Daily Archives: February 13, 2010

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

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What a surprise this book was! After reading Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games and Catching Fire I decided to do a little looking up and discovered that she had written this series first.

This is the story of Gregor and Boots. Gregor is an 11 year old boy living in NYC in an apartment building. He has a sister that’s away from the summer and a baby sister, Boots, who is adorable and featured prominently in the story.

One day, Boots and Gregor fall through a grate in the laundry room and end up in a place called the “Underworld”. There he meets fantastic creatures such as you might find living under the city. 4 foot tall cockroaches, speaking bats, 6 foot tall rats and more.

Although the book is written for pre-teen/early teenagers it’s fascinating and thoroughly absorbing even to me as an adult. Gregor is to relate to, there’s humor throughout the book, a fun prophecy, a quest and I even found myself crying a little over a cockroach. Collins’ flare for adventure and action scenes keep the book moving at such a fast pace I was surprised to find through with the book so quickly.

Highly highly recommended for those boys and girls who enjoy reading fantasy and want a new world and a new hero to fall in love with.

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Oishinbo, Volume 7 – Izakaya: Pub Food by Tetsu Kariya

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This is the final volume in the Westernized Oishinbo series. I’ll talk a little bit about how I felt about the series on the whole after I talk about this volume a bit.

This volume deals primarily with pubs or as they are referred to in Japan, Izakaya. Everything is dealt with, from sardines to western gratins. I have to admit, the sardine cakes (with mashed bones and all) did not look appetizing to me, but.. who knows, some day I might give them a shot!

The author reveals himself in the middle section to be a bit shy and not at all outgoing. He also speaks of a manga artist named Yu Takita and how wonderful Takita’s illustrations were. He drew “affectionate illustrations of the everyday life of the common people”. Unlike Tetsu Kariya however, Yu Takita enjoyed going into an izakaya alone. He’d enter into the place and befriend a complete stranger sitting at the table.

Like the other volumes in the series there were some very poignant moments in this one. The birth of twin daughters to the main character, the challenge to step out and find an izakaya of your own.. hinting that there just might be an adventure in it for you.

Overall the series could, at time, seem a little bogged down with information and descriptions. Tetsu Kariya is very detailed when it comes to describing technique and he gets a little too caught up in names sometimes, so it feels as if you are attending a class (without the textbook) instead of reading for pleasure. But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the series and am walking away from it with 150% more knowledge about Japanese cuisine then I had going into it.

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