Full title: Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou Author: Kougyoku Izuki Illustrator: Isono Hiroo Label: Dengeki Bunko Year of publication: 2007 Pages: 267 What constitutes a light novel? It's a question you have to ask yourself when reading Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou, because there's no hint of manga style on the cover, and the inside of the book has no illustrations at all. It is, however, published by a light novel label, and Wikipedia has it classified as such, so who am I to argue? Either way, the novel is a wonderful literary work, light or not.

Full title: GOSICKs - Haru Kitaru Shinigami Author: Sakuraba Kazuki Illustrator: Takeda Hinata Label: Fujimi Mystery Bunko Year of publication: 2005 Pages: 349 If there's a "Dumbest Title" award, this one has a great shot at taking home the prize. It's probably a pun on "gothic", but as a Westerner, it just feels wrong to me. Go sick? What? At least this particular volume's wacky name is mellowed by the poor little 's' that follows it, indicating that it's not a part of the series proper, but rather a collection of short stories that take place here and there on the time line.