WWW Wednesday – October 1, 2025

October 1, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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

Since last week I’ve been reading Strange Pictures by Uketsu, a standalone novel written in a similar vein to the author’s previous novel Strange Houses. So far, I’m a couple of chapters in at just over 100 pages, and I’m liking it considerably more than the last book. Strange Houses had a problem of detachment, with the bulk of the narrative taking place as a conversation between characters, either speculating over floor plans or divulging secrets to each other. This time around, chapters are more couched in direct experiences, occasionally reviewing media, and it’s working out a lot better so far. I thought the chapters were their own self-contained stories with the motif of digging into the meaning behind seemingly mundane images, but the second chapter revealed they are in fact connected. I hope it pays off well by the end.

Recently Finished

Last week I finished reading The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, the 28th Discworld novel. Though I wrote last week that I felt the book had oddly already reached its end despite nearly 50 pages reamining, I’m happy to report that it stills ends strong and did not feel disjointed with the rest of the book. In fact, throughout my reading I had felt that the community of Bad Blinitz was unusually absent for much of it, so it did a great job of taking that loose end and tying things back together. I’m curious if these characters will make any more appearances throughout the remainder of the series; I was already surprised to learn that they were first referenced all the way back in Reaper Man in 1991.

Reading Next

As today kicks off the Halloween season, I shall soon be starting my Halloween reads for this year (Strange Pictures still serving as the primer, which I’ll hopefully be finishing this week). First off, I will be reading Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum, a novella I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Originally, my plan was to borrow a digital copy of this book from my library, but I ended up making an unplanned visit to Little Ghosts Books, a horror bookshop in Toronto, where I was able to buy myself a copy. I’m eager to find out what all the fuss is about with this book; according to the worker at the bookstore, it’s body horror, which I wasn’t expecting.

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

WWW Wednesday – September 24, 2025

September 24, 2025 Ryan1 Comment

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 got a little bit left, but I’m almost finished reading The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. I started out enjoying this book quite well, but I really didn’t expect to end up loving it as much as I do. Despite the “children’s book” label, it feels as deep as any other novel in the series, just a little more streamlined and shorter, and I’ve been really enjoying how richly it has been exploring the rats’ emergence into sapience and how they must navigate thinking of themselves and others as people and what that means for who they are collectively going forward. The only thing I feel a little stuck on is it felt like the story had its climax and was ready to wrap up, but there were still 40 pages left. I’m hoping it still ends on a strong note and doesn’t feel disjointed.

Recently Finished

Nothing new this week.

Reading Next

Very soon, I’m going to start reading a selection of books I’ve chosen for the Halloween season, but as a primer this week and perhaps into next week, depending on how long it takes me, I’m going to start reading Strange Pictures by Uketsu. Unfortunately, I didn’t find Strange Houses to be all that great, though it wasn’t without its intrigue, so I’m trying to remain optimistic that I’ll like this one. Strange Pictures was the first of his books to catch my eye, and I’m more drawn in by the idea of unusual pictures being the focal point rather than rampant speculation over bizarre floor plans, so maybe it will work out. If I find this one to be lackluster as well, I probably won’t pick up anymore of Uketsu’s work in the future.

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

WWW Wednesday – September 17, 2025

September 17, 2025October 1, 2025 Ryan2 Comments

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

This week I started reading The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, the 28th novel in the Discworld series. As a series first, if memory serves, this book is apparently more of a children’s novel. So far, it reads more or less like any other book in the series, except it is perhaps more straightforward in its approach and more concretely divides things up into chapters (a change I really welcome). I’m just in the early phases so far, but I’m enjoying its take on the Pied Piper folk tale by shifting the focus to sentient talking rats and a cat. Already I’m especially enjoying Pratchett’s exploration of beings that previously couldn’t think like people suddenly being able to and how they come to grips with that.

Recently Finished

Over the last week I read through The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, a book containing the author’s essay on absurdist philosophy. I’ve got to say, this book was a real struggle for me. Part of it was the writing style, which had syntax I found awkward (no doubt due to it being a translation), and a lot of it was just fully trying to process the ideas he was laying out. I used a number of tricks to help keep myself focused on the text, including reading along to an audiobook until that became annoying, as well as watching videos breaking down what certain chapters are getting at and then rereading them. I’m glad I put the effort into really understanding what this philosophy was all about rather than letting the words wash over my brain and fall away like droplets off a duck’s back. I believe I left with a decent grasp of the core ideas, but this was an unfortunately arduous reading experience.

Reading Next

I’ve started to compile books that I want to read for the Halloween season next month, though I haven’t decided on which will start things off.

