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@Admiral Lee Hung when do you plan on starting the next arc?
Fanclub Owl’s Fiction Evaluation Club.
- Thread starter Owl Ki
- Start date
Aight, just wanted to run through some quick reviews of a few books I've read during and several years prior to the quarantine...none of them are manga/anime related and may not be topics any of y'all are particularly interested in, but if you wanna know more, you know where to find me 
Clap When You Land - the most recent one I read, it's about two girls who learn they share a father after he dies in a plane crash while en route to one of them. Through their grieving, they learn about one another and form an uneasy but quick bond as they try to reconcile the man they thought they knew separately with the existence of their half sister. The story itself is written in a very poetic style, with short lines that are each packed with solid imagery, descriptions of San Juan beaches and New York City fire escapes where most of the action takes place, and the emotional weight of family upheaval in the face of unexpected tragedy. It's apparently based on a true story, which only makes the gut punch that much more effective.
Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist - I read this one about four years ago, and I still bring it up first whenever my friends ask for recommendations. It's another semi-fictional description of actual events; this time, a protest in Seattle sometime in the late 1990s against easing corporate regulations that turned into a heightened focus on police brutality (20 years later, we clearly learned no lessons). The story follows several protesters, all of whom are connected in ways they do and don't know, and tracks how they are treated and react to the same over the four days the protests lasted. There are parts of the book where you forget you're reading about political unrest in the Pacific Northwest, as we explore the background of all the characters and how they came to find themselves involved with the cause on both sides. The writing is impeccable, and the ending was unexpected even as it's somewhat easy to predict. Hell, I may read through it again after posting this, because it was that damn good.
The Art of Fielding - I've been a baseball fan for most of my life, but I was never talented enough to play in college, much less the major leagues. This book focuses on a single season at a small college in Wisconsin, and the interpersonal connections on the team that threaten to ruin their chances at being a championship-caliber unit. You get to see how some athletes are motivated by love of the game, love of the reputation that performing a sport at the upper levels can bring, or love of things that will eventually destroy everything they hold dear. An injury to the newest member of the team is all it takes to unravel all the deceit, despair, and sedition between a group of guys who must work together if they will ever achieve their goals OR move past the traumas they've never really dealt with. This is another one I feel I wanna revisit now.
The Water Dancer - I don't know if y'all are familiar with Ta-Nehisi Coates or his book Between The World and Me, which is a longform open letter to his then-newborn son about the challenges of being black in America...this is his first shot at writing fiction, and it's every bit as rich, honest, funny, and devastating as his nonfiction. It tells the story of a boy born into slavery in 1860s Virginia, and although it starts as a day-in-the-life kind of tale, it soon morphs into an almost science fiction-style journey into the power of recollection and constant pratfalls of forced subservience to others. I don't wanna give the main conceit away, because it's a truly fascinating concept that took me a good chunk of the book to understand; suffice it to say, the tale posits that Harriet Tubman, famously of the Underground Railroad that helped many people escape the South to find freedom in the North, was able to conduct her business through means outside of human understanding. It also focuses on our obligations/what we owe the people who keep us alive and well, finding love in a climate where anyone can be taken from you without warning, and the evils of racial supremacy. It's every bit as relevant today as it would have been 150 years ago.
There are more, but I'm a little too stoned now...I will return in the future
[automerge]1596386279[/automerge]
...I did just realize that all of my picks are not fiction so much as fictitious retellings of actual events...Art of Fielding is maybe the only one that's not strictly imagined, just more symbolic of how things go in any D1 athletic program.
Clap When You Land - the most recent one I read, it's about two girls who learn they share a father after he dies in a plane crash while en route to one of them. Through their grieving, they learn about one another and form an uneasy but quick bond as they try to reconcile the man they thought they knew separately with the existence of their half sister. The story itself is written in a very poetic style, with short lines that are each packed with solid imagery, descriptions of San Juan beaches and New York City fire escapes where most of the action takes place, and the emotional weight of family upheaval in the face of unexpected tragedy. It's apparently based on a true story, which only makes the gut punch that much more effective.
Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist - I read this one about four years ago, and I still bring it up first whenever my friends ask for recommendations. It's another semi-fictional description of actual events; this time, a protest in Seattle sometime in the late 1990s against easing corporate regulations that turned into a heightened focus on police brutality (20 years later, we clearly learned no lessons). The story follows several protesters, all of whom are connected in ways they do and don't know, and tracks how they are treated and react to the same over the four days the protests lasted. There are parts of the book where you forget you're reading about political unrest in the Pacific Northwest, as we explore the background of all the characters and how they came to find themselves involved with the cause on both sides. The writing is impeccable, and the ending was unexpected even as it's somewhat easy to predict. Hell, I may read through it again after posting this, because it was that damn good.
The Art of Fielding - I've been a baseball fan for most of my life, but I was never talented enough to play in college, much less the major leagues. This book focuses on a single season at a small college in Wisconsin, and the interpersonal connections on the team that threaten to ruin their chances at being a championship-caliber unit. You get to see how some athletes are motivated by love of the game, love of the reputation that performing a sport at the upper levels can bring, or love of things that will eventually destroy everything they hold dear. An injury to the newest member of the team is all it takes to unravel all the deceit, despair, and sedition between a group of guys who must work together if they will ever achieve their goals OR move past the traumas they've never really dealt with. This is another one I feel I wanna revisit now.
The Water Dancer - I don't know if y'all are familiar with Ta-Nehisi Coates or his book Between The World and Me, which is a longform open letter to his then-newborn son about the challenges of being black in America...this is his first shot at writing fiction, and it's every bit as rich, honest, funny, and devastating as his nonfiction. It tells the story of a boy born into slavery in 1860s Virginia, and although it starts as a day-in-the-life kind of tale, it soon morphs into an almost science fiction-style journey into the power of recollection and constant pratfalls of forced subservience to others. I don't wanna give the main conceit away, because it's a truly fascinating concept that took me a good chunk of the book to understand; suffice it to say, the tale posits that Harriet Tubman, famously of the Underground Railroad that helped many people escape the South to find freedom in the North, was able to conduct her business through means outside of human understanding. It also focuses on our obligations/what we owe the people who keep us alive and well, finding love in a climate where anyone can be taken from you without warning, and the evils of racial supremacy. It's every bit as relevant today as it would have been 150 years ago.
There are more, but I'm a little too stoned now...I will return in the future
[automerge]1596386279[/automerge]
...I did just realize that all of my picks are not fiction so much as fictitious retellings of actual events...Art of Fielding is maybe the only one that's not strictly imagined, just more symbolic of how things go in any D1 athletic program.
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@Chrono @RayanOO @Dragomir Okay, so I just got to the 200th floor of the Heavens Arena. Here are my thoughts:
Zoldyck Family Arc: So, I don't have much to say here aside from the fact that I think Silva is the second HxH character to truly intrigue me lol. His introduction and role in the arc was pretty much the exact opposite of what I was thinking it would be. After everyone in Killua's family was trying their earnest to keep Killua away from his friends, the last thing I was expecting was that the head of the family himself would be the one to sit Killua down and tell him to go do what he wants and be with his friends. Especially since this guy was hyped to be the one who believes Killua should be isolated and treated as the heir to the Zoldyck family more than anyone else.
But of course, he for sure has something planned that will ultimately try to bring Killua back home...right? His conversation with Killua's mother implied he was pretty positive that Killua would return of his own will one day. Who knows. The point is, Silva was awesome for me lol.
The whole shit with the head butler was just really weird though. At first it seemed like he was going to pull some trickery to prevent Killua going with his friends (in spite of the fact that Silva told Killua to do what he wanted), but then all of the sudden the Buttler 180s and is like "Nah, my threatening to kill any of you at any time was just kidding around" and then lets Killua go. Idk. Was a pretty minor scene but bizzare af lol.
Overall an enjoyable arc just to see Killua's family, even though I feel we still know very little about them.
