WWW Wednesday – August 13, 2025

August 13, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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

Instead of continuing on with books in series I’ve planned to finish up, on Monday I started reading Strange Houses, a Japanese mystery/horror novel by the enigmatic author Uketsu. I was in the mood to read something more horror related and suspected this book would be a swifter read, so I went with my feelings instead of grander plans. I was right about it being a quick read, as I’m already over 60% of the way through it after just a couple of reading sessions. So far, it’s definitely more of a mystery than horror, though the inclusion of floor plans and the strangeness of their designs definitely has a creepy effect. A lot of it feels a bit too much like rampant speculation on the part of the characters, however, and I’m wondering whether that will factor back into the story or if their active imaginations will inexplicably ring true.

Recently Finished

Since last week, I’ve read two graphic novels that I borrowed from the library. The first was Medea by Blandine Le Callet and Nancy Peña, a retelling of the life of the fearsome sorceress from Greek mythology. Overall, I enjoyed it very much, especially the efforts it made to ground mythologized settings into a plausible historical context. Personally, I do prefer when the mythology is fully and unambiguously embraced, but I do like the presentation of it as something that actually happened, especially in how Medea, though obviously not an impartial narrator, mush reckon with the myths that have grown around her notoriety, juxtaposed with what she claims really happened.

I also read Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 1, which is a collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami adapted into comic book form by Jean-Christophe Deveney and PMGL. Though the title refers to it as manga, I will call this a graphic novel because, as far as I can tell, it was adapted by a Western team. Though Murakami is a well-regarded novelist and I’ve heard of many of his books over the years, for some reason (big frog) this was the first book with his name on it to ever grab my attention. None the stories blew me away, but I have found myself ruminating on them a little over the past week. I enjoyed their unabashed strangeness and meditative atmosphere. I’m certainly more curious about Murakami’s work now too, though I don’t think I’ll rush out to pick any up.

Reading Next

I’ve not entirely made up my mind on what I want to read next. I’m still being weirdly moody about it.

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

WWW Wednesday – August 6, 2025

August 6, 2025 Ryan1 Comment

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 at the moment! I’m briefly between books.

Recently Finished

Last week, I read through Tomorrows by Brittany Luckham, a book of free-verse poetry that came out earlier this year. The contents explore the author’s personal struggles with mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, as well as the difficulties that come with being a person with undiagnosed autism. Further poems explore her love for creativity and storytelling. I picked up the book from the library because I’m actually somewhat acquainted with the author; we both frequently attend the same monthly book mixer. As I’ve said many times before, poetry is fairly outside my wheelhouse, but I quite liked this collection; nothing blew me away, but it was an enjoyable reading experience and I was happy to lend a modicum of support by checking it out.

Yesterday I finally finished reading Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson, the third novel in the Trickster trilogy. I quite enjoyed how this book ramped up the supernatural aspects of the story while integrating them more with the mundane world rather than supplanting it. Despite inhabiting a place of continual fallout from the previous book, it did a good job of still taking its time to slow things down, letting characters catch their breath and try to restore a sense of normalcy to their lives and hold things together, despite the greater sense of imminent danger. The only thing I’m left feeling a little mixed on is the ending. While I enjoyed the climax very well, I wish we had been given a few chapters to debrief on how the characters are and where left off. Instead we are treated to a two-page epilogue that quickly runs down what people get up to long afterwards. It felt somewhat in keeping with some thematic ideas, but I can’t help feeling a little unsatisfied all the same.

Reading Next

Next, I’m going to take care of reading some more comics I got from the library. First up is Medea by Blandine Le Callet and Nancy Peña. Originally published in French, this graphic novel tells of the life of Medea, the notorious and legendary sorceress from Greek mythology. I’m a sucker for interesting-looking adaptations of Greek myth, and while there’s a laundry list of novels I want to check out in that vein that would take a while to get to, it’s decidedly easier to dive right into a graphic novel, so once I saw it on the shelf at the library I decided to take it home with me.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 30, 2025

July 30, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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 still chipping away at Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson, though I took a break from it last week, which I’ll get into. I’m just about 100 pages shy of finishing it, though, so with luck I’ll have it done very soon. I’m still enjoying this final book quite a bit, though it feels at a point of suspense at the moment. While there is a general unrest in Jared’s life due to recent events, it doesn’t feel as if anything is urgently a threat at the moment, yet I can’t help feeling like there’s going to be yet another explosive incident. I wish the stakes were a little more apparent than just waiting for the implication of a threat to become more obvious. Still, it’s an enjoyable period of relative quiet for the character while he tries to get a handle on things. I think I’m rather going to miss reading this trilogy once I’m done with it.

