Books With One-Word Titles

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. I found this week’s theme to be an interesting little challenge, as I decided to specifically include books that I already own a copy of; I also went to certain lengths to ensure a good number of the titles were not just named after a lead character and that the title isn’t technically a subtitle beneath a featured franchise title, e.g., almost any Star Wars book. Some usual suspects managed to sneak in here, but I always like it when these lists get me to talk about something from my personal library that I haven’t brought up as much before.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – July 12, 2023

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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

Carpe JugulumThe other night I started reading Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, the 23rd Discworld novel. This book sees the return of Granny Weatherwax and the other witches of the Ramtop Mountains, their last novel appearance having been in book 18. I’m excited to read about these characters again, they’re among my favourites in the series, though for some reason I had trouble getting into it during my first reading session, though I’m chocking that up more to me feeling tired than I am anything to do with the book. I’m not very far into it right now, only about 30 pages give or take, but their little kingdom being invaded by a family of vampires and (apparently) little blue men from outer space has me invested.

Recently Finished

The Sea and Little FishesThis was an odd week, because what I did read through I don’t even feel really counts as a book for Goodreads (hence me not adding it there), but I still want to talk about it here anyway, even if I read through it in a notepad file. What I read was “The Sea and Little Fishes” by Terry Pratchett, a short story set between Discworld books 22 and 23. It involved Granny Weatherwax and the Ramtop witches, which made it great for whetting my appetite for Carpe Jugulum. In it, witches are gathering from far and wide to participate in the Witch Trials, which takes on a humorously altered meaning here. It didn’t take me very long to get through, but it was a lot of fun, further emphasizing Weatherwax’s notorious status as a force to be reckoned with, even among other witches.

Reading Next

I’ve got a good idea of a handful of things I want to read next, as per usual, but I haven’t really settled on anything definitively yet. This is mainly because I ought to be able to finish each of them by the following week, so it often comes down to mentally committing to one. As it seems to turn out, however, I leave myself so undecided that I end up choosing none, and then on we move to another week. Stay tuned, I suppose.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 5, 2023

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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

Nothing! I’m between books at the moment.

Recently Finished

Jurassic ParkMonday morning I managed to finish my reread of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton; I’m really happy I was able to follow through on my prediction that I’d be able to do so by this week’s post. It was an excellent book, and I have gained the greater appreciation for it that I was hoping I would compared to when I read it back in middle school or high school. Something glaring about what motivated me to read it though was the fact that I’d seen so much hyping it up as a scarier story than the film, but it really isn’t. It’s definitely darker and a little more violent, but it doesn’t really give a horror atmosphere. Maybe I’m just harder to scare, but it still felt pretty firmly science fiction to me. Still, I’m happy for the refresher, as I want to move on to The Lost World soon.

Reading Next

Vermis II can’t remember how certain I’ve been about what I’ll read next lately, but the other morning I apparently committed to starting Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, as I brought my copy with me in case I wanted to start it after finishing Jurassic Park. With my new-found reading time, I’m hoping I can finish this book within the month of July, but we’ll see. I’m also really considering reading through Vermis I by Plastiboo, which is a rather unique art book I recently purchased a copy of. It’s a guide book to a dungeon-crawling game that never existed, and it’s full of art that I simply adore. It probably won’t take much longer to read than a comic, and I’d really like to make myself read through it, as it’s something I could easily just let sit on a shelf like any other art book, but I really want to fully appreciate it.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (June 2023)

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As you can see, I’m getting this post for June up a little late. I had the opportunity to go home and visit my family for a few days for Canada Day weekend, so I haven’t really had the opportunity to get it done until now. As usual, I’m somewhat wracking my brain wondering if I’ve forgotten something, but I’m fairly certain I only picked up a couple of books this month. (Upon finishing this sentence, I remembered a third book, so sometimes you should trust those feelings.)

It’s late as is, so let’s move on to the books!Read More »

WWW Wednesday – June 28, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’m still chipping away at Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, but I’m thinking I will likely have it done by next week’s post. The raptors are now running amok around the park, quickly making themselves the most horrifying natural force on the island. I did find it a little funny though how the electric fences were off for hours, which the characters didn’t realize, and that is how the raptors got out, but nobody noticed that either nor did we hear of any attacks until after they finally did learn of this oversight. I’m probably just nit-picking, but it felt a little too coincidental all the same. The bigger tyrannosaur spent a great deal of time menacing Grant and the kids too, which I enjoyed as a possible nod to the creature potentially having a more focused intelligence.

Recently Finished

SporesAs I suggested I might, I failed to get myself to read The Yellow Wallpaper since last week. However, I did finally make myself read my physical copy of Spores by Joshua Barkman, which I went through in a sitting last night. It’s such a nice little story about creatures gaining a fleeting yet deeper understanding and appreciation for each other, and the art is just gorgeous. It coincidentally hits close to home for me too, as the wildlife depicted is reflective of what I often encounter on my weekly hikes, especially the black-capped chickadees, which I have become especially fond of. I’ve heard this book has been nominated for an Eisner award too; I hope it wins.

