WWW Wednesday – June 19, 2019

June 19, 2019 Ryan11 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 in the middle of reading Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman, and the experience continues to be an interesting one at the very least. His essays are excellently written, but what I’m having diminishing returns with is how much he writes about music and sports. I dislike neither topics, but don’t have an especially big interest in them either. The football essay was especially in-depth, though fortunately I used to play so I was able to appreciate much of it, even if I’m not an active fan of any league. Often his discussions of these subjects do tie into greater ideas about culture as well, which is all the better. I just can’t help being a little disappointed in what he chooses to focus on.

Over the weekend I started reading The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. It’s a classic science fiction novel about a village that has a visitation from a UFO that makes everything in the village fall unconscious. A day later it is gone and soon after it’s discovered that all the women in the village are pregnant. What I’m pleasantly surprised by with this book is how much it has been exploring the social impact of sudden, inexplicable pregnancies throughout a village. I would have expected it to gloss over this part of the story, but the troubling implications of the event and the ways women are handling it is being explored more than I thought a novel written in the 1950s would.

Recently Finished

Nothing for this week. Shame on me. June has been a slower month for some reason. Certainly feels like it, anyway.

Reading Next

I’m definitely going to start The Buying of Lot 37 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor next, though I would like to at least finish up with Eating the Dinosaur first. Lot 37 will be a supplemental read too, so I do still have to figure out what novel to read next, but there is plenty of time for that. In terms of comic books I will likely read A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman, Rafael Albuquerque, and Rafael Scavone. It is a graphic novel adaptation of a story that appeared in Giaiman’s collection Fragile Things. I’m excited to see it adapted into a visual medium.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – June 12, 2019

June 12, 2019 Ryan7 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 reading Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman, though I’ve only read one essay since last week. The essay in question was all about time travel, however, and that made it really fascinating. In fact, when I was considering picking the book up it was one of the pages I flipped to in this chapter that sealed the deal; it was all about the “Bootstrap Paradox.” It read like a well-crafted rant, though that’s hardly a bad thing for me. He dives into time travel in films, the problems he has with the concept of time travel and explanations of its hypothetical consequences, and most importantly I now understand where the title of the book comes from; it’s the only worthwhile reason he sees for traveling to the past.

Recently Finished

Over the weekend I finished reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and should have a review up before the end of the week. I maintain the criticisms I brought up last week, but all in all this book gave me valuable insight in a fairly accessible way that made some hiccups in the readability more than forgivable. I think I was hoping this book would recapture the passion The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs filled me with, but I can’t expect every science book I’m intrigued by to pull that off. I’m just not into learning about trees in the same way. I rate this book pretty high nonetheless, and I’m really excited to check out the next book in the Mysteries of Nature series by the author.

Reading Next

I’ve finally just settled on the next book from my scrappy list I’m going to read, and that is The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. It’s a science fiction classic that looks to be a relatively quick read, so I thought I’d quickly scratch if off my list. I really enjoyed the last two Wyndham books I read—The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids—so I’m looking forward to this one too. I also want to start The Buying of Lot 37 by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor, the third volume collecting scripts of Welcome to Night Vale podcast episodes. I really enjoyed the insight the first two volumes provided for the making of the series.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – June 5, 2019

June 5, 2019June 5, 2019 Ryan16 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 now far along into reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. I’m still enjoying the book, though my enthusiasm with it has diminished somewhat. Something about the way the chapters are structured feels a little too random to me. Some contain information that calls back to previous chapters, but I feel as if I could crack the book open to any old chapter and read it. While that’s a good thing for reference, I have found it to negatively impact my experience reading it cover to cover, however slightly. It is still inspiring a greater reverence for trees, but I’d be lying if I said my layman brain wasn’t failing to register different tree names and species sometimes too, which has made reading a bit more of a chore.

I’ve also started reading Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman, a book that came completely out of left field for me. I bought the book for a dollar at little fundraiser at work, intrigued by some of its contents. I’ve read couple of the essays so far and they’ve been really insightful. A lot of the focus has been on popular culture and culture in a broader sense. The first essay discussed interviewing and why people ever feel compelled to answer interview questions, eventually leading to a bang-on interpretation of the way society was heading with then budding social media (this book came out in 2009). I’m excited to see more of what this book has to offer.

