WWW Wednesday – February 9, 2022

February 9, 2022 Ryan3 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

Last night I finally started reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and I got to the end of the first section of the book. Picking up this book was more of a whim than is normal for me, so I was afraid I might immediately dislike it, but fortunately I’m pretty into it so far. It hadn’t really occurred to me before (or I’d forgotten) that this is a YA novel, and the writing certainly has a YA way about it, though I don’t mean that negatively. The first section was a lot of establishment, so I’m really intrigued to see what the advertised mystery and suspense will entail. So far we have the lead character having suffered injury under unusual circumstances, but that hasn’t developed into a full mystery just yet. I’m intrigued to see where things go.

I’m still in the middle of the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley too, and as this reread continues I feel like I have less to say about it. I’m much better appreciating how this story navigates the ups and downs and complications of relationships than I did the first time around, though.

Recently Finished

Over the weekend I managed to finish up reading Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, finally capping off this trilogy among the new canon Star Wars books. I think I like this book about as much as the second book overall, but for different reasons. The story was a lot more solid all around, but it was also less interesting than some of the directions the previous book went in. I did really like the greater emphasis on strategy and engagements between capital ships, with a lot of focus on the command bridge, but it was a little stale at times too. It really is a shame that the Rebels TV show stops this story from going any further, because there are a lot of threads I’m really interested in seeing continued. Thrawn was so much more interesting as an anomaly within the Empire. Who knows, maybe things will continue in some form. I’ll try to have a full review up soon.

Reading Next

I don’t know why I feel compelled to choose my next novel as soon as I’ve started a new one, but here we are. Since it’s technically a leftover from last year, grandfathered into one of this year’s lists, I’ve decided I will read The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett next, which continues the story of Rincewind after being accidentally transported to the Discworld’s version of Australia. It’s been a little while since I read Interesting Times, the previous book in this sub-series, and though Rincewind isn’t my favourite character, I am looking forward to seeing what he gets up to next.

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

WWW Wednesday – February 2, 2022

February 2, 2022 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

I’m still slowly making my way through Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn; I’m about 70% of the way through now, so hopefully I can get it finished by next week. As I was reading it last night, the thought occurred to me that this novel, perhaps this trilogy as well, is the most that Star Wars has felt like Star Trek for me, with a darker twist considering the nature of the Empire. It considers a lot of the crew dynamics on their Star Destroyer with their admiral, Thrawn, at the top, who inspires a lot of loyalty and is great at solving military problems. The focus is much more on the perspective of the command bridge as well and their solving of strategic dilemmas. I’m still waiting for one of these to really hook me though, as I’ve still not really felt like what they’re coming up against is truly a threat, even contained within these little skirmishes. I can’t deny that I’m enjoying it all the same, though.

I’m also still slowly making my way through the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I haven’t really got much more to say about it at the moment, except that I continue to be a little in awe of how much more in-depth the story is here vs. the film, the latter being what I honestly remember more than the first time I read the comics. The amount of time spent dwelling on Envy Adams, Scott’s ex, for example, was really surprising during my readings this past week. The book itself even breaks the forth wall about how much time it spends just at her concert. Scott continues to have many more redeeming qualities here compared to the film, where he honestly comes off a bit sociopathic rather than selfish and absentminded.

Recently Finished

I decided that each of these weeks was starting to look far too much alike for my liking, so I decided to pick up a rather short graphic novel for a quick read last night. That book was When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll. The story is about an anthropomorphic cat-woman arriving at the castle of a deadly vampiric countess with the intention of killing her. The story is very folkloric rather than plot-heavy, leaving things a little more up to interpretation than I would prefer, but the gothic visual style and unsettling body horror are fantastically realized, blending violence and eroticism between the two central figures into something really compelling.

