Maki Minami: SA - SPECIAL A VOL. 1-3

Maki Minami
S A: SPECIAL A VOL. 1-3
Carlsen Manga
Pages
ISBN: #1: 978-3-551-75491-2
#2 : 978-3-551-75492-9
#3: 978-3-551-75493-6

Note: As the story lines for this series usually overlap volumes, I’m going to review the volumes I read back to back in one review. Also, the ISBN numbers are for the German edition. For the English manga, please click on the covers – it leads you right to Amazon.com. (By the way, the covers for the first two volumes are the same I have.)

When she was 6 years old, Hikari Hanazono lost for the first time. It was a wrestling match against Kei Takishima, the son of a friend of her father’s. Ever since then, Hikari’s goal has been to beat Kei at something – anything, in fact. To succeed, her parents allowed her to enter Hakusenkan, a private academy and the best school in the prefecture.

There, classes are divided into A through F based on grades. The seven best students of year one through three form a class called Special A. These students have privileges like a different school uniform, and optional class attendance only.

Of course, the challenges at Hakusenkan are not only between Hikari and Kei. The other students are constantly trying to beat the Special A students in order to become Special A’s themselves. There are competitions between the classes, and the Special A students are also challengeing each other every now and then.

While I was at first worried that the many major characters would be difficult to tell apart, I was soon relieved to see that Maki Minami manages quite well to distinguish the characters. The characters themselves all have their quirks. Hikari loves to fight even if she is too exhausted, because she loves to win. Akira insists on her tea hours in the afternoon, the twins love their music, Ryu grew up with the twins and is always worried for them, which sometimes leads to grades that do not reflect his intelligence, yet he always stays a member of the Special A. The headmaster’s son, Tadashi, who seems to make fun of most things. And, last but not least, Kei, who is the best in class without doing much. These characters are very likeable.

For the plot, Maki Minami always creates new challenges and adventures for the students. And even the romantic aspect doesn’t fall short in this shojo-manga (= manga for girls).

Rating: 4/5

Gosho Aoyama: CASE CLOSED VOL. 15-18

Gosho Aoyama
CASE CLOSED: DETECTIVE CONAN VOL. 15-18
Egmont Manga & Anime
752 pages
ISBN: #15: 978-3-89885-396-5
#16: 978-3-89885-397-2
#17: 978-3-89885-398-5
#18: 978-3-89885-399-6

Note: As the story lines for this series usually overlap volumes, I’m going to review the volumes I read back to back in one review. Also, the ISBN numbers are for the German edition. For the English manga, please click on the covers – it leads you right to Amazon.com.

For those who don’t know Conan Edogawa yet, let me introduce him. He is a young student who solves cases, for the most part on his own. Only, he’s not really the young student he seems to be, he’s actually the 17-year old high school student Shinichi Kudo. When he saw a transaction made by a few men in black, they poison him in order to kill him, but the poison, which has just been developped. The poison didn’t kill him, but it shrunk him into a about 7 year old boy. Now he lives with Kogoro Mori, a third class private investigator, and his daughter, Ran, with the hopes to find the men in black – and with them an antidote for the poison that shrunk him.

In these volumes, Conan’s elementary school friends try to help him a lot with solving cases, some easy to solve, others in fact pretty dangerous. Conan also meets Kaito Kid, the master thief for the first time and he gets a big step closer to the mysterious men in black when he meets a young girl with a dark secret.

Gosho Aoyama has a wonderful style, not only with his stories, but also with his drawings. He adds so many details that you can’t really get them all at first sight. Also, unlike a few other mangaka (that’s how manga artists are called), he clearly distinguishes the characters, not only when they’re big in the picture, but even when he only has a small frame and draws a few characters in there pretty small.

Also, the mysteries are always really adorable. Nothing really dangerous or bloody, so it is also wonderful for older kids.

Rating: 4/5

Farrah Fawcett

I admit it, I loved Charlie's Angels and watched it whenever I could. I'm sad that Farrah Fawcett, one of the original angels died a horrible death. For more, check out this obituary...

Meg Cabot: THE PRINCESS DIARIES - TO THE NINES

Meg Cabot
THE PRINCESS DIARIES – TO THE NINES
Macmillan
269 pages
ISBN: 978-0-330-44855-0

Note: This is the ISBN for my British copy. But if you want to buy the American edition, you can click on the cover. It – as usually – leads you right to Amazon.com where you can order it.

