vivdunstan

Binge reading another in my current favourite manga series, and grateful I've another two of the books on order after the next one! Also still avoiding spoilers for the ultimate ending. It is still being published in English translation, with additional volumes coming out every few months. Got to get them all ...

Volume 5 in the series was my 16th book finished in 2025. Just tonight. I've now started reading volume 6. And volumes 7 and 8 are on the way.

Current main Kindle reading for me. The top 6 books in the picture below are the main books I'm currently reading. A mix of fiction and non fiction.

Back home from the V&A Dundee now. Really enjoyed the Kimono exhibition. We could turn up any time to get in, with our new joint memberships, and the V&A staff handled that we hadn't got our member cards in the post yet. I came away from the front reception desk with a freshly printed temporary membership card, and they will look into the missing cards (I'm thinking Dundee East postal depot backlogs!). It was incredibly busy when we got into the exhibition, so much queuing needed to get around the different sections. Slightly anxiety inducing for infection phobic us. We dodged a few obviously coughing or sneezing people ... And we skipped some bits that were of less interest. But I saw all the bits I really wanted to see. I was especially interested in the early history and some of the related artefacts on display. Plus kimono pattern books and drawings and paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries. I was agog at those. I only had a few things I struggled to see from my wheelchair because of height/arrangement. More of a problem was navigating around the fellow visitors, who were so engrossed that we'd often have to very clearly alert them to wheelchair coming through. I needed a horn! But we both enjoyed it and are glad we went. And just outside was the Dundee Tapestry exhibition still, which was also attracting lots of visitors, and we were happy to go round it. Bought stuff in the shop after - which is still a bit too much of a squeeze with a wheelchair, though somewhat improved after my feedback a year ago which they acted on. Then coffee and bagels lunch at the kiosk/van outside. Very glad we made it, though I won't be surprised if the same thing happens as last time we went there, and we've picked up an infection (was Covid a year ago). Fingers crossed not though!

P.S. Martin just said he could have done with fewer physical kimonos on display. I also found some of those some of the less interesting elements of the exhibition. But as he said, if you went to a kimono exhibition and didn't see lots of kimonos you would probably be justifiably disappointed! But overall the balance was good.

P.P.S. Have just emailed the V&A Dundee with some feedback on the Kimono exhibition, including how it was much better for me accessibility wise than Tartan, and also to thank them for improvements they have made re accessibility in the shop. Which they did after my feedback a year ago.

Note there are spoilers in this post. Scroll past if you don't want to know some quite specific details.

Earlier this year I mentioned here that I was intending to watch some of the animated Tolkien films from 1977-1980 soon. As I said then I'd never seen The Hobbit (1977) or The Return of the King (1980), though I have seen the doesn't-tell-the-whole-story The Lord of the Rings (1978), which I watched on Channel 4 one afternoon before Christmas in 1988 ...

It's taken us a while to get started. But first up last night was The Hobbit (1977), which I'd sourced a Spanish-released DVD copy of. After changing the settings to English language audio and no subtitles we were good to go with the 77 minutes long animated movie.

I knew going in that it was an extremely condensed retelling of the story. But I was honestly surprised by how much they packed into the running time. And the opening sections charmed me, with the pre titles sequence where Bilbo meets the dwarves and Gandalf, and the rather nice folk-inspired song "The Greatest Adventure". The other songs were more of a miss for me though. The dwarves are introduced phenomenally quickly, but that wasn't a problem for me. I find the original book overly long on this, never mind Peter Jackson's take on it.

The character design choices are a mix of good or curious to downright strange. Gandalf is as you would expect. Bilbo perhaps a bit Disney. The dwarves are a mix, some rather disturbing. Trolls ok. Elrond has a beard. Mmmm. Though I was pleased they managed to include that portion - I thought they'd skip it. Goblins suitably disturbing. Gollum very strange, but it sort of works. Wargs awesome. Ditto eagles. Mirkwood spiders suitably terrifying. Wood elves very very strange, and more scary looking than the goblins. Not sure about the Lake-town men. And Smaug looks more like a big cat (I've seen "bobcat" used to describe him) than a dragon, at least in facial features. Nice thrush though. The animation is generally good, with some particularly impressive visual moments. The animation work was done by a Japanese company linked to the future Studio Ghibli.

The voice acting is variable. Bilbo and Gandalf are fine. Gollum suitably disturbing. I liked Elrond's voice. But why does the elven king have an Austrian accent? And Smaug sounds strange. I wasn't familiar with the actor voices already, so didn't make connections with other roles. But just responded to how they sounded.

