What are you currently reading?

Uh, I'm halfway through Dungeon Meshi vol. 6, does that count? I'm not currently reading a novel. 

2. What have you recently finished reading?

So I had a whole bunch of overdue library books that I was really determined to finish, and as such I decided not to start a novel until I got through them. I also, about 3 weeks ago, went on a Libby BL spree, and all those were gonna be due in a couple days, so I also had to read through all those (one left as of now...). So I planned to not read a novel until I finished most or all of that, but then I realized part of my problem wasn't "reading a novel," it was that I bouncing off a novel as serious as Babel, so I grabbed the next book on my pile - a fluffy, low-stakes, slice-of-life stand-alone danmei - and motored through it, AND got through all the rest too. Anyway. 

• You're Too Op by Yi Xiu Luo: my novel read of the week! This is a Rosmei title, modern esports BL. It was cute, and a very quick read, and I appreciated how few extras there were, it made it all more cohesive to not have a lot of extraneous stuff at the end. I never really figured out why the ML actually liked the MC, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it and am not sorry I read it.
• Hitorijime My Hero vol. 10 by Memeco Arii: I feel like I've finally actually gotten invested in this; I borrowed the next few volumes from Libby. It's still not amazing but I'm enjoying it enough to keep going.
• Runaways Volume 1: Pride & Joy by Brian K. Vaughan: I did a little websearching on which Marvel titles were queer, and I remembered hearing good things about this one when it first came out (I was dating a huge Marvel comic fan at the time). I actually thought? I'd read the beginning??? but ngl it didn't ring any bells. Anyway, I expect to keep going, I've always liked Marvel, and I want to support the queer titles on their catalog. Just gotta find the next vol at the library.
• 全球高考 manhua vol. 2 by 木苏里: my Chinese read-of-the-month for March; I finished it a little late. Vol. 3 will be my read for April, and then I'm out of vols of it and will probably move to 天官赐福.
• The Snake Who Loved a Sparrow by Nina Natsuo: interesting fantasy BL with way more world to explain/justify than could possbily fit in a single volume. Definitely needed WAY more room to breathe to really do justice to the premise.
• How to Be Ace: A memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess: I had high hopes for this and waiting a.g.e.s. to get it from QLL, but ultimately wasn't that pleased with it. I get that it was a memoir, but with a title that claims such definitiveness, it was frustrating how much of the book was actually about the author's OCD.
• My Ultramarine Sky by Nagisa Furuya: modern BL. Utterly unmemorable among the ton of stuff I read this week.
• Don't Call Me Dirty by Gorou Kanbe: modern BL. Kinda weird story about an overly friendly guy and the homeless dude he befriends. Glossed over too many of the details to really work imo, but it was fine in and of itself.
• This Wonderful Season With You by Atsuko Yusen: modern BL. Cuteish HS title about a total dork and the former jock who falls for him. It was fine but unremarkable.
• Navigating With You by Jeremy Whitley: definitely my read of the week, this was a GREAT f/f modern romance about two girls who've both recently moved to the same backwater bonding over their love of the same manga title.
• Kaiju No. 8 vol. 12 by Naoya Matsumoto: I found this at the library, was overjoyed, and had finished it less than 2 hours later. Vol 13 when?
• Still Sick vol. 1 by Akasha: weird modern GL title about a woman finding out that her coworker sells yuri fan doujins on the weekends. I can't really figure out the not-doujin-artist, her behavior is really erratic and weird. Still, I borrowed vol. 2 so eh.
• Katakoi Lamp by Kyohei Azumi: modern BL. Pretty meh, definitely one of the weaker ones I've read.
• Delicious in Dungeon vol. 5 by Ryoko Kui
• Adversary by Blue Delliquanti: modern m/m with a trans main (who tops!) and many trigger warnings. I found the ending insanely confusing, can't say I was a fan overall.
• Wails of the Bound vol. ...2??? by Keri Kusabi: very weird omegaverse modern BL that was listed as vol 1 but I think is actually vol. 2. Took me most of the volume to figure out wtf was going on.
• The Black Cat and the Vampire vol. 1 and 2 by Nikke Taino: fantasy BL. My favorite manga read of the week, this was a cute duology which stayed pretty fluffy considering the premise. Might make it on to my list of books to buy.

3. What will you be reading next?

I borrow 10 volumes of Dungeon Meshi from the library, so...that, definitely. And for novels... well, I keep saying Babel but after realizing I'm not sure I'm up for something Serious, I might put it on hold and read some other random stuff first. I haven't really decided to be honest. If I do switch, next would be the last volume of The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish.