Reading Next

I still plan to start We Were Liars by E. Lockhart soon, and with any luck I will have started by next week. Since I’m getting this up so late today, I won’t agonize over what I might read next any further.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 26, 2022

January 26, 2022 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 in the middle of Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, just over halfway through in fact. I haven’t gotten any great amounts of reading time in the last week, but I have managed to chip away at it a little anyway. I’m finding that I’m enjoying it a lot as a comfort read, but at the moment I’m still really not sure what the core conflict of this book is. Their little skirmish with the Grysks is interesting, but they feel more like an obstacle than something the characters are sincerely struggle against. I suppose questions of treason will have to come into things, I’m just not entirely certain what that will be yet. Knowing Thrawn’s ultimate fate, I wonder what sort of balancing act that might entail or if he will betray his own people for the Empire. At any rate, I am enjoying this book for the writing and its characters, at least, but I hope it doesn’t disappoint.

I’m slowly making my way through the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley, which continues to be a fun nostalgic romp. Although I knew how much longer the comics are than the movie, revisiting it is really highlighting just how truncated the film is. It works, but it really isn’t the ideal way to experience this story. I’m loving the slower moments and how they contrast with the over-the-top action and cartoony elements. I’m especially wondering this time around just how literal we’re meant to take the more absurd elements of the story too, though I’m sure I’m thinking about it too much. One shouldn’t always search for perfect sense, it can spoil the fun.

Recently Finished

Nothing, again!

Reading Next

I still plan to read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart next, but think that is still a way’s off since I’m only a little over halfway through Treason. In the meantime, I really ought to pick another graphic novel or something to stay on top of my reading challenge; I’m two books behind schedule already. I know that’s not the end of the world, but it feels like an inauspicious start to the year.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 19, 2022

January 19, 2022 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

Since last week I’ve gotten nearly another 100 pages into Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, and I continue to enjoy the book quite a bit. This trilogy has been great for presenting a more nuanced look at the Empire and its politics, especially the shades of grey that exist in this otherwise oppressive regime. The Grysks from the previous book are making a return as a threat to the Empire, and I’m really enjoying this look at other worlds and alien species being a more sizable external threat, rather than having the Empire grapple with rebels or outlaws, as they typically do. It’s almost a shame, knowing how Thrawn’s story ends (for the time being) on the Rebels TV series, because I would really like to see more of him thanks specifically to how he is depicted in these books.

I also finally started reading the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley, and goodness it is making me a little nostalgic for the 2000s. It’s also making me a little homesick, as I grew up in Toronto and haven’t been able to properly visit the downtown core since the pandemic started. Another surreal element is that Amazon is referred to as “that online bookstore.” That didn’t take long to drastically change, eh? When I first read this book I was younger than Scott, so reading it as a 30-year-old certainly colours things differently, though I like that it does do the work to make him sympathetic too. I’m really glad I finally started this, I’m really looking forward to continuing through it.

Recently Finished

Nothing! 💀

Reading Next

I’ve finally cemented my reading challenges for the year, as outlined in my post from yesterday, so I’m now more confident thinking about what I want to be reading next. In that respect, I’ve decided to pull from my scrappy to-read list and read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart next. The only reason I picked this book up was some slight buzz I heard that there’s something messed up about the story. I expect I won’t be as phased as other people about it, but I’m open to being surprised. I won’t start it until I finish with Treason, but I expect I’ll be starting it relatively soon.

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

WWW Wednesday – January 12, 2022

January 12, 2022 Ryan5 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

Since last week I’ve had an unexpected amount of free time again, and I used some of that time to get a start on Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, the third book in his trilogy of Star Wars novels focused on the titular character. I’m only about 86 pages in, so I haven’t exactly powered through it or anything. I haven’t had a lot of motivation to do so, as it seems is often the case this time of year. I am enjoying the book just fine so far, at any rate, though it’s not clear where the story is heading as of yet. I really like Thrawn as an anti-villain, which is unique to these books compared to his depiction in the Rebels TV show, so with hints to his continued use in the franchise from some other media I have to wonder whether he will be given a more villainous twist if he appears again.

Recently Finished

Over the weekend I read through The Legends of Luke Skywalker: The Manga by various. This was meant to be the last book I read in 2021, but I didn’t end up having enough time. In any case, I actually liked this book a lot more than I was expecting. I’m not sure how canon it is meant to be, especially with my least favourite story playfully retconning some circumstance behind the events at Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, but most of them were nevertheless a lot of fun and allowed themselves to be more experimental than I was expecting. I especially liked that a few of them seemed to conspicuously take place after the events of the original trilogy, really capturing the idea that these are the further adventures of Luke.

