books@cc.

A young, unnamed emissary is dispatched by the Bishop of Iceland “to conduct the most important investigation at that world-famous mountain since the days of Jules Verne”, i.e. to investigate em> Kristinihald undir Jökli, Christianity under the glacier.

Story by Akira Sugano, art by Etsumi Ninomiya

If the focus of the Mainichi Seiten! is the relationship between Taiga Obinata and Shuu Asuou, Kodomo wa tomaranai is about Yuuta Asuou (Shuu’s adopted son) and Mayumi Obinata (the youngest of Obinata family).

Mainichi Seiten! – Everyday is a bright day!
Story by Akira Sugano
Art by Etsumi Ninomiya

Shuu Asuou, an SF writer whom Taiga Obinata worked together with as an editor, turned up in front of Obinata’s household with his ‘brother’, Yuuta Asuou. Obinata brothers – Taiga, Juu Sanan, Akinobu Jinan and Mayumi – were shocked, even more when he asked whether they’d heard from Shima-san. ‘How did you about know Shima-nee?’ ‘How’d I know her… I’m her husband.’

A collection of insightful and understated autobiographical short stories named after elements by Primo Levi.

by Primo Levi (1971)

A collection of fifteen short stories, each centred on one character only. As overused it is for lame backcover reviews and acclaim, the phrase “superb storyteller” (and he, to some degrees, knows what a good story-telling is) is fully justified in the case of Levi: concise, analytical (but never dry) descriptions of details told in almost a sense of wonder, an appreciation, but never paraded in flamboyance.

by Olivia Judson
Metropolitan Books; 1st edition (August 14, 2002)

Arranged in such a way as to mimic sex advice columns, with all sorts of frustrated, confused creatures (although that would be an exaggeration — plants are hardly discussed) writing for an advice on their sexual lives, the book gives you up-to-date information on evolutionary biology of sex.

The Rwandan Genocide: The Killers Speak
by Jean Hatzfeld

Shying away from close analysis of the big picture, Hatzfeld instead focuses on the hands and foot of the genocide, i.e. common men and a few local leaders. The interviews are compiled into chapters, each focusing on specific aspects, interspersed with some overviews and notes by Hatzfeld.

A Harm Minimisation Approach
edited by Margaret Hamilton, Allan Kellehear, Greg Rumbold
Oxford University Press, Australia, 1998

An introductory book containing essays about drugs and drug use in Australia that challenge the “prevailing” (?) judgemental, often insufferably simplistic views about drugs and drug use, and discuss instead the current “harm minimisation” approach, aimed mainly for tertiary students, but readable for general public.