Tag: Uncanny

WWW Wednesday – May 7, 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

On Monday, I started reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, the second Monk & Robot book. Unfortunately, it’s been something of a busy week with work so far, so I haven’t had a lot of time to read much more than about 20 pages of it. Still, I love how much this is picking up pretty much right where the first book left off, flowing together pretty seamlessly. As much as I like this, it does however highlight my suspicion that the entire narrative these books will cover could have been one novel instead of two novellas. At least I have the personal benefit of reading them back to back. It’s not wasting any time either, as Sibling Dex and Mosscap have already made their way into a town as part of the latter’s quest to learn about humanity.

Recently Finished

At the end of last week I finished reading Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito, the manga author’s autobiography. After getting a good amount of background on Ito’s upbringing and experiences getting into the industry, he spent a few chapters reminiscing about specific stories and breaking down his thought and design processes, which provided especially interesting insight. I’ve encountered this before in the afterwords of some of his books, but I was struck by how sincere and humble Ito is as an author and artist, unafraid to admit when he feels he could have developed something better or had to cut corners, as well as highlighting his own perceived shortcomings more generally. It was also amusing that he admits to often having an idea for a certain horrific image first and then constructing a story to get him to it, which is an observation I’ve made in the past when reading his stuff; it was oddly vindicating. This book has renewed my interest in his manga a little, so I may pick up some of the collections I let pass me by.

Reading Next

I’m not quite sure what novel I will read next, but I have a graphic novel from the library that I will read soon so I’m not hanging onto it for too long: Dark Entries by Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera, a graphic novel about John Constantine. I’ve not read many books featuring Constantine, but Rankin has been on my radar since my aunt told me he’s one of her favourite mystery authors. I found this book after having a random browse of the graphic novel section at the library and it caught my interest enough to take it out.

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

WWW Wednesday – April 23, 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

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

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

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.