Throughout this semester, I was able to read 3 books, which I don’t consider to be an awe inspiring achievement, but I think I did decently compared to my previous reading patterns of not reading a book for 8 months. Obviously, I still think could’ve definitely devoted more time into reading, by trying to sustain a habit of reading on the train or something similar. My patterns were really inconsistent with some nights where I just continuously read and months where I haven’t read anything at all, but I’m not really disappointed with how much I read. Right now, in the holidays, I haven’t actually read any books because I decided that it was just time to relax.
The books I read were JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood by Hirohiko Araki, Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling by D.M. Cornish and The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood by Hirohiko Araki, graphic novel written and drawn by the same author
This was actually a book that I accidentally came across in term 1, and I noticed it because I watched the animated adaptation of the graphic novel and really enjoyed it, so I decided to read the original and compare them. Immediately, the introduction and art style was strikingly different from the animated adaptation. The graphic novel began with a scene of a man wearing a stone mask, murdering a woman, while I remember the anime skips this scene, most likely to give more mystery behind the stone mask. As I read the graphic novel, I noticed that it gave much more in-depth details and explanations that were skipped in the anime, such as dialogue and minor scenes. I especially noticed this when I read the scene of Jonathan’s dog, Danny’s death. I remembered that in the anime they only briefly explained that he was put in a furnace and burned, whereas in the graphic novel, he bursted out of the furnace and there were panels of him shown to be on fire. The death felt much more gruesome this way. I enjoyed the book, as it was nice to see a more fleshed out version of one of my favorite shows, but it wasn’t perfect, as some parts dragged on and were boring so I could see why the animation skipped it. I don’t really think this book was challenging, but I think it was a good choice for the first book to read this year, because I was very familiar with it.
Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling by D.M. Cornish, recommended by Dylan Hoi
Overall, I enjoyed this book because it was similar to the type of fantasy books I’ve read before. The aspect I really liked about the book was its attention to detail, which make the world of the novel feel alive and real, even though it’s clearly about fictional and bizarre monsters. How they have their own calendar system and in particular, the use of illustrations that make it easier to visualize the characters and made the book a lot easier to interpret. Although I enjoyed it, to be honest, at the start I absolutely hated the main character. He was so weak and couldn’t stand up for himself at all and needed the help of people to fight for him, no wonder he gets bullied. I was reluctant to read the novel after the first 10 pages or so, but forced myself to read it, and as the pacing became faster and there was more action, I began to see myself enjoy it more. This is the first novel in a trilogy and I might consider reading the others, but the length of the other books are a lot greater than the first which is intimidating. This book wasn’t too hard or too easy. There were often random words that I’ve never heard of and the sentences were really long, but I could understand a majority of it.
The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, a fantasy novel
I found this book while I was just browsing through the library to see which book I’d like and I only chose this one because it had a really cool cover, and turns out it was actually a very interesting book, but I felt like what made this book different to books I’ve read before is that it was creepy, especially during the time spent in the haunted house, and the bodies of hanged soldiers. The characters of the novel were described in a lot of detail, to the extent that some were given back stories that influence their actions and motives until today, to the point where I felt like the side characters were more fleshed out than the main characters of some other novels. This book, wasn’t too difficult for me, even though there were often 2 syllable words that I’ve never heard of that appeared now and then, I could still paint a picture of what was happening.
I think the books I’ve read this semester weren’t really out of my comfort zone and I didn’t really try anything that knew. I don’t have any thorough plan as to what I’m reading for the future, but I might read some books that are different to the fantasy books I usually read, such as categories on the checklist I haven’t done before.
