#country diary

[bonfires-n-hares]

Edith Holden (source)

[resetmyfeelings]

[dedanaan]

[jovianjournal]

February 2024 (comics time)

took me a while to finish this post because i actually had to work, for once.

Kimi ni Nidome no Sayonara wo / Un second au revoir -- Takogawa Takomaru, Tanaka Tomo, French translation by Essia Mokdad

I saw this manga in my local bookshop and i picked it up because the art looked really cool, but it's not the kind of story i usually read: it's a... psychological horror mystery with some supernatural elements? The story begins when a young man goes to the funeral of a childhood friend who had been missing for several years and whose body has just been discovered, hidden for all this time in their old high school. At the funeral, he gets attacked and wakes up in the body of his younger self, a few months before his friend's disappearance.

For me the main appeal is the art and the vaguely homoerotic ultra-toxic friendship, the plot is sometimes a little lacking, a little tropey. At the time of writing, there's still one volume to be published in France at the end of the year and i'm looking forward to the end of the mystery, because i've guessed some parts of it, but there's some time travel shenanigans that still need clarifying. overall i'd recommend it! (although: tw for child abuse & violence)

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Country Diary - Haru kara natsu e -- Ishino Aya, French translation by Gaëlle Ruel

Sometimes you read a book and you think the whole time "gosh i wish i was living in this story". A 2 volume series about a university professor who quits his city life to buy an old abandoned house in the countryside, where he befriends a local carpenter and learns to tend his field with the help of his farmer neighbours. Very Story of Seasons, very cottagecore fantasy. A sweet lil story about community and frienship and craft and nature and... idk it's just really cosy and charming.

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Blue Period (volume 14) -- Tsubasa Yamaguchi, French translation by Nathalie Lejeune

One of my favourite currently running series, about a fine art student and his art school adventures. Lot of really interesting stuff about art and being an artist. This volume focuses on some of the side characters, who are truly the strength of the story, a big cast of colorful weirdos.

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Dungeon Meshi -- Ryoko Kui, French translation by Sébastien Ludmann

Okay unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard of delicious in dungeon, who was adapted into an anime earlier this year. I'd been meaning to read it for a very long time and after watching the first couple episodes i finally bit the bullet... and binged the whole thing in a couple months. Exactly the Kind of Story I Love : fun fantasy with complex worldbuilding, great characters with complex relationships, expert comedic timing, beautiful art, complex themes in a silly wrapping... can't recommend it enough.

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Rivages Lointains -- Anaïs Flogny

A story about gay mafiosi in mid century america. Great art, great ambiance, i just wish there was at least one character i could root for. don't get me wrong i'm all for morally ambiguous anti heroes, but they either need to have some likeable traits or to be fun to hate. These guys are mostly just unsympathetic. I still really liked it tho!

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Squire -- Nadia Shammas, Sara Alfageeh, French translation by Florent Degletagne

ooooh this one was really good. it took me a long time to read, because i'd heard great things about it, but it's a thick one, and i was waiting for the right time to read it. Second world fantasy with middle eastern vibes. the authors are palestinian and cisjordanian (if i remember correctly) which add an extra layer on the themes of colonization throughout the story. I loved the secondary characters and i wish they got more time to be developed, but other than that it's a great story that felt extremely relevant.

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that's all folks, see y'all next time

[moonlight-and-moth]

source: theivorydolls

[archivitos]

カントリー・ダイアリー

Country Diary

Volumes 1-2

[rosechata]

on a hike through central switzerland

[powerlineprincess]

Down home girl. ilford 35mm. 2024 K.E.A powerlineprincess<3

[manga-and-stuff]

Source: Foreign Country Diary Ikoku Nikki 違国日記

by Tomoko Yamashita

[bonfires-n-hares]

source

[resetmyfeelings]

[jaime-has-shifted]

How me and the cavemen in my Stone Age dr look at each other after I accidentally sang a song under my breath instead of only grunting

[the-forest-library]

January - Edith Holden

[cottaegecore]

kafka was not enjoying july

[archivitos]

Country Diary illustration by Aya Isino

[weevilsdaily]

weevil 447