On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 6:00 PM, jim bell wrote:

I always liked Orwell's 1984 and "Animal Farm." And Atlas Shrugged.

​Wow, I didn't know there is a very recent movie about "Who is John Galt?" !! :D https://www.atlasshruggedmovie.com The book "Atlas Shrugged" received the name "Who is John Galt?" in my country. My memories always recall this name before the original, sorry! :P I will always love "1984" and "Animal Farm", but both books gave me several nightmares when I was a kid. Also Fahrenheit 451. I was always dreaming about books being burned...

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 1:31 AM, Shawn K. Quinn wrote:

It's not a "read" per se, but the lessons taught from it are no less powerful: the anime series Nobunaga the Fool. There was a manga made from it as well, if you really prefer paper (though it might differ from the anime series).

​There's some time, I'm trying to remember the name of a pretty disturbing manga (Japanese comics) series to recommend it to Ju@n. ​ He always ​gave me great suggestions of reading, and I bet he will like this one, even being a heavy political drama. I read only the beggining of this novel when visited my parents and I always forget to ask its name. I stopped my reading because I know the end will be very tragic. Dreamers and their dreams are usually destroyed in the end. Two little boys completely lost, poor, with no family, really disappointed with all the corruption, with all the injustices, decide to sacrifice their personal lives to change the world. They make a deal, one of them would be a politician to have strenght enough to directly affect the laws and the government, and the other would always be on the backstage, giving support to their childhood dreams, but also would rule in another aspect of the corrupt society. He becomes a criminal, a great and cruel gangster. The beggining of this sad and bitter story shows their dawn and how corruption exists in all the places. They grown up together like two brothers, and try to save the world of the corruption because both knowed what was living on the streets, starving, suffering in a place with no compassion or Justice even for the children... but you can see the corruption slowly destroying their dreams... Slowly destroying both... :(

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 2:59 AM, juan wrote:

Sounds pretty interesting. I didn't understand if it's a text-only book or a manga though? Knowing the title would be nice too =P

​It's a manga. You know I love comics. :) You also know I have a weak for charming Germans. Maybe I am flirting with Dr. Alzheimer, but I don't remember it too, hahaha!! ;D​ ​I am sure you would like the heavy social and political criticism.​ It links the worlds of crime and politics in a very sad and bitter way, mentioning the corruption and the hypocrisy in all sectors of the society, in all the institutions, schools, churches, events, media... They don't believe in a God that permiss this corrupted world, only trust each other, and are loyal to their childhood promise *at any cost*. This point is pretty sad. They use the people to rise, my dear. While following their dreams of a better world, they slowly become the kind of people they hated... You know why I stopped my reading. :((

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 3:44 AM, juan wrote:

got it I think

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_%28manga%29

​Hmm, I think I read a kind of more recent (after 2000) lecture of this story, dear. Very similar, but not the same plot and the same artist, at least. I like Ikegami's illustrations a lot and tried to make one of his Yakuza paintings some years ago.​ ​ He has great works about Yakuza tattoos and used some of them in Crying Freeman story. This story is more or less, but the artistic work is beautiful (+18 yo). :)​ While following their dreams of a better

​ ​ world, they slowly become the kind of people they hated...

A logical outcome...

​Oh, Juan, please, why does always need to end this way?​ ​ No darkness is darker and sadder than the innocent soul's corruption, the dark night of the soul... ​ :((​

Hello, I've been lurking around this maillist for a long time but I haven't really contributed with anything. I really like the discussions, arguments, recommendations of the group. Very thought provoking. I'm looking forward to participating a lot more in the conversations :) If not the same, the manga Ouroboros is very similar to what Cecilia described. Another manga recommendation is the the historical work of Sentarō Kubota - Bokko ( translated as "Mohist attack" ) which narrates the story of a monk from the clan that preaches Mohism. On Feb 3, 2017 12:47 AM, "Cecilia Tanaka" wrote:

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 1:31 AM, Shawn K. Quinn wrote:

...

It's not a "read" per se, but the lessons taught from it are no less powerful: the anime series Nobunaga the Fool. There was a manga made from it as well, if you really prefer paper (though it might differ from the anime series).

​I thought it was a coincidence of names, but the Nobunaga mentioned is really Nobunaga Oda! Wow, this anime must be pretty crazy! :D​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobunaga_the_Fool

I will watch the anime this weekend! Thanks, Shawn! :D