Tag: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

WWW Wednesday – October 1, 2025

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

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

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

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

Ryan2 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

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.