Recently Finished

Over the weekend I read The Healing Thirst by Aleš Kot et al. I posted a review yesterday, if you want to check out my full thoughts. I loved the way this book took a very different approach to its story than the first volume, shining a light on some more ordinary citizens of Yharnam. It allowed some expansion on the lore and background of the city, but strongly maintained the sense of obscurity and dread. The characters are uncovering some of the mystery they’re pursuing, but so much of the motivations certain parties’ actions remain hidden from view. I find it creates an appreciably puzzling effect on me when I read it, quite effectively making me uneasy. I have found out a third volume is on the way and can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Reading Next

Having suddenly chosen to start reading Eating the Dinosaur, I’m afraid I am once again undecided on what to read next. Typical. The year is almost half over though, and I have much to finish on my scrappy list, so it must be something from there. I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately, so it should definitely be something more exciting in terms of narrative. I gaze at the list now, but cannot decide. Once I know you’ll be the first to hear about it.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – May 29, 2019

May 29, 2019 Ryan10 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 only reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, which I’m almost a third of the way through. The chapters of this book offer fantastic snippets of insight into how trees really interact with each other and the world around them. Part of me was concerned about how accessible it might all be, but so far each chapter is a nice digestible length that concisely explores or expounds upon something new about their biology and behaviour. Learning how the trees of ancient forests are connected to each other by what is known as a “wood wide web” or how trees actually work toward nurturing their saplings to help them live longer lives has been simply marvelous so far.

Recently Finished

Since last week I finished volume eight of Marvel’s Star Wars series Mutiny at Mon Cala by Kieron Gillen et al and over the weekend I started and completed Hope Dies by Kieron Gillen et al, the ninth volume. Following their successes in volume eight, Hope Dies has them suffer at the hands of Darth Vader’s swift and brutal campaign to destroy the Rebel Alliance once and for all. We know that he does not succeed, of course, but I really enjoyed seeing the heights the Alliance was able to achieve and how much of that got torn away from them by Imperial efforts. One thing I especially like about Gillen’s run in this series is how he’ll include characters from other Star Wars media. In this case I’m referring to Hera Syndulla and Zeb from the Rebels animated TV series who only appeared on the periphery yet their inclusion was appreciated.

Reading Next

I’m back to mulling over what novel I want to read next, since I don’t expect to be in the middle of The Hidden Life of Trees for an especially long time. I just haven’t made up my mind, as usual. Something else I have to read next is the second Bloodborne graphic novel: The Healing Thirst by Aleš Kot, Piotr Kowalski, and Brad Simpson. I loved The Death of Sleep and while I’ve actually sat on my copy of this book for a little bit since it came out I’m nonetheless really excited to get to reading through it.

Feel free to leave a link to your post below.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – May 22, 2019

May 22, 2019 Ryan9 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 night I decided to start reading the next volume of Marvel’s ongoing Star Wars series that I need to get to, which is Volume 8: Mutiny at Mon Cala by Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca, and David Marquez. I’ve been an especially big fan of Gillen’s work in the new Star Wars comic books and this book continues that trend. Previous volumes in this series have been all right, but always left more to be desired. In this volume the crew of the Millennium Falcon are trying to rescue the Mon Calamari king from prison, hoping this will help in getting them to pledge some of their fleet to the Rebel Alliance. I’ve reached a critical point where their plan has been compromised and I’m excited to see where things go.

Recently Finished

Over the weekend I finished reading On Earth As It Is In Hell by Brian Hodge, the third Hellboy novel. I should hopefully have a review done before the end of the week. I’m having such oddly mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I think it had the most intriguing plot of all the Hellboy novels I’ve read so far, but on the other I was pushing myself to finish it finally. I did not feel a natural drive to power to see what happened next. I liked the story, yet I was largely motivated by my desire to move past the book entirely. I’m a little vexed by this, but hopefully I can get these feelings fully sussed out for the review. All the same, there were really good things about this book I hope the novels that follow it have taken cues from.

Reading Next

I’ve decided the next book I will read shall be The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. This is pretty close to my previous science read, but I loved the last book so much that I’ve decided to just take the plunge with this book. It’s a topic I know almost nothing about, yet I’m curiously fascinated by it all the same. I do hope that it doesn’t disappoint.

Feel free to leave a link to your post below.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – May 15, 2019

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019 Ryan5 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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’ve read a little bit more of On Earth As It Is In Hell by Brian Hodge since last week, but admittedly it has not been very much. What I have read has begun to flesh out the predicament Hellboy and company are in a little more clearly though, which I’m continuing to find interesting. In a nutshell, a rogue element of the Roman Catholic Church has been using dark rituals to summon demons and the dead to inflict punishments and interrogations upon them in the name of the church, but in meddling in such forces they have become heretical. This faction has apparently found a way to summon seraphim, and is directing them to try and destroy an ancient document that challenges widely held truths to Christianity, which the BPRD is now tasked with protecting.

Recently Finished

Late last week I finished reading Planting Gardens in Graves by R. H. Sin. In a number of ways I really did enjoy reading this collection of poems. I liked the little rhythm I got into as I went along, but the content of a the poems themselves left a lot to be desired. I think there’s a lot of ground to cover with the idea of investing feelings in the wrong people in life, but his poems typically manifested this sentiment in one of three ways: women are wronged by men in relationships, the poet is wronged by unappreciative women, or men generally don’t appreciate women. An unfortunately narrow set of viewpoints that seemed to dominate the collection.

