Tag: reading

New Books & Novel Discoveries (August 2024)

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Last month I had actually hoped to do some more shopping than I ended up achieving. I went to Fan Expo in Toronto for the first time in five years, after having gone for about 10 years in a row until the pandemic hit. I was hoping to use the opportunity to pick up some comic book omnibuses I’ve been wanting, but it turns out the event is less worth it for comic book shopping than ever. They used to at least list trades for American cover price, giving a significant discount in Canadian dollars, but the few vendors that were selling them were just advertising Canadian cover price, except for one that just didn’t have any of what I wanted. So, boo to that.

With the griping out of the way, let’s check out the books that I did get, how about it.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – September 4, 2024

Ryan2 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

The TruthIt’s feeling rather late in the year for this considering I used to try to read one every quarter, but I’ve finally started the next Discworld novel I need to get to: The Truth. I’m expecting this one to feel a little refreshing because it’s been a long time since I’ve read one that wasn’t a part of a subseries like the Witches or the City Watch. This follows a similar yet more open-ended structure to some of the previous ones, about the world being effected by the arrival of a new innovation in some way. This book sees a machine printing press coming to the city of Ankh-Morpork and with it widespread print media. This would have a profound effect anywhere, so I’m really curious about what will unfold in this unique setting. I’m only 30 pages or so in so far, but I’m hoping I can get a lot more done soon.

Stung with Love Poems and FragmentsI also started reading Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments by Sappho, a book collecting all of the surviving poems and fragments by the well-known Greek poet. I’ve only read a section on poems about Goddesses so far, as there was actually a good deal of front matter to this book giving more context to what we know about Sappho as a figure. I found this most interesting as a look into just how fragmentary surviving art and history can be. There are plenty of references to her work and skill as a great poet throughout histoyr, but comparatively little of her actual work has survived up to now. It’s surreal to see ancient Roman sources cited, who would’ve had direct access to her work, and having to base our understanding of it off of theirs. I don’t know how quickly I’ll finish this, it’s not very long, but I likely won’t give full updates like this each week if my progress is slow.

Recently Finished

AuthorityLast week I finally finished reading Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy. Things finally came to a head in the story in the final chapters, and in true Southern Reach fashion I had only a vague understanding of what was really going on, except for a few certainties that were quite apparent. I really liked that a prevailing feeling I had throughout the book without a single explicit indicator to it was made to be right. I know it’s a 10-year-old book, but I don’t want to ruin it for anybody who may be interested, so I’m being vague myself. Despite the fact that I had trouble finding good momentum with reading this book, I did really enjoy it, and I’m happy with how it concluded. I’m wondering if Acceptance will hold any real, concrete answers or if I should resign myself to being in the dark about a lot of it, even at the very end.

Reading Next

I’ve not decided anything that I want to read next with certainty, but with October just around the corner I am starting to consider what horror books I think I can get through. My reading speed has been a little stunted this year, which is really bothering me, so I’m worried I won’t be able to do more than one average-sized novel. We shall see.

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

WWW Wednesday – August 21, 2024

Ryan1 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

AuthorityEnded up taking a weird hiatus these past few weeks, as I’ve ended up not posting a single thing since July 31st. Initially, I just skipped the first Wednesday of August because I wanted more to show for it, but now I’ve nearly missed three in a row. In this time I’ve read a fair amount, though regrettably I’m still making my way through Authority by Jeff VanderMeer. Partly, this is because I decided to shift my focus other places; I still think I can get this book done before the end of the month. However, I am finding the book a little too slow, despite the fact that I do in fact like it a lot. Some things are unraveling and being revealed at the point in the story I’m at, but I still feel a little at a loss as to what it’s all building toward and what’s at stake. There are also some narrative devices that I’m not 100% sold on, but I think I can come around on them. We’ll see. I’m being vague because I don’t want to spoil things too much, even though this book is 10 years old now.

