Novala Takemoto - Kamikaze Girls

Author : Takemoto Nobara (Novala Takemoto)

Original name : Shimotsuma Monogatari

Original published : 2002

English version published : 2008

Pages : 211

+ Afterword and Glossary

So! I read this in less than 3 days!! I'm so proud of myself! But yes, I really did love this book, and I can't wait to(hopefully, if they have been translated to English) read Nobara-san's (Written Nobara in Japanese, Novala in English) other books~~ He seems to love the Lolita style and life, which is, if I understood correctly, present in all of his books.

But yes, Kamikaze Girls is about two very different type of girls, one a Lolita, one a Yanki. But they will become friends, and the rest you'll have to read from the book~~

I really loved this book, not only because it is Japanese, but because it's a really good book. Seriously, I rarely read anything like this, where the story is about friends and real life things, I'm more of a fantasy type of girl, but this was really lovely and touching. True, the main character, Momoko, is quite cold hearted at times, but I found myself loving her character despite of her cold heartedness and values. And I found myself wanting to start embroidery again after reading it, I went through the whole house until I found my unfinished work!

But yes, I suppose anyone could enjoy of this, even if it wasn't their genre, after all there is action in it too, so it's not just about two girls talking all the time and doing nothing else.
And I found myself loving the afterword of Nobara-san, which was especially made for the English version. It made me want to even more read his other books!

There is a sequel to this book, but I don't know if it's translated to English or what it's name is. You can find more info about Nobara-san and his books from this website(in Japanese) : www.novala.net

I will definitely read this book again, the characters are lovable and the story is touchin giving vew to two very different worlds. And if you're interested in Lolita style, the brand that's mentioned in the book, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, is an actual Lolita style brand, I looked them up and there were super cute clothes and shoes and accessories there! I definitely recommend you go take a look!

Anyway, thank you for reading, please tell me if I can improve myself somehow!!

HUOM. Suomeksikin saa kommentoida!!!!

Katori~~

Garth Nix - Lirael

I just finished this and just had to write the review now!! Omg, it was so good @___@

But yes, Lirael is sequel to Sabriel(which I will read once I get it in my hands!!) and the sequel to Lirael is Abhorsen(which I'm anxious to get too!!). But Lirael is about The Daughter Of The Clayr, Clayr who see in the future, but she is different from other Clayr. When Clayr usually have blond hair, brown skin and light eyes, Lirael has pale skin, dark eyes and even darker hair. Also, she hasn't been gifted the Sight, which allows the Clayr to see in the future. All the Clayr her age already have the Sight, and she alone has to wear the blue tunic of the kids standing taller than anyone else in her group of youngsters. On her 14th birthday, when she still hasn't gotten the Sight, she decides to kill herself but ends up finding out things about the Kingdom that she shouldn't have heard. She also finds out that some of the most powerful Clayr haven't gotten the Sight before their 16th birthday, which giver her hope, and the other Clayr decide to give her a job at the Library to keep her mind busy. She takes her job seriously and finds out things she shouldn't have known or met. Together with a magical dog as a friend that she created she will continue to reveal the mysteries of the Library, and eventually she is sent outside of the Clayr Glacier to fulfil a vision of the other Clayr.(Yes, I said I suck at describing books, but I thought I should give it a try!)

I found this book compelling from the very first page! It's amazing how it could entwine me in it's story so completely so fast. (Okay, I have to admit, I have read this before in Finnish, but it was years ago, and the English version was definitely a different experience on another level) There were the issues of being young and different, humour, action, secrets, magic, all wrapped in an enthralling packet! The pages turned themselves, and the whole day until 2a.m. in the night yesterday I spend reading the last 300 or so pages of the book, without being able to really put it down. Spoiler alert???? Maybe....! Even when the Prince of the Kingdom appears and his story begings to unfurl I still loved every moment of it. I think the only really boring thing was the prologue about the necromancer and the hill, for then there was no information about anything, the magic or the necromancers or the hill.

Spoiler alert!! The book ends suddenly, too suddenly, before the big fight, which apparently only comes in the sequel. This is really annoying since I remembered that I hadn't finished this book the last time I was reading it, and of course thought that the big ending scene I was waiting for would be there, though when I got closer to the end I did feel unsure if the pages left could contain so much of the story. I was kinda disappointed since it ended in the middle of things, even if it gives you more reason to buy the sequel, but I would have bought and read the sequel anyway, so I find it needless to put it in another book.

