I've recently turned to reading again. Although... it's not like I ever stopped. As a computer user, I'm constantly reading, or doing whatever, but I've recently begun buying and picking up books again.
This summer I've read
the first book of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. It was rather enjoyable, and seeing as I had watched the movie previously it was fun to see the changes, and how much deeper the story really goes in the book. If you don't know, it's the story of 4 friends who are separated for the first time since birth, for an entire summer.
I also bought
Coraline, which is actually pretty geared towards the much younger age group of 8 and up. It surprised me, considering I hadn't seen the new movie, but I had heard much about it. The story is actually fairly dark, and although it's definitely written for the young age bracket it's placed in, I'm not so sure it would go over well with an 8 year old. If you loved the movie, read the book. You'll be surprised what they changed.
After several mentions of the manga on
deviantArt by some of my favorite Artists, I bought
Clover, by CLAMP. The story is about 20 years old, but was recently released again in a collection of the 4 books in one large graphic novel. It follows a young man named Kazuhiko, who is a retired black ops agent called back on duty to bring a young girl named Sue to her desired destination. While over 500 pages, it's a short story with a lot of love, and heart warming, destined meetings-- even in a world seemingly full of greed, and power.
If you don't read it for the story, look at it for the art.
My last series has yet to finish, but I feel it deserves mention after how much I've obsessed over it in the last few weeks. I am of course talking about the manga
Shugo Chara. Currently I am on episode 65 of the anime, and book 3 of the manga. As far as I can tell, the two are relatively the same. The only serious changes being a minor season switch from summer in the manga, to winter in the anime. The only thing it detracts from in the anime, is a subtle hint to a rather large twist in the first season. Anyways, the series is the story of a girl named Amu, who wakes up to discover three eggs in her bed who happen to hatch into three small characters, each claiming to be her would-be-self. Amu befriends, and fights along side the characters, and her friends as they defend and mend the heart eggs of other children.
So this is Shiloh. A Canadian girl who entered a local radio station contest right here in Edmonton when she was only 13 years old, and won it. Three years later she released Picture Imperfect, her newest album. To celebrate (I'm a huge fan) I done a sketch of her CD Cover, and brought it with me to her concert. She autographed the picture, and asked for a print =) Coolest day of my life. Having a recording artist ask for a copy of my art. I don't care how new, young, old, or famous they are. It's a great feeling.
