Category: WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday – February 11, 2026

Ryan3 Comments
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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

Since last week I started reading Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung; I’m pretty close to finishing it, as I’m a little past the halfway point. I’m hoping to have it done fairly soon, especially since I need to get it back to the library before it’s overdue, since I can’t renew my loan. I’m enjoying this book quite well, and I must say it contains some of the most unique ghost stories I’ve ever read, though I don’t find them to be particularly scary. Weird and strange is right up my alley though, so I’m not complaining. Having read a few translated books from Asia now over the last year or so, mostly from Japan and now this one from Korea, I’m noticing something odd. Maybe it’s just a quirk of the genres I’ve been reading, but they all seem written in much more of a formal style that keeps the reader more at arm’s length from the characters and their more inward experiences. I have to wonder if this is a side effect of translation not capturing the full depth of the original language or just cultural differences in how they write prose.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week! I’ve been needing to coordinate reading time differently after a resurgence of work that I’m grateful has continued.

Reading Next

Though there are a number of my own books I really ought to get to, I’m currently a little buried under a mountain of books I’ve borrowed from the library. I have three more volumes of One-Punch Man to get to and the first volume of Absolute Batman, but I think what I will endeavour to read next is a graphic novel adaptation of Moby Dick by French author Christophe Chabouté. I read the original novel last year and feel compelled to see how it is adapted visually. Though I appreciated the novel as a literary classic, I had a bit of trouble reading the dialect, so I’m hoping I will better be able to appreciate the story in a visual form. With that in mind, I hope it sticks closer to the source material, though I imagine it will take some liberties in being an adaptation.

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

WWW Wednesday – February 4, 2026

Ryan2 Comments
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

Nothing! I’m currently between books. Work got unexpectedly busier during the latter half of January, so I found myself not having time to post one of these for the past couple of weeks.

Recently Finished

Firstly, last week I finished reading Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel, a graphic memoir about the author’s life and relationship with her mother. I enjoyed this book well, particularly how organically it represented the nuances of Bechdel’s relationship with her mother, which is fraught with issues but by no means completely volatile. It fascinatingly delves into a lot of psychology as well, through therapy sessions and examinations of specific literature, which I actually had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it was indeed interesting and insightful, but I found it made the overall reading experience loftier than I was expecting, especially as I often felt I couldn’t fully appreciate/undestand the theory I was being presented with.

I also read through Ice by Anna Kavan, an apocalyptic novel about a man continually searching for a beautiful young woman with whom he is obsessed, the world slowly crumbling around them due to persistent conflict while the aftereffects of a weapon of mass destruction slowly cover the globe in ice. I’m plagued by ambivalence with this book, as I can appreciate a lot about it as a literary work but found its hallucinatory stream of consciousness and indistinct narrative a little difficult to get into. It especially had a tendency to have certain events unfold, only to pull back and vaguely indicate that what you just read for a page or so was (at least partially) fabricated by the narrator. If I wasn’t on my toes while reading, it was easy to get lost in what was going on, especially as no people or places are named. I can see how this approach might work for others, and it does deal with some themes in an interesting way, but I found it more laborious than I was hoping.

Reading Next

My next read is Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, a library book I specifically requested they purchase that I’ve since had borrowed for a while. As such, I only have about a week to read it before it’s overdue, but I’m hoping I can get through it in a reasonable amount of time. The book follows a night shift employee who works at a mysterious research centre that houses cursed objects, each item carrying with them their own dark history. I originally came across this book in a horror bookstore in Toronto, and while I showed some restraint in not picking it up, I’m glad I was able to get the library to do so, though if I like it enough I may end up buying myself a copy anyway.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 14, 2026

Ryan1 Comment
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’m currently in the middle of reading One-Punch Man Vol. 5 by ONE and Yusuke Murata. I’ve been on something of a reading break this past week or so, as I often do at the start of the year, though strictly from novels and the like, just to give myself a bit of a refresh. Comics, especially a parody action series like this, make for lighter, fun reading, so I don’t feel like I’m cheating myself out of my break. I’ve watched the first two seasons of the anime before, so this is really just a refresher on a story I already know. The third season recently released and is apparently rather subpar, so I decided I’m not waiting on that anymore and will just borrow the manga from the library.

