WWW Wednesday – August 23, 2023

August 23, 2023 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’ve been feeling a bit off this past week and have had to get back into the groove a bit with work, so I haven’t made any new progress on This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal Eh-Mohtar & Max Gladstone.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 6 I did however find some time to read through the sixth manga volume of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. The story has taken a somewhat interesting departure from the game’s story here, shortly after Link deals with finding the mirror shard at Snowpeak Ruins. Unlike the game, Link has quite a lot more personality in this series, and since he’s retrieved the Master Sword he has gotten a bit of a big head about his role as the Hero. In this volume this culminated into an encounter with Dark Link, a recurring adversary type in the games but one that was absent from Twilight Princess. In the end, the spirit of the Hero of Time as a wolf seems to intercede, but I can’t tell if that wolf is supposed to be him in this adaptation, so I’m curious to see where this all goes; I hope we get even more insight into the older hero and the nature of his more spectral existence.

Reading Next

I Wear the Black Hat I’m still not really sure what I want to be reading next, but I feel like I need to make up my mind soon because once I get some momentum going with This is How You Lose the Time War I feel like I’m going to finish it fairly quickly. There are many books I’ve mentioned already over the past few weeks that are likely candidates, but I’ve also been thinking a lot about a new book I just bought called I Wear the Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman. It’s a collection of essays about our cultural fixations on villains and anti-hero-type characters/figures, from what I can gather, and I’m thinking an essay collection might be a nice change of pace. I really enjoyed Eating the Dinosaur, and this book feels like the topic range will be even more focused in a way that I’ll like.

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

WWW Wednesday – August 16, 2023

August 16, 2023 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 back after a week away! I spent a week in Mexico for my brother’s wedding, and while I was there I started reading This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal Eh-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. It was incredibly hot and spending time with people kept me quite busy, so I only set aside a little bit of time to get any reading done. Still, I was able to get almost 50 pages into this book, which is pretty good for me considering my track record with reading at travel destinations. So far, I’ve just been getting to know Red and Blue more and more as they continue to correspond; I really like how dizzying yet captivating their journeys through time are, with some of their missions lasting for decades before they receive another letter. There are a lot of wonderfully imaginative depictions of periods of the distant past and future that are not over-explained yet are described enough to leave a good impression.

Recently Finished

Before I left last week, I managed to finish reading Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, the 23rd novel in the series and the sixth book about the Witches. Though I’ve said as much already, I really enjoyed this novel. Since I was so close to finishing it in my last post, I’m not sure what I can say here that hasn’t been said already, except that a nice touch was how it felt like a proper passing of the torch between Magrat and Agnes as the new “maiden” of the coven. Magrat’s absence from Maskerade felt a little too conspicuous for me from what I remember, so getting to see a more mature version of her fully realized and having (presumably) one last adventure with the other witches felt really good. I’m going to try to have a review of this up soon.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 5 I also managed to finish reading the fifth volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa before leaving, which gave us an even greater shift in the relationship between Link and Midna. What I especially loved in this volume though were the references to the Hero of Time; there is a flash of imagery when Zelda learns Link’s name, hinting at her knowledge of the events of Ocarina of Time, and later on while on their way to retrieve the Master Sword it is more directly confirmed that the Skull Kid who guards the way is the very same that knew the old hero. I really do wish all of the games greater emphasized their connections like this.

Reading Next

I’ve no concrete plans on what I want to read next, as there are a few candidates now that I didn’t read as much as I might have while on vacation. Stay tuned!

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

WWW Wednesday – August 2, 2023

August 2, 2023 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?

Much to my irritation, for reasons unknown to me WordPress is not allowing me to resize images as needed in a post, so I’m not including any covers today, even though that bothers me to my very core.

Currently Reading

I’ve been able to make yet more substantial progress in Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett since my last post; I’m just under 70 pages away from completing it. I typically enjoy the novels about the witches a lot simply for the love of the characters, even if the plot lines leave a little something to be desired at times (at least as far as I remember, I’ve read so many Discworld novels now), but I am really loving this one. Nanny Ogg, Magrat, and Agnes are all being given a lot of time to shine as characters, in some cases showing how much they’ve grown, and this is the most vulnerable we’ve ever seen Granny Weatherwax, though her gravitas is still maintained. The vampires continue to be an excellent force to be reckoned with, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they are thwarted.

