I don't know much about the Cat Returns manga. Did it come before or after the film?

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Hard to say... There is no dating anywhere in the large size hardback, with a stiff paper dust cover... The drawings and colorations are more or less identical to the movie, but which came first, I just don't know...

The only possible clue that I can see is the wording:

Original graphic novel by Aoi Hiriiragi

Project concept by Hayao Miyazaki

And the book measures about 10-1/2" x 8-1/2"x 1/2"

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That sort of makes it sound like the film was first, or that they were both conceived together. I'll see what I can find out about it.

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danke!!

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I've had a look and it seems that the manga did come first, and it was even written by the original author of Whisper of the Heart, BUT it was apparently on Miyazaki's request. So that explains how the film and the source material are so connected and came out so close together.

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Rather too many to mention but as a start...

Michael Wood - The Story of China

Alfred Price - The Hardest Day (The Battle of Britain, 18th August 1940) - the hour by hour and minute by minute account of a single span of 24 hours in the battle that may have decided the course of WWII during which 100 German and 73 RAF aircraft fell. The single highest losses of any one day of the battle and perhaps the day that caused the Luftwaffe to alter their tactics from attacking the RAF's bases to attacking London and other population centres.

Reed Browning - The War of the Austrian Succession

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Isakaya High School Roleplaying Info

"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

Dark Pines by Will Dean

The Courage to Create by Rollo May

Once I finish these two I'm going to start Dance Dance Dance by Murakami

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pigeons funk the impossible

After I finished Bunny Drop, I finished a non-fiction book by George Bird Grinnel book, "The Fighting Cheyenne", copyrighted in 1915, comprised of eyewitness tales of different fights between The Cheyenne and American troops and civilians. It also contains mention of scraps with other Indian Tribes such as different nations of Sioux; Kiowa; Blackfoot; Arapaho; Apache along with both the Northern and Southern Bands of Cheyenne... Many of these witnesses, both Indian, Army and Civilian were still alive and interviewed and known to the author.

I have been interested in North American Indian cultures since I was in Jr High School... haha, even have a couple of English dictionaries in Algonquin and Lakota Sioux... Never planned to learn, just have them out of curiousity ...

hahaha, just remembered, I still have some of the books that I collected from back then, including "Black Elk Speaks"...

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I just started reading The President's Daughter by James Patterson

Dune. I wanted to re-read before the movie comes out. Wishful thinking lol.

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I have found that while a movie can be great, the book brings out so much more of the story that is just not possible with a movie... I have always been an avid reader... hahaha, just this last week, I've read three of my collection of Louis L'Amour novels... "The Californios", :Yondering" a collection of short tales based on his life about various ships in the 40's, including being ashore in San Pedro, Ca (w here I once lived as a child and later drove a school bus) and different ports in the Orient, And "North to the Rails"... Easy reads to be sure, but I have all of his paperbacks and read them all multiple times... Because of this pandemic, my visits to the local Library is very limited, so I have been reading what I have at home...

Also my manga's, "Kiss me, Kill me", "Love Hina", "Mushashi 9", "Chobits", "Yotsuba" (reminds me of my own kids), "Kare Kano", "Misty", "Miki Falls" and many more... Oh yeah, both versions of "Train Man" and also saw the live action movie, lol...

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Thanks!

Embarrassing to say I know. But I'm reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time right now. I love the films, but the books are incredible so far. I'm looking forward to reading more fantasy and fiction in general, as I've been more of a non-fiction reader thus far.

Read "Lord of the Rings" Long ago Enjoy...

In "Bendigo Shafter another of my Louis L'Amour's... Basically, a frontier tale, main characters, building their town, working with and also fighting with Indians, outlaws and within the new town... In mid-(what will be) Colorado, in New York City, meeting with different Historical Characters. Like all my L'Amour's,

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Nothing to be embarrassed about! I read The Hobbit several times when I was younger, and I enjoyed the LOTR films, but in the books I never managed to get further than The Fellowship of the Ring. I think it was always just a bit too dense for me... I find a lot of the stuff about that world really interesting, but maybe it's the novel format that makes it hard.

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Yeah, I see what you mean. For me at least, I have to really take it slow and let it all sink in. There are pages of verse and songs that he writes that can definitely be a slog. But so far so good!

I would love to hear some of everyone's top recommendations for fiction books? I into fantasy right now, but open to anything. I heard Dostoyevski is really great, so thinking about one of his books next.

For fantasy, Earthsea by Ursula le Guin would be a good choice if you've never tried it out. The second and third books are some of my favourites, and they aren't nearly as long as a lot of fantasy novels, so it's pretty easy to get into. Most of le Guin's other books are science fiction, and there's some really good stuff in there too, like The Left Hand of Darkness.

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Started "How Do You Live?" today...

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O-o-o-o-k...!

I am just short of halfway thru the book and will stop here...

If and when you (any of you) get the book and read it, you may feel the same way...

To me, the books narration is such that I don't see Miyasaki-san's producing anything like any of his previous films with this dialogue... I just don't know... I will not finish the book until AFTER I've seen whatever He puts into his onscreen production... From my reading, ... Well, I'm not going to say any mnore, but I don't see a Ghibli in this, but I am not Miyazaki...

We shall see. I stopped at page 128... If any manage to read this book, tell me what you think at the half-way point...

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