Topic: Summer reads

Reading is a good habit.

Especially during summer, I always tend to read at least a book and many people still enjoy reading on vacation, while travelling, at the beach, etc.

This topic is focused on what are we currently reading, what's your companion on holiday?

I chose Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance - The Novel and just started it. I love the series and I'm collecting novels and mangas, but I prefer the first ones since they cover all the games. I also find them a great way to refresh your memories about the "side" titles that you won't like to play again (I already finished it both originally on 3DS and with 2.8 collection).

@andreverts It's quite late To be responding to this thread, but I have a few suggestions for you! If you like gaming novels, there are a few CYOA Super Mario books from the 90's that are a fun distraction, and if you don't mind manga, the Toon Link* focused manga are a refreshing read (*phantom hourglass, spirit tracks, windwaker). Personally I chose the book "The Store"by James Patterson as my holiday companion. It is a pleasure to read through, and gets you thinking about the real world afterwards. It may not be a holiday, but any days off count as holiday time to me.

@MetaCrystal there's spirit tracks manga?!!!!!! Has it been translated to english?

I recently got From Ants to Zombies, a retro gaming book about the history of horror video games.

I also am burning through Fist of the North Star. I just finished Vol 7. I’ve got 8-10 staring at me along with a mountain of other comics.

Monica
Hip Hop Family Tree Onmibus
The Scumbag
The Complete Irredeemable, Incorruptible and Insufferable

…and way too much more to list.

I mainly.ready manga to improve my Japanese reading ability. To that end--

Just finished 'In the Heart of Kunoichi Hibiki'. Anti-climatic ending...

Ijiwanaide, Nagatoro-San - started off great but since the main character finished high school, it has dropoed in quality, IMO.

@RetroGamer5491
My mistake, I meant to reference the Phantom Hourglass manga. There is an official Manga for almost every mainline Zelda game (with some notable exceptions like Spirit Tracks and Majora’s Mask) and they are all OFFICIALLY translated. You can buy entire box sets of them or even find some at your library. There are multiple manga for the first four games, and they ooze the energy of the Era.

@MetaCrystal Thanks for the clarification. I've read most of the ones you mentioned. Is there by any chance a translated manga of Wind Waker?

Nesworks V1

I've been interested in getting into those Bitmap Books releases. I'm a bit worried they are too heavy on the "visual" picture aspect and too light on the information? What do you think?

Hip Hop Family Tree Onmibus

Love that collection! What a tragic end for the author though.

@MontyCircus they are a bit visually minded, but they are still great books.

I haven’t read a lot of gaming books but I did enjoy a Road Rash novel that I once got free with Sega Power (I don’t know if I would still enjoy it today).

I've gotten big into reading again as of late, and recently finished up Amy Coney Barret's Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court & Constitution last week.

I really liked the first several chapters detailing the history & work of the (Supreme) Court, which were filled with little anecdotes about the author's own experience working there. The chapters on the Constitution felt little more than a recap of what we learned in High School Civics class (just a necessity to get to explain the last section of the book), with the last set of chapters explaining the different schools of thought when it comes to how courts interpret laws & the Constitution (the Author's biases were, admittedly, more prevalent in these chapters).

Overall it could be a bit dry considering the topics at hand, but it had it's fair share of interesting tid bits and anecdotes, and since it focuses (mostly) on why the court does this or that as a matter of fact rather than focusing the author's own opinions/biases, I would say it's a worthwhile read even if you don't sit on the same political affiliation you'd assume the author herself does.

Just finished up Joe Biden's Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose earlier today.

A personal account of the author reflecting back on (roughly) the time between autumn 2014 - to autumn 2015 as he tried balancing his then duties as Vice President with his family's struggle with his son Beau's struggle with cancer.

As somewhat of a decision maker in US foreign policy in the Obama administration, his insights into topics such as the rise of ISIL/S & the fallout surrounding Russia's annexation of Crimea are often engaging, sometimes very much so (especially since the latter is still relevant background info in the current Russia/Ukraine war), but at heart it's a story of family, and that's where the book was at it's most gripping. No matter whether I agree with the man or not on this or that issue notwithstanding, it's abundantly clear he's a man who absolutely loves his family, adores his children, and the book often brought me to tears as he brought us into the most intimate moments as they were struggling with his son's cancer battle.