Recently Finished

Last week I decided to hell with my apprehension and started reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson in preparation for a monthly book mixer that occurred on Saturday. The theme this month was pirate books, so this was the perfect opportunity to read the pirate book. I almost didn’t make it, but I finished the book in six days, which I’m quite satisfied with. The language was a little antiquated, as expected, which made it a little more challenging, but it was ultimately a rather breezy read. I was surprised by how violent the book ended up being, as I’ve always heard it’s considered children’s literature, with even our child protagonist himself needing to shoot a man in the face in self-defense. The book includes the exact words “I’ll blow your brains out” too, and with how popular and influential it is, I’ve been wondering ever since if that’s the first time that phrase was ever written down.

Reading Next

I’ve got a good handful of library reads lined up, but I haven’t settled on one to start just yet. You’ll have to wait until next week, when I expect I’ll have finished at least one of them.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 16, 2025

July 16, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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

Yikes, I’m only just realizing how I missed two whole weeks of these. Two weeks ago I just hadn’t felt I had enough to write about, and last week I was vacationing at a cottage. At any rate, there have been a lot of changes in that time. First and foremost, I’ve been reading Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson, the third novel in the Trickster trilogy. Though I liked the previous book well, I am especially enjoying this one. Trickster Drift slowed things down a bit as Jared struggled with settling into a new place with unfamiliar family and his commitment to sobriety, so there was a subtle atmosphere of suspense, which erupted at the conclusion of that book. This book has continued the trajectory, and I’m really enjoying the domino effect as the fallout continues. I’m only about 120 pages in, which isn’t nothing, but I should be further along since it’s been a couple weeks, I’m just not very good at reading on vacation.

Recently Finished

Likely about three weeks ago now, I finished reading Curses by George Wylesol, a book collecting various surreal comic book works by the author from over the years. Many of them didn’t have much of a narrative to speak of and were very abstract, so my mileage varied a little. The final story involving ghostly possession, prophecy, and the end of the world in a deeply strange town was a lot of fun, though, and I really appreciate this author’s unique visual style that is really unlike anything else I see in comics right now, so I can’t help but be fond of this. I do want to track down another of his books that seems more singularly focused though, as I think I’ll like that more.

This week I read through Ew, It’s Beautiful, the new False Knees comic collection by Joshua Barkman. It’s not really a narrative thing, so I don’t have much to say except I was delighted as usual by the strips, both old and new, and continue to love the art, which is beautifully realistic but somehow just as evocative as a cartoon.

Reading Next

I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to read next. This month’s theme at a monthly book mixer I go to is pirates, so I was thinking of reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, but with the pace I’ve been going at this week I’m not sure I can actually get to it in time, as I don’t want to shelve Return of the Trickster to do it. We’ll see where things take me.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 25, 2025

June 25, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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

Once again, I am between books. Work has been whooping my butt a bit this week so far too.

Recently Finished

Over the past week, finishing on Sunday, I read through all of The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman, a graphic novel I honestly should’ve read years ago, as it feels like one of the biggest pieces of required reading in the medium. The book details the author’s father’s experiences in Poland leading up to and during World War II and his persecution at the hands of the Nazis. The people are all drawn as anthropomorphic animals (Jewish people are mice, Germans are cats, Polish people are pigs, etc.) in a style reminiscent of newspaper comic strips, but in its abstraction of this heavy subject it manages to be both haunting and full of raw humanity, depicting the horrors of the Holocaust in a way impossible to ignore yet not so grisly as to be an unpalatable reading experience. The frame narrative, depicting Art’s conversations with his father about his experiences during the war, wonderfully complimented the core story as well, making the book not just about history but the rippling effects upon those who endure it.

Reading Next

I have a few things lined up that I want to read through soon. First is Curses by George Wylesol, a book I request for the library back in February that finally arrived recently. Though I still have a bit of time on my loan, somebody else has already reserved it after me, so I want to make sure I read it promptly. I also want to start reading Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson soon too, but I think I’ll make sure I’m done with Curses first. Lastly, I just got a copy of Ew, It’s Beautiful by Joshua Barkman, the latest collection of False Knees comics, and I’d really like to give it a read-through in the near future as well, especially as I expect it won’t take me very long.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 18, 2025

June 18, 2025 Ryan1 Comment

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 at the moment, I’m between books.

