Tag: reading

WWW Wednesday – February 15, 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

Nothing! I’m actually between books at the moment. Go me.

Recently Finished

Wolf in White VanI managed to have some good reading time this weekend, and I used it to finish Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle. I’m happy to report that the twist that I was afraid was coming did not in fact happen, so things did not go in a disappointing direction for me. I’m actually finding it a little hard to pin down quite how I feel about the book, though, as I can’t say I was deeply enthralled or in love with it, but it had the more unique effect of altering my state of mind in the wake of finishing it. Perhaps this isn’t that uncommon, but it’s rarer that the feeling isn’t something more joyful. It’s something altogether more poignant. I also feel like I didn’t fully “get” the novel, if you take my meaning. Some things definitely resonated with me, but I found the stream of consciousness a little hard to follow at times. I’m going to need some more time to reflect on it before reviewing.

Paper Girls 3I also won’t have to eat my glasses this week like I threatened myself last week, as I also made to time read the third volume of Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang over the weekend. This marks the end of reading through all the volumes of this series that I currently own, so I’m going to pick up more this year so I can get it finished up. As it turns out, I’m halfway through the series now, and I’m feeling especially hooked by this point. I really like the way this story explores time travel, specifically having only one timeline rather than branches. Each member of the core cast has had a good amount of focus by this point too, so I’m pretty invested in all of them. They’re handling themselves pretty well, all things considered, but I love how they still feel like they’re just flying by the seat of their pants. Tentatively, I’d like to commit to finishing this series before the end of the year.

Reading Next

Springfield ConfidentialSpeaking of reading commitments, one I decided to make over the past week was to finish the Berserk series by Kentaro Miura by April, which is when I will post my next blog update about reading challenges. I’m playing at them a lot looser this year and decided I would rather take on goals as they come to me rather than set up a bunch in January that I may be less enthused about come June. Since I’m not in the middle of any novels anymore, I suppose I should have made up my mind exactly what I want to read next, but I have not. So, I guess I’m going to start reading Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss in the meantime, as that’s been at the top of my mental to-read list for a while now.

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

WWW Wednesday – February 8, 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

Wolf in White VanI did not end up posting last week because, due to a deeply unfortunate turn of events that came out of nowhere, I literally did zero reading. Utterly scandalous. So, there didn’t seem to be a point to putting one of these up since nothing had changed. Fortunately for this week, I did manage to read some more of Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle, though I’m still got a bit to go despite how short the novel is. More and more details around the tragic incident with some of the players of Sean’s game are slowly being unearthed, and I’m starting to wonder if he isn’t something of an unreliable narrator. I suppose that shouldn’t come as a surprise, all things considered, but if the story goes in the direction I think it’s going in I believe I will be unhappy with the outcome. We shall see.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week! I am ashamed; I have not been reading comics like I’ve meant to. This could easily change at any time, but look at how that’s worked for me so far.

Reading Next

Paper Girls 3The books I want to read next haven’t really changed, so maybe we’ll be seeing some Paper Girls or Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star or even some Springfield Confidential in the near future. The possibilities are limited and specific. I should have some time this weekend, so let’s just commit to Paper Girls volume three right now, shall we? I’ll eat my glasses if I don’t. Also, I’m not too sure about Springfield Confidential, to be honest. I definitely want to read it soon, but I’m still feeling in the mood for fiction, so I might try to juggle it with something else. What that something else will actually be I cannot say at this time, but I do have a few things in mind.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (January 2023)

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It seems with the start of the new year that I wanted to make up for the past couple of light months, as I’ve acquired more books than the previous two months combined. I haven’t gone crazy with the purchasing mind you, but it’s notably more all the same. I suppose with the holidays having passed finally, I decided it was time to let go of the holiday restraint and buy a little more for myself again. I hope the new year has treated everybody well and the weather hasn’t been too miserable.