Heavens Tower Arc, So Far: So, yeah. Nen completely and utterly shits on Haki and everything Oda ever tried to accomplish with Haki. Dear Lord. Not only was Nen properly explained right from the start, down to its source and how exactly to train it, but Nen users are going to be more diverse than Haki users 10 times out of 10. I'd heard prior explanations of Nen before watching the official explanation and it already sounded better from those, but yeah. Nen >>> Haki. Lol
Overall just minor complaints this arc. Killua and Gon are busted af, literally one shotting ***** on floor 190 without much trouble. If you don't register for floor 200 immediately, you get sent back to floor 1 so you can job on literal fodder? Makes no sense but maybe it's just meant to discourage people from not proceeding into floor 200 immediately? But these are more nitpicks than actual complaints. Pretty enjoyable so far. I'm going to watch more now lol.
But of course, he for sure has something planned that will ultimately try to bring Killua back home...right? His conversation with Killua's mother implied he was pretty positive that Killua would return of his own will one day. Who knows. The point is, Silva was awesome for me lol.
The whole shit with the head butler was just really weird though. At first it seemed like he was going to pull some trickery to prevent Killua going with his friends (in spite of the fact that Silva told Killua to do what he wanted), but then all of the sudden the Buttler 180s and is like "Nah, my threatening to kill any of you at any time was just kidding around" and then lets Killua go. Idk. Was a pretty minor scene but bizzare af lol.
Overall an enjoyable arc just to see Killua's family, even though I feel we still know very little about them.
Heavens Tower Arc, So Far: So, yeah. Nen completely and utterly shits on Haki and everything Oda ever tried to accomplish with Haki. Dear Lord. Not only was Nen properly explained right from the start, down to its source and how exactly to train it, but Nen users are going to be more diverse than Haki users 10 times out of 10. I'd heard prior explanations of Nen before watching the official explanation and it already sounded better from those, but yeah. Nen >>> Haki. Lol
Overall just minor complaints this arc. Killua and Gon are busted af, literally one shotting ***** on floor 190 without much trouble. If you don't register for floor 200 immediately, you get sent back to floor 1 so you can job on literal fodder? Makes no sense but maybe it's just meant to discourage people from not proceeding into floor 200 immediately? But these are more nitpicks than actual complaints. Pretty enjoyable so far. I'm going to watch more now lol.
D
What Silva said there is a pretty big deal that comes back later in the story and serves as a development process for Killua. Also, has to deal with Illumi.
With Gotoh's coin game, he was tryna test Gon because he was pissed at the fact that Killua was leaving the mansion with somebody he (Gotoh) had no clue who the fuck was lol. This was my interpretation of it.
Yeah, Nen is absolutely awesome and gets even greater and greater once you start seeing all the Hatsus everybody's got.
With Gotoh's coin game, he was tryna test Gon because he was pissed at the fact that Killua was leaving the mansion with somebody he (Gotoh) had no clue who the fuck was lol. This was my interpretation of it.
Yeah, Nen is absolutely awesome and gets even greater and greater once you start seeing all the Hatsus everybody's got.
Aye yes Nen is the best power system in anime histroy. And it will get expanded on more and more.
As for why Gon and Killua are busted...I dont really remember but they are still in the fodder area of the Heavens Arena. Killua has already had assassin training that has helped a lot. And Gon having a tiny portion of the training helped a lot in making him stronger than most of those fodder fighters.
As for why Gon and Killua are busted...I dont really remember but they are still in the fodder area of the Heavens Arena. Killua has already had assassin training that has helped a lot. And Gon having a tiny portion of the training helped a lot in making him stronger than most of those fodder fighters.
Funnily enough Chrollo (Chadrollo) was the guy you hesitated to put in your chad fanclub. Lets see if he changes your mind after you finish the anime....and manga....
Also dont go back to the post I made about him there. Since now it has major spoilers for you in it lol.
Also dont go back to the post I made about him there. Since now it has major spoilers for you in it lol.
@Admiral Lee Hung how you liking the openings and endings ?