The Lamy Safari and AL-Star fountain pens tend to be popular introductory fountain pens. They’re relatively inexpensive, easy to find, and are available in many different colors.

I consider the Safari and AL-Star very similar, as fountain pens go, their main difference being the materials. Whereas the Safari typically has a uniform and plastic material for the barrel, section, and cap, the AL-Star uses aluminum for the barrel and cap, and plastic for the section. They both feature the same triangular grip on the section, both use the same Lamy cartridges and cartridge converters, and the same nibs fit both.

The clip on the AL-Star that I had eventually weakened to the point that it was fairly wobbly. I couldn’t feel confident that clipping the pen in into a pocket would keep it in place (and often it fell off, with a couple of close calls near a toilet. I also found that the AL-Star was uncomfortable for me to hold, as the cold aluminum tended to drain the warmth from my hands.

The triangular sections on Lamy Safari and AL-Star fountain pens may be helpful for learning how to grip a fountain pen. Depending on your grip style, this may be more of a hindrance; I personally found it unobtrusive. I do find the section relatively small, lacking enough space for a comfortable grip.

If you want to try several different nibs, Lamy offers many nib width options for the Safari and AL-Star, and they’re relatively easy to swap. However, their Lamy’s nib guide demonstrates that their nib sizes tend to overlap with relatively wide margins. For example, you can purchase three fine nibs, and they can conceivably fall within range of an extra-fine nib to a medium nib. Typically the nibs are smooth, but sometimes it is possible to come across a scratchy nib.

I find the Lamy Safari and AL-Star fairly easy to maintain fountain pens. With a bit of gripping material (a small piece of rubber or anti-slip mats for kitchens work well), you can pull out the feed for deep cleaning. However, if you don’t have dried ink in your fountain pen, you can easily clean these fountain pens with a water and a bulb syringe. Remove the cartridge or cartridge converter, suck water into your bulb syringe, place the bulb syringe into the cartridge nibble, and gently squeeze. Depending on the ink that you last used, a single fill and flush from a bulb syringe may clean your pen; if not, repeat until the water runs clear.

Overall I find them to be fairly rugged and moderately inexpensive fountain pens. At least within the United States, it is relatively easy to obtain parts and supplies for Lamy Safari and AL-Star fountain pens. I recommend buying Lamy fountain pens from a reputable seller and avoiding Amazon sellers. As a fairly popular pen design, these fountain pens do attract counterfeiters.

The Majohn C4 is a larger-sized fountain pen. It is a Japanese-style eyedropper-filled fountain pen, which means that you fill the pen by using an eyedropper or syringe to suck ink from an ink bottle, and then deposit the ink into the pen’s reservoir. The pen features a valved shut-off, which looks like a filling mechanism, but can’t create a vacuum to fill the pen. Instead, it provides a way to prevent ink leaking from the pen when you aren’t writing, especially from air pressure changes due to flying or dramatic weather changes.

I find that the section’s length is on the shorter side, but I can still use the pen comfortably. The pen has a fairly wide girth, so it can feel too large to hold. I quite like the clear turned acrylic pen, so that I can view the ink sloshing around.

I find the nib pleasant; it is smooth, with a very light touch of feedback. I haven’t tried swapping nibs on this pen, yet, but I suspect that you could pull the nib out and replace with a similarly-sized nib (I think a number 6 nib should work).

I enjoy this pen. The large ink capacity is great for long writing sessions, or taking the pen on vacation, the nib is accurate to size, and the valve prevents accidents. I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a beginner’s pen, but it wouldn’t be far-fetched to consider it as a second or third pen.

A fantasy graphic novel in a post-apocalyptic world. After Touremekians descend upon the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaä leaves to meet other groups. She meets the prince of Pejetie on the way.

I thought it was interesting to see the bits left out from the movie, and with 6 more volumes I’m looking to see how the world expands.

Roberta feels that she loves a chess player. Her cousin, Damon, intends to entice her into debauchery and then to win her heart.

I thought this a strange book that resolves fine (happy ending and all of that), but left a strange aftertaste.

I tried reading this again, and I gave up through the vignettes of Law and Order episodes. I found that it is too weird to me, and therefore I have a hard time enjoying it.

I feel that the author tries to push on the weird way too hard. On the other hand, I feel that it is a collection of horror stories, and it does seem to deliver on that. It’s possible that this sort of horror isn’t to my taste.

Despite “love” in the title, this is not a romance. It’s book that uses the novel format to explore philosophical aspects of love starting primarily after the couple meets, that is, just when most books end at “happily ever after.”

The book primarily looks at thinks from Rabih’s perspective. It looks at arguments, children, infidelity, and so forth.

Overall I think it is an interesting thought experiment. I enjoyed it for the fact that it looks at a marriage after the wedding, and the fact that trials and troubles don’t stop for a couple just because they pledge themselves to each other.

Bodard’s novella explores autonomy in a court setting. Princess Thanh is a pawn in two people’s political games—her mother’s, and Eldris of Ephteria. Eldris claims to love Thanh but Thanh isn’t sure.

An interesting story.

Evie Harlow runs a bookstore, is nearing spinsterhood, and pines after a man that has no real interest in her. The Duke of Westborne, on the other hand, gets caught up in fervor betting that he can position her in a way to have a full dance card during the season, and thereby have folks recognize her for her beauty.

It plays to the rags-to-riches by duke trope fairly well. Seems like it lost a few details, but overall an enjoyable book.

Stephen Fry shares his version of Greek myths, reworking a few to create a sensible timeline&mash;which he acknowledges. And I’m glad that he did acknowledge his changes, because I wouldn’t know any better!

I felt that it’s a solid introduction to Greek myths for folks who missed out, or want a refresher with a touch of Stephen Fry in the mix. A fun book to listen to.

The first half to two-thirds of the book felt like a slog to me, because Williams chose to split her main characters again. I think I can deal with splitting the main characters as a plot device when it’s used sparingly. However, when used in every book in a trilogy, I find it exhausting. The characters don’t have much of a chance to develop together, and therefore few chances to repair relationships or grow to work together meaningfully.

To make it somewhat more dreadful, Tor spends most of the book believing that Noon is dead. And then tries repeatedly to die (he fails at it).

Noon, on the other hand, is whisked away by a powerful-seeming entity, setting up a reason for us to learn what happened to Noon’s tribe and the full extent of her power. I felt that the encounter raised more questions than it answered. It felt over-contrived.

The ending felt flat for me. The resolution was not satisfactory. And after reading it, I was convinced that book 2 served no real purpose to the story.

Underwhelming and disappointing. I do not recommend this series.