Resolutions are made to be broken
March 8, 2010 at 4:49 pm 13 comments
As I revealed in my last post, I abandoned my New Year’s resolution some time around mid-February. I wasn’t supposed to buy any new manga or graphic novels until I had finished everything on my “to read” shelf (though for some reason I kept forgetting to include my unread Naruto) but I eventually decided that it just wasn’t working out. My resolution had one fatal flaw: I hate being forced to do anything, and apparently that even applies when I do it to myself. In 49 days I had only managed to read 9 volumes from my shelf, 1 1/2 borrowed volumes during lunches at the bookstore on Saturdays and 2 from the public library. That’s 12 1/2 manga in a month and a half, which is a record low for me.
I did start watching Criminal Minds in January (watching 4 1/2 seasons eats up some time, I admit), but for the most part I was just rereading books I’d already reread. One sick day was filled with Jennifer Crusie books. I went through my Sharon Shinn novels after reading her new short story collection Quatrain. (Which is very good and I don’t think you need to have read the novels each story is from to appreciate it.) Lois McMaster Bujold got a lot of love during a mini vacation. But no manga, and at one point I even started giving my wall o’ shelves small glares, wondering why I was taking up so much room in my home for the darn things.
So eventually I grabbed my Christmas gift certificates for the bookstore and slunk over after I was done work at the library for some inspiration. I was going to get a couple of new volumes – just a couple – to get me over my reading block and refuel my manga love. I picked up High School Debut 13 (since it was the last volume), Kimi Ni Todoke 3 (because it is awesome) Zombie Loan 5 and 07-Ghost 2 (these two almost didn’t count because they were continuing the resolution manga I did manage to get through).
“But wait!” I thought. “There’s a new Baby and Me out. I can’t not get Baby and Me!” So I did some more semi-guilty slinking (with a side of glee because now I had new things to read) over to the Hairy T to pick it up. And what did I see when I got there? A new Venus in Love! I love that series and I thought the next volume wasn’t coming out until the summer! And a new book by Taisho Zaou? She’s on my “always read list!” The staff person working made a hard sell by mentioning that 07-Ghost #3 was there (we were talking about the lack of new Go Comi volumes). I think I ended up lugging home a dozen new volumes of manga that day.
I was honest with my friends about breaking my resolution and have gotten some “you failed!” raised eyebrows for it. I have, however, come to the realization that I managed to keep the spirit of my resolution even if I flunked the specifics. Here is the new tally:
January 1 – February 19 – 12 1/2 manga read
February 20 – February 24 – 5 graphic novels, 25 manga read (mostly from my backlog)
Considering that what I have left to read is batches of volumes from Tower of the Future, Nana, Tsubasa, Eyeshield 21 and Fullmetal Alchemist I’m not really worried about stopping my reading spree (though I seem to have been concentrating on manga from the library lately). I *have* lost track of how much I’ve read since then, and thankfully my love of manga has been renewed.
Next year I’m going back to my resolution to not make resolutions.
Entry filed under: manga.
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it can\'t all be about manga... 
1.
badzphoto | March 8, 2010 at 7:36 pm
“Venus in Love”
I didn’t expect it until June 2010, either and #9 is released in June – yay!
“Kimi ni Todoke” is such a great series.I finally caved!
Don’t forget Skip Beat! #21.
2.
pajcat | March 8, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Yes! I bought Skip Beat! I’ve kind of gone a bit crazy since then. I also got the next Twelve Kingdoms novel. That one seems like something people have to get when they see it. I always hear complaints about how hard it is to find.
3.
badzphoto | March 8, 2010 at 8:47 pm
“the next Twelve Kingdoms novel”
I’m waiting for my copy. Impatiently, if I may add. Have you read it yet?
4.
pajcat | March 8, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Ha, not yet. It’s sitting underneath a fairly impressive stack of manga. That was impressive before I got 10 more volumes of One Piece today. (Though half are from the library.) :)
I’m still waiting for the 12 Kingdoms book that will finish off the anime, though.
5.
badzphoto | March 8, 2010 at 10:56 pm
“I got 10 more volumes of One Piece today. (Though half are from the library.)”
Wow! I’ll check out One Piece one of these days. I found out that I can borrow from the library.
You don’t have #3? I can’t remember. I do remember that the order of the anime is different from the books. It’s time for a rewatch and reread :)
6.
pajcat | March 8, 2010 at 11:01 pm
I have all of the books, but that one was covered in the anime. After that was the King/2 other girls and then there was a story about a kid in our world being protected by monsters. That was the one that ended halfway through the story, if I remember correctly. Hopefully it’s the next book!