Recently Finished

Last week didn’t have much to show for it and my family suffered a sudden loss, so I didn’t bother posting anything. As a tiny turn of fortune though, the fourth volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa turned up at my library after seemingly being MIA, so we’re back in business as far as making progress on that series goes. I’m surprised with how much this volume sped through certain story beats of the game; by the end, two dungeons are cleared and the subplot with Ilia losing her memory have been resolved. I don’t really mind it, and it does have me curious what the rest of the series will entail, as there are 11 before it wraps up. I like how much more the secondary characters are being fleshed out, so perhaps some of it will have to do with that.

Reading Next

Next week I will be away on vacation, so I won’t be able to post. Still, I have a lot of reading plans between now and when I post again. First and foremost, I plan to read volumes five and six of the Twilight Princess manga so that I can return them to the library before I leave. On my trip I intend to bring This is How You Lose the Time War by by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, which I’m hoping I’ll be able to finish while I’m gone. If I do end up reading through it quickly enough, I will then start Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. I doubt I will finish both books (there’s a good chance I won’t finish one), but they’re fairly short, so getting through at least one and starting another at least feels doable.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 19, 2023

July 19, 2023 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 managed to make a lot of great progress on Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett with the newly found reading time I’ve acquired, though it’s only on alternating Mondays. I managed to read well over 150 pages, which is really good for me, so I’ve gone from barely starting the book to getting right in the thick of it. Though I’ve enjoyed many of the others before, this may be shaping up to be one of my favourite novels about the witches, which is surprising considering how relatively little Granny Weatherwax is featured in the story thus far, though she was given one of the best scenes that now stands as one of the most moving in the whole series for me. Nanny Ogg and newcomver Agnes Nitt are getting a lot more of the spotlight, though, and I’m really enjoying their perspectives. The vampires taking over the kingdom of Lancre are also some of the more compelling villains the series has had.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 3 Over the weekend I read through the third volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa, which I was finally able to borrow from the library after requesting that they obtain a new copy. It was a good continuation of the story, though it felt a little less eventful. A lot of it had to do with Link being trained by the Hero’s Shade, and I’m curious if he will be given the same origin as he has in the game. In the game it’s implied he is the Hero of Time, a previous incarnation of Link, and Hyrule Historia confirms this, but I’m not sure if the manga is going in that direction. At any rate, it seems the golden wolf that takes Link to the Shade’s realm may not be one and the same as the Shade, which is not the case in the games, so I have to wonder. I want to read volume 4 asap, but it has been due back at the library since June 3, so I’m wondering if that one too is now MIA.

Reading Next

The Yellow Wallpaper 2 I’d really like to read the next Twilight Princess volume, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen as soon as I’d like. Maybe I will finally read my little pamphlet of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, though I’ve grown to resent it a little as I’ve remembered a rather inexpensive copy that includes other stories that I would have preferred. I was a tad too impulsive with picking that up, but I ought to read it anyway. I will maybe try to finally read Tombs by Junji Ito before next week as well, though we will see; I just haven’t been all that excited about checking that out.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 12, 2023

July 12, 2023 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

The other night I started reading Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, the 23rd Discworld novel. This book sees the return of Granny Weatherwax and the other witches of the Ramtop Mountains, their last novel appearance having been in book 18. I’m excited to read about these characters again, they’re among my favourites in the series, though for some reason I had trouble getting into it during my first reading session, though I’m chocking that up more to me feeling tired than I am anything to do with the book. I’m not very far into it right now, only about 30 pages give or take, but their little kingdom being invaded by a family of vampires and (apparently) little blue men from outer space has me invested.

