Court

Fantastic. Mona was well written as were all the characters. I liked the duchess and the commentary on power and authority.

A reviewer I follow had a hard time believing Nagata's ‘shelteredness' or lack of understanding about loving relationships, but it was believable to me, although it did make me wonder if she was perhaps also neuro-diverse as it reminded me of conversations I've had with people with autism. I had to explain to a man who already had two sons that him having more kids would not lessen the love he had for his first born sons; love is an infinite resource I told him, but I understand the time and money are not.

She also talked about being molested in this volume — she kindly gave a content warning— has established other trauma/mental illness in this an her previous volumes, and talks about a lack of viewing healthy loving relationships due to her parents' arranged marriage.

I think this volume had a strong start with her sharing about the wedding for one photo shoot.

Some parts were a little repetitive or was an odd transition or two, might go back and reread some portions.

Loved the cat cafe with Ms Torii. I was amused with the collection of the neighborhood association fees. I liked seeing the crepe man camping. Loved the ending with the critical nurse when Tatsu and Miku visit a friend in the hospital dresses as Policure characters. Birthday gift for Pinky the dog was funny, as was Gin (cat) repeatedly biting Otaku (nerdy guy). Haikus in the park was fun.

Cute. Thanks for the space words.

4.5 rounded up

Great story and art was mostly fantastic. I was a little annoyed that the bandage was not consistently drawn; occasionally no bandage was drawn and at other times it was drawn on the wrong hand. Additionally during a ‘big reveal' the left hand was drawn rather than the right even though it was culturally significant that her tattoo be on the right arm. I'm gonna blame the editor rather than the artist.

Also at least twice I had to go back and check to see if it was the main character or her new friend that was in the panel.

Thought it was super odd that the barracks were co-ed.

Great themes about identity, (racial & national), belonging, and commitment.

I think I missed something.

Adorable & wholesome. I think I'll look out for the next volume, I feel like there's a lesson on self-love or beauty curses are bullshit kind of thing, and I'm there for it.

I mostly looked at the amazing artwork and skimmed little bits here and there.

Might pick up again if I want more details about him or his artwork.

I saw the short film of this a few months ago. The film is better because instead of relying on narration it has a soundtrack. However, this is still a moving little volume that pricked my eyes and made me sniffy.

As always fantastic characters such as Death, Vetinari, Leonard da Quirm, etc. with good humor and great concepts such as The Code, a collection of gods/mythology, the blend of science & magic, etc.

“Coralie Bickford-Smith's beautifully detailed patterns for the Penguin Classics; or any book-cover design, really, by [...] Edward Gorey.”

Very much agree.

Lovely art. I want to read some of these. Some based on the title others the art, or both.

Made me laugh.

Overall I'm disappointed; I was expecting a lot more Nutcracker. At times the writing style was gorgeous but also overwrought, confusing, and needlessly fussy.
I thought the beginning was great, and the allusion to -and later the out and out naming of- the Grimm brothers was clever. Later I was excited when Dirk came to the paper makers as I thought I had recalled in one telling of The Nutcracker Klara having a family member who was a publisher, bookmaker, or something along those lines, but then it didn't really seem to come to much. Although I did like Nastaran.

Tatsu's retelling of Momotaro made me laugh.
Also liked the first story of a cat stealing his fish, making bubble tea, going to the 100 yen store, helping the kid with his summer project and his wife's dream.

3.5
Cute. Cat was very well done. Main character Riko at times a little one note or boxed, but still likable.

Saw the anime available on Netflix so picked up a few more volumes from the library. I like watching the anime after reading the volumes better than the other way around.

I enjoy the type of humor.

I put this on both my merica shelf and my California shelf because the author talks about laws in different states and live in California; laws about surrogacy, IVF, gay marriage, paternal leave, and birth certificates. I appreciated Ian's medical background and how he wish the medical field would change in logical aspects. I also found Ian to be likable, reasonable, relatable, authentic, at times playful, respectful, and knowledgeable.

I was warmed by hearing about the trials and successes of this lovely family. Made me miss my Santa Cruz days and the “family” I experienced there and participated in as an ally.

I was so happy at their legal success at having all three fathers listed on their little one's birth certificate and how they stuck up for themselves at the hospital to obtain the wrist bans for visiting her.

I don't usually enjoy the typical romance genre, but then again maybe this wasn't typical. I liked the use of the somewhat familiar concept of the five people (dead or alive) one would like to have dinner with and I thought it was a great way to have the main character work out her life relationships.

Sabrina is likable, relatable, and capable of admitting faults and growing.

I found the situation with her and Tobias almost too relatable with me and my guy but know we'll make it through.


Listened to via Hoopla

Weird that I didn't mark this as read back when I had listened to it.

I recall liking it and enjoying the ending.

I will attempt a fuller review later.

I feel like I've listened to this one before...maybe at the time it wasn't on goodreads, maybe I had forgotten to mark it as read, or maybe it just feels so familiar.

Clever build and well written, plus excellently narrated.

I had somewhat recently read the collected volumes so only the first story of a Rick being in a band was new to me. I really enjoyed the first story, while the other ones were also good, I had just already experienced them.

A retelling of A Christmas Carol. Great artwork.
Also Superman made an appearance, which I didn't mind, but I was surprised that he didn't turn back around when the Batmobile exploded, was it because he was only an apparition? I did like how he gave Bats a chest x-ray and diagnosed him with pneumonia

Loved Morty and Summer's day as Rick, Jerry participating in an MML, Morty having a friend, Jerry being rejected by Death, and ‘what if Rick was one of us'.

The book ended with a letter exchange between [a:Lynda Barry 11646 Lynda Barry https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1530557874p2/11646.jpg] and McDonnell, wherein he explains Mooch's name. McDonnell's mother referred to cats' head bump ‘kisses' as mooches.

Read at: https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/bernicebobs.pdf

“He wondered idly whether she was a poor conversationalist because she got no attention or got no attention because she was a poor conversationalist.”

“People over forty can seldom be permanently convinced of anything. At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.”

Hmmm, not sure how I feel about it, no one was really likable. Reminded me of trope of many movies about how the girl gets a slight makeover and it changes everything or how a girl has to change most of herself to get guys or friends