Manga from the library is convenient, as long as I ignore how they catalogue it. I get annoyed. :) But I have 21 things signed out right now and 19 of them are manga. Thank goodness I live in such a big city! And One Piece is very entertaining. I’ve read up to vol 16 or 17, but I’m doing a reread combined with starting to collect it. But they’re up to v38 now so the amount of $$ it would take to buy it all is kind of scary. :)
Does your library have a lot of manga?
7.
badzphoto | March 8, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Somehow, I seem to remember the anime and the 3 first books cover the same stories. I must have remember it wrong, it’s been a year!
“Does your library have a lot of manga?”
Yes, it does have some – Naruto, Inuyasha … In fact, I borrowed After School Nightmare there before getting my own copies. I also found out that I could borrowed inter-library, too. So now, I’m checking out Basara, then other shojo (red river, boys over flowers), and Firefighter, Daigo … I’m so excited :)
“as long as I ignore how they catalogue it.”
How does your library catalog it? Mine puts them under YA or teen area … I don’t actually pay much attention!
8.
pajcat | March 9, 2010 at 10:00 am
I always feel vaguely guilty about borrowing so much manga from the library because I know a couple of years ago I would have just bought it all. :) Right now I have Rosario Vampire coming in, and 20th Century Boys on hold… and Real, and A Distant Neighborhood, and Parasyte… basically all the expensive ones. :) The trick is to manage the holds so they don’t all come in at the same time.
I tell people here about the library manga all the time and usually get mumbles back about overdue fines and having to remember to bring them back. Which I think is funny because even having $2 in fines on one volume is cheaper than buying it!
And yeah, the put a lot of it in the teen section, even the superhero stuff which is definitely aimed at the 18+ crowd. I once emailed the library to say that Nana wasn’t a teen series and the answer I got back was, “well, it WAS a teen series and then later it changed to an adult series.” arg. That’s like saying all pg-13 movies are meant for teens. I tried to not think about it after that. :)
9.
badzphoto | March 9, 2010 at 12:21 pm
“A Distant Neighborhood”
Both volumes? That series is good. The Walking Man is also good. The Ice Wanderer is interesting. I like the art a lot. I haven’t read the summit of God yet, but heard good things about it.
“The trick is to manage the holds so they don’t all come in at the same time. ”
Heh, my library only allows me to hold 12 volumes at a time. For manga that’s not a problem, but for chapter books, I had to renew a couple of time. Sounds like the number of hold at your library is higher.
10.
pajcat | March 9, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Hmm. I’m not sure if there’s a limit to how many books our library lets us borrow (I’ve never been denied, anyway) but we’re only allowed to have 50 books on hold at a time. I’m currently maxed out. :) I’d go twitchy if I only got 12! Especially since I’ve had to wait for over a year before some of my holds came in!
I haven’t heard of the Walking Man or the Ice Wanderer. I will keep an eye out. I’ve also heard good things about Summit of God and it’s on my list of things to read… eventually. :) I think the only manga I’ve read about mountains is the one about the mountaineer who gets called off the mountain to help find a friend’s missing daughter. Can not for the life of me remember the name of it, though.
11.
badzphoto | March 9, 2010 at 1:54 pm
“I think the only manga I’ve read about mountains is the one about the mountaineer who gets called off the mountain to help find a friend’s missing daughter.”
Is it “The Quest for the Missing Girl”? I haven’t read it yet. Did you like it?
“I’d go twitchy if I only got 12!”
That’s the max hold. Max borrowed is 50. If the max hold is 50, I don’t know what I’d do :P
“Especially since I’ve had to wait for over a year before some of my holds came in! ”
That’s a long wait – is it a request for new book?
12.
pajcat | March 10, 2010 at 10:49 am
So as of last night I have 30 graphic novels from the library, most of which are manga. And I have 9 more on the way. I’m sensing overdue fines in my future. :) The longest waits are usually for dvds – they don’t have as many of them so if there’s a couple hundred holds ahead of you you’re looking at a year wait.
It might have been Quest for the Missing Girl. Hmm. I don’t think that I didn’t like it, but I didn’t love it. But I often don’t love things that get really good critical reviews. I generally don’t emotionally connected to them. Not enough drama, maybe? :)
I’m on volume 14 of One Piece now. THAT’S a fun read!
13.
XenMaster | April 8, 2010 at 6:18 pm
My offer of the 07-Ghost anime series is still on the table. I honestly don’t think I’ll be watching it.