Recently Finished

Last week, I read through An Illustrated History of Urban Legends by Adam Allsuch Boardman, which details well-known and perhaps less-well-known urban legends from around the world, covering broader subjects like cryptozoology and UFOs and specific phenomena like Sasquatch sightings and various hauntings. On the one hand, I enjoyed the colourful simplicity of the art; it was pleasing to look at and made it easy to digest in a single reading session. I do wish it had indulged in being a little more creepy, however, befitting the subject matter. I read this book because I liked books like this as a kid, but this one was a little too sanitized. It would’ve been hard to get a spooky thrill out of this book. There were also an unusual number of glaring mistakes, such that I had to question who proofed this book. Still, I enjoyed this enough that I’d like to read more of the author’s work.

Yesterday, I finished reading Begotten: A Gothic Novel by Kate Cherrell. It feels like I was reading it a lot longer than I actually was, and I’m honestly having a hard time pinning down my feelings on this book. It’s atmosphere was immaculate, and while the characters felt fairly archetypal, they were also well fleshed out. However, I struggled with the pacing, which was slow and ponderous. In some respects this added to the atmosphere well, but I felt like I was waiting far too long for something to happen. The story was also too obscure for its own good. I do find myself tantalized by the mystery of what was really going on and why, but so much is obfuscated from the reader that it’s difficult to form any concrete interpretations. Though I have others queued up that need writing, I’d particularly like to review this book to get deeper into my thoughts on it.

Reading Next

The next novel I plan to read is Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson, the third and final novel in her Trickster trilogy. Until then, however, I plan on reading The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman, a graphic novel I feel remiss in not having read despite being a life-long fan of the medium. I’ve borrowed it from the library, so I’m going to more singularly focus on this comic before starting another novel. Comics tend to be much faster reads, but this one is a lot longer than the average volume, and I have a feeling it is also a lot longer content-wise.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 4, 2025

June 4, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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 early chapters of Begotten: A Gothic Novel by Kate Cherrell, and so far I wish I liked it better. However, I’m still pretty early into it, and in no way do I think it’s bad, so I’m going to soldier on. I think the main hurdle I’m having trouble with, other than my poor sleep habits this week, is the fact that this is written as a Neo-Victorian novel, embracing both the setting and the style of novels of the period, and this book is certainly reminding me of Victorian novels I’ve read in the past in terms of style. It having been a while since I read any, I think the problem is more a deficiency on my part, one that I hope will change as I get further into this book. Style notwithstanding, I have found the pace to be a little slow too, but I’m hopeful that will pick up.

Recently Finished

Having skipped last week, I have a number of books to report here now. First and foremost, since my last post I finished reading Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel. Though I had the benefit of reading it shortly after the previous book, I’m a little dismayed to find that I liked this book the least of the whole trilogy. As usual, when it explores more concrete sci-fi ideas this book continues to be really intriguing, but I think my main problem is I don’t particularly care for most of the main cast, and more than ever this book felt focused on them rather than a bigger picture with a cast of recurring characters. The ending, though thematically on point, felt a little too convenient for me too. Still, I’m happy I finished this trilogy, and hopefully I can flesh out my full thoughts in a review soon.

I’m happy to announce that I finally let The Immortal Hulk languish no longer and properly finished the three volumes I had left over. The big one was Of Hell and Death, the tenth volume that concludes the series’s story line. I really loved it, despite having waited literal years to pick this volume up, though I wish all the same that I’d read these closer together. Volume 11, Apocrypha, was more a collection of tie-in comics with other series and a lot of content from old Hulk comics that helps flesh out background details a little better. It was fine, but definitely below par for this series for me. Lastly, Great Power is a collection of one-shot stories that could be slotted in between issues in the main series, and I’m happy I finished off with this volume, because I really enjoyed it; this volume was a great demonstration of how to write great supplemental chapters.

Reading Next

At the moment, I’m not sure what novel I would like to read next, though I have some ideas lined up; I’m just not ready to commit to any yet. In the meantime, I do have more visually oriented books from the library, the graphic novel The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman, which I can’t believe I still haven’t read, and An Illustrated History of Urban Legends by Adam Allsuch Boardman, a book which I suspect would have captivated me as a child. I’ll likely be giving these books a look fairly soon, especially the latter, as Maus will be more of a commitment.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 21, 2025

May 21, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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

Last week I started reading Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel, the final novel in the Themis Files trilogy. It’s been a bit of a busy week with work, however, so I’m only 86 pages in at the moment, which isn’t terrible, but I feel like I should be a lot further along considering the transcript format of it. So far, starting this book so soon after the last one has definitely been a benefit, as I’ve been able to get right back into the story. However, this book’s approach is a little different; before, each transcript, report, etc., was told in more or less chronological order. This time, chapters are inter-cut between the main characters’ time spent on an alien planet and after they return 9 years later. It’s an interesting place to situate the reader so far, and I’m curious to see where Neuvel is going with it.

