Dec 16 2009
Top Books of 2009 by Jia
In 2009, I drifted away from reading the urban fantasies and paranormal romances that have been my bread and butter as a reviewer and ventured more into the young adult and manga genres. As a result, my list of top reads reflects that. None of them are romances but my fellow reviewers have putting forth some great recommendations from this year so I leave that to them. Instead I offer a short but different mix of books and manga that I enjoyed reading in 2009. You can read more of my reviews here.
- North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
- Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (review by Jane)
- Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura
- Claymore by Norihiro Yagi
- Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga
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Dec 16, 2009 @ 13:08:02
My daughter and I are reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon yet again as our bedtime reading. It’s such a lovely book.
Dec 16, 2009 @ 13:33:55
@Meljean I love that book. I thought the parent part of the story was really compelling.
Jia, I hadn’t realized you read it!
Dec 16, 2009 @ 13:40:00
You guys are making me want to read it too, and I don’t have kids. But I love good children’s books.
Dec 16, 2009 @ 17:31:54
Skip Beat! and Claymore – ah, how I love those two series. They’re perfect examples, imo, of long series in which artwork improves over time while the story stays fresh. And now I feel like re-reading them.
Dec 16, 2009 @ 18:01:54
Oooh some manga love, yay!
I discovered the manga of Nari Kusakawa this year and really adore her fantasy romances. I’m keeping up with Two Flowers for the Dragon now. I’ve got High School Debut as my guilty pleasure still, but may I heartily endorse Kimi ni Todoke – the first two volumes are released via Viz – as the shoujo school manga that embodies all that is good about shoujo school manga.
And while there’s a love story, this is actually about a girl finding her own place and becoming self-confident in school. The female friends conversations even pass the Bechdel Test!
The anime is amazing as well – I’m waiting with bated breath for the acquisition in the west – it’s by Production I.G. and captures the manga art perfectly.