Tag: reading

WWW Wednesday – June 14, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’m still making slow but steady progress with Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. We’ve been slowly introduced to more and more dinosaurs, though things haven’t hit the fan just yet. I’m noticing more this time around how much the book itself is giving itself an out for how its dinosaurs are represented compared to what the science says; Doctor Wu states that they’ve only recreated the past as best they can, not literally revived dinosaurs as they were, especially since they filled in gaps in the genome. It used to bother me when I was younger that the dilophosaurus was venomous with no scientific basis too, but as I’ve come to understand paleo-art more and more, I realize such an artistic liberty isn’t at all inappropriate: you just shouldn’t be using fiction as the entire basis for your understanding of something.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 2Last night I read through the second volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. This volume properly introduces the impish Midna, with whom Link reluctantly partners in order to return to human form and fight back against Zant and his incursion into Hyrule. This volume moved things forward a lot more. I appreciated how the first volume set things up, but establishing Link and Midna’s dynamic was a lot more fun, especially since it is typically one-sided in the game. It deviated a little more from the game here with how events unfold, as tracking things down and completing a dungeon don’t really adapt well. I can’t help but be a little bothered by it, but I understand why the change was necessary.

Reading Next

The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan PoeThough I still want to focus on stuff I’ve already been meaning to read for a while now, I cannot help but be tempted to start reading The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, which I picked up last month. I try to read poetry on occasion, though I struggle with reading it a lot more, and I really like the poem “The Raven” and this book is pretty short overall, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoying getting into this. I haven’t started reading it yet at all, but I have put a bookmark into it, and I feel like that counts for something.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 7, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’ve been able to make some more decent progress in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton since last week, though nothing too major. The main cast has made their way to island now and the initial tour is underway. Though I don’t think I was blind to it the first time I read this book, John Hammond’s petulance around the island’s safety being assessed is a lot more apparent to me. It is actually making some elements of the film feel a little dissonant to me, as he is treated a lot more kindly there, yet workers have suffered fatalities from dinosaurs right from the start of the movie. I get that he’s a bright-eyed idealist, but that rings a little hollow when you think harder about how much he’s deliberately overlooking the deaths of his workmen. I think I’m appreciating how much more the novel is matter-of-fact than I did the first time.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 1Over the weekend I read the first volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. It was an interesting adaptation of the early phases of that game, as a certain degree of work had to be put into characterizing Link, which is typically only lightly done in the games. I was surprised with how deep they made it, giving him a bit of a tortured backstory that situates him in a specific place in Hyrule while also explaining why he already has some skill with a sword. There’s also an element of him being an outsider to Ordon Village, which is a nice touch considering even in the game he has pointed ears while nobody else does there. I’m especially looking forward to what his dynamic will be like with Midna, which it seems we’ll start to get a look at starting in the next volume.

Reading Next

Not making anymore concrete plans right now, other than obvious, i.e., the second volume of Twilight Princess. I’ve got plenty to get to that I’ve said I would already, no sense in repeating myself.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 31, 2023

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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

Jurassic ParkI’ve made some decent progress in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, though I’m still in the early phases of the story. I have finally met most of the main cast, however, and it won’t be long now until they arrive at the island. I’m actually surprised how much the first hundred pages or so are focused on the effects InGen’s experiments are already having on the world and the corporate landscape in general with respect to genetic engineering. It’s a sentiment I’ve shared already, but I really do appreciate how much the recklessness of all that’s being done is emphasized. I’m so much more familiar with the film adaptation, and while I continue to think it is a great film, I can’t help but find it a little tacky how much more they sideline the more cynical aspects of corporate negligence in favour or wide-eyed naivete.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week; I’m really letting the comics I keep meaning to read languish for some reason.

Reading Next

Carpe JugulumI haven’t solidly made up my mind about what I want to read next, but I’m fairly certain I haven’t read a single Discworld novel in a least a year, which I find troubling the more I think about it, so there is a good chance the next book I read will be Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett. I’m sure Jurassic Park won’t take me as long as American Psycho did too, so hopefully it’ll be sooner than later, but I do still have a ways to go in that book, so it’ll be a while yet. Nevertheless, I think I’d like to start mentally committing now.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (May 2023)

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I feel like I actually managed to show some restraint this past month, as I only indulged myself once with buying a bunch of books at once. I’ve continued the trend of picking up books at thrift stores as well, so I’m not spending nearly as much money. I really need to be keeping that in line as much as I can. In any case, let’s just get it out of the way now that all of these books were bought second hand.

Enough waffling, on to the books!Read More »

WWW Wednesday – May 24, 2023

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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

I’ve read a little bit of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton since last week, though I’m still in the beginning phases of the story; I’ve yet to even meet the main cast of characters. So, I don’t really feel I have much to update about this book as yet. Hopefully I’ll have more to comment on next week.

Recently Finished

Adventure Time Season 11I just finished reading the comic book Adventure Time: Season 11 by Sonny Liew et al., having recently finished rewatching the series in its entirety, including the Distant Lands specials. Unfortunately, before I even finished reading this volume, I learned that the creators of the show don’t consider this comic book to be a canon continuation of the show, as they had virtually no involvement in its creation. There are also references to comics-only continuity as well, so that was a bit of a bummer. The volume contained two stories, one a little longer than the other. The first involved time travel to 1000 years in the future, a concept the comics seem oddly obsessed with. It was just okay. The latter two chapters felt a lot more character focused, however, with Finn still reeling from losing his home and having other humans closer by. Despite the first story being a little middling, by the end it was a nice little epilogue to the series as a whole, canon or not.