Reading Next

I still don’t quite know what I’m going to be reading next in a broad sense. I’ve almost got a list together for my challenges in 2022, but I haven’t fully cemented it yet. There should be a post up detailing everything soon, though. In the meantime, perhaps I will finally start reading the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley, which I’ve been meaning to start for months. That doesn’t necessarily mean I will start it soon, but I can try to try, can’t I?

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

WWW Wednesday – January 5, 2022

January 5, 2022 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

Nothing at the moment! I’m taking a little break, and I’m still deciding what I want my line-up of books for the year to be.

Recently Finished

As I said last week, I ended up doing a blitz of reading before the New Year. I came up one book short of my goal, but that still amounted to a good handful done. To save on space, I’m going to format this section a little differently than I normally do.

The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino turned around a lot by the end. The stream of consciousness, abstract style of stories that had been vexing me were replaced by more stories done in the vein of those found earlier in the collection, which I found a lot more accessible. My feelings on the book still aren’t especially high, but I feel better about it than I was afraid I was going to. There will be a review to come soon.

Deserter by Junji Ito was a great little collection of some of the author’s earlier stories. The art was a lot rougher around the edges than I was used to, but that was more than forgivable. A tendency I dislike in some of his other stories is a compulsion to over-explain the outlandish ideas that his stories use. These had plenty of out-there ideas, but it was kept appreciably simple, with the stories more focused on characters dealing with these dilemmas than trying to explain why they are happening. I will try to have a review up for this soon too.

I also read through The Immortal Hulk: The Weakest One There Is by Al Ewing et al. I haven’t got much to say about it, other than the fact that I continue to love this series. It was a lot more action focused, but the horror visuals were great and I’m excited to see everything will resolve with Banner so compromised. One of the alternate Hulk personalities had been dealing with using Banner’s body the whole series so far, but he has finally returned to his Grey Hulk form, which I’m excited to see more of in the next volume.

I also finished Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, which took my a shameful amount of time to pick back up, considering I started it in June and then just didn’t ever pick it up to read occasionally like I had planned. There were definitely some poems that stood out to me nicely, but it wasn’t really for me either. It’s not something I’d ever read all the way through again, but it was still nice to go out of my comfort zone a little.

Reading Next

Thrawn Treason I don’t really know what I’m going to read next, because like I said, I haven’t really outlined what I want to read throughout 2022 yet. I have been considering starting The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, since it is a leftover Discworld book I meant to read last year, but I haven’t gotten a copy yet, so I probably won’t start that first. I have been meaning to finish the new Thrawn trilogy by finally getting to Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, however, so perhaps I will start that finally. It’s been a while since I’ve read a Star Wars novel, so it should make for some fun, lighter reading after that blitz.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below. Happy New Year, everybody!

WWW Wednesday – December 29, 2021

December 29, 2021 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

Though I took a small break from posting last week for the holidays, I’m sorry to say that I haven’t finished The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino since I last updated, though I’m a decent 272 pages in now. Finding reading time has been harder than I was expecting, but to be honest, I’m also having increased difficulty with reading this book. A number of the early stories were pretty easy to get into, if a little dry, but many of the last several have been far too abstract and/or stream-of-consciousness for their own good. I’ve sincerely struggled to follow along with a few of them now, and at this point I just want to reach the end to get it over with. Hopefully my feelings can turn around a little by the end, but so far it’s looking like this book will be a disappointment overall.

Recently Finished

Nothing! I’ve done a terrible job of staying on top of things, and now I’ve got a lot to do in a small amount of time.

