House Rules and Megatokyo

Many apologies for quite a delay in posting. I've recently returned to the realm of the living, after having looked like "death warmed up" (though my dad didn't think I looked that good).

I've read a few books since my last post, one of them being House Rules, Jodi Picoult's most recent book (you'd have to be living underneath a large, illiterate rock to not know who she is, does My Sister's Keeper sound familiar?). I actually got the book for my mum's birthday but she let me read it after her (a foolproof plan...). In a nutshell, main character Jacob Hunt has Aspergers, which makes up the more higher functioning spectrum of autism. Usually people with Aspergers have an interest or focal point bordering on obsessive, in Jacob's case, forensics. After his mentor is found dead, Jacob is questioned and of course, with all the traits such as nervous ticks, not meeting people's eyes, and being painfully literal, all the evidence points to him.

I've read several of Jodi Picoult's books, but this tops them. She's obviously done a huge amount of research into all aspects of the novel and orchestrated the whole plot flawlessly. Especially as autism is an area of interest for me, unfortunately there are those who don't (or won't) understand how this peculiar condition can alter your perception of the world. Also, enter the interesting character of Theo Hunt, Jacob's younger brother. Theo offers a bit of insight into the love/hate relationship of living with an older brother you constantly have to look out for.

On a less serious note! I also read two manga novels. Manga is the Japanese style graphic novel (though this one was written by an American), generally characterised by the big-eyes thing (also in Anime).

I find that whenever I tell someone I like/read manga, they either give me a rather blank expression, or they regard me with a degree of suspicion, or a bit of both...

These graphic novels were volume 4 and 5 of Megtokyo. The plot follows two friends, Largo (serious gamer) and Piro (manga/anime fan), who travel to Japan on a whim and get stranded there with no money. Megatokyo originally started out as an online comic with individual comics being updated daily, but all the comics were combined and turned into 5 graphic novels. The entire series is very entertaining and I would even find myself occasionally showing my family members some of the funnier parts (which is brave because half of my family are the blank expression people and the other half are the suspicous ones). I also really enjoyed the fact that Megatokyo has a great deal of character development in it. A cracking good read!

I really must post faster than I read...