Okay first off it has been forever since I’ve posted on Curiosities. All of my work goes on Anime UK News now, so I guess I lost the need to write posts here because anything relevant usually fits there. This time I have something a little bit more personal to write though and something I want the ability to look back on for myself.
Without realising it myself, I’ve always been a bookworm. I love games and anime a great deal, but if I step back and look at my hobbies it’s safe to say that the majority of my time is spent reading. I read a lot of on-going manga series, 102 at the current count, and I sometimes get into a rut and wonder to myself why I do this. Why I follow so many; what I’m looking for; what I’m searching for. The answer came to me today unexpectedly.
It’s almost Christmas! This hell of a year is finally winding down, hopefully leading to better things next time around. I don’t think I read quite as much in November as I did October, but time to find out for sure…
Only two months of the year left, boy that flew by. This month I feel like I accomplished a lot by finally getting through the rest of my Bakuman re-read! Here’s what else I’ve been reading this month:
Bold = completed series
Italic = dropped
Manga:
I Want You No Matter What
Tsubasa volume 5
Star Crossed volume 3
Dear Sa-chan (Manga +)
Renchi na Himoto volume 1 (JP Read)
For the Next Act… volume 1
Tokyo Tararebe Girls Returns volume 1
An Archdemon’s Dilemme: How to Love Your Elf Bride volume 4
I’ll Teach You Until You Cry
The Uninvited Cat and His Fickle Master volume 1
I Am Your Secret Letter
Bakuman volumes 10-20
Is It Okay to Rub You?
Mythical Beast Investigator volume 1
Witch Craft Works volumes 5-6
Yozakura Quartet volume 6
Mythical Beast Investigator volume 2
Yozakura Quartet volumes 7-10
A Side Character’s Love Story volume 6
The Delinquent Housewife! volume 1
The Master of Ragnarok volume 5
The Faraway Paladin volume 4
Bird and Horse
Ao Haru Ride volume 13
The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest volume 2 – review
How To Make a Cutie Like You Honest
An Unmapped Country Somewhere in this World volume 1
Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! Bonus Story volume 1
Torture Princess volume 5
The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan volume 7
Kokoro Connect volume 11
The Combat Baker and the Automation Waitress volume 9
My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected volume 2
Cooking with Wild Game volume 10
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom volume 8
By the Grace of the Gods volume 5
Sarazanmai volume 1
So somehow I read 65 manga and 25 light novels compared to 38/18 last month, but I guess reading so much Bakuman will do that to a person! Meanwhile the pile of shame continues to look particularly unhealthy as I add to it faster than I read anything out of it (you’d think writing these posts every month would actually do something for me eventually)…
Now we’re headed into October the weather is starting to be colder, which is the perfect time to sit around and binge books! The amount of books in my pile of shame is steadily growing, but I’m hoping I’ve made some progress in keeping them under control.
Bold = completed series
Italic = dropped
Manga:
Black Summoner volume 1
I Shall Survive Using Potions volume 4
Record of Wortenia War volume 1
I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! volume 1
Shortcake cake volume 9
Ao Haru Ride volume 12
Toilet Bound Hanako-kun volume 4
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess volume 7
Given volume 3
Toritan: Birds of a Feather volume 1
Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen Nitsuki, Ichimanen de. volume 1 (JP read)
Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town volume 2 – review
Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill volume 2
So quite a few completed series this month (which is especially nice when it comes to LNs since it feels like so many simply never end). Numbers are down a bit from August being 38 and 18 vs 59/20, but I am pleased I didn’t fall too far behind in my LN reading. Heck if you count Katanagatari as 3 books I actually accomplished more than usual. ^^;
Here’s the backlog atm, looking pretty busy since I bought a number of books off a friend of mine. Hahaha…ha.
Currently reading: Combatants Will Be Dispatched! volume 4 (LN)
August has been a busy month as I finally returned to work properly and therefore had more money to irresponsibly spend on new books… Let’s see what I got through this month!
Bold = completed series
Italic = dropped
Manga:
The Way of the Househusband volume 3
Contract of Cherry Blossom Guilt volume 1
Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World volume 5 – review
Rascal Does Not Dream of Petite Devil Kouhai –review
I Refuse to Be Your Enemy volume 3
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom volume 7
Cooking With Wild Game volume 9
Do You Love Your Mum and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? volume 6
Adachi and Shimamura volume 1
So 59 manga and 20 light novels this month, up from 48/18. Doing well to combat the backlog despite the amount I’ve been picking up!
Speaking of the backlog, here’s how things are looking this month…
(I dug the Bakuman boxset back out so I could finish my reread, also not pictured is a volume of A Sister’s All You Need, Torture Princess and The Eminence in Shadow which I’m reading)
July was another continuation of the war of light novels and actually I finally cleared off the backlog of 2019!* Now let’s see what all I read this month.
*(In light novel form, still some manga boxsets to be read…).
