treats

Thanks to Akiko for treating us on Dec 3. I will take care of Dec 10. Do we want to consider meeting somewhere out in the neighborhood?

Next Reading: Ooku: The Inner Chambers

We've selected Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku: The Inner Chambers for our next reading. See Izumi about acquiring the text if you haven't already.

Update: The texts are expected on Saturday. Izumi will bring them to KIS for pickup on Monday. Contact her if this doesn't work for you. I'll write again about the reading expectation for Thursday.

Update: Just got the book today, thanks to Izu. I did a quick check and there's a break around page 118 or so--I was trying to read page numbers without looking at the drawings. So let's read to that break for this Thursday (Dec 3), then to the end of the book for next Thursday (Dec 10).

Next Reading: Manga

So, I've done a bit of research. The one glaring choice is sort of the origin of contemporary manga, Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka. It looks an awful lot like a children's Saturday morning cartoon, but reviews suggest that it is for both adults and children. The recent movie version of the Astro Boy received modest reviews--but there is a movie.

Beyond that I've found seven manga award committees. Tough to know which are worth looking into, though two are named for Astro Boy's author, Tezuka. This year's grand prize winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize is Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku: The Inner Chambers, which has an interesting plot line about a male-decimating disease that transforms Japan into a matriarchal society. See here for more details.

Feel free to comment before tomorrow's meeting when we make the final decision.

Other suggestions are most certainly welcome.

James

Synopsizer

Hey Bookies,

We talked last time about having one person write a synopsis of our meetings. I was supposed to do something about that, so here I am doing something about that. How about we consider this a call for synopsizers--if you wish to be write synopses, comment below or bring it up at the meeting. If we get one or two people in charge, the rest could easily work around that.

See you Thursday.

James

I Am a Cat

Heyall,

Our new book is I Am a Cat. See Izu if you haven't picked it up yet. We've read the first two chapters for today (Thurs Nov 5) and will read the rest of the book in either one or two more weeks. We'll decide tonight, and I'll update.

Taking suggestions for new readings. My first: manga.

James

UPDATE:We're reading Part III for Nov 12, Part IV for Nov 19.