Recently Finished

The Sea and Little Fishes This was an odd week, because what I did read through I don’t even feel really counts as a book for Goodreads (hence me not adding it there), but I still want to talk about it here anyway, even if I read through it in a notepad file. What I read was “The Sea and Little Fishes” by Terry Pratchett, a short story set between Discworld books 22 and 23. It involved Granny Weatherwax and the Ramtop witches, which made it great for whetting my appetite for Carpe Jugulum. In it, witches are gathering from far and wide to participate in the Witch Trials, which takes on a humorously altered meaning here. It didn’t take me very long to get through, but it was a lot of fun, further emphasizing Weatherwax’s notorious status as a force to be reckoned with, even among other witches.

Reading Next

I’ve got a good idea of a handful of things I want to read next, as per usual, but I haven’t really settled on anything definitively yet. This is mainly because I ought to be able to finish each of them by the following week, so it often comes down to mentally committing to one. As it seems to turn out, however, I leave myself so undecided that I end up choosing none, and then on we move to another week. Stay tuned, I suppose.

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

WWW Wednesday – July 5, 2023

July 5, 2023 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

Nothing! I’m between books at the moment.

Recently Finished

Monday morning I managed to finish my reread of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton; I’m really happy I was able to follow through on my prediction that I’d be able to do so by this week’s post. It was an excellent book, and I have gained the greater appreciation for it that I was hoping I would compared to when I read it back in middle school or high school. Something glaring about what motivated me to read it though was the fact that I’d seen so much hyping it up as a scarier story than the film, but it really isn’t. It’s definitely darker and a little more violent, but it doesn’t really give a horror atmosphere. Maybe I’m just harder to scare, but it still felt pretty firmly science fiction to me. Still, I’m happy for the refresher, as I want to move on to The Lost World soon.

Reading Next

Vermis I I can’t remember how certain I’ve been about what I’ll read next lately, but the other morning I apparently committed to starting Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, as I brought my copy with me in case I wanted to start it after finishing Jurassic Park. With my new-found reading time, I’m hoping I can finish this book within the month of July, but we’ll see. I’m also really considering reading through Vermis I by Plastiboo, which is a rather unique art book I recently purchased a copy of. It’s a guide book to a dungeon-crawling game that never existed, and it’s full of art that I simply adore. It probably won’t take much longer to read than a comic, and I’d really like to make myself read through it, as it’s something I could easily just let sit on a shelf like any other art book, but I really want to fully appreciate it.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 28, 2023

June 28, 2023June 29, 2023 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 chipping away at Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, but I’m thinking I will likely have it done by next week’s post. The raptors are now running amok around the park, quickly making themselves the most horrifying natural force on the island. I did find it a little funny though how the electric fences were off for hours, which the characters didn’t realize, and that is how the raptors got out, but nobody noticed that either nor did we hear of any attacks until after they finally did learn of this oversight. I’m probably just nit-picking, but it felt a little too coincidental all the same. The bigger tyrannosaur spent a great deal of time menacing Grant and the kids too, which I enjoyed as a possible nod to the creature potentially having a more focused intelligence.

Recently Finished

Spores As I suggested I might, I failed to get myself to read The Yellow Wallpaper since last week. However, I did finally make myself read my physical copy of Spores by Joshua Barkman, which I went through in a sitting last night. It’s such a nice little story about creatures gaining a fleeting yet deeper understanding and appreciation for each other, and the art is just gorgeous. It coincidentally hits close to home for me too, as the wildlife depicted is reflective of what I often encounter on my weekly hikes, especially the black-capped chickadees, which I have become especially fond of. I’ve heard this book has been nominated for an Eisner award too; I hope it wins.

Reading Next

I don’t quite have any concrete plans for what I want to read next, but I ought to make up my mind soon if I really am finishing Jurassic Park within the next week.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 21, 2023

June 21, 2023 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’ve managed to make substantial progress in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton since last week. There has been an alteration to my work schedule, and while I would have rather it didn’t happen, it has allowed for an extended period of time where I can get some reading done. As such, in that period of time I was able to progress from page 173 to 290. Those probably still sound like rookie numbers to others, but that’s quite a lot for me with what my schedule had been lately. A lot has progressed in the novel in that number of pages, with much dinosaur mayhem ensuing. A moment I didn’t at all recall from my first reading that really stuck out to me was the exposure of the grievous error in the park’s monitoring system. The numbers of raptors jumping from 8 to 37 once the parameters changed made for a great, startling revelation considering its implications.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week.

