YA Addicted Book Club discussion

New year, new thread!
Here is where we chat about anything and everything!

good to know!! anyone got any new book series planned? I'm going to finish up the 100: Rebellion and then start up something new!

I miss talking about books and challenges with this group, life has just been so busy with the holidays. and book slumps sure do suck!

Right now I'm more focused on cleaning up some old stuff I've got on the go but I do have some new manga/manhwa planned. I recently started a manhwa called Crimson Karma and tomorrow I'm picking up My Senpai is Annoying and Fist of the North Star.

Those sound good. what are some starter Mangas that you would suggest? I've been wanting to get into reading them I've just never found the right book.

Oh boy.... where to start. I do read a lot of manga but some of my tastes tend to be kind pretty trashy and my reading habits are kind of all over the place. A few ideas here:


This is a slice of life manga that falls under the iyashikei, or healing, kind of manga. It's about a young girl called Rin who is an introvert and loves solo camping. I love how Rin's introvert side is portrayed. It's not treated like she is some weirdo who can't socialize. She makes some friends and they all love camping. It's a very relaxed, feel good kind of manga.


One of my favorite romance manga. The main male lead is not the stereotypical attractive male lead that the girl falls for. It's the big scary looking best friend of the stereotypical attractive male and I just love the series. I love the male lead, I love the sweet romance, it's just a great read.


If you are looking for something more supernatural that really dives into the Japanese urban legends and myths then this is a favorite of mine. It has a super unique art style that really stands out. I'm waiting for the library to get the omnibus versions to get in at the library so I can do a reread of it.


A great slice of life story about a calligrapher who is trying to find his inspiration. Just a great cast of characters and a heart warming story.


This is a straight fantasy series about books and librarians. It has some of the greatest world building I have seen in a very long time.


These recommendations are more "adult". They all have very mature themes and tend to be pretty violent


This is not just my favorite manga of all time but up there as one of my all time favorite books. Be forewarned that is incredibly dark and deals with pretty much every triggering subject matter you can think of. It's about a man named Guts and his life in this brutal fantasy world. I love this story so much but I cannot stress that this is not a series to be handled lightly. It is incredibly violent and life means little in this world.


A story about a shipping company/pirates in a fictional city in Thailand. Again it's violent and there are a lot of adult themes in the book. The MC is a traumatized and very violent women named Revy. It has gangsters, drug dealers, espionage, combat maids, etc.


This is a historical book based upon the life of the Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Again, it's very violent but the artwork in this manga is by far some of the best I have ever seen.

Not a particular manga in general but if you want some great horror manga then I would recommend Junji Ito and if I had to pick one particular story I'd say either Uzumaki or the short The Enigma of Amigara Fault

I could probably keep going but that is a good start.

I think I'm going to start with Barakamon! It seems like a light read and I easily found a copy to start reading soon. thank you for the suggestions @Gord!

Oooh I am stealing some of these manga recs. Lol.

As for me, an ARC of just landed in my inbox, so I will be diving into that immediately. Lol. I also want to go back to the Shadowhunter world and catch up on some of those books because I've fallen behind again. Besides that, I've also still been in the mood for sci-fi, so I'll probably be reading some of that as well.

My first book of the year has started with a stinker. It was hovering around a 3 star but has since drifted down into 1 star range. A 1 star rating from me is not a very common rating. A 2 means the book was bad but there was a nugget of a good idea somewhere in there that I liked. A 1 Star is just pure bad.

Glad to see that some of those manga recommendations struck a chord with people. I'm a bit self-conscious about making recommendations as my reading habits are kind of all over the place.

Some of those manga recs sound good! I might check them out too.

Aw no, I hope your next read is better Gord!

I'm still reading The Pillars of the Earth, so I'll try to finish this one and the next book this year. My mom got me the Grishaverse books, so I'll be reading those too.

My uncle left me some books (Earth's Children series) after he died in 2020, and I want to try reading those. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to read them since I'm still struggling with him being gone, but he loved them so yeah.

There are a lot of other books I want to read, but I guess those are the books I hope to read soon.

Some of these mange recs are on my TBR. Thank you Gord, as usual, a great manga selection!

I was very busy those days with some work-related things, also looking for new opportunities.

So I've started with something light and very random this year, one of the books I'm currently enjoying is Djinn City - a nice incorporation of the some arabic mythology into modern life. I'm into 50% of the book and things are happening! Eager to learn how it's going to end.

