For the last three years, I’ve attended Sirens, an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to women in fantasy literature. In 2015, the conference will be held in Denver, from October 8-11, with the theme of “rebels and revolutionaries.” If you know me and what I like to read, you will understand why I am really excited about this year’s theme.
Every year the conference organizers develop a reading list for staff, and this year, they’ve adapted that reading list into a reading challenge. I do love a good reading challenge!
(Please ignore how far behind I am on my Goodreads challenge this year.)
Here’s the list, with challenge instructions, copied-and-pasted from the Sirens website. I’ve included some annotations on what I’ve already read and what was already in my figurative to-read stack. You’ll notice that I have a habit of leaving books half-finished these days. Purchase links below go to The Tattered Cover and help support the conference. [ETA: Hat tip to starlady, since I first saw the challenge when she posted about it on her blog.]
I know updates have been few and far between lately, but that’s because a lot has been going on in my offline life that’s demanded my attention. Last week I accepted a new job as Youth Services Librarian for Pierce County Library System (WA), starting in mid-July. I will miss my colleagues and community at San José Public Library a lot, but I think that this new opportunity will be a good fit for me. I’m very excited and very happy.
This afternoon I read volume 3 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Otsuka Eiji and Yamazaki Housui while sitting in one of my favorite neighborhood cafes. This series is another that reminds me that first impressions of manga series are not always reliable. I was not particularly impressed when I read volume 1 back in September 2008, but I really enjoyed volume 2 when I picked it up more recently. 
This week marked the return of Shiho Sugiura’s Silver Diamond to Tokyopop’s publication schedule, and that is a reason for much rejoicing. It has been almost a full year since US readers got a new volume of this underappreciated shōjo gem, which combines an interesting fantasy premise with warm, funny character moments. I wrote a 
This month I’ve read volumes from two different series by Hidaka Banri–I Hate You More than Anyone (vols. 1 and 2) and V. B. Rose (vol. 1 only)¹–mostly thanks to the recs of various folks in the manga blogging ‘verse. Hidaka’s work had been on my to-read list for a while anyway, but last month’s discussion of 
This weekend I spent much of my time reading many, many volumes of Claymore by Yagi Norihiro, after repeated recommendations from people whose taste I trust persuaded me to give the series another try. Those of you who have been reading this blog since way back when will remember that I was a bit underwhelmed by 
[“What I’m Reading” posts are not intended to be formal reviews and generally contain spoilers for the book under discussion after the jump. Readers beware!]
Over on Twitter today, Sean Gaffney (@Toukochan) of 
The Lapis Lazuli Crown, vol. 1