October Reading: Monster Girls, Space Opera and Cats

A super belated post! ^^;; My October books are introduced to you by Pink Raccoon!

Kanae Hazuki “Say I Love You” vol. 4 [Japan] 

Aino Sutinen “Vaimoksi vuorille: Reppumatkasarjakuvia Etelä-Kaukasiasta” (Mountain wife: Backbacking comics from the South Caucasus) [Finland] 

Kanae Hazuki “Say I Love You” vol. 5 [Japan] 

Jacqueline Koyanagi “Ascension” [USA] 

Noelle Stevenson “Nimona” [USA] 

Ursula Le Guin “Gifts” [USA] 

武内 直子 『美少女戦士セーラームーン』 vol. 8 (Naoko Takeuchi “Sailor Moon” vol. 8) [Japan] 

Anne Muhonen “Ystäväni varjo” (The Shadow of My Friend) [Finland] 

Gösta Knutsson “Mitenkähän Pekka Töpöhännän käy?” [Sweden] 

Yukimi Ogawa “The Earth of Ashes” [Japan] 

Patti Kim “Here I Am” [South Korea, USA] 

Say I Love You

I read a bit more of this manga series but I probably won't finish it. It's nice and all but doesn't stand out.

Vaimoksi vuorille: Reppumatkasarjakuvia Etelä-Kaukasiasta 

Another book by Aino Sutinen! Quirky adventures of a traveller in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ascension

Oh god how I missed space! \^u^/

“Alana Quick is the best damned sky surgeon in Heliodor City, but repairing starship engines barely pays the bills. When the desperate crew of a cargo vessel stops by her shipyard looking for her spiritually advanced sister Nova, Alana stows away. Maybe her boldness will land her a long-term gig on the crew. But the Tangled Axon proves to be more than star-watching and plasma coils.”

Loved it!

Nimona

“Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.”

This. Was. Fun!

Gifts

“Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability--with a glance, a gesture, a word--to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness. The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses to bring animals to their death in the hunt. The other, a boy, wears a blindfold lest his eyes and his anger kill.

In this beautifully crafted story, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world's darkness, gifts of light.”

Young adult fantasy from a master. I will continue reading this trilogy!

美少女戦士セーラームーン vol. 8 (Sailor Moon) 

I'm almost done with the series, nooooooo T^T

Ystäväni varjo

Lovely and sad little book about loneliness.

That dog tho! XDD

Mitenkähän Pekka Töpöhännän käy?

Swedish series of book about cats!

Yukimi Ogawa “The Earth of Ashes” [Japan] 

Dark fantasy short story, available here.

Here I Am

“Newly arrived from their faraway homeland, a boy and his family enter into the lights, noise, and traffic of a busy American city in this dazzling wordless picture book. The language is unfamiliar. Food, habits, games, and gestures are puzzling. They boy clings tightly to his special keepsake from home and wonders how he will find his way. How will he once again become the happy, confident kid he used to be? Walk in his shoes as he takes the first tentative steps toward discovering joy in his new world. A poignant and affirming view of the immigrant experience.”

Cute and touching story!

P.S.

Also, in October famous Russian author of historical mysteries Boris Akunin was visiting Finland and I got to see him!