The Drifting Classroom volume 2

 In the second part of The Drifting Classroom, we see the characters battle yet again with a bug monster go through the black plague and deal with a horrible one-eyed god. The characters are pretty bright. If I was left in this situation when I was a kid I would have been cooked. I like the bond Takamatsu has with his mom and how she can connect with him through his crisis. So far this has been a promising Japanese comic series. I'm curious about Umezz's other stuff now. 

Book of a Thousand Days

 

This was an ok fairy tale book based slightly on Grimms' "Maid Maleen." It's about a princess and her maid being trapped in a tower together. This happened because the princess refused a man named Khasar. It soon becomes clear to the reader that the maid is the stronger of the two. She's the one who remains most stable when the food rations dwindle and the one who figures out how to escape. Eventually, the maid breaks free of the tower even defeating Khasar himself. However, she almost gets hanged for impersonating the princess. This was an enjoyable book though not as strong as Princess Academy which was a lovely book. I wish that the love story was more developed though. 

The Driver's Seat

 

This was a pretty good read from writer Muriel Spark. I read this over ten years ago and decided it needed another rereading. I remembered it being edgy and it lived up to its memory. The main character Lise is a mess and she's on a self-destructive journey. When she is on an airplane a man immediately changes his seat. It's just his gut instinct that something is off with this woman. The ending is unpredictable. I was expecting her to end up with the new age guy but the novella had a different direction in mind. I liked The Girls of Slender Means and it was more subtle. The Driver's Seat wants to push the envelope though and if anything it shows that Muriel Spark was a pretty versatile writer. I read it in a few days.

The Drifting Classroom volume 1

 

So far this has been an excellent anime from Kazuo Umezz. It's about an elementary that drifts itself from the world. The parents have no idea what has happened to their kids. Meanwhile, the adults and the kids are losing it, especially the adults. It turns out their nice lunch man is actually a mean guy. It's up to the kids to organize leadership positions and control the food supply. They also come upon unexpected situations like gigantic animals. So far this has been promising and I'm awaiting the rest.