Michael has left, and not just that, he has also dumped Mia! And as if that was not already enough drama, Lilly refuses speaking to her and someone created a website called ihatemiathermopolis.com (check it out, it really exists!) to write mean things about her. No, being Amelia Mignionette Thermopolis Reynaldo Princess of Genovia is not easy right now.

And as if all that was not enough already, she has to find a new Prince Charming, find a theme for a speech she has to hold – thanks to her grandmother, the Queen, and maybe even change the future of Genovia!

Once again, Meg Cabot allows us a glimpse into Mia’s life and thoughts with the ninth installment of the Princess Diaries. Mia has been a companion to many girls for the past years, but rumor has it, this will soon stop. Mia filled one more diary and that is supposed the end. What a tragedy!

Of course, Mia’s behavior is over the top, but if you remember your own teenage years, you’ll know that it was really like that for you as well. With Mia, you’re allowed a step away from the busy life and just have fun! Mia is hilarious, fun and leads a life full of intriguing adventures. I know for sure I’ll be sad if her adventures won’t continue.

Rating: 4/5

Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

Well, we all know that I love reading challenges, right? So I heard a lot about Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series, but I never managed to read any of them. Isn't Beth from Beth Fish Reads's challenge a wonderful chance to change that?

The Rules:

1. Between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, catch up on Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series. No matter if you're starting with book 1 or book 8, you have a year to read all about Sookie. Read Sookie in print, listen to the audio, read an eBook -- format is not an issue.

2. Sign up using Mr. Linky. Put your name in the top box. For the bottom box, please use the URL that links specifically to your blog post about this challenge, not to your blog's home page.

3. After July 4, I'll create a post with another Mr. Linky where you can link your reviews so everyone can read them track your progress.

4. If you don't have a blog and want to join in, sign up in the comments here. Later, let us know about your progress by leaving comments on the review link page.

The Books:

Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead and Gone

I'll link the book titles to the reviews as I go along!

Marjane Satrapi: PERSEPOLIS 2

Marjane Satrapi
PERSEPOLIS 2
Ueberreuter
191 pages
ISBN: 978-3-8000-5402-2

Note: This is the ISBN for my German copy. But if you want to buy it, you can click on the cover. It – as usually – leads you right to Amazon.com where you can order it.

This time around, Marjane Satrapi brings us back to her teenage years. In the first book, Marjane grew up in Iran duringa tumultuous time of war and revolutions. In the end, her parents sent her away to live with one of her mother’s friends in Austria.

Now in Austria, things are by no means as Marjane had expected them to be. Instead of living with her mother’s friend, she has to stay at a nun’s pension. Soon, the life in Europe changes Marjane completely and the horrors of the past seem to be forgotten, but she still misses her parents.

Marjane Satrapi’s drawings are simple and straight forward compared to some other graphic novels, but it is the story, her autobiography, that is the important part – and that she tells and portrays in a fascinating way.

Rating: 3.5/5

Bloggiesta! It is over...

Sadly, the Bloggiesta that Natasha from the Maw Books Blog hosted it over. I wished it would have been longer, but that's how things are. Maybe we can persuade Natasha to host another Bloggiesta soon?

Below is the list of tasks I had set out to accomplish. Now, with a huge list of reviews to write, I definitely didn't manage to write them all. Especially because I am currently pondering the how to write them, as you can see in my blog post from yesterday.

comments

reviews

Johann Maier: Judentum

Naomi Alderman: Disobedience

Mary Janice Davidson: Undead & Unappreciated

Nalini Singh: Slave To Sensation currently writing

Meg Cabot: How To Be Popular currently writing

Robert Fate: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption

M. von Münchhausen: Zeit gewinnen mit dem inneren Schweinehund (time management)

Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis 2

Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries - To The Nines

Harry Kemelman: Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home

Elie Wiesel: Night

Jill Shalvis: Flashpoint currently writing

Jennifer LaBrecque: Yule Be Mine currently writing

Cara Summers: Come Toy With Me currently writing

Leslie Kelly: Slow Hands currently writing

Abby Gaines: Married By Mistake currently writing

Peter O'Donnell & Jim Holdaway: Modesty Blaise - The Gabriel Set-Up currently writing

Beth Andrews: A Not-So-Perfect Past

Sam Savage: Firmin currently writing

Tachibana Higuchi: Alice Academy Vol. 4

Tachibana Higuchi: Alice Academy Vol. 5

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 15

Maju Sakai: Rockin' Heaven Vol. 2

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 16

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 17

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 18

Tomoko Hayakawa: Perfect Girl Vol. 6

Maki Minami: Special A Vol. 1

Maki Minami: Special A Vol. 2

Maki Minami: Special A Vol. 3

Yuna Kagesaki: Cheeky Vampire Vol. 7

Yuna Kagesaki: Cheeky Vampire Vol. 8

challenges

update individual challenge posts

update challenge progress post (and finally post the one for May!) have to add another challenge before I can post it, should be done soon!

