Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s been a hot minute since I contributed to one of these, and I’m always interested in putting together a to-read list, especially as my plans aren’t nearly as concrete as I’d like them to be. So, I’m going to lay out some books here to get a better feel for what I mean to read and what I feel I ought to read. Let’s see how many I actually get to.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?
Right now, I’m reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, the 29th Discworld novel and the 6th book in the sub-series about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Though this book was on the to-read list for this year anyway, as I’ve been reading at least a book or two from this series for literally a decade now, I picked this book right now because I’ve felt I’m in a bit of a rut with reading lately. That may be surprising considering the volume of finished books I’m about to mention, but I just haven’t felt as enthusiastic as I’d like. I figured this book would be a fairly safe bet, and for the most part that’s proven true. I’m only about 100 pages in right now, but already it’s thrown a curve ball at me, as I was not expecting Vimes to get thrown back in time. Already seeing what the city used to be like contrasted with how he has turned the Watch into a somewhat reputable police force has been good fun.
In the intervening two weeks I’ve actually read six different graphic novels, as I made an effort get through the pile I’d accrued from the library. The reason I didn’t post last week was because the first three I read were volumes six to eight of One-Punch Man by ONE and Yusuke Murata. Though I’m enjoying the series well, I really feel like I’m retreading story I already know, and I don’t have any notable commentary to give you here. After those, I read Goliath by Tom Gauld, a graphic novel adapting the story of David and Goliath from the Bible, told from the latter’s perspective. I really enjoyed the books quiet, minimalist approach to subverting the story and painting Goliath in a different light.
I also read Chivalry by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran, another graphic novel adapting a short story of Gaiman’s. I was compelled to borrow this book because of how much I enjoyed Doran’s illustrations in Snow, Glass, Apples, another such adaptation. I didn’t like the story of this one quite as much, but she once again created absolutely beautiful illustrations, this time going more for illuminated manuscripts. I hope there are more graphic novels like this. I also read Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës by Isabel Greenberg, a historical fiction graphic novel about the Brontë sisters (and their brother) and the semi-fantastical worlds they created together and the stories therein. It’s a fascinating thing to think about, as this really was just a bunch of siblings writing down their make-believe stories only for themselves, contrasted with the fact that three out of four of them are famous, enduring novelists today. It’s poignant in a way that I find difficult to put into more concrete words.
I’ve no idea what I want to read next. We’ll see where my mood takes me once I’m done with Night Watch.
Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
While January felt unusually long, February went by perhaps entirely too fast. I am getting sick of all the snow, cold temperatures, and darkness though, so I’m not too aggrieved by it. I think I got so carried away in January with buying books that I could’ve sworn I picked up many more this past month too, but it seems that’s not the case. I definitely indulged a little, but I actually showed some restraint while also taking a chance on some books.
Let’s see what I’ve got for this month.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! Once again, I am between books.
Last week, I read the first volume of Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. Overall, I liked it quite well, but with all the hype around it, I wish I liked it more than I did. Ain’t it always the way with hype. I think their more grounded approach to the character this time around is fun, presenting him with a lot more physicality and less hi-tech at his disposal. They do work in gadgets fairly well in their own way, however, as the story emphasizes Bruce’s genius and ingenuity as an engineer, able to do a lot with limited resources. His reworked backstory was interesting, I especially like the way a number of his typical rogues got retooled into childhood friends, but what I had trouble getting into was the scale of the villainy at play right from issue one, basically involving a shadowy, global organization destabilizing Gotham with extreme violence. I would have preferred it starting off more scaled down.
This week I finished reading When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen, and goodness I really wanted to like this book. I believe I said so last week, but I’ll say it again, I by no means think the book is poorly written, but it is perhaps weakly put together. It felt like it was a lot more interested in social commentary than it was building a compelling story. The social commentary does do a good job of appropriately setting the atmosphere and laying the foundation for some of the themes it tries to touch upon, but the characters and plot just felt bland and basic to me, respectively. Even when the ghosts finally show up, it felt more like a tour through ghastly scenes rather than anything that added narrative tension. So much unfolds and resolves off page as well, leaving so much feeling anticlimactic by the end.
Next, I’m going to get back to some library books I’ve let languish for the last month or so. Specifically, I’m going to starting reading through the next three volumes of One-Punch Man that I need to get to, starting with volume six.
Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
Muse with Me 