Fangirl: the Manga (Volumes 1, 2, 3)

Fangirl: the Manga (Volumes 1, 2, 3)
Manga adaptation of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl by Sam Maggs (2020-2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Looking for random manga and the New York Public Library website recommended "Fangirl", which was a four-part adaptation of a novel, which I wasn't familiar with. So I started reading it. What I wasn't aware of at the time was that the fourth and final book has not been published yet. Arg.

Yes, I'll borrow it sometime after it comes out.

There are twins named Cath and Wren, whose mother only had one name picked out (Catherine). The two were fans of "Simon and Baz", two characters from popular fiction (I'm guessing similar to Twilight, but I never read that and has no plans to). They are "shipped" together despite the fact that neither of the characters are gay in the source material. For that matter, neither of the sisters are gay either (at least in the first three volumes).

The two are going off to college, but they won't be rooming together. Wren knows that they need to spread their wings and be individuals. Cath is a little afraid of this. Wren is the extrovert which gets her into trouble sometimes, and Cath is an introvert who stays in her room if her roommate doesn't drag her out of it.

Wren has given up on the fanfic. Cath still lives for it, so much so that it interferes with her creative writing class.

Wren starts to reconnect with their mother, who abandoned the family when the kids were little. Cath hates her mother and doesn't want to see her again.

And Cath falls for her roommate's ex-boyfriend who is a fan of Cath's stories.

Nothing objectionable. An interesting read. Obviously, I'm not the target demographic for this.

If I had any complaint, it would be the construction of the books that I got from the library. The first book was formatted like a regular graphic novel, not magna. The front page was on the left. The second and third books start on the right BUT ... and this is the annoying part ... the pages themselves are meant to be read from left to right, not right to left. THAT was confusing.

But I dealt with it.

Waiting for part 4. I don't think I'll read the actual book though.

Manga: The Devil in a Part-Timer, Volume 17

The Devil in a Part-Timer, Volume 17
(2017)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This is just here for completeness.

Walking past the library one Saturday morning a couple months ago, someone had left a bunch of books outside on top of the book return bin for anyone to take. There wasn't anything of real interest, but I saw this one volume of a manga that I hadn't heard of. Even though it was Volume 17, I figured it'd be enough for me to decide if it was something I'd like to find the first volume of and read through.

If what I guessed is true, the devil is a teenager for some reason, and in this particular episode, he's concerned about getting his driver's license. At the same time, another character is missing, and others show up looking for her.

By the end, demons are showing up and there's a showdown, which you'd expect any manga to have.

Nothing gripping. I didn't hate it, but I don't think I would've read volume 2 if I'd picked up volume 1 instead. I'm not planning on looking for this series.

Note: After I read this (more than a month ago), I was looking at the anime listings on a couple of platforms, and I saw that this is a show. If I had time, I might watch the first two episodes, but it's low on the list.

Pinata: A Novel (Gout)

Pinata: A Novel
by Leopoldo Gout (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a pandemic book club alternate selection. It wasn't selected. However, given the wait time for the book, I reserved it before the poll results were in. I listened to most of the book, and I read it in its entirety. Since I finished reading it, I didn't feel the need to finish listening.

I read this book before The Saint of Bright Doors but I forgot to include it in the blog when I was catching up with my backlog. Oops. I read this a month ago, end of March, begining of April. I could check Libby to see when I checked it out, but it's not that important.

Pinata sits on top as the best book I've read this year although it isn't perfect. I believe I gave it 4 stars on Good Reads, and I would give it 4.5 out of 5 here. I enjoyed it, but the ending was a little off for me.

The book opens centuries ago with Mexico being conquered and a church being constructed on Mexican burial grounds. The priests there find pinatas, the ancient kind made of dead bodies, and destroy them. One priests suffers a horrible supernatural death because of it.

Flash forward to the present day. The church is being restored to create a boutique hotel. Carmen Sanchez is an architect sent to Mexcio to oversee the work. She faces sexism and nationalism -- she's of Mexican heritage but still a foreighner. It's summertime, so she brings her two daughters. One, Izel, is a teen who hates that she was dragged along instead of going to drama camp with her friends (she has lots of teen drama) and who has a secret boyfriend that she's constantly texting. The younger daughter, Luna, is a bit of a misfit in school but she devours all the curiousities that Mexico has to offer.

A Mexican woman who works at city hall, Yoltzi, has the ability to see spirits, an ability she's always had. (I have to admit, when first reading, I thought she was an older woman, not someone in her 20s or 30s.) She spots Luna being followed by spirits and is worried that her openness makes her vulnerable to spirits taken over her.

When an accident at the cathedral causes a wall to be broken and a secret chamber (not on any of the floorplans going back hundreds of years) is revealed, containing some of the pinatas we read about earlier. Because of the incident, Sanchez is recalled to New York, but not before Luna steals one of the pinatas and manages to get in through custons. (She had a jar of crickets which would've been confiscated instead except that she ate them.

Once back in New York, the weirdness which started in Mexico starts to ramp up, and Luna is at the center of it.

Yoltzi, along with other side characters Father Verón and Quauhtli, try to get to New York. Here is where I was less happy with the book. It's not that I want characters to have Plot Armor but they don't need to have unnecessary targets on their backs either. It doesn't come down to one person standing, which if it had, I would've knocked a full star off my rating.

I enjoyed the book overall although the pacing was off a bit here and there.