WWW Wednesday – October 21, 2020

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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 at the moment, I’m between books.


Recently Finished

The Night Will Find UsMonday night I finished reading The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons, my first Frighteningly Good Read for this year. It was quite the trip powering through it over the last week. By the end my feelings were a little mixed, though leaning more positively. Since the early chapters last week there were a lot of unexpected twists and turns in this book, which was one of its strengths. For a good while I really didn’t know where the story was going, though eventually it got a little meandering in this way. It did have some pretty creepy moments too, though the source of the horror was a little too nebulous for its own good, which became a big problem. I should have a full review up very soon.

Tremor DoseI also read through Tremor Dose by Michael Conrad and Noah Bailey last night, my second Frighteningly Good Read. I liked this graphic novel, it had some great ideas and very unique art, but the story kind of fell apart by the end for me. There’s a tantalizing afterword by the authors that discusses how every question the book raises can be answered by the content itself, but I’m not sure I actually care to reread and dissect it. I do keep thinking about doing it, so there’s a chance, but I don’t want to be dwelling on this one book too long. It’s not a very long read, though, so I still haven’t made up my mind. I should have a review up for this book too, regardless, within the next week or so.


Reading Next

I’m staying the course with my reading plans, so I’ll be starting Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore very soon.

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

Reading Challenge Update

Well, I’m rather late getting this up, aren’t I? This honestly slipped my mind the first week of the month, and then I was busy for nearly another week. It’s really dispiriting how fast October has gone by. I had some hot cider for the first time, which was nice, but I haven’t stomped through a pumpkin patch yet or even fought a ghost yet.

Anyway, it’s the final stretch of 2020, and with that I’ve got less than three months to make good on my reading challenges for the year. Let’s see how I’m doing, shall we?Read More »

WWW Wednesday – October 14, 2020

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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

The Night Will Find UsSince last week I’ve started reading The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons, though I’m only about 20 pages in. Between my birthday last Friday and the Thanksgiving long weekend, I didn’t have a lot of time for reading. The book has all been setup so far, though I am intrigued. There’s a good handful of characters to keep track of, but Lyons has done a good job of making them feel fairly distinct off the hop. The characterization of some of them feels a little cliched, but with a bit of a twist that promises something more interesting further along in the story. I want to try to have this finished as soon as possible, so hopefully I’ll be done by next week. Where has October gone?


Recently Finished

Nothing this week, I was just too busy.


Reading Next

Alien Sea of SorrowsI’ve got a lot lined up for the Halloween season, as I’ve said before, so for once I know a lot of what I’ll be reading next. Tremor Dose by Michael Conrad and Noah Bailey will be read any day now, I just need to buy a digital copy. As far as novels go, once I’ve finished with Lyons’s book I’m going to start Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore. The more I’m thinking about this book and refreshing myself on the premise the more I’m hopeful that I’ll like this one. It sounds like it’ll be incorporating some of the good elements from the previous book, while not making the same glaring mistake.

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

WWW Wednesday – October 7, 2020

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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.


Recently Finished

thermopylaeLast night I ostensibly finished reading Thermopylae by Paul Cartledge. I’m still combing through some of the appendices, but I don’t expect that to take me much longer. I got to the end of the epilogue, so that’s the text itself done, darn it. I enjoyed this book, but I have an issue with reading ancient history, namely all the names: places, people, peoples. It’s a lot that I’m not 100% sure I’m pronouncing correctly in my head, which makes recollecting important information harder for me as I go. I liked the book, it provided some interesting insight into the societies concerned with the battle and the politics around it, but I wasn’t in love with reading it either. A pretty middle-of-the-road experience. I don’t think I’m going to review this one either, since I’m much too eager to move on from it right now.


Reading Next

Tremor DoseSince it’s now October and I’m participating in Frighteningly Good Reads, I’ve got a nice handful of horror reads lined up. As I said last week, I’m going to read the ARC copy I have of The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons next, about a group of teenagers tormented by cosmic horror while lost in a seemingly infinite forest. I’m hoping it will be quite thrilling. I’m also going to read Tremor Dose by Michael Conrad and Noah Bailey soon, which is a horror graphic novel I’ve had my eyes on for a while. It’s inspired by the “Have You Dreamed This Man?” hoax, which is such a creepy idea I’m eager to see fleshed out in fiction.