Recently Finished

Jim Henson Storyteller FairiesI’ve actually finished quite a lot in the intervening time, which I’m happy about, most of them being comics. They’re library books rather than from my personal backlog, so I’m sorry to say I still haven’t gotten to some of those, but I’m still pleased with the results anyway. Over the past few weeks I’ve read two more volumes from the Jim Henson’s The Storyteller series of anthologies: Fairies and Sirens. I really liked the Fairies volume, the writers have a greater wealth of folklore from around the world to pull from, as you can be very broad when considering something as related to fairies. Sirens, on the other hand, was a bit weaker. The stories were just not as interesting, though not poorly illustrated or written, and as a theme it just felt a little more tenuous. One of them is about a goddess from China that’s half snake, which barely counts, while none of them include sirens from actual Greek mythology.

Dead MountainWhat I mainly shifted my focus toward was getting Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar done in time to get it back to the library, as somebody else had put a hold on it. I don’t know if I’ll be reviewing this one, but I will say here that I really loved this book. I have trouble with nonfiction sometimes, but Eichar did a really great job presenting this story and tying it together with his own experiences before bringing it all together with a satisfying theory about what actually happened on that mountain that fateful night that resulted in nine hikers fleeing the safety of their tent into the freezing dead of night, leading to their deaths from exposure. Where before my familiarity with this mystery was based on a lot of hearsay and sensationalism, I’ve come away from this book with a much deeper understanding of what took place leading up to the incident, the aftermath, and a likely explanation of what could actually have happened. Highly recommend this one to lovers of nonfiction.

Reading Next

Stung with Love Poems and FragmentsI’m still going to be working away at Authority for the next couple of weeks, but I’ve also taken a new book out of the library: Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments by Sappho. As I understand it, the book collects translations of all the surviving work of the Greek poet Sappho. I try to push myself to read poetry from time to time, and while I’ve bristled a little with modern stuff, I’ve always wanted to give her work a closer look, so I was happy to discover that the library has a volume that can satisfy that curiosity. I’ve got a number of novels in mind that I want to read next, but I haven’t settled on one yet. There’s a number I still want to read this year that I’m realizing I likely won’t get to, which is disappointing. So it goes.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 31, 2024

Ryan1 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

AuthorityI’m still working my way through Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, and it’s unfortunately at a slower pace than I would like, though I’m nearly 100 pages further than I was last week. I’m continuing to enjoy the atmosphere of this book, for the most part, especially in how lost and ineffectual the Southern Reach reach is as an institute. It’s becoming more and more clear that Area X has been infecting them in subtle ways over the years, though how and how much isn’t quite clear, as the entire situation is terribly nebulous and hard for any of the characters to wrap their heads around. I am finding I like this novel less than Annihilation thanks to the resulting slow pace, however. It does feel immersive with Control’s struggles to get a handle on things, but the stagnating and obtuse atmosphere is ultimately having a double-edged effect.

Dead MountainI also decided to start reading Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar, a nonfiction book from 2013 about the Dyatlov Pass Incident where a group of nine hikers in Soviet-era Siberia when missing and were subsequently found dead under mysterious circumstances. Though I’m not inclined to believe anything paranormal was involved, it’s still a captivating mystery, and I’ve seen a few book recommendation videos list it among good nonfiction reads. So far, at about 50 pages in, I am enjoying it quite well. I will unfortunately struggle to keep the Russian names straight, which I hope I will come around on by the time I’m done, but otherwise the readability is very good. I’m looking forward to seeing if there’s any new or compelling information presented here that paints a different picture than other sources I’ve seen talk about this incident.

Recently Finished

The Flintstones Vol 1Since last week I’ve read the two volumes of The Flintstones Mark Russell and Steve Pugh, which I found a lot more enjoyable than I was even expecting to, and already I had good hopes for it. It turned out be a really amusing, satirical spin on the old cartoon while still maintaining the spirit of what I remember from watching the show when I was younger. Standout details for me include the fact that Bedrock was founded after committing a genocide, which Fred and Barney participated in, and the fact that the animal appliances, which only we as the reader can understand, suffer under their plight of being treated like household objects instead of living things. Despite how heavy that might sound, there’s enough levity throughout these stories to balance things out and an absence of heavy-handedness in how they’re presented that it really hits the mark.