Recently Finished

Like I said, I’ve been reading One-Punch Man, so I have four other volumes under my belt. Other than that, I started the year reading Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. Despite my desire for a break, my reservation for this book at the library came in and I didn’t want to keep a high-demand book away from the other people waiting for it, so I made sure to quickly read through it. This was an excellent nonfiction book that is wonderfully accessible to outsiders to the topic while also being very informative. As the title suggests, the book is about humanity’s history with tuberculosis, the impact it has had on society, and our ever-changing cultural attitudes toward it. Intertwined with this history is the story of Henry, a young man Green met in Sierra Leone, whose story helped influence the writing of this book. I highly recommend reading it.

Reading Next

What I decide to read next may change on a whim, but right now I’m inclined to start Ice by Anna Kavan once I’m finished with my break, a novel about a man pursuing a mysterious white-haired girl across a frozen, post-apocalyptic landscape.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 31, 2025

Ryan1 Comment
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

Nothing! I’ve finished the last of the books I wanted to get through this year.

Recently Finished

Yesterday I finished reading The Spirit by Thomas Page, a 1977 horror novel recently republished by Valancourt Books. I ended up liking this book a lot more than I was expecting to, especially considering its fairly straightforward premise of hunting a Bigfoot that has a penchant for decapitation. It’s not that that didn’t sound like a good time, I just didn’t expect a lot of depth from it. Though the Bigfoot hunt is very real, it’s much more of a stark depiction of obsession and determination, the creature becoming something of a white whale for one of the characters, offering an altogether more spiritual story than you’d expect from a pulpy-looking horror novel, ruminating on self-discovery and finding purpose in life. I’m really happy that my reading endeavours for the year had such a pleasantly surprising and satisfying conclusion.

Reading Next

I’m a little at odds with circumstances at the moment because I’ve been itching for a bit of a break from reading prose in particular. I do intend to start reading One-Punch Man in the new year, which is manga and thus wouldn’t interfere with this break, but before I do I will be reading Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, a nonfiction book about the history of tuberculosis infection and treatment and its ongoing impact on humanity. I got this from my library a couple of weeks ago because my reservation happened to become available, but I wasn’t quite ready to read it yet. So, I’m going to try to read it quickly at the start of next month before I take my short break from prose, just so I’m not withholding the book from the next person waiting for it.

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

Happy New Year!

WWW Wednesday – December 17, 2025

RyanLeave a comment
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

At the moment, I’m about 40 pages into The Spirit by Thomas Page, a 1977 horror novel recently republished by Valancourt Books and featured in Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix. So far, it has an old-fashioned feel in how it throws us into the premise without much buildup. I don’t know how common this truly was, but for what it’s worth, this is what I was expecting. We’re given some background on the characters, but otherwise it dives right into our one protagonist, “The Indian”, beginning his vision quest and the other, a hunter named Raymond Jason, already in the wilderness with three other men, their encounter with Bigfoot imminent. I’m not very far in so I’m reserving my judgement, but I feel I could take it or leave it so far, as I don’t feel particularly hooked by any of the characters or their respective pursuits of the creature.

Recently Finished

Last week I said I wanted to read another graphic novel but hadn’t settled on one. Since then, I came across Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown at the library, a biographical graphic novel about the professional wrestler Andre the Giant. Though I didn’t want to buy it, it had been passively on my radar for a while, so it was a little exciting to come across it at the library. At first, I found it a little unfortunate that it didn’t look to be going into that much depth, a limitation of the medium perhaps, but my attitude turned around by the end. While by no means as exhaustive as biographical prose, it did a great job of creating a narrative portrait of his entire life, highlighting where he came from, the highs and lows of his career, the almost mythical tales from his life and career on the road, and the daily struggles he endured due to his condition, despite how much it contributed to his fame.

Reading Next

Nothing for the rest of the year! I’m planning for The Spirit to be my last read of 2025. I need a little break.

WWW Wednesday – December 10, 2025

RyanLeave a comment
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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

At the moment, I’m about 100 pages into reading Why I Love Horror, edited by Becky Siegel Spratford, an anthology of essays from different horror authors about horror literature. I’m enjoying it well so far, though they’ve been fairly similar in theme so far, talking about life experiences growing up as well as media influences that turned them on to horror. It’s interesting enough, but I’d appreciate a shift. Fortunately, Spratford has been an exemplary editor on this book so far, with each essay having an introduction by her to prime the reader on the author and recommend a book of theirs to start with as well as another author with similar work. In these little prefaces she has mentioned whether an essay will continue with similar themes and has already primed me to expect a shift in the essays that will follow.