Enough rambling, on to the books!Read More »

WWW Wednesday – January 25, 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

Wolf in White VanI was hoping I’d have made more progress with Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle since last week, but work comes first, so I did not end up having as much reading time as I was anticipating. Still, I have made some decent progress and have a better picture of what this whole story is all about. It’s made clear from early on that the main character, Sean, is facing some legal trouble related to the pen-and-paper role-playing game he operates for people via the mail, and up until the point I have reached, the details of the tragedy leading to his legal troubles have been slowly elucidated. It’s painting an interesting picture of how a disfigured loner has found a way to form his own little sense of community and the baffling yet believable misunderstanding that led to the tragedy which puts an unfortunate spotlight on him. With so much of that case uncovered already, I’m curious to see what details are yet to be revealed or if there is a turn in store for Sean.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week!

Reading Next

Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star 2I’m still not anticipating that I will have another book in my hands by this time next week, since I should be more realistic about my time, but I do intend to read more comics by next week if I can. Of course, I really want to keep myself going on Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang with the third volume, but I would also really like to read volume two of Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star by Kaeruno Erefante, which I intended to read back in December but never actually made time for. Despite the length of time since volume one, this is at least not a narrative-heavy series, so it will be easy enough to jump right back into it.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 18, 2023

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

Wolf in White VanFinally I’m posting one of these in 2023 (albeit quite late in the day). I have started reading something new this year, Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle, though I’ve only just read the first chapter, so I haven’t gotten far enough to have any substantial impressions to share about it. So far, I’ve gotten a vague understanding of the state of mind the main character exists in and impressions on life-changing bodily harm he inflicted upon himself. With luck, I’m hoping to make some good progress on it by next week. I enjoyed Universal Harvester well enough, which was the last Darnielle novel that I read, but a lasting impression is that it didn’t quite meet my expectations either. With virtually no expectations for this book, I’m hoping for a better result by the end.

Recently Finished

A Carnival of SnackeryFinally, I finished reading A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris. This book was the reason I hadn’t posted one of these yet in the new year; I just really didn’t want to be banging the same drum about having to finish this book. That being said, I really enjoyed the reading experience. I believe I had been doing it a disservice by initially going at it slowly. All things considered, 400 or so pages really blew by, and his perspective on the world was enjoyable to behold, exploring subjects humorous, mundane, and poignant. What became most surreal about this book was how familiar the events he comments on were as the years became more and more recent. It’s a bit unnerving to see 17 years condensed in such a way on its own, but the emergence of the pandemic and other huge political issues of the last 6 or so years was a stark reminder of how candid these diaries are.

Paper Girls 2I also read the second volume of Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn, finally. I really wish I had read this closer to the first volume, as I’m still having a bit of trouble keeping track of who is who among some of the main cast, though only with a couple of the characters. I’m honestly a little tempted to go back and read it again, just so I can appreciate it a little better. I’m not sure what it was, but something clicked for me with this volume and now I’m into it in a way that I wasn’t after finishing the first volume, so that’s nice. I’m really enjoying the idea that this story’s time travel doesn’t allow for branching timelines, so I’m curious as to what the capabilities and constraints are under this system. Can things be changed or is everything set in stone, it’s only a matter of the order we’re seeing things happen in? I have the third volume already, so I’ll hopefully be reading that soon.

Reading Next

With my focus being on getting into Wolf in White Van right now, I haven’t really decided what I definitely want to read next, but I do know that Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss is still of great interest to me, so I may be reading that in the near future. I’m trying not to stress reading specific books too much though, so we’ll see where whims take me.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (December 2022)

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This was another surprisingly quiet month as far as new books go. As it turns out, I didn’t receive any gift cards for books for Christmas this year. It’s fine, I still really appreciate all that I did receive, though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little sad that I won’t be going on a small book-buying binge. I hope everybody else has enjoyed their holidays too and continues to enjoy them with New Year’s Eve tomorrow

Enough about the holidays, on to the books!Read More »

