Finished reading The Thursday Murder Club, which someone (? forgive me; I've forgotten who) in my circle was reading some months ago.

I enjoy senior citizen shenanigans, but the humor didn't land for me. Sowing red herrings seemed to take precedent over proper plotting. A little disappointing.

Read Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind on a whim. The fantasy of Rhett Butler was sold well, but the glut of other fantasies made this book difficult to stomach. By the end of its extensive runtime, I, too, did not give a damn.

I love the inadvertent poetry in the composition of this post.

I have taken
the umbrella
that was in
the umbrella rack

it looked
quite a lot
like mine

I'm sorry guy
I'm not a thief
just so unobservant
and so tired

Finished reading Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. I read a lot of King in middle school and high school (being 12 and going through The Shining under the covers by flashlight is the ideal reading experience) and like horror as an anxiety reliever. Fun but juvenile. An undercooked form of Under the Dome.

This is absolutely precious! I can't wait to see more.

Finished reading Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook's Japan at War: An Oral History per recommendation of @jinglespigtails.bsky.social. Beautifully edited, powerful collection of diverse views. Oral histories remain one of the most effective historical teaching tools available.

New License: There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless... Spin-off Collection (Light Novel). Story and art by Teren Mikami and Musshu. It’s not all about Renako—for the most part, at least! See what's happening with all the beautiful girls surrounding her in this spin-off collection for the hit light novel and manga series that inspired the anime! While Amaori Renako panics over maintaining her image as a cool, popular girl who absolutely did not only recently stop shutting herself up in her room, the world keeps on turning. Sena Ajisai runs for the student council, Hitoe Hanatori joins the girls at the pool, and Satsuki writes a fan letter to her favorite author. It’s No Freaking Way, but this time, Renako’s sharing the spotlight! © 2025 by Teren Mikami, Musshu / SHUEISHA Inc. Available from Seven Seas Entertainment June 2027 (Print/Digital).

Brand new license announcement! THERE'S NO FREAKING WAY I'LL BE YOUR LOVER! UNLESS... SPIN-OFF COLLECTION (LIGHT NOVEL) by Teren Mikami and Musshu. A spin-off collection about the girls from the hit #yuri / Girls' Love series that inspired the anime!

sevenseasentertainment.com/2026/02/11/s...

New License: There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless... Short Stories (Light Novel). Story and art by Teren Mikami and Eku Takeshima. There’s no freaking way there’s more to this yuri/Girls’ Love rom-com series! Unless… A new collection of short stories featuring Renako and all your favorite characters from the hit light novel and manga series that inspired the anime! After a traumatic middle school life where she spent most of her time in her room playing video games, Amaori Renako set out to become the ideal version of herself in high school. Now, she’s a member of a group of girls called the Quintet, dating the most beautiful girl in school, and living the high school dream! Now her life is so exciting that you could even fill a book with all the stuff she and her friends got up to in between the drama and romance! © 2025 by Teren Mikami, Eku Takeshima / SHUEISHA Inc. Available from Seven Seas Entertainment December 2026 (Print/Digital).

Brand new license announcement! THERE'S NO FREAKING WAY I'LL BE YOUR LOVER! UNLESS... SHORT STORIES (LIGHT NOVEL) by Teren Mikami and Eku Takeshima. A new collection of stories featuring Renako and all your favorites from the hit #yuri /Girls' Love series!

sevenseasentertainment.com/2026/02/11/s...

Finished playing 428: Shibuya Scramble with a buddy. What a fantastic experience. It's clear why it's a classic. Great story, great goofs (esp. w/ the photography), classy TL.

The mystery was fun and easy to follow, even when played across multiple sessions scattered across a year.

Generally enjoyable with periodic moments of outright brilliance. The meanness of the humor was difficult to stomach in large doses. For such a political book, the power transfers were, oddly, as aimless and ungrounded as the cast of drifters. Not all conclusions presented substantiated by text.

Finished reading Gregory Maguire's Wicked Years, something I've been wanting to do since I was about 11 and hadn't gotten around to until the Wicked films reminded me.