I have been thinking about some of the reviews a lot, and I at first started writing reviews for each of the mangas I read, but I soon realized that I was repeating myself because the story lines overlap and spread out over more than one volume, so I deleted it all to have one review for those I read back to back.

Now, I have quite a few more reviews started, and I even managed to write some blog posts I did not have on the list, but I'll post them not all just now. I'll post the over the next few days and maybe keep some for rainy days.

ETA: Oh yeah, and my feed reader is hopefully up-to-date. If you seem something's still missing, just let me know through dreamworldofabookaholic@googlemail.com !

Lawrence Kaplan: HOUSE OF GHOSTS & a chance to win a signed copy

Lawrence Kaplan
HOUSE OF GHOSTS
Westfield Press
309 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9824117-0-4

Joe Henderson's life is none you would want to have. A retired cop, he was shot in the line of duty, which left him crippled. His staying home didn't do him any good either, as he started do drink and got very cynical. When his wife couldn't stand it any longer, she left - first to help their daughter settle in at university, then for a new job.

When his neighbor, Preston Swedge, is found dead, Joe is suspicious. Something seems off about the death of this anti-Semitic, grumpy man. When he finds a stack of old papers in Swedge's house, he finds proof that he might in fact not have been the anti-Semitic man he seemed to be. What he does find, actually implies that Joe's nieghbor was a Government official during the second World War and had proof that the Americans knew about Auschwitz and its purpose a long time before they actually freed the prisoners. But why did Preston Swedge die? And why did the Allies not drop bombs on Auschwitz when they first discovered it?

In his first novel, Lawrence Kaplan entwines historic facts with the fictitious world of a hard-boiled investigator who finds his place right next to Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. Joe Henderson is a hard drinking, hard smoking, hard loving cynical, but that doesn’t make him not likeable.

This compelling read is not just for fans of hard-boiled mysteries, though. It contains also a nice bit of history and is well researched. Kaplan easily switches back and forth between 2000 and the 1930s without interrupting the reader’s flow. You can read right through and it just fits.

Be prepared to stay up late while reading this book full of twists and turns just because you want to know what happens next! And another good thing - this is not the only Joe Henderson book. There's a second in the making and Lawrence Kaplan is already researching a third!

About the Author
Lawrence Kaplan is a 1979 graduate of New York University School of Dentistry, runs a dental practice in New Jersey, and lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife and menagerie. House of Ghosts is his first novel.

And now some wonderful news:
Larry Kaplan is giving away a signed copy of his book, House of Ghosts, to one lucky tour visitor. Go to Larry Kaplan's book tour page, enter your name, e-mail address, and this PIN, 3529, for your chance to win. Entries from Secret Dreamworld will be accepted until 12:00 Noon (PT) tomorrow. No purchase is required to enter or to win. The winner (first name only) will be announced on Larry’s book tour page next week.

Reviews on Book Blogs...

What makes a review good? What do you think should a review be like?

Those are two of the questions that popped into my mind after watching the vlog of Trish from Hey Lady! Watcha Reading?, Natasha from Mawbooks, and Amy from My Friend Amy on why one shouls read book blogs.

I came to realize that I am trying to be as objective with my reviews as possible, sometimes I even leave out the "oh my goodness was this great", you know the moments when you're reading a really great book and your mouth gapes wide open with astonishment, the wide smile on your face because it is just so great that you can't do anything about it?

Now, I am studying literature and we're constantly told that we should leave the personal stuff out of reviews we're writing (for university) - and I'm not just talking about sentences with "I".

I have had a hard time with that in the past, but apparently, at one point I have taken over the "no personal references" position and am even using it when I review here on my blog. I am not sure I like this, as it is still a struggle and I find myself editing and re-editing my reviews until I hope my professors would at least to some degree be satisfied.

Now that doesn't mean I leave out my personal opinion of a book - then the whole reason for reviewing would be lost, wouldn't it? I do add my opinion, it's just not in the "I think" or "I felt" way.

Now when I read reviews, I enjoy the ones that are more personal a lot better actually, as I feel I get to know the reader behind the review, a person I haven't met and likely (and sadly) will never meet in person. I am not too much a fan of those reviews in newspapers or book magazines. I feel they don't say much else about the book other than what it is about and a bit about the author and some pompous talk about the writing that is not at all interesting or helpful.