But ultimately this was a really good read, one of the best fantasy books I have read in my whole life, and I can't wait till I get to read Abhorsen, Sabriel and this again! The fantasy world Nix creates is amazing, full of detail and magic, the dead and the very need to stay alive. I would recommend this book strongly to anyone who likes or loves fantasy genre. Pages in this edition of the book are 705, and as in the headline, the writer is Garth Nix, who I'm starting to appreciate and respect a lot! Got to check out his other books too *----*

Anyway, tell me how you liked this review, and what I could do to improve it and others!! The next book will probably be Kamikaze Girls, which is only a little over 200 pages, so I should be able to review it sooner!! I'll seriously try ö___ö

But thank you for reading, till next time~~!

Katori~~

Improvement....?

YES! I've been reading many (Finnish) book blogs and I have realised I know nothing about reviewing books XD But hopefully these findings will help me write better about the books that I read!! I may sometimes write in Finnish, especially if the books I read are in Finnish, but still mostly going to write in English. And I'm sorry I am so slow at reading and making reviews, I somehow manage to spend most of my days listening to music and watching tv, mostly because I'm too depressed to read, or so I think. And also I'm a really slow reader since I spent like a year or two barely reading at all, so my reading pace has become worse :---( I'm trying to improve it, too, though! Also I'm reading one of the best books I've ever read in my life which gives me more cravings for reading *u* Lirael has been one of my favourite books since elementary school~~ I'm in halfway!! I'm so proud of myself XD The last book I read, The Gargoyle, took like a month to read @____@
But yes, what was I saying.... I don't read that much also because I'm writing too, and yesterday I spend like two hours trying to figure out what to write XD In the end I wrote a bit just before going to bed around 2a.m. but couldn't read after that because dad told me to put the light out and start sleeping @____@ But now I'm going to read, and hopefully finish this in a few days, a week at most! I really want to read this, because I think I didn't finish the Finnish version of this, and I can only remember one scene from way ahead which I really want to read again, and it's just so good that I can't help but think about reading it all the time! Stupid tv taking up my time.... T____T But yes, now to reading~~ Sorry for the long text with nothing interesting in it^^""

Katori~~

The Gargoyle

A few pictures I took of mine ♥ It's a bit weary XD But I love how books look after you have read them *u* It makes them look like they're loved, like someone wants to read them and they're not just forgotten somewhere :   ) That's part of the reason why I like paperbacks over hard covers :   ) Also paperbacks cost less, they're lighter and easier to carry with you everywhere and it's so much more fun reading them for some reason :    O I love hardcovers too, don't get me wrong, but the most I love paperbacks :   )

But yeah, to the review!
Firstly I have to say this book was really well written, I noticed from the first few dozens of pages. I started reading it a long time ago, and then stopped because I had too many things on my plate and I couldn't concentrate on it, but even after months of not touching the book, and I had read only like 20 or 30 pages, but when I finished another book, The Hunger Games Mockingjay(review to come, soon I hope!!), I didn't really remember what had happened in the beginning but I knew I wanted to read it next.

It certainly is well written, there were parts that were so weird and not to my taste and so confusing that less well written I wouldn't have bothered to read it, it would have been too much work for a not that well written novel. But it kept me reading it every day, even if I only got to read a page or two, and it felt good to finally finish it, I knew I hadn't wasted my time by reading it.

It is a story about a man who has a career in pornography, so it isn't for the most sensitive or young people, it's also quite rough at times, but the pornography and sex stuff doesn't have that much part in the whole book. It is pretty tough reading, since the main character drives off a cliff with his car so that the car sets on fire and he burns really badly, and throughout the book it's about his survival and what the burns make him go through. I was pretty upset at times when reading it and had to stop for some time every now and then, too.

Though mostly the book is a love story, a really weird one, but I really liked it. It's well thought and thoroughly explained as the story goes on, in a very nice way. And between the real story there're little stories of history, and I don't usually like history, but these little stories were great, I really loved them.

I'm not going to write here what it's about, 'cause I'm lazy and I suck telling what a book(or a movie or a song for that matter) is about, but there're lots of places you can find out more about this book! And then you can of course read the back cover ;   ) That's what got me to buy this book!~~

Hope you liked this(I'm just an amateur ~____~) Tell me what you think, and how I could make it better!!

Katori~~