Theodore > Recent Status Updates

Finally cracked the thousand page mark. I really need to focus what I read and stop jumping around

Read about half of this last night. Volume 6/Chapter 52 is sort of the turning point for the series in many ways. It’s been violent and gory and bloody but all very small-scale. Rumblings of war, Kaneki is kidnapped, Jason makes his first appearance. You can tell as a reader the stakes are about to get way way higher from here on out. I know Kaneki’s life is about to get way worse

Whew… some of these Silver Age tales are real slogs. There’s a lot of fun to be had, too, but they can be a challenge to sit through without falling asleep sometimes

Read three GLC issues, all by Dave Gibbons and all very good. This era of GL has a ton of cool ideas and characters, very glad to be getting back to reading these stories after a short break

stopping in the middle of chapter because i’m drinking, but still such a good time

I love all of Jojo, but Diamond is Unbreakable may be my favorite part. Josuke is in the running for my favorite protagonist, too. Araki’s art here is very playful but when the action gets going he locks in

The major action piece in the church here shows an insane level of improvement. It can still get kind of messy and hard to read, but the action is a lot better and more fluid. Basically all of the previous volume was building towards this fight and it really pays off because Ishida is able to provide compelling action and nail the character moments for Touka and Nishiki especially. Tsukiyama is funny as always too

The best part of a short story collection is that you can put it down for two months and return to it later

Pretty solid collection of horror stories that have to do with traditional Japanese culture. Manners, myth, spirits, and local tradition all factor in to the horror and tone of these one-shots. Rohan Kishibe is present but these stories could appeal to all readers, not just Jojo fans. Despite his questioning, Heaven’s Door really is the only Stand ability here, which I love. Rohan is grappling with tradition

I read the first story, “At a Confessional,” last night and just finished “Mutsu-Kabe Hill.” It’s an interesting twist on Araki’s work. He’s operating in a much more typical horror sphere than the constraints of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure typically allows him to. The best way I can describe it is like, The Twilight Zone… and Rohan Kishibe is there. Lots of fun and he’s a great horror writer

Just read the first chapter of the Wharton story, “Souls Belated,” before bed. Much better than “The Country of Pointed Firs” and much more what I’m looking to read now

I have never read Wharton before today and I’m thinking I had ought to seek more out. I like her voice, and this story navigates some interesting social topics

Read a tiny bit this morning. I fear I may just need to skip the rest of “The Country of Pointed Firs,” read the Edith Wharton story, and wrap this one up. 18/23 chapters in I truly am just struggling to read it but I think I’ll come back when I feel more pastoral and slow. Just not the vibe right now

I like slow slice of life I really do but “The Country of Pointed Firs” is trying me a little bit. Sweet, real, comfortable, familiar, but very slow and leisurely. I’m enjoying myself but it’s hard to read too much at once

oh yeah baby

Made some headway into “The Country of Pointed Firs,” and I’ve been enjoying it. Very rustic. I particularly enjoyed the episode with the sea captain in the schoolhouse

Just wrapping up “The Yellow Wallpaper” this morning, utter classic. Such an effective psychological horror story, a protagonist who evokes absolute pathos from the reader. Included at the end is a note from Gilman, who writes that in her own lifetime the story saved at least one woman directly and many indirectly with its depiction of mental decline. Pretty inspiring!

The first story included, “Life in the Iron-Mills” by Rebecca Harding Davis, was really something special to read. Very sympathetic for the laboring class and it seems like it was a pioneering story for workers rights and realism. From 1861! Pretty good. “The Yellow Wallpaper” next!

i fucking hate reading this

Read a few more stories this morning. “He” being a standout, very arresting in its realism and the emotional burst at the end really got me. Porter was a gifted writer who creates very realistic (often tragically so) characters