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

WWW Wednesday – April 23, 2025

April 23, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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

Last week I started reading Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito, the horror manga author’s autobiography. I don’t know why, but I really did assume this was more of a hybrid book with more graphic novel elements, but it really just has pictures. I have in fact committed to reading an autobiography, which I hadn’t planned on doing, but here we are. So far I’m really enjoying it, at 65 pages in, though I still feel like I’ve only just started it. It was interesting to learn that some of his earliest exposure to horror was thanks to his sisters’ shojo manga magazines (manga for teenage girls), which sometimes included horror stories. I would’ve thought horror would be confined purely to its own publications, but as a long-time horror fan and friend of women who love horror too, the idea of shojo magazines including horror sometimes makes a lot of sense to me.

Recently Finished

Last week I finished reading The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett, an illustrated Discworld novella about Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde on an adventure to return fire to the gods (with interest) and the brave men boldly going where no one has gone before in order show up in time to stop them. It was funny to eventually realize that this book seems, at least partly, to be a vehicle for Pratchett to have the characters take a jaunt through space (even if it’s just orbiting the underside of A’Tuin the world turtle, with an unplanned stop on the Moon). It was a fascinating exercise in creating a plausible scenario and means for characters of this world to actually embark on such a journey, and I must say he did a stellar job in making it all plausible without fundamentally changing anything about this fantasy world. I still prefer the more traditional, full-length novels, but this was an excellent debut for Paul Kidby as illustrator to the series, who visually realizes the characters better than they ever have been before.

Reading Next

My only solid plans right now are to read A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers next, as I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, since I have to return that book eventually.

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

WWW Wednesday – April 16, 2025

April 16, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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’m still making my way through The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett, and I’m really surprised at how slow progress has been, what with how heavy it is on illustrations. It almost feels like a hybrid between a graphic novel and a novel, though it obviously leans much more toward the latter. I have had a bit less reading time this past week or so, however, as I haven’t even had a chance to read more of it since Friday. This is considered a Rincewind novel, but it really feels more like an ensemble. I really enjoyed a recent scene where he talks with Corporal Carrot, as I don’t believe they’ve ever crossed paths before; the main characters typically keep to their one sub-series rather than getting involved in the same ordeals. Their interaction was especially funny because it’s essentially a meeting of opposites, one being the ultimate pessimist and the other a determined optimist.

Recently Finished

Yesterday, I read through Life After Life by Joshua Barkman, the artist behind the False Knees web comics. This is the latest book collecting his “Kneesvember” comics, where he draws and posts a portion of the comic every day throughout the month of November. It’s a straightforward little tale about three chickadees in Montreal after humanity has died out for unknown reasons, embarking on a quest to find peanuts, a food they were only ever given by humans. It was a delightful little odyssey full of humour, peril, and heart. I have a particular affection for it because at the conservation area where I go for a weekly walk, I often hand-feed the chickadees, which are the very same species as the ones depicted here, I believe. Rest assured, when I feed them peanuts again I will be thinking of Pips, Fuzzie, and Patches.

Reading Next

I was considering buying this book, but as it turns out, Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito was available at the library, so I decided to just borrow it instead. Unlike typical Ito books, this is autobiographical, which is why it captured my interest better than yet more collections of his work, which I’ve been bit burnt out on for a while now. All the same, I’m looking forward to gaining more insight into his creative process and influences. I’ve still got a reservation on A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers coming in soon too, which I will start after I finish The Last Hero.

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

WWW Wednesday – April 9, 2025

April 9, 2025 Ryan4 Comments

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

Earlier this week, I started reading The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett, the next novel in the Discworld series that I need to read. Like ~~Faust~~ Eric before it, this is an illustrated novella, so the pacing feels very different from what is typical for the series. I’m only about 40 pages in, which I feel doesn’t mean as much with how fewer words there are per page, but I’m really into the premise so far, as Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde are embarking on a quest that may just destroy the world, so the powers that be in Ankh-Morpork are scrambling to try and stop him. Despite how long it’s been, I’m really appreciating how much this is acknowledging the events of Interesting Times. What especially stands out are Paul Kidby’s gorgeous illustrations, which perfectly capture the characters like never before.

Recently Finished

In surprisingly short order I started and finished A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, a novella about a tea monk who sets off on their own into the wilderness to visit an old ruin and encounters a wild-built robot, a descendant of the machines who stepped away from humanity into the wilds centuries before, never to be contacted again. I really liked this book, it was enjoyably brisk, but I can’t help feeling that a novel’s worth of ideas was trimmed down to novella length. It built a really interesting and seemingly elaborate world and characters that had deep motivations that were left more nebulous or glossed over when I would have enjoyed them being fleshed out more. I felt like I wasn’t given enough time to steep in it. Considering how quick of a read it was, I’m motivated to start the next one, especially since I’m anticipating a story line this one didn’t get to, so I’ve already put in a library request for it.

