Book buying was a little more conservative this month, though that’s also relative to last month, where I went on some sort of spree for some reason. This is at a time when I’ve been reading a lot loss, thanks to my working two jobs. Feels like the freelance editing is going well, though, so I just have to balance things better to get more reading done.
Enough carrying on, let’s get to the books!Read More »
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Since last week I’ve made some decent progress on Jingo by Terry Pratchett, about 110 pages to be specific. I’m enjoying this book quite a lot, which is shaping up to be a decent mystery that seems to be about conspiracy to start a war. What I’m finding most intriguing and hilarious is the fact that the inciting incident that sparked tension between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch is the emergence of an island in the middle of the sea, which both city-states try to lay claim to. We haven’t seen much about it yet, but at first I was expecting it to be analogous to Atlantis. It would seem, however, that it’s actually a lot closer to R’lyeh. I’m curious how much this will factor into the story or just be a gag, as I’m not sure if I want an eldritch horror actively thrown into the mix.
Though my birthday is not for over a week yet, a friend of mind gifted me with three new volumes of Berserk by Kentaro Miura. So, last night I decided to read through volume 31, since it’s been a little while since I continued the series. I enjoyed it a lot, though it was a more action-heavy volume. This is of course all well and good, but it also means that there wasn’t a lot of forward movement in the plot. A battle broke out at the harbour while they were trying to flee the city, and by the end of the volume they’re still in this harbour. This book further cemented the fact that there are two significant villainous forces at play in the story at the moment, though, and I really like the way this is making the overall conflict less clear-cut.
With the Halloween season upon us, it’s only a matter of time before I start my first spooky read (after I finish Jingo). For me this year, that book will be The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, a haunted house story that I’ve had a copy of for a little while now and have had my eye on for even longer. It’s not especially long, so I’m hoping I can get it finished quickly and move on to at least one other horror read for October. The freelance editing work is feeling easier and easier as I get more of it done, so hopefully I’ll be able to better balance out work and reading in the near future.
Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
Axiom’s End, the first book in the Noumena series, is the debut novel of author and video essayist Lindsay Ellis. A science fiction tale about first contact, the story is set in an alternate history 2007, shortly after a document known as “The Fremda Memo” has been leaked online, which seems to confirm that the U.S. government has had first contact with extraterrestrials. This leak was only a short while after a supposed UFO crash-landed in California, lending credence to what the document suggests.
Cora Sabino, a hapless college dropout trying to make her way in the world, is the daughter of Nils Ortega, the infamous whistleblower-in-hiding who leaked this world-changing memo. She and her family want nothing more than to sever their ties with Nils, who has routinely put his “transparency advocacy” before his family. His notoriety makes that impossible, however, keeping the eyes of his fans, the media, and the FBI on them all too often. After yet another impact event has people breathing down their necks like never before, Cora’s loose connections to it all bring her face-to-face with a terrifying alien visitor.Read More »
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Since last week I’ve started reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett, the next book I need to read in the Discworld series, though unfortunately I’ve only gotten about 40 pages in. It has been an even more eventful and busy week than I was expecting, so progress on all things other than work was limited. No progress on the collection of Dickinson poems either. Nevertheless, I am enjoying this latest book in the City Watch sub-series so far. Pratchett’s lampooning of jingoism is transparently humorous so far, and I’m really more interested in where exactly this story will be going. I actually know very little about this book and being so far along in the series, it’s nice to have some unpredictability.
Oh goodness, I finished so many books this week, you wouldn’t believe it…
I’ve got some books lined up that I intend to read for the Halloween season, but that’s not quite upon us just yet. In the meantime, I’ve been continually thinking about reading the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I haven’t read through this series in well over 10 years, and back then I only had the black and white paperbacks. I think it’d be a lot of fun to revisit this series and enjoy it in glorious colour. Since it’s a bunch of volumes packed into one place, I’m sure it’ll take me longer than graphic novels normally do, but I’m really keen on reading it anyway.
Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. I can’t believe I have to start thinking about my Fall to-read list already. I did a decent job getting through the Summer list I posted, but some cuts had to be made as my schedule suddenly got busier.
It was pretty easy to conclude what I’d need to be getting to this season, as I still have a handful of personal reading challenges that need finishing up. Since autumn lasts until nearly the end of December, these are essentially the books I mean to get to between the start of October and the end of the year.Read More »
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Nothing, I’m in between books at the moment. Once again I haven’t touched Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson either. When I have the time to read, I just don’t turn to it.
