K-ON! by kakifly

Pages (Paperback): 128 pages

Publisher: Yen Press

Released: November 30, 2010

Description: In an effort to save their high school's memberless pop music club, four high school girls sign up for the after-school jam session. They may have rescued the club, but it's going to take some work for them to crank out any music. Yui Hirasawa loves pop, but she's never played and instrument or read music before. With the help of the other club members, Yui learns everything she needs to know to become and excellent lead guitar player. But the real test of her rock star potential is yet to come. What will her fellow students say when the pop music club performs at the school festival?!

Review: I've heard a lot about this manga, and anime, but never really took an interest in it. Then, I came across the manga and decided to take a read, just to see what the hoopla was all about. I'm glad I did, because K-ON! takes an incredibly simple concept and makes it charming and fun to read. As you read it, you want to root for the girls to succeed and be friends forever. I enjoyed it.

Grade: 9 lines out of 10

Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

Pages (Paperback): 544 pages

Publisher: Vintage

Released: February 12, 2008

Description: Life at the prestigious Q High School for Girls in Tokyo exists on a precise social axis: a world of insiders and outsiders, of haves and have-nots. Beautiful Yuriko and her unpopular, unnamed sister exist in different spheres; the hopelessly awkward Kazue Sato floats around among them, trying to fit in. Years later, Yuriko and Kazue are dead — both have become prostitutes and both have been brutally murdered.

Natsuo Kirino, celebrated author of Out, seamlessly weaves together the stories of these women’s struggles within the conventions and restrictions of Japanese society. At once a psychological investigation of the pressures facing Japanese women and a classic work of noir fiction, Grotesque is a brilliantly twisted novel of ambition, desire, beauty, cruelty, and identity by one of our most electrifying writers.

Review: Let me start by saying that this book is not for everyone. The plot, while interesting, is filled with really horrible characters that you will hate. There is one character that seems likeable at first, but once you hear their story you'll hate them the most. The book is filled with such horrible, pathetic, disgusting characters, and yet I loved the book for this reason. This is a fantastic book!

Grade: 9 lines out of 10

Skarlet by Thomas Emson

Pages (Paperback): 448 pages

Publisher: Snowbooks Ltd.

Released: December 1, 2009

Description: Fear grips London as dozens of clubbers die after taking a sinister new drug. But that's only the beginning. Forty-eight hours later, the dead clubbers wake up - and it's open season on the living, who are butchered for their blood.

Soon, London gives a name to its terror: Vampires.

Jake Lawton, bitter and betrayed after the Iraq War, finds himself fighting another battle - against the growing army of immortal hunters and their human cohorts. Lawton joins forces with the journalist who brought about his downfall and the dealer tricked into distributing the drug. And together they take on the spineless authorities, the ruthless cohorts, and the hungry dead.

But the vampire plague unleashed in London is nothing to what lurks beneath the streets - waiting to be fed ...waiting to be resurrected ...waiting to reign again over a city of human slaves...

Review: Thomas Emson takes a bite into the vampire genre and creates a new spin that is more horroresque than lovely. Skarlet's vampires are in the same vein as 30 days of Night, so the vampires come in swarms and they want to kill you. Like Maneater, it's not for everyone, but if you like an action packed novel with vampires then definitely pick this up!

Grade: 9 lines out of 10

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Pages (Paperback): 608 pages
Publisher: Vintage
Released: June 23, 2009

Description: Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.


Review: What can I say about this book? The mystery with Harriet was interesting and kept me turning the pages. I liked Mikael, I guess, but  but the real star of the show is hacker extraordinaire, Lisbeth. She's an absolutely fantastic character. I would give this a perfect score, but I thought the plot about Mikael's love life and his company was boring and didn't flow as nicely as the Harriet mystery.

Grade: 9 lines out of 10