1. What are you currently reading?

Still in Sha Po Lang/Stars of Chaos by priest, but I'm close to done now! I finished the main story last night (so about halfway through vol. 5), now I just have the extras left. priest sure does love rushing her endings, lol. 

2. What have you recently finished?

I honestly don't think I have the brain for commentary today, but I can make a list  

• The Flying Ship vol. 2 by Jem Milton (queer)
• Spy x Family vol. 3 - 4 by Tatsuya Endo
• Jujutsu Kaisen vol. 2 - 3 by Gege Akutami
• Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 10 - 11 by Koyoharu Gotouge (I also put on the anime as background noise yesterday, and started vol. 12 but don't feel like putting that in currently reading)
• My Love Mix-Up! vol. 3 by Aruko and Wataru Hinekura (queer)
• Signals vol. 1 - 2 by Nika (full series, queer)
• Cover My Scars with Your Kiss vol. 1 by Io Amaki (queer, is actually stand-alone but there's a sequel)

3. What will you be reading next?

Next novel in my pile is The Missing Piece by Kun Yi Wei Lou, a single-volume modern danmei. If I somehow manage to finish that before next Wednesday (highly unlikely but you never know), after that is Babel by R. F. Kuang. I think. Or maybe it's Global Examination (Mu Su Li) vol. 1 and then Babel. Close enough. For graphic novels, next is something I borrowed from tryslora, and a pile of manga from Libby (as always).

so, we were traveling over the weekend and I got very little sleep so I simultaneously was too tired to function and also had fuck-all to do, which meant I read a truly ludicrous amount of manga. As such:

1. What are you currently reading?

​Sha Po Lang/Stars of Chaos vol. 3! I'm a bit over 50% through and still enjoying it very much. These morons are f.i.n.a.l.l.y. using their words.

2. What have you recently finished?

• Stars of Chaos vol. 2 by priest (historical steampunk China danmei/BL): still loving this
• Yuri is My Job vol. 12 by Miman (modern GL manga): there's just so little to get excited about with this title, but I also don't dislike it enough to stop? idk.
• Ask Me About Polyamory: The Best of Kimchi Cuddles by Tikva Wolf (modern non-fiction what it says on the tin): I was sooooo excited about this based on the title, and while I did enjoy it, it felt a little aggressively allonormative to me, lots of "love isn't a finite resource I can love lots of people" which isn't my personal aroace experience of poly at all. This isn't a fault with the book, to be clear, more just a mismatch that meant I was a little disappointed.
• Haikyu vol. 19 - 21 by Haruichi Furudate: okay the last match went on a bit too long but definitely had me chewing the pages to find out what would happen.
• Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 4 - 8 by Koyoharu Gotouge: finally getting a little invested in this; it helps that I found out it's finished at 23 vols, which gives me a much better sense of the arc of the story.
• I Think Our Son is Gay vol. 5 by Okura (what it says on the tin): this was a nice conclusion, though I wish there'd been a little more "there" there. It really just stayed vignettes, though with a definite arc of family support and learning together. The younger bro's clear asexuality becoming explicitly canon was a nice touch.
• Fangs vol. 1 - 2 by Billy Baibally (modern urban paranormal BL): sexy and interesting BL story, definitely interested for more.
• Chainsaw Man vol. 3 - 6 by Tatsuki Fujimoto: this continues to be a heckin' weird story that I'm still enjoying. It'd be nice if characters stopped dying.
• Yona of the Dawn vol. 8 by Mizuho Kusanagi: I continue to not enjoy this as much as I feel like I should, sigh.
• Chef's Kiss by Jarrett Melendez (modern BL graphic novel): this was cute but it was a little depressing how aggressively awful all the parents involved are.
• Cannonball by Kelsey Wroten (modern graphic novel with lesbian mc/wlw): it's been a while since I disliked something this much. The main character is just so deeply unappealing. The art was good! The writing was fine! But ew this people and everything they stand for.

3. What will you be reading next?

Stars of Chaos/Sha Po Lang vol. 4, obviously. This weekend I'll be traveling again, but this time with virtually no reading time, so I don't really know tbh. I've got I Ship My Rival x Me vol. 2 manhua as my next graphic novel, and other than that... probably more manga. It's on my phone cause I get most of it through Libby, and it's quick to read. (like of the manga above, the only one I read a physical copy of is Yuri is My Job, that was from the physical library.)

