Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 2 of 4

Well, now that the class I unwisely taught this semester (on top of my real full time job) is over, and I have scraped myself off the floor, I can get back to writing. 

• b Crimson Hero 14: More angst and volleyball.  Some folks make dumb decisions; others make smart ones.  Expiation via volleyball?  Bring it on.
• b D.Gray-Man 11: I do love the gorgeous gothicness of it all.
• o Diamond Girl 1:  Erm, I do want to read the next volume to find some things out, but I liked Princess Nine better.  I would have bought this series if CMX had kept publishing it because I always give sports manga love in the hopes that they'll bring more over here.
• b From Eroica with Love 15: Le Sigh.  I miss you, CMX.  A goofy and stupid story to go out on, but it came after a dangerous and stressful one, and it ended sort of neatly, so it was as good a place to end as any I could have hoped for.
• b Lapis Lazuli Crown 2: Goofy, sweet fun.  A happy ending.
• b My Darling Miss Bancho 1: This one was a total hoot.  A good steel plate in the school bag can come in handy.  The cast was goofy and fun, like a better drawn and completely different Cromartie High with a girl main character.
• b My Girlfriend's a Geek novel 1: I read some reviews of this one, and one talked about reasons he doubted the writer was really who and what he claimed to be for some reasons.  The reasons he disbelieved weren't the ones that made me suspicious.  (The thing that made me suspicious was the way the author knew all of the references and jokes that he did.  If he was only a very casual anime viewer, there's just no way he could have known some of these.)  That same reviewer complained about how it had a short and repetetive format.  This puzzled me.  If the blog was called My Fujoshi Girlfriend, why would you complain that every blog entry was about how much of a fujoshi his girlfriend was?  Sheesh.  I enjoyed the book.  Full of awkward and embarrassing moments in short chunks and packed with in-jokes and references.  I don't care if it was fiction, semi-autobiographical, or totally autobiographical.  It was entertaining.
• b Skip Beat! 21: Oh, the goofy, cursed joy of it all, and the frustration that it comes out sooooo verrrrrryyyyy sloooooowwwwlllyyyyy.
• b Suihelibe 1: Just pure sugary, silly goodness.
• b xxxHolic 16: Oh, so heartbreaking!  So sad!  You can tell by the expression on Watanuki's face on the cover. I want it to keep going, but I also want resolution (really excellent, well-done, well-earned resolution).  The way all the characters are so careful around each other is painful, as are some of the choices they've made.  Oh, how I love this series. I think I may need to marathon Tsubasa to figure out what exactly, you know, happened, but everything is still nicely melancholy whether you understand exactly or not.

I have some catching up to do, so I'll be posting a bunch this month unless some new crisis arises.  Until next time . . .  Read anything good lately?