Freedom Reads!
February 15, 2006 - Jail North
I wanted to start the book club off with a great book so that the guys would see that books can be cool and to pull in new participants. I selected several different manga titles because I had already talked up graphic novels and they are usually quick reads. We had a lot of trouble finding multiple copies of any graphic novel within two weeks. I ended up with Girl Got Game v.1, by Shizuru Seino, which I hadn't read but the premise was interesting.
"A father enrolls his daughter in a prestigious prep school... as a boy! A comedy/action manga, full of misunderstandings and gender-bending cross dressing." Kyo's father always wanted to be a famous basketball player before he was injured, so Kyo has to live his dream by pretending to be a boy and playing basketball for the famous Seisyu Academy. Here's a good review of the book http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=610
I thought this book would be great because it's got sports, teenage angst and situational humor. When I actually sat down and read Girl Got Game, I was mortified that I had recommended it to the book club and especially as the first book. It's a great book don't get me wrong, but the plot of one whole section centers around "feminine issues" and the tension between Kyo and her roommate, Chiharu, comes off as a lot more romantic than I expected. With Kyo's short boy hair cut it almost feels like a gay graphic novel. I was incredibly nervous about this discussion before hand, but the guys liked it. They were definitely more mature than I gave them credit for, which was a nice surprise. They liked the premise and the sports theme, and thought it was funny. Most of them hadn't read a graphic novel with the right-to-left format before, and had a little trouble with that. They want to read the other volumes in the series.
Attend: 4
I wanted to start the book club off with a great book so that the guys would see that books can be cool and to pull in new participants. I selected several different manga titles because I had already talked up graphic novels and they are usually quick reads. We had a lot of trouble finding multiple copies of any graphic novel within two weeks. I ended up with Girl Got Game v.1, by Shizuru Seino, which I hadn't read but the premise was interesting.
"A father enrolls his daughter in a prestigious prep school... as a boy! A comedy/action manga, full of misunderstandings and gender-bending cross dressing." Kyo's father always wanted to be a famous basketball player before he was injured, so Kyo has to live his dream by pretending to be a boy and playing basketball for the famous Seisyu Academy. Here's a good review of the book http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=610
I thought this book would be great because it's got sports, teenage angst and situational humor. When I actually sat down and read Girl Got Game, I was mortified that I had recommended it to the book club and especially as the first book. It's a great book don't get me wrong, but the plot of one whole section centers around "feminine issues" and the tension between Kyo and her roommate, Chiharu, comes off as a lot more romantic than I expected. With Kyo's short boy hair cut it almost feels like a gay graphic novel. I was incredibly nervous about this discussion before hand, but the guys liked it. They were definitely more mature than I gave them credit for, which was a nice surprise. They liked the premise and the sports theme, and thought it was funny. Most of them hadn't read a graphic novel with the right-to-left format before, and had a little trouble with that. They want to read the other volumes in the series.
Attend: 4
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1:24 PM
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