04.01
Randomness.
Instead of writing today, I read two books. Rocket Girls and its sequel Rocket Girls: Last Planet by Housuke Nojiri. (Note: Excluding tax, the Kindle edition is cheaper than the iBookstore ebook, and both are half the price of the paper edition. I actually bought the first book from Borders before they closed and that cost even more 
but it was an impulse buy – that took me a year to get around to reading. )
It’s about a girl who goes looking for her father in the Solomon islands and ends up falling into a job as an astronaut. The second book covers her further adventures along with several other girl astronauts.
Very science fiction YA feel to it. Sort of Heinlein-ish if you got rid of the rugged individualist, boy and his dog themes. So, basically, a Heinlein YA science fiction book (Podykane of Mars, Rocket Ship Galileo, etc.) if Heinlein were Japanese. Sort of.
The books are from 1995, and 1996 respectively. Took 15 years for an English translation to make to this side of the planet. Supposedly there’s an anime series based on the two books, which are very popular in Japan.
I thought they were very good in translation, even if they would be G rated, mostly. And it’s nice to have something to read that wasn’t full of vampires, werewolves, and assorted other supernatural creatures.
