calissa

Strange Foliage by Elizabeth Fitzgerald on 500px.com

Currently reading
I'm actually reading two books at the same time, which I almost never do. I have a prompt for both Space Opera September and my book club bingo card that asks me to read a book published before I was born. So, I picked up The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Military sci-fi isn't really my jam, but this is readable enough. It was originally serialised, so the chapters are nice and short. And I admit I was rather surprised to see women in this army (though I don't think I've seen one in command yet).

The other book I'm reading is A Trifle Dead by Livia Day, a cosy crime novel set in Hobart. This is a reread in preparation for the third book in the series, which has just been released. Having recently rewatched the first season of Vernonica Mars, I found myself picking up on the homage I hadn't noticed previously--one of the love interests is a police constable named Leo who happens to be a few years older than the protagonist. Anyway, the book is fluffy and charming, so a good counterbalance to The Forever War.

Currently watching
Sahaquiel has been away this week, so I finally caught up on Fruits Basket. It turned out I was a lot further behind than I'd thought! The pacing of this season has been a bit all over the place. The first half careened through a bunch of stuff and the second half slowed way down. Most of my thoughts are tied up in the end of the first season, so...

**Spoilers**

I was a bit surprised that the side characters around Kyo's ultimate form didn't have their baggage unpacked a bit more. I suppose if you didn't know anything about the rest of the story, Kagura's emotional state probably still makes sense. However, it would have been nice to have the context of it in place for the full impact. Yuki's arguably makes less sense, but perhaps also less relevant.

And speaking of Yuki, they went harder on his romantic angle with Tohru than I remember for this part of the story. However, their last scene on the stairs together sets up nicely for what's to come. I hope (and rather expect) that they'll play up the feelings with Kyo a little more to counterbalance.