The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik volume 1
Ascendance of a Bookworm volume 8
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom volume 12
Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You’ve Got a Ringer) volume 2
Slayers volume 1
The Combat Baker and Automation Waitress volume 7
Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess volume 2
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer volume 6
Log Horizon volume 5
The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) volume 1
So for the month of July I managed 48 manga and 18 light novels, which are both improvements on last month (43/13). It’s a good job my pile of shame from 2019 mostly went away since now I’ve started back at work and have more disposable income I’m busy building myself a new pile…
The Extraordinary, The Ordinary, and Soap volume 2
Restaurant to Another World volume 2
Tearmoon Empire volume 2
Cooking with Wild Game volume 8
Classroom of the Elite volume 2
Reincarnated as a Sword volume 1
Der Werwolf volume 8
Zaregoto volume 3
In Another World with My Smartphone volume 20
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash volume 15
So this month I managed 43 manga and 13 light novels, compared to 46 and 25 last month. I guess I slacked on light novels toward the end of the month, but hey I made good progress! Piles of shame:
Time is all mashed together at this point and somehow it’s hard to believe we’re already five months through the year! Here’s what I read in the month of May:
Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World volume 2
Zaregoto volume 2
Danmachi Sword Oratoria volume 11
Ascendance of a Bookworm volume 7
First Love Signal
Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess volume 1
Welcome to Japan, Ms Elf volume 4
The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious volume 2
Konosuba volume 11
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai volume 1 – review
An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride volume 10
Re:Zero volume 8
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom volume 6
Spirit Chronicles volume 10
Combatants Will Be Dispatched volume 3
So 46 manga and 25 light novels, compared to 65 manga and 6 light novels last month. The pile of shame is finally going down! We’ll see how long this lasts…
So this month I’ve read 65 manga and 6 light novels. Not entirely sure how this happened and honestly I’m disappointed in myself for not reading more light novels… (last month was 60 manga, 23 light novels).
Man the world has changed a lot over the course of a month. Now we’re in lockdown because of the Coronavirus. I hope by the time we get to the April entry things will have started improving. :/ Anyways here’s what I’ve been reading this month:
Manga:
1122: For a Happy Marriage volume 1
Our Dining Table volume 1
In/Spectre volume 4
Fire in His Fingertips volume 1
Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san volume 3
In/Spectre volume 5
Fullmetal Alchemist Fullmetal Edition volume 7
Haikyu!! volume 37
Ao Haru Ride volume 9
Sweat and Soap volume 1
Blank Canvas: My So-called Artists Journey volume 3
Vampire Knight Memories volume 4
Logical Orion volume 1
Last Stop is Tokyo volume 1
Umaru is a Good Boy volume 1
Pure Love Nostalgic volume 1
Tales of Strange Coincidences in Kawabata-machi volume 1
Fragment of a Flower volume 1
Everyone Stand Up! Boy’s Private High School volume 1
One-Sided Love x Alliance volume 1
First Love Encounter volume 1
The Golden Sheep volume 3
Love Letter
Downfall volume 1
Given volume 1
Infinite Dendrogram volume 4
In/spectre volume 6
After the Rain omnibus volume 1
Yuki and Matsu volume 3
Setagawa Synchronicity volume 1
Every Time We Touch, I Hear That Sound volume 1
Cells at Work Code Black volume 3
Suppose a Kid From the Last Town Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town volume 1
Simplified Pervert Romance volume 1
Love is Not Good Along volume 1
La Danse Amants volume 1
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind volume 5
The Ancient Magus Bride volume 12
In/spectre volume 7
Alcohol Communication volume 1
Don’t Cry, Little Squirrel
1122: For a Happy Marriage volume 2
God is Probably Left-handed volume 1
Kaguya-sama Love is War volume 3
Do Something You Should Not Do Please volume 1
In/Spectre volume 8
Kaguya-sama Love is War volume 4
Noragami volume 21
Cookie Girl, Cream Boy
Daytime Shooting Star volume 5
Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru (WSJ)
Faded Picture Scroll volume 1
Star Crossed volume 1
In/Spectre volume 9
Discommunication volume 4
Sex with Chika! volume 1
In/Spectre volume 10
Ran the Peerless Beauty volume 1
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime volume 12
Something’s Wrong with Us volume 1
Light Novels:
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria volume 10
The Tales of Marielle Clarac volume 1
Altina the Sword Princess volume 3
I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed out My Level volume 5
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina volume 1
Infinite Dendrogram volume 11
Spirit Chronicles volume 9
A Sister’s All You Need volume 6
My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as Expected volume 1
In Another World with My Smartphone volume 19
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Isekai volume 1
Bungo Stray Dogs volume 3
By the Grace of the Gods volume 2
Ascendance of a Bookworm volume 6
Der Werwolf volume 7
The Extraordinary, The Ordinary and Soap! volume 1
The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress volume 5
Isekai Rebuilding Project volume 2
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom volume 5
How a Realist Hero Rebuild the Kingdom volume 11
The Underdog of the Eight Greater Tribes volume 2
The World’s Strongest Rearguard volume 2
60 manga 23 light novels. Quite a big difference compared to the 28 manga and 17 light novels last month. It’s not even because I’ve been stuck inside, Futekiya just had a lot of titles this month.
Pile of shame photo time:
The one on the bottom left in the first picture in Suppose a Kid (…) light novel Volume 1, I was just too last to dig out the pile and turn it around. It was my birthday in March so that’s my excuse for the piles growing. 😛