Reading Next

I don’t quite have any concrete plans for what I want to read next, but I ought to make up my mind soon if I really am finishing Jurassic Park within the next week.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 21, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’ve managed to make substantial progress in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton since last week. There has been an alteration to my work schedule, and while I would have rather it didn’t happen, it has allowed for an extended period of time where I can get some reading done. As such, in that period of time I was able to progress from page 173 to 290. Those probably still sound like rookie numbers to others, but that’s quite a lot for me with what my schedule had been lately. A lot has progressed in the novel in that number of pages, with much dinosaur mayhem ensuing. A moment I didn’t at all recall from my first reading that really stuck out to me was the exposure of the grievous error in the park’s monitoring system. The numbers of raptors jumping from 8 to 37 once the parameters changed made for a great, startling revelation considering its implications.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week.

Reading Next

The Yellow Wallpaper 2I recently acquired a copy of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which I mean to try and read soon. Though it is technically a book on it’s own, it’s very short, as it’s a paperback binding of a single short story. I’ve been hearing a lot of interesting things about this short horror story, especially as a piece of feminist literature, which have me really interested in checking it out. I’ll probably have to temper my expectations, as I feel like there’s a possibility this something of a topic-of-the-week on BookTok, but by all accounts it has stood the test of time, so I don’t think I’ll need to worry too much about that. I really could read it in a sitting, so I do hope I make myself read it before next week, but I can be a fickle creature sometimes.

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

Books on My Summer 2023 To-Read List

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. I really like putting together lists like this when they come around, but it’s funny that I always have to think of the caveat that it’s very unlikely that I will actually read all ten of the books I end up listing. My reading pace is just too slow. Still, I like to get an idea of what I want to be reading in the coming months, and this forces me to think about a little more than a small handful of titles.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – June 14, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’m still making slow but steady progress with Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. We’ve been slowly introduced to more and more dinosaurs, though things haven’t hit the fan just yet. I’m noticing more this time around how much the book itself is giving itself an out for how its dinosaurs are represented compared to what the science says; Doctor Wu states that they’ve only recreated the past as best they can, not literally revived dinosaurs as they were, especially since they filled in gaps in the genome. It used to bother me when I was younger that the dilophosaurus was venomous with no scientific basis too, but as I’ve come to understand paleo-art more and more, I realize such an artistic liberty isn’t at all inappropriate: you just shouldn’t be using fiction as the entire basis for your understanding of something.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 2Last night I read through the second volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. This volume properly introduces the impish Midna, with whom Link reluctantly partners in order to return to human form and fight back against Zant and his incursion into Hyrule. This volume moved things forward a lot more. I appreciated how the first volume set things up, but establishing Link and Midna’s dynamic was a lot more fun, especially since it is typically one-sided in the game. It deviated a little more from the game here with how events unfold, as tracking things down and completing a dungeon don’t really adapt well. I can’t help but be a little bothered by it, but I understand why the change was necessary.

Reading Next

The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan PoeThough I still want to focus on stuff I’ve already been meaning to read for a while now, I cannot help but be tempted to start reading The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, which I picked up last month. I try to read poetry on occasion, though I struggle with reading it a lot more, and I really like the poem “The Raven” and this book is pretty short overall, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoying getting into this. I haven’t started reading it yet at all, but I have put a bookmark into it, and I feel like that counts for something.

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

Book Review – American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

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American Psycho

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is a 1991 psychological thriller novel about a young man named Patrick Bateman. He is 26 years old, was born into great wealth, and currently works on Wall Street. He is smart, sophisticated, handsome, and in great shape, focusing much of his attention into cultivating his looks into a model of perfection. He is also a psychopath, having depraved fantasies that he increasingly cannot resist acting upon, sating his bloodlust on innocent people he considers beneath him.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – June 7, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’ve been able to make some more decent progress in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton since last week, though nothing too major. The main cast has made their way to island now and the initial tour is underway. Though I don’t think I was blind to it the first time I read this book, John Hammond’s petulance around the island’s safety being assessed is a lot more apparent to me. It is actually making some elements of the film feel a little dissonant to me, as he is treated a lot more kindly there, yet workers have suffered fatalities from dinosaurs right from the start of the movie. I get that he’s a bright-eyed idealist, but that rings a little hollow when you think harder about how much he’s deliberately overlooking the deaths of his workmen. I think I’m appreciating how much more the novel is matter-of-fact than I did the first time.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 1Over the weekend I read the first volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. It was an interesting adaptation of the early phases of that game, as a certain degree of work had to be put into characterizing Link, which is typically only lightly done in the games. I was surprised with how deep they made it, giving him a bit of a tortured backstory that situates him in a specific place in Hyrule while also explaining why he already has some skill with a sword. There’s also an element of him being an outsider to Ordon Village, which is a nice touch considering even in the game he has pointed ears while nobody else does there. I’m especially looking forward to what his dynamic will be like with Midna, which it seems we’ll start to get a look at starting in the next volume.

Reading Next

Not making anymore concrete plans right now, other than obvious, i.e., the second volume of Twilight Princess. I’ve got plenty to get to that I’ve said I would already, no sense in repeating myself.

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