Reading Next

The Yellow Wallpaper 2 I recently acquired a copy of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which I mean to try and read soon. Though it is technically a book on it’s own, it’s very short, as it’s a paperback binding of a single short story. I’ve been hearing a lot of interesting things about this short horror story, especially as a piece of feminist literature, which have me really interested in checking it out. I’ll probably have to temper my expectations, as I feel like there’s a possibility this something of a topic-of-the-week on BookTok, but by all accounts it has stood the test of time, so I don’t think I’ll need to worry too much about that. I really could read it in a sitting, so I do hope I make myself read it before next week, but I can be a fickle creature sometimes.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 14, 2023

June 14, 2023 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 slow but steady progress with Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. We’ve been slowly introduced to more and more dinosaurs, though things haven’t hit the fan just yet. I’m noticing more this time around how much the book itself is giving itself an out for how its dinosaurs are represented compared to what the science says; Doctor Wu states that they’ve only recreated the past as best they can, not literally revived dinosaurs as they were, especially since they filled in gaps in the genome. It used to bother me when I was younger that the dilophosaurus was venomous with no scientific basis too, but as I’ve come to understand paleo-art more and more, I realize such an artistic liberty isn’t at all inappropriate: you just shouldn’t be using fiction as the entire basis for your understanding of something.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 2 Last night I read through the second volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. This volume properly introduces the impish Midna, with whom Link reluctantly partners in order to return to human form and fight back against Zant and his incursion into Hyrule. This volume moved things forward a lot more. I appreciated how the first volume set things up, but establishing Link and Midna’s dynamic was a lot more fun, especially since it is typically one-sided in the game. It deviated a little more from the game here with how events unfold, as tracking things down and completing a dungeon don’t really adapt well. I can’t help but be a little bothered by it, but I understand why the change was necessary.

Reading Next

Though I still want to focus on stuff I’ve already been meaning to read for a while now, I cannot help but be tempted to start reading The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, which I picked up last month. I try to read poetry on occasion, though I struggle with reading it a lot more, and I really like the poem “The Raven” and this book is pretty short overall, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoying getting into this. I haven’t started reading it yet at all, but I have put a bookmark into it, and I feel like that counts for something.

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

WWW Wednesday – June 7, 2023

June 7, 2023 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’ve been able to make some more decent progress in Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton since last week, though nothing too major. The main cast has made their way to island now and the initial tour is underway. Though I don’t think I was blind to it the first time I read this book, John Hammond’s petulance around the island’s safety being assessed is a lot more apparent to me. It is actually making some elements of the film feel a little dissonant to me, as he is treated a lot more kindly there, yet workers have suffered fatalities from dinosaurs right from the start of the movie. I get that he’s a bright-eyed idealist, but that rings a little hollow when you think harder about how much he’s deliberately overlooking the deaths of his workmen. I think I’m appreciating how much more the novel is matter-of-fact than I did the first time.

Recently Finished

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess 1 Over the weekend I read the first volume of the manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa. It was an interesting adaptation of the early phases of that game, as a certain degree of work had to be put into characterizing Link, which is typically only lightly done in the games. I was surprised with how deep they made it, giving him a bit of a tortured backstory that situates him in a specific place in Hyrule while also explaining why he already has some skill with a sword. There’s also an element of him being an outsider to Ordon Village, which is a nice touch considering even in the game he has pointed ears while nobody else does there. I’m especially looking forward to what his dynamic will be like with Midna, which it seems we’ll start to get a look at starting in the next volume.

Reading Next

Not making anymore concrete plans right now, other than obvious, i.e., the second volume of Twilight Princess. I’ve got plenty to get to that I’ve said I would already, no sense in repeating myself.

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