Tag: Norse Mythology

Book Review – Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

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Norse Mythology

With a title that obscures nothing, Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is a 2017 collection of old Norse myths, retold by the author, a longtime lover of these old stories and heavily influenced by them in his own writing. Using the best primary sources available to him, such as the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, he regales readers with tales including the creation of the universe, the nature of the World Tree, the adventures of powerful gods like Thor and Odin, the misadventures and mischief of the giant Loki, and many more, weaving each tale into a loose narrative arc that starts with the beginning of all things and ends with their destruction.Read More »

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WWW Wednesday – April 14, 2021

Ryan4 Comments
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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 only gotten a little further along in Where Have You Gone Without Me? by Peter Bonventre, since I was more focused on getting Norse Mythology finished and getting the Feet of Clay review written. So, I haven’t got much more to say about the book itself right now. With those other things out of the way, though, I’m hopeful I’ll be able to finish this up by next week.

Recently Finished

The other night I finished reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, which served as an excellent introduction to the subject. I’ve actually got another book of Norse tales that seems a little denser, and I’m hoping that will be more accessible now that I’ve read this as a primer. It’s so amusing how this mythology seems to have no real concept of scale, describing so many beings as impossibly massive, yet gods like Thor, who is sized more or less like a regular person, is so easily able to kill such massive beings. That really must have been some hammer. I’m surprised the book didn’t include a story of how Loki came to be blood brothers with Odin and dwell among the gods in Asgard, especially considering he causes them as much trouble as he helps to resolve.

Reading Next

Though I’ve got a few books on the brain for what to read next, I’m most certainly going to read Lovesickness by Junji Ito next, which is the newest collection of the manga author’s short horror stories. I haven’t been enamoured with all of the author’s short fiction, but I think my expectations have been decently tempered after having read so much of his work over the passed couple of years, I’m hoping that’ll help me enjoy the book more overall. All the same, I do hope there are some gems in this book that I haven’t heard of before.

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

WWW Wednesday – April 7, 2021

Ryan6 Comments
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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

Norse MythologyI started reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman last week and I’m a little over a third of the way through it at the moment. My only frame of reference for Norse mythology has been popular culture so far, but it turned out to be a decent primer. In the past I’ve had trouble with mythology books because I have no frame of reference for names and terms, which makes it harder for me to remember things. For the most part this hasn’t been the case with this book, plus Gaiman writes in a really accessible way. It still feels like I’m reading myths, which don’t flow quite like standard prose, but I’m enjoying it all the same. I had no idea our sources on Norse myths are so scant either, with most not even being from a time when the beliefs were practiced.

Where Have You Gone Without MeI also started reading Where Have You Gone Without Me? by Peter Bonventre, an eARC I received a little while ago. I’m a little behind on starting it, since it came out at the end of March, but wanted to make sure I read through it all the same. I’m only about 30 pages in so far, during which I’ve had a range of reactions to it. At first I was feeling a little iffy, but I think that had to do with the fact that I don’t read a lot crime thrillers. There have been a few recurring technical errors as well, but I’ll chock that up to it being an advance copy. By the end of my last reading session, it had grown on me a lot more. I’m still waiting for the story to hook me, though, but it’s very early on in the book so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Recently Finished

Feet of ClayLast Wednesday I succeeded in finishing Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett by the end of the day, in keeping with my personal challenge to read at least one Discworld novel every quarter of the year. I should have a review up within the week. This was a good novel, and I appreciated how different it felt from other Discworld books, but I couldn’t help feeling that there were facets of it that I enjoyed more than the whole of it put together, if that makes sense. I feel like I’m still collating my feelings on the book, even a week later. The mystery at play was a little too convoluted for me, but I really liked some of the ideas explored along the way, such as the questions of how life is defined when confronted with some truths about golems, which at first seem animate but not truly alive.

Reading Next

I’m not really sure what I’ll be reading next, especially with two books on the go right now. I should probably just shift focus towards some comics until I’ve got those two finished. I’ve been neglecting them again anyway, so I’ll probably go back to the Star Wars well.

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

WWW Wednesday – March 31, 2021

Ryan5 Comments
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

Feet of ClayI’m just over halfway through Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, the 19th Discworld novel. As is usually the case with me, I wanted to be done with the book by now, but clearly that’s not the case. I might be blitzing through the rest of it today so I can have it done before April. I do think I have the time today, but we’ll see if I can manage it. Nevertheless, I’m really enjoying this book, which feels rather distinct from the many other Discworld novels that have come before it. It still has its comedic edge, but it’s taking itself a lot more seriously than other plotlines have. I’m really intrigued by the way he’s introducing golems into the world too, which function more or less like robots and seem to be gaining sentience, with all of the ethical dilemmas that come along with that.

Recently Finished

I haven’t finished anything else this week, as my focus was meant to be on Feet of Clay. Progress on it over the weekend was stunted by exhaustion, if I’m honest, and I have nobody to blame but myself for that.

Reading Next

Norse MythologyEyeballing my to-read list for the year, I have just this moment decided I’m going to read Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman next, which I expect will be a unique offering from the author considering he is adapting folklore and mythology, rather than crafting a novel all on its own. That’s what I presume, anyway. It’s been well over a year since I’ve read any Gaiman too, so it’ll be nice to get back into some of his writing again. I’ll probably try catching up on more Star Wars comics soon too, but with my Goodreads challenge nicely on track I’m not in a hurry to rush through comics at the moment.

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

Book Review – Hellboy: The Bones of Giants by Christopher Golden

Ryan1 Comment

Hellboy Bones Of Giants

On the frozen shores of Sweden, lightning strikes from a clear sky. The skeleton of a huge man is revealed, its fingers clutched around the handle of an iron hammer. No one who comes to see this marvel from Norse mythology can lift it—no one but Hellboy, who lifts the hammer just in time for lightning to strike again, welding it to his hand and leading him towards a bizarre series of visions and encounters.

The Bones of Giants by Christopher Golden is the second Hellboy novel, written with the creator of the character and comic book series Mike Mignola, who also provided illustrations. There was always something about this book that appealed to me more than its predecessor The Lost Army. I did enjoy that book, but it felt fairly garden variety as far as Hellboy stories go. This second novel sported Hellboy on the cover wielding what is in fact Mjollnir, the legendary weapon of the Norse god Thor, promising something a little different for the world’s greatest paranormal investigator, who typically deals with less divine forms of the otherworldly.Read More »