This is really the Tale of Two Tales, with the shadow of a third lingering behind. 

Christine Leunens' "Caging Skies" is the novel from which Taika Waititi adapted his screenplay for "JoJo Rabbit" . . . and, if someone didn't tell you that fact, you may never guess. Yes, a little Viennese boy named Johannes is a Hitler Youth true-believer. Yes, his mother is secretly working with underground dissidents. Yes, a friend of Johannes' deceased sister is hiding in the family's attic. 

But is this novel a comedy about a little boy whose imaginary friend is Adolph Hitler? Does it make you laugh at evil and cry for the naiveté of youth? Not even a little bit. This novel owes far more to Kafka's "Metamorphosis" than to Mel Brooks any day.

Although the first part of the novel IS about a boy who resembles Waititi's JoJo, most of it is not. After JoJo is wounded, he turns surly and loses all humor. The novel becomes the story of a teenage boy -- and then a 20-something young man -- who falls in love with the young woman hidden in his home. As he loses all of his family, he bonds with the woman and keeps her tied to him, a prisoner of dependency and lies, for the rest of the war and more than a few years after. 

Interestingly, though, one motif the novel and film share is that of dancing -- to eerie effect. Through the novel, you can also follow motifs and symbolism of snails, caged birds, decaying houses, and bedridden people. 

So there is Leunens' "Caging Skies." And there is Waititi's "JoJo Rabbit." But I think there is easily another story here to be told: Elsa's story from her own point-of-view. How did she survive, and how badly did her experience affect her mind? "Caging Skies" is entirely from Johannes' point-of-view, so the damage to Elsa is very hard to discern. But it is certainly there. And the potential is fascinating.

Read it. Consider it.

-cg

Peggy Dean is excited to learn that she's a finalist on the Ross Elliot Show's special episode "Blind Date" contest. The first prize is a date with popular singer John Gale, but Peggy isn't interested in that. As a Media Communications major, she's primarily interested in seeing the set of the show. She's also hoping to win a stereo, the consolation prize given to the two finalists who aren't picked to go on a date with John. She attempts to sabotage her chances of winning by giving off-putting answers to John's questions, but instead she accidentally captures his interest.

The Harlequin Ginger Blossoms line fascinates me. As far as I know, they were all adaptations of 1980's Harlequin novels - Emma Darcy's Blind Date was originally published in 1986, while the Japanese manga adaptation was published in 2003, and the English translation of the manga was published in 2006. Wouldn't it have been a better idea to focus on newer romance novels? Was it a rights thing? The color-coding is also interesting. Harlequin Pink titles were printed in pink ink and aimed at younger readers - no on-page sex. Harlequin Violet titles were printed in violet ink and aimed at older audiences (ages 16 and up, according to my copy). They did have on-page sex, but, at least in the case of Blind Date, the nudity was of the Barbie doll variety (no nipples) and the sex scenes were sensual but not graphic.

I haven't read the novel on which this manga is based, so I can't comment on how accurate of an adaptation it is, although I do think it's interesting that, according to descriptions I've read, John's name in the original book was actually Adam Gale. I wonder why his name was changed while Peggy's remained the same?

The artwork is the best part of Blind Date. The character designs are attractive, everything is easy to follow and uncluttered, characters' facial expressions are well done (I laughed at Peggy's "deer in the headlights" stunned expression upon seeing all of John's gorgeous friends at the musical), and it's just generally a lovely looking volume.

The story...well. The first half is pretty solid. Peggy tries to sabotage herself and fails, and John admits that he chose her because he figured she didn't actually want to be chosen and therefore didn't have an ulterior motives. They eventually had a nice dinner, and he managed to convince her to let him buy her a stereo as an apology, since that's what she'd really wanted.

The problems started when they ended up in bed together. John realized that Peggy was a virgin and went from "oh no, what I have I done?" to "you were just using me so that you could sell your story about your first time with John Gale to the media" in two seconds flat. Both Peggy and I were stunned and wondering what the heck happened.

