WWW Wednesday – 2018/04/25

April 25, 2018 Ryan8 Comments

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a book meme run by 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

TheLordoftheRings While I’m still technically reading The Lord of the Rings, I’ve finished The Two Towers! You can read my full review here. I invested as much time as I could over the weekend toward finishing it and will be taking another breather before I continue with The Return of the King. The book concluded following Frodo and Sam venturing further into the belly of the beast, which I ended up liking as much as the rest of that book despite my misgivings. What helped was focus being placed more on Sam’s experiences, who makes for a much more flawed yet relatable character than Frodo.

I’ve made no progress on Skeleton Crew by Stephen King. Boo!

TheFirstMenInTheMoon I’ve also started reading The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells, a story of space travel published in 1901. The science is not completely ludicrous, following its own imagined logic based on contemporary understanding, but it is absolutely fanciful at the same time. This is especially the case when you learn the spacecraft was constructed by a handful of guys using a coal furnace. It’s not trying to pass itself off as hard science fiction, though, even by the standards of Wells’ previous work. It’s actually a science romance (not the lovey kind), which I didn’t know until after I started it.

Recently Finished

AliensDeadOrbit I read through Aliens: Dead Orbit by James Stokoe late last week, which you can read my full review of here. It didn’t surprise me too much in terms of story; in a lot of ways all Aliens stories are the same, especially if it’s a standalone. Despite this I think it was exceptionally well told, adding its own personal flare to the formula. Stokoe’s art is also really well done, elevating the book from good to great, in my opinion.

Reading Next

Circe I’ve got the next slew of books I want to get through pretty well lined up, but I’m thinking I might read Circe by Madeline Miller, which recently came out, once I’m done with The Return of the King. I haven’t read her debut novel The Song of Achilles yet, but a friend of mine is a big fan of her work and the focus on the character Circe from The Odyssey has got me a lot more interested in this novel.

Comic Book Review – Aliens: Dead Orbit by James Stokoe

April 20, 2018April 20, 2018 Ryan3 Comments

Summary

A Weyland-Yutani crew investigates an unmarked vessel in high orbit containing a team in cryogenic sleep, a ship in ruins, and parasitic monsters waiting to attack.

Aliens: Dead Orbit is a newly released trade paperback (April 3, 2018), collecting all four issues of the miniseries of the same name. Story, art, and lettering are by James Stokoe. I’ve been a big Aliens fan for most of my life, so when I first heard buzz about this book over half a year ago I decided to jump on the opportunity to read another good story in the franchise when it became available. While there are a lot of comic books written about the Xenomorph—the fan name for the titular alien creatures featured within—this book is completely standalone. Though some prior experience with the franchise may help with understanding the context of some background details, this could be someone’s first experience with the franchise entirely.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – 2018/02/14

February 14, 2018 Ryan9 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a book meme run by 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

Despite my efforts, I still have not finished reading 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, though I have made significant progress since last week. I’ve gotten through all of the male archetypes, which gave me a wealth of further ideas, and I’m nearly finished the section on plotting the feminine journey. One thing that has slowed me down, funnily enough, is the influx of information has had me putting down the book a lot to think about my own characters. So, it’s been great in terms of getting me thinking, but not so much if I want to get through books quickly. I suppose I shouldn’t complain, but I do want to wrap up reading it all the same.

Sadly haven’t made any progress on Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl yet, but it’s rather short so I’m gonna set aside a session or two soon to get through it.

I also started reading Godzilla in Hell by James Stokoe et al. I really could have had this finished by now too, but I’ve elected to take my time with it so I could focus on other books and get some writing done. The art direction for this book is really good so far. I’m especially happy that for the most part the book is playing it straight with the premise, instead of tongue-in-cheek. The first issue especially stuck out to me because dialogue and narration were completely absent. It was just this gargantuan, semi-intelligent monster arriving in Hell and scoping out its surroundings. I admire the book’s simplicity so far.

Lastly, I made certain I started The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien this week so that I’m not saying I’ll read it next for a third time in a row. So far I’ve only read the front matter and the Prologue, which have not started things off all that energetically for me. It’s interesting, but Tolkien’s writing is dense and a little dry. The Prologue read a lot more like a history book than a novel. It was good to get a little refresher on some details leading into the story though, for what it’s worth. I’m hoping things will change now that I can properly start The Fellowship of the Ring when I pick it up next.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week, sadly, but I plan to clean out the above heading over the next week to make reading time for LOTR.

Reading Next

I’m honestly not sure what I’ll read next. I have accumulated a number of digital and physical comic book volumes that I need to be getting to, so maybe some of those. I’m thinking that while I am getting through the massive tome above I will use them as supplemental reading material so I don’t lose focus. Now I just have to decide which series I actually want to dive into. There are a number I’ve neglected progress on or need to start and get through. We’ll see!