March was another low-key month for book buying, though I’m once again wracking my brain thinking I’ve forgotten something. Oh well, with my slowed-down reading pace I’m not sure it’s a bad thing that I’ve got less books coming in. I’d say I’m surprised the month is already done, but it has felt weirdly eventful and strange for me, so I guess I’m happy to just be moving forward.
Enough vague rambling, on 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?
No progress made on Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur.
Regrettably, I wasn’t able to read much more of A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons since last week, though I did read a little bit of it. As such, I don’t have much more to say about matters of plot. A more physical threat has presented itself to the characters, but I’m not really hooked yet. To be honest, as the situation for the two characters has escalated I’ve realized that I really don’t like either of them very much so far. One is in too negative of a headspace to be all that likable and the other is such a terrible influence while feeling entitled to some sort of positive regard that I cannot stand them. There’s a way to write dirt-bag characters in an engaging way, and this isn’t it. I hope this manages to turn around in a meaningful way, but at the moment I honestly don’t care if both of these people die.
Nothing this week either. I had a wedding to go to out of town, so I was preoccupied for a good reason, but I do really need to start turning things around.
I’m really not sure what’s next right now, as I’ve languished in the same place for a few weeks now. I really just need to make progress on what I’m already reading.
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?
I have once again neglected Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur this past week, and we’ll honestly have to see if I pick it up again by next week as well, as I’m going to be a little more preoccupied than normal over the weekend.
I did, however, start reading A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons, which I’m intrigued by but the jury is still out on how I’m feeling. I’m not 100% into it just yet, which I suppose is an outlier position for me right off the bat, but I don’t dislike it either. The prologue was the most interesting part, which involves an excavation team blasting open a chamber in the ground in the middle of the desert. I’m looking forward to seeing how this intersects with the main characters. The characters, for their part, are a tad much at the moment. One is going through a divorce and the other is accompanying him on the road trip home, a situation that is generally sympathetic, but the way the characters are behaving is a little too unsubtle for me. I’m hoping I’ll get more into it as things properly kick off.
Nothing this week! Curses!
I wish I had more to update on this week, but things really have languished around here a little. I do really want to start The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht soon, no more waffling about it, but I have to finish Milk and Honey first. I don’t function well with too many books on the go at once. It’s weird that I know I have so many comic books, but when I try to think of one I actively want to read within the next seven days I draw a total blank. I may be too busy to get around to one anyway, especially since I’ll want to dedicate available reading time to Lyons’s book, but we’ll see if I get a sudden spark of motivation.
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 really wanted to contribute to this week’s theme because I quickly realized that a good many books that I’ve read over the past several years do not qualify. So, I endeavoured to ensure I could find ten. It was surprisingly harder than I thought it would be. I could have pulled from my TBR, sure, but I had more fun looking through what I’ve already read.
It’s late as all get-out as I write this, so let’s see if I can actually get it up while it’s still Tuesday!Read More »
The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett is the 22nd novel in the author’s comic fantasy Discworld series and the sixth in the Rincewind sub-series. Following the events of the previous novel, Interesting Times, Rincewind finds himself once again to be a stranger in a strange land, this time in Fourecks (or XXXX), a continent relatively unknown to the rest of the Discworld. It is a desolate and arid place full of surprisingly jovial people and terrifying wildlife. Though at first simply trying to survive as best he can, it would seem destiny once again has a mission for the put-upon, subpar wizard, one that will have him embarking on a odyssey across the landscape, making him a hero among the locals whether he likes it or not.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?
I’m still reading Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, but I haven’t read any more of it since last week. Also, I’m between books, so nothing else to say this week!
Over the weekend I finally finished reading The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, and I should be finished writing the review soonish. I’m generally less enthused about the Rincewind books, especially as they’re often tours of times/places on the Discworld, which involve a fairly formulaic style of humour, but for some reason this one really resonated with me. This is also notable since this seems to be the last one of that type, based on how it ends. Rincewind’s long, strange, multi-novel odyssey is finally over. I suppose the reason might be that this one especially didn’t take itself seriously, with a plot that I’m honestly puzzling over a little. I doesn’t really matter, all things considered, but I keep wondering…why did all this happen again?
Okay, I’m seriously going to start reading A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons soon. It’s a little harder to set aside time for, because I only have a PDF copy of it, but it’s officially next up for priority reading. It sounds like it’s going to involve possession and a spooky road trip across a desolate American Southwest, and I hope that includes isolated eerie incidents as the characters deal with their own issues along the way. We’ll see. I’m also still thinking a lot about starting The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht, but I’ll try to finish Milk and Honey first.
