What I'm reading this week:

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
I love fairy tales. In a storage unit in my hometown I have two enormous leatherbound collector's editions of Hans Christian Andersen and Brothers Grimm fairy tales, and I miss them dearly. I'm not as fond of Brothers Grimm as I am of HCA, but I like them just fine. My favorites of this collection are "The Juniper Tree", "One-Eye, Two-Eyes and Three-Eyes", and "Snow White and Rose Red" which is vastly different than the classic Snow White.

Fairy Tales from Far Japan by Susan Ballard
This was an unusual book to pick up. I had to get it from the closed stacks section, and what I received was a canvas-bound, Microfilm reproduction of the original 1800s reproduction of a 1700s book, with folded pages. I have to say holding a Microfilm reproduced book is extraordinary.
Anyway, these are classic Japanese fairytales and they're wonderful. This volume comprises of everything from Momotaro to the tale of Susano, but because it was written in the 1700s by an Englishwoman a couple things aren't the best translation. For instance what is definitely a Tanuki (raccoon dog) in one of the pictures is described as a badger in the tale - but that's understandable, since English readers in the 1700s would have no idea what a tanuki is. Please pick this book up if you possibly can.

Tokyo Ghoul
Yes, I finally went and picked it up. I do have a complaint about this, first. The artist's painting is exquisite, but he can't draw hands or feet very well, and his sketchyness is a definite turnoff in some places. That being said, I am completely enthralled in the story. He uses just the right amount of darkness, turning something as simple as food into a very trying, traumatizing experience. I'll be sad if this turns out to just be a battle manga, but so far I am definitely seeing the appeal of this series.

Midnight Secretary
This M-rated manga from Shonen JUmp sister company Shojo Beat is... seriously underrated.
I didn't really know what to expect when I realiked it was going to be basically a vampire sex story, but it's actually far better than I expected. (Basically at this point I'm picking up any Volume 1 manga that looks interesting) The mythos they use is heavily based on the idea of devout Christianity in Japan, which is uncommon enough for a vampire to live there pretty peacefully. The vampire, a company executive, is a major playboy and is constantly inviting hot chicks over to drink their blood. His new secretary, dowdy-looking Satozuka Kaya, is there to make sure everything he needs is done perfectly - but he'd much rather have a pretty girl, until he realizes her value to him and how cute she really is under her glasses and tight-pinned hair. Unexpectedly worth a read.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
One of my favorite mangas simply because of its absurdity. Author Kumeta Koji is a satirist who uses this manga to point out the things we take for granted in everyday life, especially in Japanese society where commonplace things are actually very strange once you really think about it. The main character is unsuccessfully suicidal homeroom teacher Itoshiki Nozomu, whose last name can be written with the characters for "Zetsubou" - "Despair". The other characters are all bizarre and mostly female students - a girl who is obsessed with perfection, an optimist who sees the good side of even the worst things, a crazed stalker, a yaoi fangirl, and a girl who speaks only in rude and nasty text messages among them. Read this to lose faith in humanity.