📚Book Review📚

📖A Man Who Defies the World of BL, Volume 1 by Konkici (translated by Adrienne Beck)

I kicked off November by reading the first volume of the manga series and watching the latest season of the live action adaptation ‘A Man Who Defies the World of BL 2024’ (the final season is due to start airing later this month). Obviously this is going to be a lot funnier if you’ve ever dipped a toe into the waters of BL fandom, but I think I would still generally recommend it as being an enjoyable read. Basically about a chap at university trying to remain a background character and pointing out (and avoiding) all of the BL tropes.

📖The Metalhead Next Door by Mamita (translated by Adrienne Beck)

I also read another one-shot BL manga about someone struggling with a stutter / social anxiety and their developing friendship with their next-door-neighbour (which eventually turns into romance). This was actually really sweet, though it did end up being slightly spicy towards the very end of the story.

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📚Book Review📚

📖The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune

I found this one a bit slow going if I’m honest, which probably says more about my headspace right now than anything in particular about the story.

I think it is a lovely gentle story with a lot of heart, but I didn’t feel any urgency to find out what would happen next - which meant I had to prod myself to keep reading. It also did that thing that I just really can’t stand where a person’s appearance is mentioned repeatedly in a negative way… that just irks me so much, even if it is mostly a person thinking negatively about themselves.

The children are absolutely lovely, and I can see why so many people really enjoyed this one… but I just wasn’t feeling the love story aspect at all - which didn’t so much feel subtle as borderline nonexistent until near the very end - so that part fell a bit flat for me. As a story about found family though, that’s where it really shines.

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📚September 2025 recap📚

I read a total of three books in September: translated fiction, a manga volume, and a space opera.

💛💛💛🖤🖤- Boulder by Eva Baltasar (translated by Julia Sanches)
💛💛💛💛🖤- Fairy Cat, Volume 1 by Hisa Takano
💛💛💛🖤🖤- Space Brooms! by A.G. Rodriguez

In addition, I read the short story ‘Blue Ink’ by Yoon Ha Lee.

I’ve been a bit quiet on social media recently because I’ve started working towards obtaining a degree in psychology via the Open University, so my time is going to be a bit limited and I decided to watch a lot of telly before things start to ramp up.

Husband and I finished watching the latest season of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ and continued watching ‘Foundation’. I binge-watched a frankly insane amount of television, with the stand-outs being the 2022 Thai BL ‘I Will Knock You / พี่จะตีนะเนย’ which is just utterly adorable and I thoroughly recommend, the 2025 Japanese drama ‘Cinderella Closet’, and the 2021 Thai BL ‘Fish upon the Sky / ปลาบนฟ้า’.

Family finished watching the current seasons of ‘Kaiju No. 8’ and ‘Sakamoto Days’, and watched the new ‘Superman’ film (2025). We also rewatched (first watch for the Teen) ‘Jaws’ (1975), ‘The Goonies’ (1986), ‘Legally Blonde’ (2001), ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut’ (1999), and ‘Tron’ (1982). We watched (rewatch for me) the first two seasons of ‘A Man Who Defies the World of BL’ because it was my turn to pick a show.

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