As the quarantine continues and my fear of germs with it, I haven’t been getting books from the library even though they’re open for pick-up. I’m not really sure how you sanitize a paper book so I’m saving myself the anxiety. This means my only source of new literature is either to raid my husband's bookshelf or read ebooks on my library app. Ebooks are great however staring at a screen for so long is making my eyes extremely exhausted. Thus I’ve taken to raiding the hubby’s bookshelf.
My most recent venture into his bookshelf is “Darkstalkers/Red Earth Maleficarum” by Mami Itou. I liked the stories, the characters are definitely interesting and I would love to read more especially about the demon sword and the vampire hunter.
This is the first book I’ve read that is written in what to me is the backwards format, for people in Japan it’s their normal way of reading but for me it definitely threw me until about the last 15 pages. Reading the book from right to left rather than left to right. It was much harder for me to follow the story as it was my first time in that format.
My other issue with following the story was that the entire book save a few full illustration pages is completely in black and white. I never before realized how much clarity the color in the comic books provides. It’s interesting to see the contrast in how I had so much trouble reading a black and white comic, even though I’m used to reading novels in black and white with no illustrations.
This little experiment really got me thinking. We get so accustomed to things being a specific way. Whether it’s comics being in color or reading a book from left to right. Had this particular comic not been on my husband's shelf I may never have experienced reading in a different manner. That’s a sincere shame. As an avid reader I should be pushing the boundaries of what I know. Reading in new formats, reading new materials, not just new novels I haven’t read but pushing the limits of what I know and am accustomed to reading. We all should be.
There is so much hate in the world right now, hate for things and people that are different from us. I think that hate is stemmed from fear, fear of the unknown, we need to push our boundaries, we need to evolve and change and grow. We need to be more open to different.
“Darkstalkers/ Red Earth Maleficarum” by Mami Itou
https://darkstalkers.fandom.com/wiki/Darkstalkers_Red_Earth:_Maleficarum
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