REVIEW: Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu (manga) by Junji Ito, translated by Stephen Paul

Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu is Ito's account of his and his wife's (or fiancee's, at the start of the volume) experiences living with two cats. J-kun (Junji Ito) starts off as more of a dog person than a cat person, but A-ko (Ito's wife) loves cats and plans to bring Yon from her parents' home to her and J-kun's new house. While she's at it, she also decides to adopt Mu, a Norwegian forest cat kitten.

Initially, J-kun is terrified of Yon, who he views as having a cursed face. It doesn't help that Yon also has what appears to be a face-like pattern on his back. J-kun falls for Mu almost immediately, but Yon grows on him as he realizes that he's just a cat with a weird face.

There are the usual cat manga stories about playing with them, sleeping with them, and dealing with their quirks, but with Ito's creepy and intense art style (and his love of poop jokes). Ito often draws himself bug-eyed, overreacting to everything, and his wife is usually portrayed as a creepily smiling presence with blank white orbs for eyes. It's a weird mix of humor and horrifying moments.

REVIEW: A Good House for Children (book) by Kate Collins

A Good House for Children is gothic fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This story alternates between two time periods, 1976 and 2017-2018. In 1976, Lydia is a live-in nanny for a family in the grip of grief. Doug, Sara's husband, died after a painful battle with cancer, and Sara has decided that the best thing for her children is to move from London to the Reeve, a large house out in the country. Lydia, who is particularly devoted to Sara's 8-year-old son Philip, goes with them. In 2017, Orla's husband Nick buys the Reeve, convinced his family will be happy and his son, who has selective mutism, will finally start speaking again. Orla allows herself to be swept up by his plans, even as she internally quakes at the idea of fixing up a house that size mostly on her own, since Nick will be spending most weekdays in the city for work.

Both Lydia and Orla soon find themselves uncomfortable with the isolation of the Reeve and being the ones pretty much solely looking after the children - Orla because Nick is physically absent, and Lydia because Sara is emotionally absent. Gradually, they both become aware that there's something off about the Reeve. It has a reputation with the villagers. Odd things keep happening, and the children have supposedly met others who claim to live in the Reeve. Lydia and Orla both become desperate to protect the children from whatever it is that inhabits the house.