John eventually realized that he was an idiot and apologized, but that didn't stop him from acting like an idiot the next time they ended up in bed together. When Peggy got up first thing in the morning to go to class, John acted like she was completely rejecting him. Dude, she's a college student - you don't get to tell her which classes she can afford to miss and which she can't. I disliked that it was Peggy who apologized first this time, and not John. Peggy hadn't done anything wrong.

For some reason, Peggy continued to stay with John and even agreed to move in with him. All kinds of warning bells went off in my head when he told her not to worry about work ("I'll lend you money until you graduate"). Considering his behavior up to that point, I fully expected him to either remind her that he was lending her money and therefore deserved all her time any time she wanted to do anything on her own, or get mad at some point and accuse her of using him for his money.

I could see what the ending was going for, but it was missing a few key pieces...like an actual demonstration on John's part that he really understood why Peggy had left. A big bouquet of flowers and an "I love you" didn't cut it.

All in all, this was nice looking and decent for what it was, but there's definitely better romance manga out there.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Why does Netflix make it so hard to keep track of their upcoming shows? I spend time on their "Latest" page, and yet this still managed to slip into their catalog without warning.

I've only read one volume of the manga, but I definitely plan on watching this. It's basically edu-tainment about cells and the functions of the human body. It's horrendously expensive to buy a physical copy of this series (Aniplex of America prices, ugh), so streaming is probably the only way I'll ever watch this.

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon is a work of non-fiction about the Homicide Unit of Baltimore's Police Department during one year in the 1980's when he was a journalist for the Baltimore Sun. This book was actually the inspiration for the TV show Homicide: Life on the Streets so if you've seen that show you might recognize some of the characters (albeit with different names and ethnicity in some cases). Simon focuses on a few of the key cases that the unit investigated during the year he observed (although it was more like became entrenched in their cases and lives). He managed to both show the very best of what it means to be a sensitive, thorough homicide detective and the lengths that they were willing to take to close out their cases (it's often about the closeout rate). The dark underbelly of the city, its inhabitants, and the men (and lone woman) tasked with solving those most heinous of crimes is laid bare in stark detail. These men (and one lone woman who was rarely a focus in the novel) are distinctly human with foibles like all the rest. Vulgarity, racism, sexism, and a general callousness permeate the department. (Baltimore was none too pleased with the portrayal of their city by the way.) Simon shows that not all cases have a tidy ending and in fact could remain unsolved well past the detective's tenure with the unit. If you're looking for a neat police procedural then you'll be disappointed with this book but if you're interested in the investigative process itself you've hit the jackpot. 5/10

A/N: Keep in mind when this book was written because there are definitely some problematic issues such as racist slurs, derogatory attitudes towards people of color, sexist asides, and general ickiness that made me shudder. I can't be sure how much of this was a product of the times and/or how much is just a part of Simon's character but it was off-putting in the extreme.

What I'm Currently Reading: Miss D & Me: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis by Kathryn Sermak (with Danielle Morton)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness ticked all of my boxes. There's werewolves, daemons, vampires, and of course witches with the main setting of the story set at Oxford University and the Bodleian Library. (There are also side plot lines in Scotland and the U.S. but the most detailed descriptions are those that happen at Oxford.) Our main character is Diana Bishop who comes from a long line of witches but who has decided to turn her back on her heritage in order to lead a "normal life". Unfortunately, life has other plans for her. When she calls up a manuscript at the Bodleian it turns out that there are hidden messages in the pages which only she can see...because she's the only one who's been able to successfully call up the book in centuries. Suddenly the entire community of supernatural creatures is very interested in her but none more so than a vampire named Matthew Clairmont...

Part paranormal/supernatural conspiracy theory mystery and part burning hot forbidden romance this book hooked me but good. The only reason I haven't completely dived into the second book is because this is one hefty piece of work at over 600 pages and my TRL is about 5,700 miles long. Rest assured, I will be continuing this trilogy...even if I didn't particularly like the overly complicated plot in the last third of the book. 

Oh and did I mention that it's been made into a TV series? Cause it absolutely has and the guy playing Matthew is scarily accurate to what I pictured when reading this book. O_O 10/10

What I'm Currently Reading: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley