Literary Lover

Literature and good storytelling can be found in many forms: biographies, novels, poetry, manga, comics, online publications... the list is fairly impressive. As someone who is generally picky about likes and dislikes, it may surprise you to know that I actually like a bit of everything.

Jung Chang's Wild Swans happens to be one of my favourite books of all time, and perhaps one of the most brutally honest personal story I have had the pleasure of devouring. I believe it is a brave publication, the story of three generations of Chinese women from the time or Warlords, through to Mao's absolute authority in communist China. Perhaps the most moving aspect of the book is how detached the author seemed to have become from the violence, horror and human fragility around her. I become lost in her story. I have read other autobiographies, but none have touched me the way Chang's does.

At the other end of the spectrum, I absolutely adore fantasy fiction. I'm a Harry Potter nerd, a Twihard, an Eddings geek. I thoroughly enjoyed Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and Katharine Kerr still has me hooked and waiting for the 14th and final installment in her epic saga. I am not foolish enough to think that many fantasy novels are actually literary masterpieces, but I do like an entertaining story. I do get annoyed, however, when I have readers preach how a certain author they admire or book that they love is "literary genius". I'm sorry to say, just because it's entertaining doesn't make it a literary masterpiece.

I couldn't call myself a proper nerd if I didn't enjoy manga. For those who aren't aware of what manga is, Wikipedia defines it as "comics and print cartoons in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century". Manga reads right to left, back to front rather than the conventional way of reading a book, which can be confusing to first time readers. It really doesn't take long to get the hang of it, particularly if starting with an interesting story. There are many genres of manga, and are most divided by target demographic. My favourites are:

Shounen - marketed to a male audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18
Shoujo - marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18

I prefer more light hearted stories in manga, as there is always a visual representation of the story. I don't think I could handle something like Dracula as a manga!