Reading Next

Not sure what I’ll be reading next, I’ve got a lot on the go right now. Rest assured, it will probably be a comic of some kind; I’ve still got to keep up getting through those.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (July 2024)

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I’ve continued to show a little more restraint this past month. Though I’ll be showing more books than June, I only actually bought one new physical book. While I once again wonder if I’m forgetting something, one of these is actually a book I forgot to mention last month too. So, perhaps not for the first time, I actually did forget a book.

Enough carrying on, let’s have a look at these books.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – July 24, 2024

Ryan1 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

AuthorityI’m still plodding along with Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy, though I haven’t read as much as I feel I should’ve in the intervening two weeks. Still, at exactly 100 pages into it I’m both puzzled and continue to be intrigued. The tone of this novel, despite having a very different narrative approach and setting, is a little dreamlike in a way that I can’t quite put my finger on. In many respects, Control’s point of view helps ground the reader, yet the situation at the Southern Reach is just so odd. Nobody can confidently quantify or understand much of anything about Area X, yet they persist as an institution, albeit a waning one, and he’s met with such passive resistance, vague answers to his questions, and oddities in the old director’s office that it feels almost feverish.

Recently Finished

Marvel 1602Over the weekend I finally finished reading Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert, which took quite a bit longer than I expected it to. It’s clearly meant to be a larger project, so I’m not sure why I assumed it was the length of a regular trade paperback. This definitely isn’t a favourite among Gaiman’s work, but he did manage to make the characters really compelling in a rather unlikely setting. The main weakness I’d say this book has is that it is trying to include an awful lot of major characters at once, so it sometimes felt all over the place. I enjoyed those who were more fleshed out, but it felt like we couldn’t get in too deep with their own personal stories for the sake of the universe-shattering problem they must come together and solve. This overarching plot was fine, but everything else the characters had going on was actually a lot more interesting to me, so I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the end. Sure, the universe was saved, but so much feels unresolved.

Reading Next

The Flintstones Vol 1I found some comics at the library that caught my eye, so it’s likely I’ll be reading them soon; I picked up The Flintstones volumes 1 and 2 by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh. These two volumes are part of DC’s Hanna-Barbera Beyond imprint that gives a more modern and adult interpretation to these classic cartoons. I’ve heard a lot of interesting things about these books, such as Fred and Wilma’s monogamy being controversial in their community, so I’m excited to get a closer look at what the overall story will be about. I’ve got another library book I’m tentatively planning to start reading too, but I want to hold off on any commitments to that right now, as I borrowed it somewhat impulsively.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 10, 2024

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

AuthorityI’ve started a couple of new thing since last week. First up we have Authority by Jeff VanderMeer, the second novel in the Southern Reach trilogy. I’m pleased to learn that this novel’s narrative is different from Annihilation in a way that I anticipated; where that first book was actually a field journal, this one is told more traditionally, from the point of view of a new interim director at the Southern Reach. Though I’m not actually very far into it thus far, it has already been rather tantalizing, as 3 of the 4 members of the twelfth expedition have been found outside of Area X, including the biologist, the protagonist of the first book. Their true nature, however, remains to be seen. I’m enjoying this new perspective character too, and I’m looking forward to the greater insight his point of view will provide into the institution researching Area X.

Marvel 1602I also finally started reading Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert, a retelling of the Marvel universe set in the 17th century. I’m enjoying it well enough so far, though the couple of chapters I have read feel like they’re dealing more with setup, so the story doesn’t feel like its really gotten moving yet. Still, it’s a unique setting for these characters, and I’m enjoying the ways that Gaiman has interpreted them for this it, though I don’t believe I’ve met all the characters who will be making an appearance yet. The most surprising was Rohjaz, a towering Native American who is inexplicably white of skin and blue-eyed, which the story explains through contact with Welsh traders before Columbus “discovered” the continent. It took me embarrassingly long to realize this is supposed to be Steve Rogers; though it feels a little odd, I appreciate that Gaiman made him firmly American rather than a European colonist.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week.

