So earlier this month I got several shipments of books; it’s been a while since I’ve really splurged on them, so I was super excited to these in! I decided to wait until everyone had arrived before I posted my pics, but I’m all clear now!
First up, my new novels.
- 穏やか貴族の休暇のすすめ。4 | L32 - number 4 in the series. I actually already own this digitally, but I’ve been enjoying reading along physically as I listen to the audiobook, so I decided to go ahead and pick this up.
- 穏やか貴族の休暇のすすめ。短編集3 | L32 - volume 3 of the 穏やか貴族 short story collections.
- 伯爵と妖精 あまい罠には気をつけて | L31 - volume 2 of 伯爵と妖精.
Super excited to start this one! - ラスト | L30?? - more of a blind pick for me; pretty much all I know is that it’s BL and the love interest is a yandere, and that’s all I need. (No digital edition, unfortunately, hence me deciding to pick it up physical.)
- ブレイブ・ストーリー 上 | L30?? - Ah, this is one I’ve wanted to try forever, mostly because of the Akihiko Yoshida art of the cover.
I love Final Fantasy Tactics, so just seeing the same style of art on the cover brings me joy, haha. - バチカン奇跡調査官 黒の学院 | L30?? - One more “wow this cover is really cool!” pickup, haha. There is an audiobook for this one, so I’ll likely read+listen to it down the line. Features two “miracle investigators” who work for the Vatican and run around seeing if something’s a real miracle or not, which sounded pretty interesting.
Here’s my small miscellaneous pile. Like @sadgremlin I decided to pick up a physical copy of https://learnnatively.com/book/48bd81c50f/ to pick up and pick at every so often. The quality on this is quite nice, I must say; I’ll probably post some interior pictures in the GOAT reading club thread later. The mook on the right is ダ・ヴィンチ ダ・ヴィンチが見つめたBLの20年 2006～2026, a reprint of interviews the magazine ダ・ヴィンチ ran between 2006 and 2026 with BL authors.
And finally the manga! These days I’ve been preferring reading manga physically vs digitally, so most of the ongoing series I’ve been following I’ll try to get my hands on a copy of.
-
The first three volumes of 彼に依頼してはいけません | L27. I’ve read the first volume already and enjoyed it, so looking forward to more.
-
女装してめんどくさい事になってるネクラとヤンキーの両片想い | L24, volumes 4-5. I read through volumes 1-3 last year and had to stop myself from immediately ordering more, they’re so good. I’m probably going to re-read volume 3 before reading these, really take my time and re-enjoy all the humor.
-
MOON・TRICK 13 | L25 - So this one is an interesting one. This series has been ongoing for…a while now (since 2011, apparently), each new volume coming out every few years at this point, and this is the first print-on-demand manga volume I’ve ever bought. I was really surprised there was no usual mass-printed edition and did some digging, and apparently the publisher shifted to just about digital-only back in 2024. They still offer POD versions of their new releases, but I’m hoping this isn’t indicative of the publisher not doing well… (I’ll need to see if I can post some pics comparing the POD volume with a regular volume later.)
-
憂国のモリアーティ-The Remains- 1 | L24?? and 憂国のモリアーティ 21 | L30 - Some more Moriarty the Patriot. The first book is the 漫画化’d version of short novelized side-stories that were written before arc 2 of the manga (which starts with volume 20 of the main series), and I’ve been wanting to check them out for a while.
-
光が死んだ夏 8 | L27 - I still haven’t read volume 7 yet, actually, but that’s on purpose. I don’t really like reading these as singletons, so I’m going to let a few volumes accumulate before catching back up
just in time to have to refresh my 関西弁.
-
贋 まがいもの | L26, vols. 2-3: A Harta series I really enjoyed volume 1 of, of a horror artist in 1930’s era Japan who, upon facing homelessness with two young girls he lives with, decides to forge artwork and sell it as “undiscovered pieces” from his late art teacher.
-
幻惑の鼓動 31 | L28 - Another “one volume comes out every 2-3 years” series.
I’m slowly re-reading from the start of the series in Japanese, and hopefully by the time I reach this one I’ll either have another volume ready or be close to one. -
ホテル・メッツァペウラへようこそ | L23, vols. 3-4: Another Harta series, following the life of a young Japanese man with a mysterious past working at a hotel in Finland. It’s quite slice of life, which can be hit-or-miss for me, but the emotional beats are great, and I love the setting.
-
魔法少女ダンデライオン | L24, vols. 2-3: My newest “let’s try it out” shoujo series. Volume 1 was pretty fun, so I’m looking forward to how the author develops things in these next ones.