WWW Wednesday – December 28, 2022

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

A Carnival of SnackeryLast week I was absent from making one of these posts, as I was celebrating an early Christmas out of town with my family, though I don’t believe I had made much progress on anything to have had much to say anyway. Fortunately, I have finally been making some progress in A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris. I really have been remiss in letting this book sit for so long, because I am reminded upon picking it up just how much I enjoy his writing, even just these bite-sized diary entries. Based on certain entries, it seems like he’s an author who would be really fun to see at a meet and greet, though I feel like I would succumb to the self-imposed pressure of wanting to have something interesting to say or talk about briefly with him. Hopefully, I can finish this book by the end of the year, but seeing as that is on Sunday, I have my work cut out for me. I’ve made progress, but I still have several hundred pages left.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week, since I was busy visiting family last week and I’ve actually been busier than you might expect with work this past week. I’m hoping I can fit in some short stuff alongside A Carnival of Snackery, but we’ll see.

Reading Next

Anything I’m going to read next I have talked about already. Right now, though, so long as I haven’t started them yet, I’m happy to let them wait until the New Year. What’s really going to bug me is if I don’t finish what I’m currently reading, so that’s going to take priority.

I hope everybody has a fun and safe New Year’s weekend. My inhuman work schedule still has me working, despite it landing on a Saturday this year, but I will try to make merry in my own time.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 14, 2022

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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 to update here this week.

Recently Finished

Tracking the ChupacabraA couple of days ago I managed to finish reading Tracking the Chupacabra by Benjamin Radford. It feels weird that it took me as long as it did, since it’s not even 200 pages long with all said and done. I think perhaps the font size and number of words per page makes it appear deceptively short. At any rate, I really like this book, but I would say my experience with it was just good not great. It was well written and well researched, but what stood out most to me was that I am perhaps not the target audience for something like this; it was more or less preaching to the choir the entire time. I needed no persuading, it was not a topic I was even agnostic about. Still, it made for an interesting read and I’m glad I did it.

Reading Next

Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star 2It is becoming more and more apparent to me that I will probably not be reading another full book this month, other than A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris, if I can manage to actually pick the damn thing back up again. Nevertheless, I have some comics I’d like to get through to get myself to a certain point in my Goodreads challenge, even if I’m far from my goal of 50 books overall. I’ve just been able to borrow a copy of the second volume of Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star by Kaeruno Erefante, which I’m looking forward to as a nice amusing read. It’s been a little over a year since I read the first volume, but I think I remember enough that that won’t be a problem.

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

Books on My Winter 2022–2023 To-Read List

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. I always like topics like this for these posts because it’s a great way to get thinking about what I feel like reading, not just what I may have laid out ages beforehand. This is especially considering a new year coming up, with presumably new personal reading challenges to be had that I haven’t really thought about yet. Though this will include 10 books, I’m fairly certain I won’t read all of them listed here during winter; I’ve just been too slow lately. Nevertheless, these are all books I’d really like to get to in the coming winter season.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – December 7, 2022

RyanLeave a 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

Tracking the ChupacabraI’ve managed to make some more decent progress in Tracking the Chupacabra by Benjamin Radford since last week. The chapters I read through were a lot more up my alley, as they dealt with looking into actual supposed sightings and even recovered bodies of supposed chupacabras, as well as the experiences of the people who found them. I was especially interested in one account where the woman who found the body, who has turned it into something rather lucrative for herself, remarked about assumed photos of the creature from 100 years ago. It’s fascinating that the common assumption among people, including myself growing up, is that the chupacabra is old folklore. The most startling thing about this book is still the fact that accounts of the creature only date back to 1995. I want to try and get this done before next week, as I really need to move onto other books if I’m going to get them finished before the year is out.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week either. I really need to crack open some comic books.

Reading Next

The Myth of SisyphusWith only three weeks remaining in December, I’m really not sure if I can start anything bigger than graphic novels or Galatea by Madeline Miller. I really want to try though, so we’ll have to see how things go. What is most important to me is that I finish reading A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris rather than something I haven’t even started yet, though, so I will be prioritizing that. Another prospective read that has popped up for me though is The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, which I bought a little while ago. It’s only a little under 150 pages long, despite looking longer than that, so I’m considering maybe squeezing that in. We shall see.

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