In hindsight, I'm glad I waited until I was older. (As a preteen, I accidentally read Holder and Viguie's YA Wicked instead haha.)

Finished Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. It resonated with my lived experiences. I found Kevin and Eva simultaneously understandable and deplorable with their needs for personal narratives arriving at the expense of others. Even the title is a way of saying "We need to talk about me."

Finished reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (trans. Louise and Aylmer Maude, w/ ed. George Gibian) and was utterly charmed with its character work and structure. It's hard not to love the humanity of these serious and silly characters, especially Levin.

Enjoyed Maude TL for a casual read vs. P&V TL.

THE CASE FILES OF JEWELER RICHARD (LIGHT NOVEL) Vol. 11

This acclaimed mystery tale about a young man teaming up with a handsome jewelry appraiser inspired a popular anime—manga also from Seven Seas!

Out today in print/digital! See RETAILERS section:
sevenseasentertainment.com/books/the-ca...

I love the funky, percussive beat! What a treat to listen to.

A day late, but happy, happy birthday! :D

Pixel RPG screenshot. A man says to two children, "Time softens the sharp edges of grief. And those you have lost live on in your heart, so long as you do not forget them."

On a personal note, I began playing this game on recommendation of a loved one but had to put it down when they passed earlier this year. Upon returning to it months later, I was touched by the underlying themes of grief, love, and loss. These words were a source of comfort in this challenging year.

Finished playing Octopath Traveler! (Or rather, reached the point where I felt I'd found all my fun in it.) Loved:
- how lived in the world felt
- rich NPC backstories
- bosses: fun battles and beautiful sprites

Wish the story had been a bit more fleshed out and included more team interactions.

THERE’S NO FREAKING WAY I’LL BE YOUR LOVER! UNLESS… (LIGHT NOVEL) Vol. 7

A high school #yuri/Girls’ Love comedy about fake, real, and competitive dating—inspired the anime! Manga also from Seven Seas.

Out today in print/digital! See RETAILERS section:
sevenseasentertainment.com/books/theres...

Black-and-white photo of two long-haired kittens. One is white and ginger tabby, the other is a brown tuxedo tabby. They are sitting up on a brocade tablecloth looking adorably toward the camera. Text at the bottom reads “We is brothers”.

Little boys. 💕 Postcard from my collection, unsent, 1902.

Many happy returns! May the next decade bring you many more adventures and good memories.

LONER LIFE IN ANOTHER WORLD (LIGHT NOVEL) Vol. 13

A sarcastic isekai comedy about surviving in a fantasy world with only the weirdest magic powers—inspired the hit manga and an anime!

Out today in print/digital! See RETAILERS section:
sevenseasentertainment.com/books/loner-...

I noted a passage in The Grey King where an agent of good dismisses concerns that ordinary people will suffer in the struggle between good and evil. If the Light is truly powerful and all good, why can't it avoid doing harm?

Fun mythological tie-ins, though. Love its approach to the parent problem.

Still revisiting kid lit. Finished Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising. Reading it in tandem with Pyrdain and Earthsea was, in hindsight, a discredit to the series; the allowances made for harmful behavior by the almighty Good were frustrating. It was not moral character that was valued but obedience.

My cat Annie laying on a bed, looking at the camera.

Oh hell yeah

Apollo Justice remains my best boy of everything ever. Never enough love for this toxic positivity short king with ten thousand backstories.

Finished Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. It took a bit to grow on me, but grow it did.

While I'll always miss the relative simplicity of the first three games, SoJ captured the magic again for me. Loved both the new and the familiar faces. Adored the final case's themes.

I picked up Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire on a whim, as the subject matter interested me. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me after all. The themes weren't explored in enough depth, and the politics and pacing could have benefited from extra time in the oven. Fun mystery, though!

Picked up Susanna Clarke's Piranesi on a whim and loved it. Part Borges, part Milton, all refreshing.

Also provided an excuse to putter around in the works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (whom I knew nothing about) and become enchanted with the Eng phrase "imaginary prisons." Powerful set of words.

Never too late to enjoy a good piece of media!