Month: October 2023

Book Review – Man, Fuck This House by Brian Asman

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Man, Fuck This House

Man, Fuck This House is a 2021 horror novella by Brian Asman. The story follows Sabrina Haskins, a disillusioned housewife who has just moved into a new home in a new town with her family—her husband Hal, who is a reverse mortgage salesman, and their two children Michaela and Damian. Desperate for a fresh start and something more from life, she is hopeful this change is exactly what she needs. However, as a strange presence starts making itself known within the house, Sabrina finds herself further losing her grip on reality, something which her precocious son Damian sees as an opportunity make mischief, invoking disaster and putting their troubled relationship to the ultimate test.

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WWW Wednesday – October 25, 2023

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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?

Currently Reading

Alien 3 First-DraftI’ve made some pretty good progress in Alien 3 by Pat Cadigan; I only have a little over 100 pages left to read, so I’m really hopeful that I will have it done by Halloween. I must say, my enthusiasm for this book has mellowed the further I’ve gotten into it. I don’t actually think that I like the changes they’ve made to how the Xenomorph works, as its ability to infect others seems so effective that it feels arbitrary who does and who does not become infected. I was hoping it was more of an on-the-fly adaptation than such a dramatic change. It’s making me think this story had a huge influence on future projects like the film Prometheus too. I’ve also learned that this book is based on the first draft, which had more of an action tone, while the second draft felt more like Alien with only a few creatures; I really wish the novel followed the latter.

Recently Finished

WitchavenAs per my plans, I managed to read through the entirety of The Haar by David Sodergren on Monday. Unlike my last, fairly recent read-through of a book in one sitting, I liked this book a lot, though it didn’t end up being what I expected at all. This will perhaps sound cornier than the execution, but it was infinitely more of a “my monster boyfriend” type of story than I was expecting, though it includes some exceptionally grotesque descriptions of gore and takes itself appropriately seriously. It really resonated with me as a “folk” horror novel, and I really loved Muriel as a protagonist. Though it wasn’t as scary as I was hoping, if you look below the surface of the story as it unfolds it is potentially a lot darker than it lets on, making for something perhaps more ambiguous than you might at first realize. This book has passed as a test reading, at any rate, and I now plan to buy more of Sodergren’s books in the future.

Reading Next

For now, I don’t have many concrete plans. I’m strongly considering reading through a digital copy of the art book for the video game Scorn that came with my copy, since I’ve recently beaten the game, and I still want to read “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman before Halloween too, but I haven’t decided on a full novel yet.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – October 18, 2023

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www_wednesdays

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?

Currently Reading

Alien 3 First-DraftI’m still in the middle of reading Alien 3 by Pat Cadigan; though I’m only about halfway through, I feel I’ve made decent progress over the last couple of weeks, all things considered. I didn’t get much reading done last week though, hence the absence of a post, due in large part to me going out of town to visit family and friends for my birthday and Thanksgiving. At any rate, I’m enjoying this book quite a lot, as I feel it follows up on the lore really well, expanding on it in some ways better than the film we got. There is one caveat that makes me happy this screenplay didn’t end up getting made, however, as for some reason Gibson’s creative choice with Ripley has been to stick her in a coma; nobody puts Ripley in the corner. Besides that, I’m enjoying its focus on Bishop and Hicks, who otherwise meet an abrupt end in the films, making the focus on them a nice AU treat.

Recently Finished

TombsI postponed getting this post written today because I was determined to finish reading Tombs by Junji Ito. I was hoping to do so this morning, but sleepiness got the better of me (I work nights, so it was bedtime). It does not come as much of a surprise that I quite liked this collection; the VIZ collections with the tag “Junji Ito Story Collection” on the spine have tended to be my favourite, and this one was actually better as a whole than the last couple. This collection had some stories I’d actually gone out of my way to read before, but I did so for a reason, as they’re quite good ones, like “Washed Ashore”. What I found best about this collection was how much its weirder stories were left unexplained, as explaining too much has been a problem with a lot of his other (I believe more recent) stories.

Reading Next

My Halloween reading plans are progressing nicely, though I’m a little worried about getting Alien 3 done on time. I’m also hoping I can get through all or most of The Haar by David Sodergren on Monday when I have a longer stretch of reading time. Even though we’re getting into late October, I still have plenty of time overall, so I’m optimistic.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – October 4, 2023

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www_wednesdays

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?

Currently Reading

Alien 3 First-DraftSince last week, I’ve started to read a couple of new books. First is Alien³ by Pat Cadigan (I don’t want to use the longer title that specifies what it is every time), one of the books I’ve chosen to read for the Halloween season. Right off the bat, I’m enjoying this a lot as an alternative third installment in the Alien film series, most especially because of a scene where a character behaves more sensibly in response to somebody getting a facehugger on their head than anybody else in the franchise; she essentially says “Damn, an alien ate Boris’s face,” and then shoots the facehugger and disposes of the man’s body through the airlock. I’m looking forward to seeing how this story develops.

on-a-sunbeamI also started reading On a Sunbeam, a graphic novel by Tillie Walden. I’ve had this book on my to-read list for a while now, though my interest hadn’t been piqued quite enough to actually pick up a copy. While I was picking something else up at the library a few weeks ago, I noticed they had a copy, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to make myself read it. So far it’s been an interesting enough coming-of-age story, telling two plot lines about a young woman’s present working with a restoration crew and past at a boarding school. I really like the stylistic depiction of space structures and vehicles, such as many ships resembling large goldfish.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week.

Reading Next

WitchavenI actually have a lot of more immediate reading plans on the go right now for October. The next book I want to make sure I read is The Haar by David Sodergren; I’m really curious about this author and it’s short enough that I think I can squeeze it into my reading schedule this month if I spend my time right. I really love the cover too, so part of me weirdly needs it to be good to coincide with that. I also intend to finally read Tombs by Junji Ito, a story collection that I’ve owned for many months now. I’ve been tentatively planning to read it for a while now but haven’t felt motivated. Now, it is at least on theme with the season.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

Reading Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. Since my decision to be less rigid with my reading goals this year led me to not posting updates whatsoever, I figured it would be a good idea to contribute to this week’s topic. Hopefully, this will produce a clearer picture of my goals and maybe even conjure up a few I’d otherwise be noncommittal about.Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (September 2023)

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It was with uncanny speed that September seemed to pass us by, though I’m not really complaining since it means that October and the Halloween season are now in full swing (today’s unseasonable warmth here notwithstanding). I allowed myself to indulge a little last month, in large part because I decided to browse some stores I hadn’t been to in a long while. I’m actually feeling especially good about all the books I picked up this month, such that I feel they’re all books I’ll read pretty soon.

Enough delay, on to the books!Read More »