Tag: Books

WWW Wednesday – December 17, 2025

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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 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.

New Books & Novel Discoveries (November 2025)

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I don’t know why, but November went by like it was nothing, in stark contrast to an October that felt especially long—probably in part because of how many books I wound up reading. I tried to show a little more restraint this month, especially as the holiday started to loom on the horizon, but I found myself tempted more than once into buying myself some brand new books. The impulses won.

Still, it was a fairly modest month. Let’s see what I did pick up.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – December 10, 2025

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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

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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

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
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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’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

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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 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.

Halloween 2025 Recap

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Every year, I try to hand-pick a selection of books to read in celebration of the Halloween season. Previously, I have participated in Frighteningly Good Reads, hosted over at the blog Silver Button Books. Unfortunately, she did not run that this year. So, with no outlet to participate in to talk about what I read, I just wanted to do a brief rundown on the books I got through on my Halloween reading list for this year, especially since I’ve been less motivated to write full reviews as of late.

I hope everybody else had a spooktacular Halloween! 🎃Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (October 2025)

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In contrast to last month, I managed to show a modicum of restraint in October and didn’t pick up very many books, though it honestly wasn’t from lack of trying. Thrift stores can be a dice roll; sometimes you make great finds, and other times their selection is disappointing. Strangely, I’ve been seeing a deluge of the novels Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Not sure what’s up with that, but I digress. I visited thrift stores several times in October but found nothing worth picking up, with one small exception. So it goes. I also went to a library book sale and walked away empty handed. I really tried to buy books even though I’m running out of space. What am I doing?

Let’s see what I did pick up.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – October 29, 2025

Ryan1 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

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.

WWW Wednesday – October 22, 2025

Ryan1 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

Since last week I’ve started reading the last book on my Halloween reading list for this year: Come Closer by Sara Gran. So far I’m only about 30 pages in, but it’s a novella so that’s about a fifth of the way. I’m liking it well enough so far, but I feel like I’m still getting into it. I know it’s a possession story, and in these first chapters it has done an interesting job of feeding into the ambiguity of the main character’s situation. On the one hand, it seems quite clear that something otherworldly is intruding upon her life, but there are seeds that maybe she isn’t as emotionally well balanced and stable of a person as she wants us to believe. Personally, I always prefer if the monster or supernatural forces in a story are real, perhaps serving as an analogy for something while also being literal, but I can enjoy some well-served ambiguity. Let’s see where this goes.

Recently Finished

After writing my post last week I finished up reading The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. I haven’t got a lot more to say about it, except that I’m surprised such a great all-ages horror story doesn’t have more of a cultural presence. More people should read it, and it deserves a stop-motion animated adaptation. I also started and finished Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu since last week. I’m happy I made such short work of it, as I often worry I will struggle with the writing style of older books, though I will say that Le Fanu could calm down a little with the use of commas, for Pete’s sake. Also, I find it hilarious that the trope of a vampire existing incognito under a false identity by just rearranging the letters in their name dates back to at least this book. Of all the cemented lore and tropes of vampire fiction I expected to come from this book, I’m really surprised that this was one of them.

Reading Next

Since I’m making great progress with my reading list for the month, I’m going to try and squeeze in another for the last week. That book will be The Destroyer of Worlds by Matt Ruff, the sequel to Lovecraft Country, which will also satisfy my inclination this year to finish duologies and trilogies that I’ve left hanging. It’ll definitely be the longest of my selection of books, so I may not finish it until early November, but I can accept that considering how good reading progress has been already. I have no idea what it’s actually about, but I really like the first book so that’s enough for me.

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