Month: November 2025

Book Review – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino is a novel adaptation of the author’s 2019 film of the same name. Set in Hollywood in 1969, it tells the story of Rick Dalton, a washed-up TV actor who used to be a big star on a Western series from the late 1950s to the early 60s called Bounty Law. After a brief stint in movies, where he tried to elevate his career from TV star to movie star, Dalton is now relegated to playing guest spots as the “heavy” in different shows, where the next big faces in TV get to look good by defeating a recognizable has-been hero. As an opportunity to travel abroad and star in Italian Westerns is presented to him, Dalton must come to terms with where he is in his career and what he wants out of the future. Inter-cut with his story is a colourful, sometimes sinister, cast of characters who have all carved out their own little worlds in Hollywood and strive to make their own dreams a reality—or simply make do with what they’ve got.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – November 19, 2025

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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

I’m between books at the moment. Also, I’ve finished my reading challenge for this year! Everything until the end of the year is a bonus addition.

Recently Finished

Yesterday I finished reading Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, a novel adapting the director/author’s film of the same name. I’m really feeling an itch to review this book, as it made for a fascinating reading experience, especially after rewatching the film as a primer. Overall, I wouldn’t actually rate the book all that high, though it certainly isn’t a bad novel, but it’s a really interesting companion to the film, especially in how it fleshes out and recontextualizes certain characters. My early observation proved correct: this is not a novelization of the film, it is a novel adaptation, and weirdly, it only kind of tells the same story. I’ll probably write the review for next week, as I feel like I need to chew on this a little longer.

Reading Next

I’ve decided that the next book I’m going to read is Year of the Griffin by Dianna Wynne Jones, the sequel to The Dark Lord of Derkholm. It’s looking like this novel will be the last in my endeavours this year to finish up book pairs/trilogies I started years ago. I still have a few outstanding cases, but with this one done I’ll be happy to have wrapped up so much unfinished business this year. Despite clearly having some recurring characters from the first book, it’s looking like this novel will be fairly standalone. The cast was quite big in the first one, so I’m hoping this means it won’t be a big deal that I read it over three years ago, though it’s not as if I remember nothing about it. Time will tell.

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

WWW Wednesday – November 12, 2025

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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

I haven’t made great progress on it so far, but on Monday I started reading Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, a novel adaptation of the author/director’s movie of the same name. I’m really happy that I re-watched the film over the weekend before starting because even though I’ve only read the first chapter, it is immediately apparent that this is not simply a novelization; it is actively telling the story differently. The basics of the opening scene are essentially the same, but some of the characters present, where it is taking place, and the extent of the conversation are markedly different. In some cases, anecdotes that don’t show up until later in the film occur here, for example. The story still appears to be following the same trajectory of the film, but I’m really intrigued to see how it handles it differently and why Tarantino was compelled to author this version.

Recently Finished

Last week I finished reading The Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff. I have some mixed feelings about this book, though this isn’t from lack of quality on the author’s part. I really enjoyed becoming reacquainted with these characters after not having read Lovecraft Country since 2017, but I recall that first novel having more punch to it. It was more a collection of stories with a narrative through line, and each ended in their own satisfying ways while ultimately weaving together by the end. In this novel, the stories were more loosely connected episodes, and a few of them I don’t feel ended in a satisfying way, particularly the one with Atticus and his father. They just unceremoniously return while another story is in progress, with something from their story eventually serving as a plot device. I was still rather invested in the story leading up to the climax, but the book just didn’t feel as much like a cohesive whole.

Reading Next

I’m actually not sure what I want to be reading next. With so little time left in the year now, I will have to give that some careful consideration.

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

Halloween 2025 Recap

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Every year, I try to hand-pick a selection of books to read in celebration of the Halloween season. Previously, I have participated in Frighteningly Good Reads, hosted over at the blog Silver Button Books. Unfortunately, she did not run that this year. So, with no outlet to participate in to talk about what I read, I just wanted to do a brief rundown on the books I got through on my Halloween reading list for this year, especially since I’ve been less motivated to write full reviews as of late.

I hope everybody else had a spooktacular Halloween! 🎃Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (October 2025)

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In contrast to last month, I managed to show a modicum of restraint in October and didn’t pick up very many books, though it honestly wasn’t from lack of trying. Thrift stores can be a dice roll; sometimes you make great finds, and other times their selection is disappointing. Strangely, I’ve been seeing a deluge of the novels Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Not sure what’s up with that, but I digress. I visited thrift stores several times in October but found nothing worth picking up, with one small exception. So it goes. I also went to a library book sale and walked away empty handed. I really tried to buy books even though I’m running out of space. What am I doing?

Let’s see what I did pick up.Read More »