As I said I was impressed by how much they fitted in, including the trolls section, Rivendell and Elrond, the Misty Mountains and goblins and Gollum and riddles (good allowance of time for this key bit), then wargs (but no Beorn), Mirkwood spiders, the wood elves and barrel escape (to be fair that's phenomenally condensed into a couple of minutes), Lake-town, Lonely Mountain and Smaug, death of Smaug, Battle of the Five Armies, and Bilbo's return. The Battle bit was the only bit that dragged for me. I suppose after the hasty earlier sections its slightly more leisurely pace felt too slow. They also made a curious choice to depict some of the battle using dots viewed from overhead moving around. Which might be how someone at a distance - in this case Bilbo - might see things. But wasn't entirely successful.

They certainly missed other parts of the story, including some key moments, like Bilbo deciding not to kill Gollum. Nor did he steal the Arkenstone, and the emotional ending with Thorin was reduced as a result. Much was there though, just accelerated/edited hugely. And I'm still stunned by how much they did cover in the time.

The thing I liked least about the film is the ending, where Gandalf says some words to Bilbo, hinting that the ring he found is important, and in the future there will be more adventures involving other members of his family. Mmmmm. I can see why they did that. It's a quaint nod to them hopefully continuing the story (which the same team sort of did with The Return of the King animated movie in 1980). But to suggest that Gandalf has an awareness of or even hint of the importance of this ring at this time, never mind other foresight about its future, just feels so very wrong for this viewer/Tolkien fan at least.

However overall I enjoyed it. I think they got more things right than wrong. And I would far, far prefer to watch this 77 minutes version than the nearly 9 hours of Hobbit movies from Peter Jackson ...

My package from Japan arrived today, and I had fun unpacking it. Martin was most intrigued! I've bought some journals and other things for 2024, so won't be using most of it till then. But I'm ready. A number of things sold out fast on the first day of sales. One item I wanted sold out in the first 5 minutes, while I slept, but I was extremely lucky when it briefly came back into stock within the hour (probably a cancelled or failed order), so briefly awake me nabbed it! So lucky. I'm a very keen fountain pen user and like journalling and using paper planners. I've never used Hobonichi planners though before, so will be pondering my approach in the run up to 2024. I'm sure it will be haphazard when I start, but should get clearer. Here is a photo of my main planner/journal for 2025 ready in its cover (that sold out in just 5 minutes!) and a dedicated fountain pen that nicely fits the cover closing mechanism (a TWSBI Eco Smoke Rose Gold EF nib).

Current reading, May 2022 version.

Rereading a favourite PG Wodehouse, a Sandman comics inspired short story collection, gentle Japanese manga, Andrew Cotter and dogs Olive and Mabel, continuing a Sherlock Holmes canon reread, and continuing Loren Wiseman’s Traveller RPG columns.

Current main reading, late March 2022 edition.

More Wheel of Time fantasy, neurology with Oliver Sacks, a guide/memoir for Tokyo, an anthology of Doctor Who Master stories, Scottish ghost stories (rereading a book that terrified young me), and more Traveller RPG columns.

Of these I’m settling in nicely to the Wheel of Time book now. Gobbling up the neurology book quite quickly. The Tokyo book is delightful. The Master anthology hasn’t started well, but apparently gets better later. I’m spreading out the ghost stories, for my own sake! And the roleplaying game columns continue to delight.

Last night I finished The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa. This was a slice of Japanese magical realism, the tale of a young boy who inherits a bookshop from his grandfather, meets a talking cat, and goes on adventures into fantastic worlds to save books. More deeply it is a meditation on grief, and also things like growing up, confidence and friendship. And it is very much a love letter to books and reading. Unfortunately I found the book somewhat unsatisfying, with a stronger idea than execution. I just felt a bit disappointed, especially in the later chapters. But I really liked the idea. In the UK it is marketed towards 18+ readers, but it read more like young adult to me, at the younger end of that range. The English language book includes an interesting translator’s note at the back. Rating 3/5.

Current main reading as of mid February 2022. Continuing the Wheel of Time book 2, Steve McNeil’s video games history and a marvellous Louis Wain cats book. New reads for me are a history of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, short novel Strange Weather in Tokyo, and Rachel Clarke’s junior Doctor story.

I generally like to have a couple of novels on the go at once, one usually gargantuan, so that’s why I’ve got the Japanese book newly started alongside the (admittedly nearly finished) fantasy novel. I also like a lot of non fiction books.

Normally I read in a gargantuan font on my Kindle, but two of the above books are coffee table sized printed ones i.e. the cats and Hermitage books. But both are very heavy on pictures and very light on text, so they’re just about manageable for me. Both gorgeous books anyway.

I have nearly finished the Wheel of Time book but don’t expect to go straight on to book 3. But I am likely to read another whopper of a novel next.