Recently Finished

Last week I read through Dark Entries by Ian Rankin, a John Constantine graphic novel. I was very surprised with how much I ended up liking this story, especially since I have very limited experience with Constantine as a character. As far as I can tell, it is a completely standalone story that may not even been canon to the Hellblazer comics, but despite this it characterizes Constantine and the people he’s thrust into a bizarre reality TV show with really well. More than once I have picked up a random one-off graphic novel and found something about the story and/or the characters to be lacking (We Stand on Guard comes to mind) despite the strength of the premise. It was a pleasant surprise that this book, picked up completely on a whim, was full of intriguing characters and some great twists and turns in the story. A subtle stylistic shift happens halfway through that I really enjoyed as well, corresponding with a narrative reveal.

Reading Next

I have decided that the next novel I’m going to read is Begotten: A Gothic Novel by Kate Cherrell, the author’s debut novel that is set to come out this week. My preorder is waiting for me to pick it up right now, in fact, I just need to go get it. I’ve enjoyed Dr. Cherrell’s work concerning the paranormal on the Loopholes podcast, and I’m excited to see her storytelling skills. Considering how much I have left of Only Human, I may not get to it until a couple weeks from now, depending on how my schedule works out. I’m also really determined to finally catch up on the volumes of The Immortal Hulk that I have left to read. I will likely try to push through those in quick succession, so that’ll make for a bit of a heavier week when the time comes.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 14, 2025

May 14, 2025 Ryan1 Comment

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 am between books at the moment.

Recently Finished

Yesterday I finished reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, the second Monk & Robot book. As it stands, I’ve read all current books in this series, and I assume there will be more as this was left fairly open-ended. I liked this book well enough, though admittedly a little less than the first one, which leaves things open for more but tells a fairly contained story, especially in comparison. This really feels like the conclusion of a middle section to a longer novel, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a potential third entry continues this trend of feeling like these novellas would perhaps work better as one book. I enjoy the more relaxed, introspective type of story this book is telling, but I find it a little strange how much the world doesn’t quite seem to make sense if you consider things a little more deeply. Still, it was an enjoyable character-driven jaunt, and I’d definitely read a third one.

Reading Next

As I said last week, I’m planning to read Dark Entries by Ian Rankin next, which is a John Constantine graphic novel, so that I can get my current library loans finished up. After that, I believe I will continue my current focus on completing series I’m in the middle of and finish up the Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel by starting Only Human, the third and final novel. Given the format of these books, I’m hoping I can get it done fairly quickly, assuming work doesn’t get too busy while I’m trying to get through it.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 7, 2025

May 7, 2025 Ryan1 Comment

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

On Monday, I started reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, the second Monk & Robot book. Unfortunately, it’s been something of a busy week with work so far, so I haven’t had a lot of time to read much more than about 20 pages of it. Still, I love how much this is picking up pretty much right where the first book left off, flowing together pretty seamlessly. As much as I like this, it does however highlight my suspicion that the entire narrative these books will cover could have been one novel instead of two novellas. At least I have the personal benefit of reading them back to back. It’s not wasting any time either, as Sibling Dex and Mosscap have already made their way into a town as part of the latter’s quest to learn about humanity.

Recently Finished

At the end of last week I finished reading Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito, the manga author’s autobiography. After getting a good amount of background on Ito’s upbringing and experiences getting into the industry, he spent a few chapters reminiscing about specific stories and breaking down his thought and design processes, which provided especially interesting insight. I’ve encountered this before in the afterwords of some of his books, but I was struck by how sincere and humble Ito is as an author and artist, unafraid to admit when he feels he could have developed something better or had to cut corners, as well as highlighting his own perceived shortcomings more generally. It was also amusing that he admits to often having an idea for a certain horrific image first and then constructing a story to get him to it, which is an observation I’ve made in the past when reading his stuff; it was oddly vindicating. This book has renewed my interest in his manga a little, so I may pick up some of the collections I let pass me by.

Reading Next

I’m not quite sure what novel I will read next, but I have a graphic novel from the library that I will read soon so I’m not hanging onto it for too long: Dark Entries by Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera, a graphic novel about John Constantine. I’ve not read many books featuring Constantine, but Rankin has been on my radar since my aunt told me he’s one of her favourite mystery authors. I found this book after having a random browse of the graphic novel section at the library and it caught my interest enough to take it out.

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