Recently Finished

Last week I read through House of Women by Sophie Goldstein, a graphic novel apparently loosely based on the 1947 film Black Narcissus. It follows a group of nuns sent by a Galactic Empire to a faraway jungle world with the task of civilizing the native population of alien beings. I enjoyed it well enough, having been drawn to the high-contrast visual style, which I especially liked throughout, but overall I found the story to be fairly straightforward and predictable, though not poorly told. To be honest, the story as it unfolds was a good idea, I just think it was too short. The plot could have been expanded more so, the characters given more depth. Still, I’m glad I read it.

Reading Next

Though I want to read two more books this month to round out my reading count this year to 50 books, I only have one definitively lined up to read this month. That book is The Spirit by Thomas Page, a vintage horror novel recently republished by Valancourt Books about a pair of hunters trying to kill Bigfoot. Though it seems to be more of a creature feature, I’m reading this as a winter ghost story, as recommended by the bookseller I purchased it from. Beyond this, I’m hoping to find another graphic novel to read, but I haven’t settled on one yet.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 3, 2025

Ryan1 Comment
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

Nothing! I’m between books.

Recently Finished

Over the last couple of weeks I read through Year of the Griffin by Dianna Wynne Jones, the sequel novel to Dark Lord of Derkholm. I didn’t end up writing a WWW post about it last week because I did the lion’s share of my reading of this book since then. In many ways it’s very different from the first book, set a number of years after the adventure tours from our world were ended with the denizens of this fantasy land still working toward mending their world. The story mostly takes place at the premiere magical university, where the lingering impacts of the tours are perhaps felt the most, with standards having fallen sharply. The story follows a motley crew of new students, including Elda, one of Wizard Derk’s griffin daughters, as they try to navigate learning magic from a faculty that isn’t at all qualified. I quite enjoyed this book, though I didn’t quite love it. I’m going to try to review this one soon.

Reading Next

Admittedly, I’ve been feeling in need of a break from reading, but I’ve got a number I still want to get through before year’s end, so I’m going to have to wait until January, I think. The next two books I’m planning to read are both from the library. The first is a graphic novel called House of Women by Sophie Goldstein. I don’t know much about it, I just grabbed it off the shelf because it looked interesting, so we’ll see. After that, I intend to start reading Why I Love Horror, a collection of essays about horror literature, including essays by authors such as Paul Tremblay and Josh Malerman. Seems I’m still in the mood for horror.

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

WWW Wednesday – November 19, 2025

Ryan1 Comment
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’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

RyanLeave a comment
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.

WWW Wednesday – October 29, 2025

Ryan1 Comment
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

This week I started reading The Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff, the sequel novel to Lovecraft Country. It’s been a number of years since I read the first book, but I’m easing back into the characters and the setting nicely. I’m worried there’s a lot I don’t remember about the first book, but this one is doing a good job of fairly seamlessly refreshing me on who is who and what happened previously. Already my memory has been jogged about a few things despite being less than 50 pages in. Reading has been slower this week, so I’m not certain I will finish it before the end of the month, but it was a last-minute addition to my Halloween reading list since I finished all the others so quickly,  so I won’t be bothered too much if it bleeds into November.

Recently Finished

Since last week I finished reading Come Closer by Sara Gran, and I’ve been vexed over how ambivalent I’m feeling about this book. Right off the bat, I do feel I was duped by the online sources that recommended it over-hyping it, as I really didn’t find anything about it to be overly shocking or scary, and the writing was fairly straightforward in its delivery, so there was nothing particularly artful in that respect that elevated the narrative. On the other hand, there was still a visceral feeling of dread to the overall reading experience as the main character is rendered increasingly impotent while the demon takes over and destroys her life, with her willingness or complacency ultimately being her undoing. I feel I have to chew this one over a bit more, so I’ll perhaps flesh out my thoughts better for a Halloween breakdown post next week.

Reading Next

There’s a book I’ve been interested in checking out recently, and the theme for the next “book mixer” at the library next month is adaptations, so I’ve decided to borrow Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, a novel telling the story of the author/director’s film of the same name. It apparently isn’t a novelization, however, as it expands upon the story in a lot of areas rather than simply novelizing the film. I’m really curious to check it out; I think I will rewatch the film first though.

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