The Sigh of Suzumiya Haruhi

Title: The Sigh of Suzumiya Haruhi
Author: Nagaru Tanigawa

What it's about: Haruhi Suzumiya's club the SOS Brigade has been in existence for around six months now, and the school's cultural festival is coming up. Haruhi decides that she wants the Brigade to do something exciting for the festival and comes up with the idea of creating a movie. Haruhi is, of course, the director, and she plunges into the task with the same reckless enthusiasm that powers all of her endeavors, leaving Kyon and the other three Brigade members no choice but to follow along helplessly in her wake. However, as Haruhi and the Brigade film the movie, Haruhi's vision for the film starts to get confused with the real world, and supernatural phenomena start creeping up everywhere. Kyon and the others have to figure out what to do before reality is permanently altered!

What I thought: And to think that I used to rank this book as one of my least favorite in the series. Well, I think that seeing the anime adaptation of Sighs when it aired this summer helped my perception of it. Great adaptation. But the book is great too. We get to hear a little more about the various theories about the nature of Haruhi and her powers, for one thing, and there's some nice foreshadowing for book four, The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon's references come across clearly and are very amusing, and you gotta love Haruhi's baseless rhetoric. All in all, this is an amusing story that continues to develop the world of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Overall: Great story, great translation.