Reading Next

Immortal Hulk The Weakest One There Is I’ve got a lot of reading left to do and only three days left to do it. At the very least, I want to finish Cosmicomics to complete my to-read list, but I will try to power through Hope is the Thing With Feathers as well. Other than those two, I want to read some comics too, which will be easier overall. Perhaps next week will have a substantial pile of finished books, we’ll see. This last week and a bit has punctuated the year with some unexpected stress for me, so it’s just been a bit more difficult to make time for reading. I hope everybody else has had a safe and happy holidays, at any rate.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 15, 2021

December 15, 2021 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

Over the weekend I managed to start reading The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, and I’m a good 120 pages in so far. This book is not quite what I was expecting, in both good and less good ways. All that I knew going in was that the book collects stories about a timeless consciousness in space who has weird adventures, and in an oversimplifying way this is true. However, one of the core ideas with these stories is that Calvino is crafting a narrative around scientific discoveries about physical properties of the universe. All of them have been fascinatingly imaginative abstract narratives in some way, but the emphasis on ideas over character and more involved storytelling also makes them more boring for me, at least so far. Some capture my interest more than others, but I hope I acquire more of a taste for this style overall as I get further along.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week!

Reading Next

A nice surprise this past week is that the latest collection of Junji Ito stories, Deserter, is coming out in English, and my preorder arrived well ahead of the December 21 publication date. Picking up these new books has been fairly obligatory for me for a while now, but what’s got me extra excited about this one is that it’s a collection of a bunch of his earliest works. A lot of his new stuff has been hit-or-miss for me, so I’m really looking forward to seeing some of his short work when he first emerged on the scene. Not quite the tone for Christmas, maybe, but it’s a season for ghost stories too, and there’s bound to be at least one in there.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 8, 2021

December 8, 2021 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 in between books at the moment.

Recently Finished

Over the weekend I managed to finish reading the bulk of A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland, though I didn’t officially finish it until Monday night because I insisted on reading the Historical Notes and Glossary at the back as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, with everything coming together in an excellent way by the end. The only shortcoming, which I’ve touched on before, is how slow the story is. The more thoughtful pace was definitely great for world-building and developing its characters, but it could also feel drawn out at times. So, the slower pace may turn off some people, but it’s otherwise a great historical read that incorporates mysticism of the time and place into the world. I’ll try to have a full review up soon, schedule permitting.

Reading Next

So here we are, with five more books to complete on my Goodreads challenge and one more on my main to-read list for 2021. I will be starting The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino as soon as possible, though hopefully it won’t take too long to read. It’s a short story collection, but hopefully that will help make the whole thing more digestible. I still intend to read The Immortal Hulk, Vol. 9: The Weakest One There Is by Al Ewing et al. soon, as well as finally finish Hope is the Thing with Feathers, which leaves two more books I need to read in order to meet my goal. They will surely be graphic novels, it’s just a matter of picking which ones.

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

WWW Wednesday – December 1, 2021

December 1, 2021 Ryan3 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

I only managed about another 60 pages of A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland, and I’m honestly feeling a little at a loss for words on what to say about it. A lot of the conflicts established early on were fairly low-key, though promising something more climactic later on. In this vein, however, the story has gotten a little repetitive from time to time as these issues are reiterated. It has done a great job of building tension though too, and I can’t help but wonder if certain aspects will erupt into a phantasmagoria in stark contrast to the bleakness of the world so far. Either way, some more recent events have been a grisly portents of things too come. I wonder just how much horror will come into play here.

Recently Finished

Technically, I finished reading Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus by Chester Brown, a graphic novel that meditates on prostitution and disobedience in the Bible. I say technically because I’ve gotten past the Afterword and Acknowledgements, but there’s an extensive Notes section at the back that I want to read through too, so I’m not finished with it just yet. Though as a graphic novel it was an enjoyable read, it was also clearly written with more academic intent than wholly creative. The Afterword is really necessary to put the whole thing into proper context and understand where Brown is coming from, especially as I’m someone who knows very little about Christianity in practice. The main bulk of it was a rather quick read, and even as someone outside of the belief system, it was a rather fascinating interpretation of these stories.

Reading Next

The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino is still in my not-too-distant future, but I’ve still got far too much unfinished business first. In the meantime, however, I will get to more graphic novels. The next will be The Immortal Hulk, Vol. 9: The Weakest One There Is by Al Ewing et al. I bought a digital version of this volume a few days ago thanks to a sale and I’m looking forward to continuing this series after the grisly note the last book left on.

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