Absolutely fantastic read.

I finished up Shigeru Kayama's Godzilla & Godzilla Raids Again (translated by Jeffrey Angles) - As a huge fan of Big G I had no idea that the first two films were based on (or rather conceived alongside) a couple of novellas. The Author actually wrote the original rough draft script of the original Godzilla film (& it's sequel) which Ishiro Honda (& his screenwriter) later refined into what we'd see in the final product. Kayama would release his novella versions of the stories in-between the film releases of the OG & "Raids Again", which have a few differences from their film counterparts (Godzilla is implied to tacitly generate powerful storm force winds in his immediate vicinity in the first story, and in the second it's explicitly mentioned that Anguirus has a "Hot Light Beam" just like Godzilla's, an ability I believe he lacks in the movies).

If I'm being a bit honest I don't think either story was written all that engagingly (maybe a combination of Translation hangups and/or older writing conventions?). For example, a few times the author forgoes painting a picture with his words and breaks the fourth wall to get his point across ("I'm sure some of you readers remember the panic that ensued when the evacuation sirens went off during the war, it was like that.". Not an exact quote, but it was something like that). That said they also had their moments and if nothing else were interesting reads for curiosity's sake.

That, and the last 30 pages or so was an Afterward written by the translator that kind of gave a brief history of the Author, the films' creation, and the experiences the Japanese people were going through at the time that made the films resonate, which was really interesting.

Last week I finished up Greg Gutfield's "The King of Late Night".

the Author, a longtime figure on the extremely conservative cable "news" network Fox News discusses the success of his new late night comedy program on the channel & how it came to be via a series of vignettes of his own life (experiences from past jobs & the like) and what he views as a series of political/social platform "flips" that have recently happened culturally, all with a little bit of his humor sprinkled in.

To be short, I vehemently disagree with him on most political matters (which I won't go much into here, as it's not the place), which is a bit of a shame as there's a moment or two where I think he does have the capability to be funny. I actually largely enjoyed the parts of the book that focused on his upbringing or antics he got into in previous jobs (he was an editor at various mens/lad mags, such as Stuff & Maxim UK, before joining Fox in the mid-late 00's). That fun just largely goes away when he gets political.

I was a bit shocked today to see a copy of The Console Chronicles in my local Canadian bookstore.
If you're not aware, it's by Lost in Cult and the Time Extension (etc.) folk.
I didn't pick it up, but hoping to get it as a holiday gift.
Nice to see it's got good distribution.

A few books I've finished recently:

A Dog's Purpose (W. Bruce Cameron) - A stray mutt ponders the purpose of his existance while being euthanized after a short life, and soon finds himself reborn as a puppy in a different time & place. In a scenario that plays out again & again (each time a new dog in a new place) he discovers his purpose in the world, as he touches the lives of many people. Maybe a bit emotionally manipulative, but if so it did it's job wonderfully as I cried several times throughout the adventure. Really enjoyed this one & will definitely seek out the sequel.

I am America (and so can you!) (Stephen Colbert) - Satire of Bush era conservatism, written from the perspective of the comedian's "conservative" character from his "Colbert Report" days. Absolutely had me in stitches from beginning to end, reminding me both of nothing burger conservative controversies of the day (such as the "War on Christmas" that Bill O'Reilly used to blather on about), as well as issues that seem like could have been pulled from the news today.

Future Boy: Back to the Future & my Journey Through the Space Time Continuum (Michael J Fox & Nelle Fortenberry) - A first hand look at the behind the scenes production of both Back to the Future & the TV series Family Ties from the famous actor, and how they shaped his life. As a huge BttF fan I thought it was a fantastic read & devoured it in a single weekend (it also helps that it's pretty brisk, being under 200 pages long).

I liked America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction more. Maybe Colbert's performance is lost a bit in text form, or maybe the format had lost its novelty for that type of book had worn off for me after the Daily Show one.

I'm looking forward to reading The Daily Show: An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests

Future Boy: Back to the Future & my Journey Through the Space Time Continuum

Yeah I'm looking forward to that one too. His prior books seem to have focused more on his Parkinson's disease. I would watch a documentary about that, but I wouldn't want to read hundreds of pages about it. The movie industry stuff is much more interesting!