Now, what do you think, what makes a review good? What do you think should a review be like?

Bloggiesta! It has begun...

I can't tell you how grateful I am for Natasha's Bloggiesta! I really have some catching up to do and "the list of all evil" is a wonderful proof. Of course, I also have to finish a few things for university - that is I have to write about 40 pages as fast as possible, read at least 200 pages that I have already copied and somehow finish a book I should have finished last Wednesday at the latest. Wish me luck!

comments

reviews

Johann Maier: Judentum

Naomi Alderman: Disobedience

Mary Janice Davidson: Undead & Unappreciated

Nalini Singh: Slave To Sensation

Meg Cabot: How To Be Popular

Robert Fate: Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption

M. von Münchhausen: Zeit gewinnen mit dem inneren Schweinehund (time management)

Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis 2

Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries - To The Nines

Harry Kemelman: Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home

Elie Wiesel: Night

Jill Shalvis: Flashpoint

Jennifer LaBrecque: Yule Be Mine

Cara Summers: Come Toy With Me

Leslie Kelly: Slow Hands

Abby Gaines: Married By Mistake

Peter O'Donnell & Jim Holdaway: Modesty Blaise - The Gabriel Set-Up

Beth Andrews: A Not-So-Perfect Past

Sam Savage: Firmin

Tachibana Higuchi: Alice Academy Vol. 4

Tachibana Higuchi: Alice Academy Vol. 5

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 15

Maju Sakai: Rockin' Heaven Vol. 2

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 16

Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed - Detective Conan Vol. 17

Tomoko Hayakawa: Perfect Girl Vol. 6

Maki Minami: Special A Vol. 1

Maki Minami: Special A Vol. 2

Maki Minami: Special A Vol. 3

Yuna Kagesaki: Cheeky Vampire Vol. 7

Yuna Kagesaki: Cheeky Vampire Vol. 8

challenges

update individual challenge posts

update challenge progress post (and finally post the one for May!)

I am sure I forgot a few things I probably should do as well, but for now that's more than I can do, I think, so I'll stick to that list.

Robert Fate: BABY SHARK'S BEAUMONT BLUES

Robert Fate
BABY SHARK'S BEAUMONT BLUES
Capital Crime Press
280 pages
ISBN: 978-0-977-62762-2

Once again, Robert Fate sweeps us off into Kristin van Dijk's world - the Texas of the mid-50s. By now, she's a licensed private investigator, probably the first of her time, and she is working with Otis Millett, who helped her and Henry Chin find the murderous biker gang in the first installment, Baby Shark.

Only this time around, the two are not searchign for bad guys who abused and harmed Kristin or one of their friends, this time they have to search for Sherry - once again, as we soon learn - a soon-to-be wealthy heiress. In the past, they easily found Sherry and returned her to her guardian, but now the case is a lt more complicated and twisted.

They soon free Sherry from the drug-selling thugs that captured her, but how did she get in their hands? What is real and who tells the truth? Those are only a few of the questions that constantly pop up in front of Kristin and Otis - and Fate manages to pull it off without the reader having a feeling of déjà vu - or more like a déjà lu...

Once you have read the first book, you won't want to hold out for this - and the good thing is, there's more! Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption has been out since last year.

Rating: 5/5

As usually, you can buy the book by simply clicking on the cover picture above! It leads you right to Amazon.com.

Sookie Stackhouse Giveaway

Please check out Melissa's blog for an awesome giveaway. Melissa is offering the first 7 Sookie Stackhouse books. Isn't that just great and so very generous???

Melissa, let me tell you, you're awesome!

Giveaway at The Book Resort

Check out The Book Resort for a chance to win Molly Harper's Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs! It's worth it :-)

Summer Lovin' Challenge

Jules created this wonderful challenge, which is just perfect for this summer. So of course I'm joining in :-)
Another reason is the name, Summer Lovin'. I'm an absolute Grease fan (ever since we sang the songs with our school choir in about 1996), and Summer Lovin' is one of the songs I can always sing, even without the music.

The timeline is June 21, 2009 through September 21, 2009!

So, here's my list:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Robert Fate: BABY SHARK

Note: This is the first post for my new bi-monthly feature on series! In the next two weeks, I will also post reviews for the other two books, Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues and Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption, and a short bio of Robert Fate.