After basically taking the last year off from watching anime I'm jumping back in with the current season and I already have an interesting one I want to check out when I get home. It's a show called In the Land of Leadale and it seems like one of those chill Isekai shows like Killing Slimes for 300 Years. A nice chill show sounds right up my alley right now.

A separate nerdy note The Late Shift on Twitch starts their Eco run tonight which should be interesting to watch.

Gord I go through phases of binge watching ALL the anime and then not watching any at all. I am currently in the None At All phase. Lol. Glad to hear you're enjoying your shows though!

Mackenzie :) wrote: "good to know!! anyone got any new book series planned? I'm going to finish up the 100: Rebellion and then start up something new!

I miss talking about books and challenges with this group, life ha..."

I'm hoping to catch up on a lot of series this year! Some of the bigger fantasy series in particular.

Gwen best of luck reading something your Uncle loved. I think its a beautiful way of still feeling close to someone who is gone.

Elena that sounds like an interesting book. Something quite different!

How's everyone doing? I had a very busy week recently, this week is busy too but I hope the next one is going to be easier so that I can fit more reading into the schedule.

Work has been busy lately. We had an inventory last week which messed with things. This week we are now trying to make up for that lost time from the inventory and deal with new stuff coming in. Outside of that I've been just doing my usual which is reading. Last week was a good week and this week is shaping up to be just as good.

Busy seems to be the trend for us all >.<

Classes started last week so officially juggling two jobs, and a FT class schedule. I miss reading for fun and sleep already haha.

Work for me has actually been fairly quiet of late! We've hit a bit of a post-Christmas lull as everyone rushed to get their boosters before New Year, so it's been quieter than normal, though we did have a very busy afternoon on Friday. We're starting to get the younger kids through soon, the 5-11s and more 16 & 17 year olds will become eligible for their boosters in the next few months, so hopefully things will pick up again soon.

Busy sounds about right here too. Just flipped back to nights yesterday and working a ton for the next 3.5ish weeks.
Elena hope yours dies down a bit soon.
Gord, doing inventory always sucks. But new stuff coming in is a good sign.
Heather I still think you are crazy! But you've got this just remember sleep is needed
Jo makes sense its a bit less crazy for you right now but should pick up again soon. Enjoy the break while you have it!

Brittany wrote: "Busy sounds about right here too. Just flipped back to nights yesterday and working a ton for the next 3.5ish weeks.
Elena hope yours dies down a bit soon.
Gord, doing inventory always sucks. But n..."

I am aiming to!

Brittany, definitely feel crazy myself lol. Hoping over the next couple of weeks I find some semblance of routine.

For sure! Getting that routine settled will be one of the hardest parts. Best of luck!!

So I'm exhausted. I got to work like normal had gone out to do a few EKGs come back to my office and was going to buy a tea only my wallet was missing. I am in a locked office so I have no clue how it happened. Maybe I dropped it somewhere on the way in who knows for sure. After a lot of running around and sprinting back to my car with no luck I was paged overhead an hour or so later. Somehow my wallet ended up in childrens emergency. Only thing missing was a $20 bill so I will take it. Thankful to have it back with my cards and keys. But damn did that ever take a lot out of me. I have 5.5 hours left of my shift and all I want to do now is sleep.

Hope everyone else's days have been better!

Oh and that was followed with getting hit by a patient and having to fill out a bunch of paper work. I'm fine more startled and annoyed than injured. But I am so over today.

Sorry to hear that your work has been so stressful Brittany!

Sorry to hear that it was so stressful for you recently. Hope everything gets better soon!

I quit drinking caffeine a week ago or so and my anxiety level was so high recently. I don't know what to do to reduce it somehow but guess waiting is the best strategy in my case.

Oh no Brittany, that's terrible. It is unfortunately one of the things we have to deal with in healthcare, which is totally unfair. I hope the rest of your week is better!

Elena I'm sorry to hear that! I've been dealing with anxiety for a while but it's gotten much worse since this Fall. One thing I bought because it was starting to affect my sleep is a weighted blanket and that's been very helpful! It takes a little bit to get used to but it is just so comforting! And I use it during the day too.

Caffeine withdrawal is a real thing so it could be anxiety from that. Hope it gets better soon though Elena!
Lili I love my weighted blanket.

Also thanks ladies it was a really bad night.

Never heard about the weighted blanket, thanks for the advice ladies. One more thing that is always helpful is our group and reading :)

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