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

Comic Book Review – Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

solutions-and-other-problems

Solutions and Others Problems is the newest book by Allie Brosh, the long-awaited follow-up to her 2013 book Hyperbole and a Half, which was based on her blog of the same name. Contained within is an all-new collection of illustrated essays about her childhood, the misadventures of her quirky animals, observations on life, dissection of her flaws, explorations of grief, and so much more.Read More »

Frighteningly Good Reads 2020

Once again, during the month of October I’m going to be participating in Frighteningly Good Reads, hosted by Molly over at Silver Button Books. There are no strict guidelines to it, it’s just a way for people to share and discuss the spooky books they’re reading for the Halloween season.

As I did last year, my plan is to share the books I want to read for the month here, review them as I do normally throughout October, and then put up another post around Halloween looking back at how I did.

Be sure to check out Molly’s blog if you’d like to participate.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – September 30, 2020

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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

I’ve read another chapter of Thermopylae by Paul Cartledge since last week, but that’s it. Not really enough for me to comment any further on the book. I was much too fixated on reading what I recently finished.


Recently Finished

solutions-and-other-problemsOver the last week I spent most of my time reading through Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh, the follow up to Hyperbole and a Half. This is one of the funniest reading experiences I’ve had in a long time. Her art style is so abstractly evocative that so many relatable sensations come across through her illustrations alone. There are certain chapters and moments from the book that can still get me laughing just by thinking about them. It touches upon some rather heavy topics too, sometimes managing to find an appreciably humorous side to things like existential dread. There could occasionally be a bit of tonal whiplash between chapters, but I highly recommend checking it out. I should have a fully review up sometime soon.


Reading Next

The Night Will Find UsI feel I should go off of my to-read list a bit for October, since I didn’t actually add many horror novels to it, despite the fact that I love reading spooky books around Halloween. I guess I thought I’d have a better handle on this list.

In any case, I’ve decided that once I finish with Thermopylae I’m going to read The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons, an ARC I recently received. I’m not familiar with any of the author’s work, so I’m excited to check out some new horror. I’m also going to check out Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore, to give one of these new Alien novels a shot after I didn’t quite like the last one.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (September 2020)

So here’s September come and gone already (pretty much). It’s been another lowkey sort of month for new books—not sure the last time that’s happened—but I suppose it’s a welcome change for the moment. I keep feeling like I bought more, but it’s only because I meant to if they were in the shop, but they weren’t, so I didn’t. You follow?

Enough meandering. On to the books!Read More »

Book Review – Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

Interesting Times is the 17th novel in Terry Pratchett’s comic fantasy Discworld series and the 5th novel in the “Rincewind” sub-series. The Patrician of the city of Ankh-Morpork has received a vexing message from the reclusive Agatean Empire, simply reading “Send Us Instantly The Great Wizzard.” Tasking Archchancellor Ridcully of the Unseen University with finding him, he and his faculty deduce that this “wizzard” can only be one man: the infamously hapless Rincewind. They retrieve him from his life as a castaway, goading him into visiting the mysterious Agatean Empire to see what it is they want. Magically transporting him there, Rincewind is placed smack in the middle of a polite rebel uprising, a barbarian invasion, and the schemes of an ambitious Grand Vizier who is pulling the strings.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – September 23, 2020

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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

I’ve started reading Thermopylae by Paul Cartledge, though I’ve read very little of it so far; just the preface and the prologue, in fact. Getting to this point involved skipping over a fair amount of front-matter too, as I realized that out of a sense of obligation I could read through a timeline of significant dates that revolve around the history I’ll be told about, but I won’t really be able to retain that info in a meaningful way. It was oddly freeing to just admit that to myself and move on. Cartledge’s writing style is good so far, not too inaccessible, but just as with the science books I occasionally read, I can already tell it will require a little more mental legwork. I just hope I won’t be stuck on it too long despite its relatively short page count.


Recently Finished

Over the weekend I finished reading Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett, the 17th Discworld novel. I meant to have a review up yesterday, but life happened and I didn’t have the review finished in time. Just a minor bump in the road, I’m sure. I should have it up by Friday. I didn’t like this novel as much as I wanted to, but I’m still coming away from it pretty satisfied, especially for how it reintroduced Rincewind as a character to the series. It did a good job of tying events to what happened in the very first books too, which was appreciable. I was surprised to find it ended by setting up his next book, which takes him to yet another strange locale. I’m intrigued to see how that will play out, if only for the fact that he wound up there by chance this time.


Reading Next

I hopefully won’t be on Thermopylae long, but in typical form for me I haven’t actually decided which novel I’ll be reading next. What I do know, is I’m definitely going to read through Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh as soon as I can. The author is known for her Hyperbole and a Half webcomics and book, which came out a number of years ago now. I’ve been eagerly waiting for this book to release, the date of which had been unknown for a while. All of a sudden I learned the date and found it was coming quite soon, so I preordered it and now it’s finally in my grasp.

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