TheAmazingScrew-OnHead I also read through The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects by Mike Mignola over the weekend. I loved this book a lot more than I was expecting, especially the story featured in the title. “The Amazing Screw-On Head” is a tongue-in-cheek pulpy story about an android who serves President Lincoln and is charged, time and again, with saving the world. It was brimming with humour, yet played itself straight at the same time. Other stories in the collection took on a similar tone as well, while “The Magician and the Snake” was great to revisit, a tale that continued to be perfectly brief and poignant. The book is mostly just a collection of curious story ideas Mignola has had, but they were such fun to read. You really can be most surprised from unexpected places.

Reading Next

I’ve been visiting family for the past several days, so I must say I’ve given little to no thought on what I plan to read next. I promise that once I do make up my mind you’ll be the first to hear about it.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – May 8, 2019

May 8, 2019 Ryan9 Comments

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! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 only a quarter of the way through On Earth As It Is In Hell by Brian Hodge, but that’s a fair amount more than where I was at last week. As a Hellboy novel I’m enjoying it quite a bit. He’s taking his time to set the stage for something a little more intricate. I love reading about Hellboy clobbering monsters as much as anybody, but he’s more than just a brute. I did have a moment where I laughed at this book really hard though. You may or may not be familiar with posts going around social media poking fun at male authors clumsily writing female characters. I’ve encountered an example in the wild with this book and it had me in stitches for a good 5 minutes. Otherwise the writing has been pretty good, so I’ll try not to hold this against it.

On Earth As It Is In Hell Excerpt — Mystifies men, wears a choker, has periods…you know, a *woman.* Duh.

I’ve also started reading Planting Gardens in Graves by R. H. Sin. I’ve only read about 50 pages, which is especially little considering it’s a poetry collection that I could power through quickly if I chose to do so. Reading it has been enjoyable so far; Sin’s style is very accessibly. The only misgivings I have about the book are what these poems collectively seem to be about. In a broad sense it so far seems to be capturing the feelings of investing yourself in people romantically who let you down. I don’t mind this necessarily, but so far there has been a weird line in the sand drawn between the sexes, when I feel most of these sentiments are pretty universal.

Recently Finished

Hellboy 1955 Over the weekend I finished reading Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1955 by Mike Mignola et al. I enjoyed it a lot more than 1954. This book managed to balance episodic adventures with a connective narrative really well. There were also some great little characters moments that helped this time in Hellboy’s life feel more distinct. Despite his appearance he’s only about 10 years old, after all, and his relative inexperience with life grates against his teammates in interesting ways. Despite this, he’s demonstrating how much he excels at his job as an agent too. I’m actually pretty excited to see what 1956 has in store for the characters now.

I also finished reading Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett and I enjoyed this novel quite a lot. I should have a full review up soon. Discworld novels often have at least one moment that makes me burst out laughing, and I’m happy to report that this novel was not an exception. He just has such a way with words sometimes that it strikes such a cord with me. I know Lords and Ladies is not far off in my reading lineup, which is another Witches novel, but this book has got me excited to revisit these characters again so soon. The trio of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick might just be my favourite, second only to Death himself.

Reading Next

TheAmazingScrew-OnHead I’m afraid I’m at a bit of a loss again regarding what novel I’d like to read next. I may deviate from my list for the year for my next one, but I’ve made no decision yet. I have finally gotten more digital Star Wars comics, at any rate, so it’s likely I read some of those next. I’d also like to read The Amazing Screw-On Head by Mike Mignola, which is a collection of stories by the creator of Hellboy. One story in particular is “The Magician and the Snake”, which he co-wrote with his daughter and I’m happy to have a physical copy of. It’s a lovely little story.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – May 1, 2019

May 1, 2019 Ryan12 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and other people’s over on her blog! Feel free to leave a link to your own down below as well.

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 well into Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett now, and the first thing I’m happy to report is I still love Granny Weatherwax as much as ever. I think my initial misgivings were more a result of how long it’s been since I read about the Witches. Her characterization in Equal Rites left a firmer impression on me too, but she did not have a dynamic with the other two witches in that novel. Along with the humour of the trio traveling through foreign parts, there has been a legitimately heart-wrenching moment as well that was doubly effective because I was not expecting it. This may be a comedy series, but Pratchett definitely has range as an author, and even in parody he always makes things surprisingly complex.

I’m still technically reading On Earth As It Is In Hell by Brian Hodge, but regrettably I’ve not picked it up once since last week. I’ve felt a little less motivated lately, but hopefully I’ll be out of that slump soon.

Recently Finished

Hellboy 1954 Slight slump notwithstanding, I did manage to read Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1954 by Mike Mignola et al, which I’ve been wanting to pick for a while. I read the first two books late last year, but haven’t had any of the follow-ups until recently. The stories in this volume were all right, but they unfortunately read a lot like filler. This wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, if not for the fact that these books also seem to be trying to have a narrative thread running throughout them all. This thread isn’t given a lot of attention though, so I’m vexed because I can’t tell if I should just read this as a collection of his early adventures or if it’s all leading to something.

Reading Next

Hellboy 1955 I still have every intention of starting Planting Gardens in Graves by R. H. Sin soon, but I’m also going to crack open Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1955, so I can be fully caught up with the volumes that have been released so far. Other than that, I don’t really have any plans for novels as yet. I’ll likely keep to my scrappy list of books to read this year, but I have no idea what I want to pick up yet. I’m behind on reviews as well, for the first time ever I think, and that’s causing me to drag my feet a bit too.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – April 24, 2019

April 24, 2019 Ryan5 Comments

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

Late last week I started reading Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett, the 12th novel in the Discworld series. I’m enjoying it quite a bit so far: the idea of a fairy godmother so invested to the literal power of story that she turns an entire kingdom into a dystopian nightmare is both hilarious and compelling to me. Citizens must fulfill all the storytelling tropes associated with their vocation/role in society or meet an unpleasant fate. I’m excited to see where this goes once the trio of witches arrive. I’m not sure if I had this problem with Wyrd Sisters, but Granny Weatherwax seems more indignant about things than I remember. She’s one of my favourite characters so I hope this doesn’t stick too much.

I also started reading On Earth As It Is In Hell by Brian Hodge, which is the third Hellboy novel. This is the first of the novels not written by Christopher Golden and so far I’m really liking Hodge’s approach to the story. I’m not very far yet, but so far there has been an attack at the Vatican Archives, seemingly by seraphim of all things, who have unleashed heavenly fire upon a whole area of the library. What I’m liking about Hodge’s approach is the story so far is told through straightforward narrative as well as reports written by B.P.R.D. consultant Kate Corrigan after the fact, which helps to exposit details more elegantly.

Recently Finished

Smashed Not long after last week’s post I finished reading Smashed by Junji Ito. It hasn’t wound up being my favourite collection, but I’m happy to report that despite the shaky start with the earlier stories things did start to pick up for me. There’s almost always an element of weirdness to the horror he writes, and most of the collection wound up being weird and creepy in a way that worked really well. The art continues to be great too, though I’m finding that I’ve now read so much of his stuff that it does not have the same effect on me it once did. I’m not sure how to feel about that. The titular story was the one that closed it out and it had a great balance of body horror, suspense, and mystery.

Reading Next

The other day I got some new books, and among them was the poetry collection Planting Gardens in Graves by R. H. Sin. Lately I’ve been wanting to read poetry again, especially as a palate cleanser from the novels I’ve usually got my nose buried in. I like the look of it and the feelings the title evokes, so I decided to pick this book up. I’m particularly excited to start it because I’ve decided I don’t want to review any of the poetry books I read. I’ll still share my thoughts and feelings in these posts, but for the time being I’d like poetry to be something I read only for the pleasure of it.

Until next week, thank you for reading!

WWW Wednesday – April 17, 2019

April 17, 2019 Ryan15 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words.

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

Smashed Over the weekend I started reading Smashed by Junji Ito, the newest English translation collection of some of the author’s horror manga stories. I’ve only read three of the stories so far, and I’m finding myself notably struck by how ridiculous Ito’s writing can be sometimes. I’ve sung his praises many times before, and I stand by all that I’ve said before, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent to me how hit-or-miss his short stories can be. The opener, which involves dieting and vampire bats, was more perplexing than it was horrific or creepy, and I hope the tone that it has set for the collection is not maintained.

Recently Finished

I finally finished Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman last night. Even though it’s only been a little over a month, I’m disappointed with how long this actually took me. I could have finished it in a much shorter amount of time had I put my mind to it. Oh well. The book closed with the story “The Monarch of the Glen,” which takes place after American Gods, catching up with Shadow Moon two years after the conclusion of that novel. I really enjoyed reading about that character and world again, especially with the surprise appearance by two other characters from another story in this collection. I went back and read the introduction after I’d finished too, which as I expected was a lot more meaningful that reading it as an actual introduction to the collection.

Reading Next

On Earth as it is in Hell As I’ve been saying for a few weeks now I’m going to start reading Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett, since all the prose I’ve been reading has been finished up. I feel like I ought to pick something else up to read concurrently as well though. I’ve been a few books behind schedule for a while and would love to catch back up. With an apparently not-very-good Hellboy movie in theatres now, perhaps I will pick up On Earth as it is in Hell by Brian Hodge, the next of the Hellboy novels I need to read. We shall see.

Until next week, thank you for reading!