Reading Next

As I said, I want to read A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers next, the second Monk and Robot book. Beyond that, I do not have anymore concrete plans.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 1, 2025

January 1, 2025 RyanLeave a comment

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, as I write this. Happy New Year! 🎉

Recently Finished

I took a break for Christmas last week, so I’ve got a lot more than normal to write about here this week. First up, we have A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll, which I read on Christmas Eve. Though it is not my favourite of Carroll’s work, I nonetheless really enjoyed this graphic novel, which turned out to be a rather unique spin on a ghost story, especially thanks to the sapphic elements playing a crucial role in the story. The only thing I feel mixed about with it is that I can’t really say that what’s going on is ambiguous; aspects of it are, but the character is so prone to flights of fancy and has such an overactive imagination that you can’t say that none of it was just in her head. I choose to believe the supernatural elements are real, at least partly, but it could’ve been a little more definitive.

Next, I managed to finish Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, the 26th Discworld novel and the 5th Death novel. Overall, I quite liked this book. Despite supposedly being a book about Death, it was really about Lu-Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd of the History Monks, who can control the flow of time and oversee history. I would have preferred the book be more about Death and his granddaughter Susan, who really only play supporting roles here, a problem I actually find I have with a lot of the Death books, but I was so endeared to this book’s two leads that I didn’t really care. I only wish this wasn’t Death’s final outing, but at least I know he’ll still show up whenever somebody kicks the bucket. I do wonder if I’ll see Susan again, though.

With only a couple of days until the new year, I endeavoured to read only short things after finishing the last book, because I don’t want things to cross over into the new year, for the sake of reading challenges. So, on Monday I read the novella This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau, a horror story about a woman spending a weekend at a remote cabin with her mother in an attempt to reconnect and mend their relationship. At times, it was a little-on-the-nose with the parental issues (though still very believable) and predictable, as it bears a lot of similarities to Misery by Stephen King, but I found the reading experience so profoundly stressful that I ultimately regard it quite highly. Once again, I regret that I didn’t stick to Halloween reads like this one instead of the duds I picked up from the library.

Slaughterhousse-Five GN Finally, to close out the year and leave me at 42 books read in 2024, yesterday I read the graphic novel adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade by Ryan North and Albert Monteys. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of my favourite classics, and after coming across a copy of this adaptation at the library, it was an easy choice for a final quick read to close out the year. I’d actually consider owning this graphic novel at some point too, as the visual aspects of the new medium were utilized in exceptional ways to depict Billy Pilgrim’s experiences with being unstuck in time. The form was used in other great ways to tell the story as well, really making the adaptation feel worthwhile and unique while still staying true to the source material.

Reading Next

Moby-Dick Thanks to my new work schedule, which has allowed for a greater amount of reading time, I have decided to embark upon what I expect to be a more challenging read: I am finally going to read Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I’ve owned a copy of this book for well over 10 years now, originally purchased out of a feeling of obligation to read the classics, perchance, rather than actual interest in this story, and it has languished on my shelf long enough. I may start it today, but with it being a holiday I may hold off until tomorrow. We shall see. Either way, I’m sure we can all look forward to the next several of these post being mostly about Moby Dick. I hope y’all like whaling.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 18, 2024

December 18, 2024 Ryan1 Comment

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

With all of the reading time afforded to me at the moment with my new schedule, I decided to really go for it and started reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, the next Discworld book that I need to read and the final in the “Death” subseries. It’s a little bittersweet to know that this will be the last one, I think for the first time during my read through of this series, but it’s been a long time coming too. So far, I’m enjoying it quite a book at about 160 pages in; in typical fashion it still feels like things are ramping up, though the stakes are fairly clear at this point. Once again an Igor is playing a supporting role, so apparently Pratchett really loves the idea of these characters, though I find reading their accents a little tiresome at times. Another small character from a previous book, Lu-Tze, has returned in a major role here. I love how seamlessly he brings characters back around like this.

Recently Finished

Last week I finished reading Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer, the third and final book in what used to be the Southern Reach trilogy. Skimming some of the reviews on Goodreads, I was surprised to see a fair amount of ambivalence and negativity about this book, as I personally loved it as a conclusion to the series. It provided enough information that I don’t feel like I was strung along grasping at comprehension, but it continued to be just so weird and nebulous that it preserved a sense of something ineffable going on. Though I’m very intrigued about what the newest novel, Absolution, could be about, I would be very satisfied if this was indeed the final word on this series. I think this is the first time I’ve finished a novel series in a year (I did not anticipate a new release, so I don’t count it). I’m hoping I can maybe turn this into a personal trend, at least occasionally. Better sometimes than never.