Robert Fate
BABY SHARK
270 pages
Capital Crime Press
ISBN: 978-0-977-62769-1

With Kristin van Dijk, called Baby, Robert Fate created an unusual character for the 1950s. Baby does not suffer quietly and lets others take care of things, she actually takes things in her own hands.

When a biker gang attacks a pool hall, 17 year old Kristin loses her father and the life she knows. Severely injured, it takes a few months for her to be released from the hospital. When Henry Chin, the Chinese owner of the pool hall picks Kristin up, she decides to stay with him. During the same attack, Henry lost his so and the pool hall was burned down, so they can relate to each other. They soon find out that the police is no longer investigating the case and so, after their complete recovery, they decide to search for the perpetrators themselves, with only the help of a private investigator, Otis Millett.

Robert Fate's first breath-taking mystery catches you from the first page and keeps the tension up throughout the entire book. While it might qualify as hard-boiled, it might also be a great read for those who don't usually read darker plots.

Rating: 5/5

As usually, you can buy the book by simply clicking on the cover picture above! It leads you right to Amazon.com.

Stay tuned for...

*drumroll please*

... the first post of my new feature on series! My very first month will be with my beloved guest stars Kristin "Baby" Van Dijk, Otis Millett, and - last but certainly not least - Robert Fate!

... a few revelations about yours truly! - Umm, that would be me ;-)

... a post on fighting the book buying addiction (and maybe losing the battle?)!

... my first participation in an online book tour!

... and a bit more.

Because even though I haven't had much time or energy to post lately, it finally rained a bit here, so my concentration is better again and I have so many blog post ideas I have no clue where to start :-)

The 1st Mystery Read-A-Thon

Well, here it goes, the first Mystery Read-A-Thon is over. I managed to read 10 hours and 33 minutes, and I'm really glad. I did have problems concentrating for the past two weeks or so.

While I didn't finish a single book (yes, you can read for over 10 hours and still not finish a book!), I read parts of Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark and Margaret Grace's Malice In Miniature, though. Well, and I finished three mangas (Detective Conan Vol. 16-18. I have no clue how many pages I read, though...

All in all, my reading was okay. Considering that during the last two weeks I couldn't concentrate at all, I am hoping this means I am back on track and out of the slump-like state... The only major disruptions I had to deal with were my cats who don't take being ignored easily and when my parents came home from a weekend trip (I hadn't seen Mom at all and Dad only for about 20 minutes before that).

I hope you all enjoyed the read-a-thon!

MotherReader's 48 Hour Read-A-Thon

Oops! So I have posted at MotherReader's blog that I will try to participate in her 48 Hour Read-A-Thon, but I completely forgot to post about it here..

To keep track of my reading hours, I will update this post every now and then. To keep track I'm actually using the stopwatch of my cell phone.

So far I have read:

Fri
1h 2min
3h 53min
16min

Sat
1h 44min
9min
5min
58min
3h 58min

Sun
1h 5min
3h 14min
2h 11min
4h 3min

=> 24h 38min

With this I have completed MotherReader's challenge. I didn't read 48 hours, but I think with a little over 24 hours I did pretty good. What I am especially sad about is that I didn't finish a single book. I read parts of three books, though. The first was Philip Roth's American Pastoral - actually, it should count as a whole book, because I read the parts that I did read twice... Then I read a bit of Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark. I really like it, but somehow I couldn't concentrate too well on it. The book I finally settled on yesterday afternoon was Margaret Grace's Malice In Miniature. I did read a good part of it, but I also didn't manage to finish it. I still can't concentrate too well *sigh*

Actor David Carradine dies

Here I am, on my way to bed and the last news I read is that David Carradine died. Apparently, he was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok and it seems like he commited suicide.
I remember him from the TV show where he played the Kung Fu master Caine - I watched that as a kid, when it was part of the afternoon program.
May his family find the strength to get through this hard time!

If only ... it would rain!

Most of you might call me nuts now, but I'm dead-serious. I have allergies and asthma, and it hasn't rained in 2 weeks. The exact opposite actually. It is sunny with a slight wind - that keeps whirling up the pollen again and again - and again!

This has in fact left me feeling tired, exhausted and without the ability to concentrate. It right now is hard work for me to get up and ready for university (I'm going to leave out actually attending class and trying to pay attention as good as possible).

Now, this weekend, there are two read-a-thon's coming up. The 48 Hour Read-A-Thon and the Mystery Read-A-Thon. I intend to participate, but I'm really curious how it will work out. Last weekend, after all, I spent most of the time sleeping!

Now, despite all this, I still hope I will be able to participate and make a dent in my reading stack. Wish me luck!