Reading Next

This is Where We Talk Things OutI’m pretty focused on what I’m in the middle of right now, so I haven’t made any big decisions about what I want to be reading next, though I do feel it should probably be a Discworld novel. As a shorter outing, however, I have been thinking about reading the novella This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau, a horror story that I’ve heard can be read in a sitting or two. I should make an effort with shorter prose too, so perhaps I’ll be reading this sometime soon. Otherwise, I really need to keep thinking about what comics to read next.

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

New Books & Novel Discoveries (June 2024)

RyanLeave a comment

All things considered, June was yet another month where I was fairly well behaved with respect to buying books. I gave into an impulse or two, but I also put some things back and decided to abstain. It really is getting to me how little space I have for new books, which really is a pickle when you love buying them.

Anyway, let’s see what I did get.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – July 3, 2024

Ryan1 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

Nothing this week; I’m between books again, which is good, though I feel bad that I missed the last couple of weekly posts. Two weeks ago I just felt like I didn’t have enough to say, and last week I just ended up being way too busy to make any time. I’m happy to be reporting back in.

Recently Finished

Hellboy The Dragon PoolOn Monday I finished reading Hellboy: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden, and goodness I’m really not sure how to feel about this one. In many ways, the writing is perfectly competent; I can’t think of anything particularly bad or awkward-sounding, and the regulars we know and love are characterized properly without any real issues. I just couldn’t escape the feeling that the entire story was a waste of time. An ancient dragon king is unearthed, wreaks some havoc, and then they defeat him. Hellboy’s relationship with Anastasia is touched upon, but they stay separated and it doesn’t amount to more than tension between the two. There’s tension with the Chinese government a little, because it takes place in Tibet, but that doesn’t come to a meaningful head either. It just goes through the motions, written well enough, reaching a predictable conclusion and overall being rather boring. I feel it deserves a little lower than a 3 out of 5, even, but I’m having trouble actually settling on that. I don’t know if I’ll ending up writing a full review on this one or not.

Reading Next

Marvel 1602I’ve done a rather poor job of reading comics, as I continually complain about, and I’m really thinking I need to more thoughtfully go through my digital backlog and make a more concrete list of things I want to read this year. It was so much easier when I had series I wanted to catch up on/finish, but with luck I can get myself treating such a list in the same way.  Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman should still be first on the chopping block, as it were, I just need to figure out what else I want to push myself to read finally. So many of them have languished there for so long, it’s about bloody time.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 12, 2024

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

Hellboy The Dragon PoolAfter a lot of humming and hawing, I finally decided to start reading Hellboy: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden; though I made up my mind late last week, I didn’t manage to get a start on it until Monday night. There are some other series that I arguably should be getting to instead, but I realized that I haven’t read a Hellboy novel since summer 2021, so it’s nearly been 3 years. After this one, I will only have four more left to read, and this will be the last one published by Pocket Star Books before the publisher switches back to Dark Horse. I’m enjoying it well enough so far at nearly 60 pages in, though it’s doing its usual setup with the characters so the novel is accessible enough, so the story hasn’t quite gotten going yet. I’m most intrigued that Dr. Anastasia Bransfield is appearing again, an old flame of Hellboy’s that first appeared back in the first novel The Lost Army.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week.

Reading Next

Marvel 1602I’d still really like to read Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman soon, which I will likely get to before anything else. Reading another Hellboy novel finally has me thinking about other books related to this series that I really need to start reading; I’ve owned the first four omnibuses of the BPRD books for a number of years now, and I really ought to start reading that series finally. Part of me wants to start trying to read another book concurrently with The Dragon Pool, but I need to quell that a little so I can just get that book finished with faster.

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