Over the weekend I managed to finish Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis, and I must say that I ended up loving this book more than I expected to. I didn’t expect to dislike it or anything, but it struck an unexpected chord with me. I guess I’m just a sucker for inhuman characters, though I do think the dynamic between Cora and the alien Ampersand is very compellingly written, regardless of my inclinations. It serves as a great first contact story and an exploration of personal connection between two people. Intimate, but not exactly romantic. It wasn’t without its issues, as I feel a few threads didn’t go anywhere when I was expecting them to go somewhere, but the heart of the story was so good it didn’t matter too much to me. I’m really excited for the forthcoming sequel now. I will hopefully have a full review up soon.
Any day now I’m going to start reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett, it’s just a matter of making time to read, which is harder to do when other hobbies often take precedence during downtime. With only two weeks left in September, I’m afraid it’s very unlikely that I’ll even get to start A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland, let alone finish it before the start of October. It’s not formally among my Halloween reads for the year, so it’ll probably have to be bumped until November or December. It’s on my yearly to-read list, so I’ll be trying to make extra certain that I finish it before 2022, regardless.
Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Still no progress made on Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. She’s going to start haunting me.
I’ve gotten nearly 100 pages further in Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis since last week, and considering how much less reading time I’ve got right now, I’ll call that a win. I am sincerely loving this book so far, as the potential friendship between Cora and Ampersand, the alien for whom she serves as interpreter, is a slow burn, if it’s developing into a friendship at all. There was a wonderfully touching scene between the two that filled me with all sorts of warm, mushy feelings. It’s just so effective when someone/something tries to do something sincerely kind, despite not quite understanding how to do it right. The only real negative with the book so far is that Cora’s strained mental state is so effectual that I’m actually starting to find it a little exhausting.
This book feels like cheating, because it’s really just a picture book, but I’ve read through art books and comic strip collections before, so to heck with that. I read through Animals of a Bygone Era by Maja Säfström, which I feel like I’ve not shut up about over the last week or so. I picked it up during my first trip to a particular museum a few weeks ago. I knew I had to get it because I absolutely fell in love with the art. I really enjoy quirky or “ignorant” styles of art and this book filled that niche for me perfectly. I also love natural history and relish the idea to learn more about ancient life (this book deliberately excludes dinosaurs). This book made for such a nice, chill read.
I recently got myself a copy of Jingo by Terry Pratchett, the next Discworld novel I need to read, so I’ll likely be starting that soonish. I’m hoping I can finish Axiom’s End by next week. Fingers crossed! I really do hope I can get to A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland this month too, but I refuse to let my Discworld progress slide, so it’ll have to be bumped if need be. I should probably read a comic or two soon as well, but I’m drawing a blank in terms of what I’d want that to be, other than single issues that I don’t count. We’re still working things out in these parts.
Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. For this week’s post, I’m afraid I may have bungled my interpretation of this week’s topic. I read it as referring to myself, but topics in the past used first-person references for that. Oops…
Maybe these books will put a smile on your face anyway, but when I put together this list before I started actually writing this post, it was under a different pretense, so take that for what you will. My specific criteria for these were books that I still think about, maybe just an aspect of or moment from it, that makes me laugh or feel some facet of joy. Maybe both, who’s to say, but for some of these they’re smaller, fragmentary things that have stayed with me.Read More »
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
No progress made on Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, I’m sorry to say.
Since last week I’ve gotten to page 117 of Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis, so unfortunately progress has been very slow. I’m still adjusting to the new freelance job, but the good news on that front is that I’ve gotten past the training period, so it’s great that I’ll get to continue doing editing work for the time being. Things have taken a greater turn in the novel since last week, despite the limited progress. Cora has now formed an alliance of sorts with an alien who is searching for those of his kind in human custody, both of them on the run with little at their disposal. I’m really enjoying their dynamic and the shift in their relationship, which was initially more frightening and forceful. I’m especially fond of just how alien Ampersand (the alien) is too, in body and mind, while still being able to broker communication.
Nothing this week, sad to say. Reading really has taken a hit. I should probably try to get through a comic or two soon, just so I don’t fall too far behind on things.
I did have a summer TBR planned out that was meant to extend until the end of September, but with the change in employment situation I’m not sure that I can commit to my original plans. To stay on top of things as much as possible, however, I will say that I tentatively plan to read two other books this month. The first will by Jingo by Terry Pratchett. I intend to read one of these every quarter and I can’t be falling behind on that. The other is A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland. I continue to suspect this book will be a nice lead-in for the Halloween season, but would like to get it read before October to make room for other spooky books. So there we have it. Hopefully I can get to these. I really just need to rearrange how I spend my spare time.
Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
Muse with Me 