Reading Next

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 1Though there are a number of books I’ve mentioned in this section that I haven’t started yet, I recently received a book I had on hold at the library: the first volume of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess manga by Akira Himekawa. I’ve been on a bit of a Zelda kick again, since before even the new game came out, and I’ve been wanting to read this manga after recently finishing Twilight Princess HD. I really don’t want to buy more and more volumes of manga, however, and this adaptation is a lot longer than the others, so I was excited to see a lot of this series is in my library’s catalogue (though volume 3 is maddeningly absent). Hopefully the due date will spur me on to actually read this soon.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 17, 2023

RyanLeave a comment
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

Jurassic ParkI’ve finally been able to start Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, my first reread in a very long time. I’m only about 20 pages in, but I already feel like I’m in a place where I can appreciate it a lot more than I did when I first read it in middle school/early high school. My interest started with videos emphasizing the horror of this original text, but lately I’ve noticed they’re typically rather repetitive, so I’m going to actively rein in my expectations a little. I don’t recall much being especially disturbing the first time around anyway, and I’m coming off a book that was legitimately upsetting in spots, so it’s likely that this will be a relatively light read. Still, the mystique around the dinosaurs and the fact that the danger they pose is already woefully apparent is something I’m really enjoying.

Recently Finished

American PsychoFinally, finally, I have finished reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I want to try to have a review up soon, but we will see; my schedule doesn’t always allow me to put things up as soon as I’d like (e.g., this very post, which is going up very late Wednesday night). Before completing the book, something finally struck a meaningful chord with me with respect to the continually escalating acts of violence on the part of Patrick Bateman. Despite the horror of it all, it is vacuous. No drama, no suspense, nothing of substance. It’s some of the most discomforting content I’ve ever read, but it says nothing deep about Patrick and it shouldn’t. It doesn’t make him interesting or morbidly fascinating, he is just a sick man committing sick acts, worthy only of revulsion. Though I know its themes run deeper than this overall, these sections at least in part feel like an antithesis to romanticized stories of true crime.

Reading Next

I still have a few comics I’ve been meaning to pick up and read finally, such as Tombs by Junji Ito. Other than that, I don’t really have further concrete plans about what I’ll read next.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 3, 2023

RyanLeave a comment
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

American PsychoI’m coming up on the last 100 pages of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and I’m really wanting to get this book over with. I’ve said it before, there’s no denying Ellis’s talent as an author, but I am really finding this book to be a chore, which is troubling in a book with such recognizable quality. I’m not sure I’ve ever been confronted before with a book so unpleasant yet well written. I understand that the unpleasantness is part of the point, but I still have my limits, especially with it being so character focused. I’m just hoping something comes up in the narrative by the end to tie everything together in a way that I’ll like. I can’t say with certainty that I’ll even be done by next week though, so it seems I’m stuck with it still for a while yet. This one is going to be rather difficult to review, though I can already imagine how I will rate it.

Recently Finished

Despite not having anything to post about last week, I still haven’t finished reading anything else.

Reading Next

I still mean to read Spores by Joshua Barkman and Tombs by Junji Ito sometime soon, I just need to make a point of actually starting them. Although, I suppose if I’m wanting to focus on finishing American Psycho that I shouldn’t sacrifice reading time for anything else right now.

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

The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is simple yet fun, as all I had to do was grab 10 books randomly from my shelf. I have a lot of books scattered around, however, so some of them were taken from the back of my actual bookshelf and others were taken from the stacks of books on the table next to my desk. I can’t help but fret a little that my selection doesn’t feel as random as it should, but in the spirit of things I kept it as they were selected.Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (April 2023)

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Well, it’s finally happened. Though I actually wound up buying a fair number of books this month, what I’m stuck on is the fact that I actually forgot to include a few new books last month, one of which having been a rather big deal for me. Goodness knows how I forgot about it. I almost forgot another book today too; I think I really ought to cool down on the book purchases next month. We’ll see if I actually do that.

On to the books!Read More »

WWW Wednesday – April 19, 2023

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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

American PsychoProgress with American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis continues to be slow but steady; the story has reached a specific murder victim that I distinctly recall seeing clips of from the film, so I believe this one will have consequences for Patrick finally. I’m most curious about it because his motivations seem to be different than his typical victims, but they have been elusive to me. Perhaps I missed something, but I’m hoping it’s just something that gets revealed more later on. My feelings are becoming quite pointedly mixed while reading this. There’s no denying Ellis’s skill as an author, and I don’t hate reading it necessarily, but I feel like this book is really hard to recommend, and sometimes I feel like I’m tolerating it more than anything else. I suppose my interest was always more academic anyway, but I do wish there was something that I could say I actually love about this book.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week!

Reading Next

SporesThis week I received a copy of a self-published book by Joshua Barkman, a web comic artist I follow, called Spores, so there’s a good chance I’ll be reading that soon. I’ve read it before, as these were published first on Instagram last October, but I enjoyed the little story so much at the time that I’m happy to read it again as a book. I’m still feeling pretty committed to rereading Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton next, though I’ve still got a lot of American Psycho ahead of me. I’m quite ready to move on from it though, so I should perhaps refocus my efforts.

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