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?
Last night I got a little further along in Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, reading through the section of poems called “the loving.” It was enjoyably sentimental, sensual, and positive in contrast to the previous section, which dealt with pain and mistreatment. I don’t have much else to say about it other than I’m continuing to actively enjoy these poems, which is nice.
Since last week I’ve gotten much further along in The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett as well, thanks to my schedule being a lot freer than I was expecting it to be. I would have preferred I have it finished by now, but I wanted to make sure I got my review of We Were Liars finally posted. I’ve not mentioned before, but this book is very much another novel exploring the world cultures of the Discworld, invariably parodying something in our world (in this case Australia and Australian culture), but this time around it’s resonating with me a lot more for some reason. Rincewind and the Wizards have been on bizarre respective journeys, and while I still can’t tell where it’s leading over 80% of the way into the book, I’m eager to find out.
Over the weekend I decided to read Spiritfarer, The Artbook by Thunder Lotus Games, which is an art book put together by the development team behind the video game Spiritfarer. I just recently finished playing it, and I’m really surprised at the emotional impact it had on me. In it, you play as Stella, whose new job is to ferry spirits from a strange spiritual world to the afterlife, helping them move on in the process. I knew it would deal with death and grief going in, but it made me cry a lot more than I was expecting. I bought this ebook as a sort of thank you for the experience, and it included lovely illustrations and earlier concept art behind the characters I’ve gotten to know so well and unveiled more of their backstories.
Once again, I still intend to start A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons next, and it’s only a matter of time now since I’m so close to finishing The Last Continent. I have thoughts about some supplemental reads bouncing around in my head too, though, since I’m worried about staying on top of my reading this year. It’s a toss up between The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig and The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht. The former is newer and will likely be more thought provoking, but the latter I’ve had longer and I expect to be fun and light, especially since I’ve actually gotten a little more familiar with local birds. We’ll see if I make a decision over the next week or not. I should probably finish Milk and Honey first.
Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
We Were Liars is a 2014 young adult mystery thriller novel by E. Lockhart. The story follows Cadence Eastman, a teenage girl who is part of a large, wealthy, and influential family, the Sinclairs. She spends every idyllic summer on Beechwood Island, privately owned by her family and situated near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, upon which her grandfather built homes for himself, all of his daughters, and their families to stay in. She would spend much of these summers with her cousins Johnny and Mirren and Johnny’s best friend Gat, who is invited to come along every year. Together, the four of them are known as the “Liars.” The summer of her fifteen year, Cady had a whirlwind romance with Gat, experiencing a sense of love that dulled the pain of her parents’ divorce.
However, that’s all Cady remembers of that summer. She had an accident, though she doesn’t remember the cause, and now she suffers from crippling migraines. Gat was nowhere to be seen as she recovered in hospital, none of her family wants to talk to her about what happened, and it’s been two years since she last visited the island. Relishing the chance to reconnect with her cousins and her beloved Gat, despite the pain of him disappearing on her, she is determined to find out what happened to her that fateful summer.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?
Unfortunately, I somehow completely neglected to read any of The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett this past week. Better luck next this coming week, hopefully.
I did however start reading Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, which is a collection of poetry. I’d never read any of their work before, but I’m trying to get myself to read more poetry on occasion and something about this book caught my eye. The results from reading Hope is the Thing with Feathers were pretty bad, as I wound up taking half a year to read the whole thing, blitzing through more than half of it at the end of December, but I think that had more to do with my ability to appreciate Emily Dickinson’s writing. When reading hers, I would often read without retaining meaning, though this varied from poem to poem. Kaur’s poems being modern and written in free verse are allowing me to appreciate this book a lot more.
Over the weekend I read through Hop! by Joshua Barkman, an independently published little graphic novel by the artist behind the False Knees web comics. It’s not very long and I’d read it all previously when the pages were first posted as part of Inktober in 2021, but I loved going through it again all put together like this. It’s essentially a story about two crows taking a walk through the streets of Montreal, and it’s full of fun little gags, misadventures, and an effective amount of heart. I really love this artist’s work because the illustrations beautifully render the wildlife they depict, making them a pleasure to look at, but they’re also really funny and evocative despite the art style not being more abstract.
I’m still planning to read A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons next, but it’s still looking a ways off before I start it. I really need to get in gear with what I’m currently reading. My next graphic novel is still up in the air, as I may not start a new one in the coming week to focus more on The Last Continent.
Muse with Me 