1. What have you recently finished reading?

• Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (modern horror, wlw, background mlm): I motored through this to finish it before it was due, and I enjoyed it! I wish some of the suggested plot strings had been followed slightly farther to logical conclusions? but the writing was engaging and the characters believable and overall I happily plan to read Bury Your Gays based on having read this one.
• Kaiju No. 8 vol. 11 by Naoya Matsumoto: spotted the latest volume at the library and immediately yoinked and read it. The next vol comes out in February, so for now I'm caught up. I want more.
• Haikyu!! vol. 18 by Haruichi Furudate
• Jujutsu Kaisen vol. 1 by Gege Akutami: next up in my "reading the manga of popular animes I keep seeing people talking about" plan. Spent months on hold to get this volume, went in knowing absolutely nothing about the plot lol. So far it's off to an interesting start? Long wait for vol. 2 now, sigh.
• Yuri is My Job! vol. 8 by Miman (modern GL): it's been over a year since I read volume 7 and by the end of volume 8 I almost remembered all the plot threads???? I've got the next few volumes so at least I can read more before I forget again.
• The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics anthology (what it says on the tin): graphic novel anthology collection of autobiographical stories by trans and/or NB authors, in many different styles. I found some more personally relateable than others but all were very honest and authentic and real, and I enjoyed the book. The shorts range from 1 page to around 10, and there were a LOT of them in the one volume. I'd been wanting to read this one for a while so I was really excited to spot it available from the Brooklyn Public Library.

2. What are you currently reading?

• Stars of Chaos/Sha Po Lang vol. 1 by priest (ancient China + steampunk, BL): I have wanted to read this for aaaaaaaages and I finally aaaaaaaaaam and I am not even slightly disappointed. The only reason I haven't devoured even more is that I haven't felt well enough to focus for long periods of time. (I and both my kids have strep throat, though my wife has been spared so I guess that's something.)

3. What will you read next?

Stars of Chaos is five volumes, all of which I have, so I expect that will keep me busy for at least a couple weeks and be my primary novel-reading in that time. For graphic novels, I've got vols. 9 through 12 of Yuri is My Job! up next from the library (physical) and Yona of the Dawn vol. 7 due in 5 days (on Libby) so I'll have to read that too.

1. What have you recently finished reading?

For novels, I finally finished The Husky and His White Cat Shizun vol. 7. I was determined to finish it by today. It was in fact hurt/no comfort cover to cover, just as I expected it to be (since I've read the book before). Next volume will be even worse. yay, or something. 

Graphic Novels

• I Think Our Son is Gay vol. 4 by Okura: continues to be relatively sweet and gentle; I think the next vol. is the last one? I'm curious what the wrap-up actually is since the series is more a set of vignettes than anything.
• 小蘑菇 vol. 2 by 一十四洲: my Chinese copy of the second volume of the Little Mushroom manhua arrived, so of course I devoured it. It was harder to understand than vol. 1 for me, but I managed to play through and maybe learned a word or two from looking stuff up. Anyway, I've read the book, so I can follow events even if I'm not catching a lot of the Chinese, I still think it's better practice than... not. (I've set myself of an unofficial 2025 goal of reading one book (prose or manhua) in Chinese each month, cause I keep psyching myself out of pushing myself and it's dumb.)
• Haikyu!! vol. 17 by Haruichi Furudate: I continue enjoying it enough to keep reading more, though it wouldn't take much for me to get bored and stop.
• Coven by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton (modern with magic, bi mc in a sapphic relationship, mlm in the background): this got off to a strong start and had a very disappointing end. As I was approaching the end, I was starting to really wonder how the authors could possibly bring together all the introduced threads in a satisfactory way with the length left, and the answer was... they couldn't.
• Hitorijime My Hero vol. 4 by Memeko Arii (modern high school/age difference/teacher x student, mlm): I'd had to pause reading this one cause my library didn't have vol. 4, but I found it on the Brooklyn PL libby so I grabbed it. It took most of the volume to remember wtf was going on lmao.
• Here U Are vol. 1 and 2 by DJun (modern college mlm): I ordered these from Aloha not knowing anything about them beyond that they were popular enough to have an artbook that I've seen for sale on Heartbeat Anime, and oh. I really liked them. Definitely looking forward to more. Grumpy dog x sunshine cat dynamics, with the cat as the mc.

2. What are you currently reading?

I started vol. 3 of The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish yesterday, and it's as gentle as I'd hoped, I needed some knives recovery lol.

3. What will you be reading next?​

For novels, I think the next book on my pile is still The Fall of the house of Tatterly by Shanna Miles. For graphic novels, I technically already started Dungeon Critters by Sara Goetter and Natalie Riess; it's a middle grade graphic novel I grabbed from the library cause I thought my daughter would like it (she's 6). And she did. And I read a little of it to her (my wife read the rest) and I discovered...it's also queer. So when they finished it, I moved it to my tbr. It's hard to find queer middle grade graphic novels - not that it's not there but the discoveribility has been very poor for me, I've had much better luck finding YA and adult queer graphic novels at the library.