Why would you doctor a photo to make a blank-faced woman look like she's crying? Doesn't that make her *more* sympathetic? To a normie, maybe it does. IMO, the ghouls in the White House probably thought the sight of her suffering would be *pleasurable*. Defaming her was just a bonus.

"Sociology faculty at Florida International University are outraged that their department is requiring them to use a state-approved textbook to teach an introductory course as part of the university’s general education curriculum." www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Why no, you dumb American, you can't have gov't-subsidized healthcare! Don't you know how expensive extrajudicial executions of nurses in broad daylight is?!

World war wasn't on my bingo card for 2026. No matter how hard I try, I'm just not pessimistic enough.

This holiday gift-giving guide recommends my book, 'Manga in America.' Wild. www.alibaba.com/product-insi...

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams #Bestof2025 Gripping and fantastically written story of what happens when ordinarily venal people are given extraordinary power.

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong #Bestof2025 A quirky yet exquisitely readable story that makes “the other” emphatically one of us.

Inequalities of Platform Publishing by Claire Parnell #Bestof2025 If the findings at times seemed predetermined, well, the story Parnell tells is no less urgent.

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan #Bestof2025 Critics who say it's his best book in years aren't lying. Gorgeous, layered, reminiscent of the best parts of Atonement.

No More Tears by Gardiner Harris #Bestof2025 Cautionary tale of what happens when the state fails to regulate capitalist greed in lifesaving industries. Feels personal to someone living in New Jersey.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett #Bestof2025 Second installment of a murder mystery series in a fabulously built fantasy world. Oddly appropriate callbacks to Star Wars.

Recently reviewed for CHOICE. www.umasspress.com/978162534906...

Wan, wintry quality of late afternoon light...

Twenty+ years and half a lifetime ago, I was all alone in my adoration of the Berserk manga by Kentaro Miura. Now they stock the omnibus edition in the nearest Walmart. And if it doesn't seem that surprising, it just goes to show how much US cultural expectations have shifted.

So happy to have found this! A list of all of my academic book reviews for CHOICE to date: go.gale.com/ps/advancedS...

As of this month, the Trump administration's policies have officially started making me poorer.

"Toxic empathy" is the prosperity gospel of the 21st century.

thnx lisa

Unexpected - History Today ("the world's leading serious history magazine") - plugging Manga in America: Transnational Book Publishing and the Domestication of Japanese Comics by @caseybrienza.bsky.social in its monthly The Reading List column. Like so.

Rest in peace, little guy.

Is this comment on a NYT op-ed for real, or just trolling?! www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/o...

2025: The year the US will take away healthcare from poor people to pay for tax cuts for rich people. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...

Today's NYT op-ed, wherein Chris Hayes says some important things about the media ecology and Trump's electoral victories that I've personally thought to be true FOR YEARS. Give it a read. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/o...

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue #BestOf2024 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722363...

Wicked (2024) #BestOf2024 www.wickedmovie.com

Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner #BestOf2024 www.harpercollins.com/products/sun...

Piglet by Lottie Hazell #BestOf2024 us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates #BestOf2024 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653438...

Hazbin Hotel Season 1 #BestOf2024 www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLM8LHS7

This, to me, is the same as making showtunes-singing lions look like REAL LIONS. No, I for one never wanted this. Just...no. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/a...

Manga in America by @caseybrienza.bsky.social if you're looking manga-wise at a flashback. This was published in 2016 but it took a long time to write (pre-2012 data) www.amazon.com/dp/B0192YLY9...

Ah yes, that particular flavor of bigot who says, "But YOU'RE different!" Loathsome. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/15/u...

News as entertainment. Even my non-Trump voting relatives are addicted, needed a new Trump news fix every $#@! day of Biden's presidency.

I have a #UnitedHealthcare horror story of VERY recent vintage. Buckle up.

If there ever was a prize for most striking and just all-around eye-catching cover for a book on anime/manga, the cover for @caseybrienza.bsky.social's Manga in America: Transnational Book Publishing and the Domestication of Japanese Comics would totally get the prize! Because:

Renewed my passport online earlier this month, estimated 4-6 week turnaround time, which, if you know the US gov't, typically means 5 weeks + 4 days. I had my new passport in hand IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS. What, is the State Dept afraid it's not going to exist after Jan 20? Or are they afraid FOR me?

I'm sorry, did you say that people are *laughing* at that line? Who the $#@! are going to see this show, anyway?! (Not musical theater superfans, obviously.) www.nytimes.com/2024/11/24/o...

This book review written by John A. Lent (formerly of Temple University), world-renowned comics scholar, was among the most glowing 'Manga in America' ever received.

Saw the Wicked (Part 1) movie today, and honestly? I'm just stunned by how good it was. It could be a classic that people will still be watching 50, 80, 100 years from now.

Recently reviewed for CHOICE: 'The Tale of Genji' through Contemporary Manga by Lynne K. Miyake.

CHOICE's review, written by John. A Lent, of the book based on my PhD thesis, 'Manga in America,' has been republished here: www.choice360.org/choice-pick/...

If a research interest in shotacon manga makes Karl Andersson a monster, what does it make Sharon Kinsella, exactly? Mother of monsters? ffs. Cartoons aren't real, folks.

In his new book, Karl Andersson says he met Sharon Kinsella for the first time at a shota-only event in Japan, where she encouraged him to apply for a PhD under her supervision at the University of Manchester. I'd been wondering about that.

The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft is so densely layered, and yet it's also so darn fun to read! Plus, lots of ruminating about literary translators and translation. www.bloomsbury.com/us/extinctio...

Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is my favorite novel read so far this year. Fabulous sociological imagination and relentlessly moral. It's also brilliantly, beautifully written. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714055...

Speaking as someone who has had significant health problems in her life, e.g. debilitating pain, it's losing my mind that still scares me the most. www.scientificamerican.com/article/covi...

SIGH www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/b...

'Prophet Song' by Paul Lynch was the first book I read in 2024. I thought the protagonist waited way too long to cut her losses, but I hate how the ultimate message--lives destroyed over and over while history marches on--seems to speak to the internat'l headlines this year.

When my self-curated feeds became ad-adulterated algorithms I all but stopped reading/watching. I was never big into linear television even as a child, and now it feels like the world of social media is trying to regress me back into infancy. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

O... M... GGGGGG!!!!! No joke. What a bravura performance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DVx...