Reading Next

With things starting to ramp up and get busier with the holidays, I probably won’t try to read anything more than A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll; it’s irrational, but I hate the idea of starting a book at the end of the year and continuing it into the next.

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

WWW Wednesday – October 2, 2024

October 2, 2024 Ryan2 Comments

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

With October having kicked off, I started reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley last night; the edition I’m reading includes spectacular pen and ink illustrations by Bernie Wrightson, well known for his work on comic series like Swamp Thing. So far, I’ve only read the front matter, which included a few introductions and sections giving some historical context for when it was written. The more modern introduction was written by Stephen King, and we are also treated to the introduction written by Shelley herself for the 1831 reprint. I was quite surprised to learn that, according to the author’s introduction, in her imagining of the creation of the Creature, when the story was still just a seed of an idea, she described it as being animated by “the working of some powerful engine.” I had thought the explicit use of technology of that nature was an addition by later adaptations, but clearly I’ve been mistaken for years.

Recently Finished

Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld and Joe Sumner is an autobiographical graphic novel I picked up from the library a week or so ago. This was another case of me fully embracing the accessibility libraries grant us and picking up a book I wouldn’t have ever purchased for myself. The story mainly covers the author’s experiences spending her summers in Australia as a young girl, her obsession with sharks serving as a through line throughout her experiences. This was one of those books that resonated with me despite not tapping into a precise childhood fixation I shared because the way she was feeling was familiar, even if the subject of her feelings wasn’t. I’m really happy I checked this one out.

James Bond: The Body by Aleš Kot and various illustrators is a standalone volume from the recent James Bond comics published by Dynamite. This was another library book, but what most caught my eye about it was Kot as the author; I think he did exceptional work on the Bloodborne comics (especially for a video game tie in), so my interest is likely to be piqued if I see him attached to something. It was an interesting look at the toll being a secret agent takes on Bond’s body, as well as the fortitude required for him to live this life, weaving together several semi-self-contained smaller stories that all connect by the end. What was most refreshing was the idea of his missions feeling smaller scale; ultimately, the fate of world really is still at stake, but Kot managed to make the focus feel more grounded.

Lastly, I managed to finish reading The Truth by Terry Pratchett, so I’ve managed to read at least one Discworld novel this year. I’m sad that this will likely be the only one, but I don’t want my reading to be too narrow. I feel like I comment on this a lot while reading this series—after all, it’s pretty hard to read 25 books set in the same world and not have similar things to say about it—but I really think this was a solid iteration on a familiar story structure to this series that we hadn’t seen in a while. It did have some notable similarities, like I can’t help but feel like the hero and heroine duo we get in books like these, unlikely to appear as protagonists in the series again, are all secretly facets of the same people. Nevertheless, this was a stronger outing that felt like it had something to say about newsprint and media and stood its ground by having it here to stay in the Discworld going forward.

Reading Next

Nothing this week, so to speak, but only because I will be posting my opening post for Frighteningly Good Reads either tomorrow or Friday, and that is where I plan to outline what I’d like to read for the month of October.

WWW Wednesday – September 25, 2024

September 25, 2024 Ryan1 Comment

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’m still making my way through The Truth by Terry Pratchett, but I’ve managed to read through another 100 pages are so since last week, so I’m closing in on finishing it up. I’m hoping I can have it done by next week, especially since I will want to get started on Halloween reads, and this is very much not a spooky read in any way. Though the main plot of this book, involving a secret group of elites trying to depose the Patrician of the city so that a puppet can be elected in his place, sounds pretty interesting, it’s been a little bland so far. Still, I am really enjoying William trying to establish a newspaper with integrity, especially in the face of more established guilds essentially making tabloid papers that will just make things up. I wonder if things will lead to him being humbled as he maybe starts to over-inflate himself as some sort of arbiter of Truth, but so far I’m rooting for him; I hope the Ankh-Morpork Times is here to stay in the series going forward.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week!

Reading Next

Though I’m still humming and hawing about all the books I think I can realistically read this October (a post is forthcoming), I can say with certainty that one of them that I want to read (a rare reread!) is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, specifically the edition with illustrations by Bernie Wrightson. Frankenstein is one of my favourite books, and it’s been a long time since I’ve read it, so I’m excited for that fact alone, but I’m also really looking forward to Wrightson’s breathtaking art accompanying the experience. I bought my copy a few years ago now (probably longer than I think), so I’m glad I’m finally getting to it.

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