WWW Wednesday – January 17, 2024

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

Video Game of the YearI hadn’t made much progress last week due to the January lull, which is why I didn’t post, but I have been chipping away at Video Game of the Year by Jordan Minor, which is a year-by-year guide to some of the most influential video games of each year from 1977 to 2022. Some early entries have been unsurprising, such as the likes of Pong and Pac-Man, but within each entry is a great look into the industry climate that helped shape these games and the technical limitations that they had to work with. I’m hoping I don’t plod along with this for too long, but I’m enjoying it regardless.

AnnihilationAlso, on a whim, I started reading Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer on Monday, though I was too tired to fully take advantage of my available reading time; if I wasn’t so fatigued, I probably would’ve finished it. Though it’s been a while since I’ve seen the film adaptation, I’m still taken a little aback at how different the book is from it in terms of presentation, even though the premise is more or less the same. I’m really enjoying it as a cosmic horror story all the same though, and I’m frankly relishing the fact that I’m not sure what to expect. With starting this book, and hopefully finishing it imminently, I’ve decided to commit to reading through the whole trilogy this year; getting the first one finished so early is a good start.


Recently Finished

The Employees (2)On Sunday, I managed to read through the entirety of The Employees by Olga Ravn, a science fiction novella told through report statements from the crew of a ship that has taken on strange objects that are having an effect on the them, both human and humanoid alike. At times, this book was a little too stream of consciousness for me, as the statements being read are transcribed from characters speaking, so oftentimes it felt as though I was reading rambling or jumbled thoughts, leaving me worried some details went over my head; it felt not unlike when I struggle to follow poetry, though not nearly as bad. However, this conveyed the idea of the crew’s states of mind slowly being compromised really well, and a clear story eventually emerged that I really enjoyed. I’m a little behind on the reviews I want to write, but hopefully I’ll get one up for this one.


Reading Next

The GhostThe next book I want to read is The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens. Though I don’t believe in ghosts, I find ghost stories and the mythology around them fascinating. For a long time I had wanted to buy this book, but I decided last month or so to read it from the library instead. I actually had the book in my possession in December, but I realized that I wasn’t going to have time to get to it until the new year and somebody else had a reservation on it, so I just returned it without starting. I’ve got a hold on it now again and I’m hoping to be able to take it out again soon.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 3, 2024

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

Nothing at the moment! I’m between books, taking some time to cool off in the new year.


Recently Finished

The Fifth ElephantThough it took until pretty much the eleventh hour, I finished reading The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett during New Years. Though I took time away from the blog to visit family for the holidays, I actually got a fair amount of the book read while I was away, which is uncharacteristic of me. Still, it wasn’t quite enough to stop me from needing to read up until the last minute, but I’m happy I got it done all the same. Though I don’t like it as much as others, my opinion on this novel really turned around, despite taking a little while to get going. Ultimately, I just needed to be a little patient, as the first half of the novel did lay a solid foundation and build toward something really compelling. I love how much he’s able to make this world funny, yet have the funny little details matter beyond just being humour.


Reading Next

The Employees (2)At the moment, I don’t really have a solid plan for what I want to read next. I kept alluding to a book I would maybe squeeze in at the end of the year, and obviously I did not do that. That book was The Employees by Olga Ravn. It’s a short science fiction novella about the crew of a ship, both organic and synthetic alike, becoming fixated on strange objects they take onto their ship. The story is told in employee memos and reports, which sounds like a really interesting format, and it also looks like it won’t take me long to read at all, so I’ll hopefully get through it soon now that I have a clean slate. Other than that, I still want to read All My Friends Are Creeps by Count D. soon, since I’m borrowing it from a friend.

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