Gord’s Comments (group member since Apr 06, 2017)

Gord’s comments from the Vampires, Weres and Fae! group.

That sucks when you try something new at one of your favorite places to eat and it's a total dud. That was probably one of the worst burgers I've had in my life

I love this feeling when I show up at a con Fellow nerds as far as the eye can see, costumes of all sorts, ages from the single digits to much older than me. Oh and seeing the reactions of the normal folks who suddenly find themselves in a strange new world

Guys! Guys! Guys! It's time for my local anime con! Time for three solid days of little sleep and tons of people which I know sounds horrible when I phrase it like that. Joking aside I'm excited for this as always. Probably the thing I'm most excited for is a fan panel at the end of the very last day and it is a panel about sumo.

Congrats and nothing but the best of luck for you and your new life

I'm back and I have been doing some reading this week.

Stitches -3 Stars
This was essentially one of those spooky short story collections for teens but from a Japanese author and I have many conflicted feelings. I've read a lot of these books ever since I was a young man and they were a great gateway into other horror. As a result these books, no matter the stories, always have this sense of nostalgia for me. They all have the same feeling, the setups, the same shocking twists, the same overall vibe. Ultimately though, that is also my biggest issue with these kind of books as well. They never feel new or fresh for me. Sure the stories and settings might change but at their core they're always the same. I also feel a bit disappointed when reading these stories as well. Like I said they are a great gateway into horror and while not a die hard horror fan I have dabbled in a fair bit of horror over the years. These stories feel like a tease for me. It introduces a spooky setup but before anything can really happen or can be explored it's already over and moving onto the next thing. I want to know what that creepy ghosts does to people, I want to see what that weird monster thing does to people, I want to know who and what they are, I just want more. I always end up feeling disappointed in these kind of books but I know at some point I'll pick up another one because of nostalgia and curiosity.

Blood Cursed -3 Stars
My next audiobook was Return of the King, the final book in the LotR series and I just wasn't mentally in the mood for something that serious. I ended up grabbing this book as I just had this craving to listen to another one of these and it didn't disappoint. It's a cheesy action novel. This is the 44th novel in this series of cheesy action novels written by many different authors under the same name. You don't pay attention to continuity, you don't pay attention to things like character growth or realism. You show up for the gunfights, the sword fights, the action, and the silliness of it all. This novel gave me just that and my tired brain was happy.

Now for the manga and comics

First Test Graphic Novel -3 Stars
Why do I keep doing this to myself? At this point in time I should know better and yet I keep picking up these type of comics. This is a comic book adaptation of a full length novel of the same name by Tamora Pierce. I just don't like comic book adaptations. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this comic and is a fair adaptation. Comics like this just leave me feeling disappointed and kind of short changed. With the novel you get to explore the character and world and see so much stuff. Someone has to then come along, condense all of that, put it into a different medium, all with their own interpretation of things. As a result things get cut out, things get changed, and some things just don't change well from one medium to another. As a result I just feel short changed at the end. I just want to go out and pick up the original novel.

[bookc:She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 4 (Volume 4)|202730997] -5 Stars
I just love this series and the budding romance between the two leads. I love how the series handles sensitive topics and I love the chemistry between all the characters. I just want more of this series and unfortunately it will be a bit of a wait. The fifth volume came out in Japan in February and there isn't even an announcement for the English translation yet.

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Vol. 1 (Volume 1) -5 Stars
Yes, it's yet another chill slice of life yuri with adult women characters. I've had some really great experiences with this type of book and I love finding new ones. I'm sure there is a name/sub-genre for this type of book but I don't know what it is. The plot for this book is pretty simple. Lead goes through a breakup and is looking for a fresh start. She decides to move to a new place and finds this beautiful house for rent. The quirk is that the landlord lives in the house, in the attic to be specific. Oh and the landlord is an ex-idol as well. It's chill, it's sweet, it's cute. My brain and my heart are happy.

I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 3 -4 Stars
I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 4 -4 Stars
I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vol. 5 -4 Stars
After trying out the first couple volumes I knew I had to read the rest of this series. I sat down yesterday and plowed through the last three volumes and loved it. The mom in this series is just an amazing mom. Doing everything she can to try and understand what her sons are going through and figuring out how to support them. Even the dad, who says some questionable things, is trying to grow and change. Then we get to the ending. I'm not going to get into spoilers as there isn't really a lot to spoil. The ending just felt... rushed to be honest. There was a reveal that I more or less saw coming that felt like it didn't get the usual exploration. Then there was a bit more book and it just ended. Yes, it had a sweet moment at the end but there was just so many things that just felt unresolved. I'm not saying every story line has to end with a perfect little bow but the story just kind of ended with no wrap up. It's just left me feeling very perplexed, especially after reading the author's last little section. Am I just expecting to much from this series? Are my expectations just in the wrong? Am I just missing the point?

Now, what is next? I have the upcoming week off for my local anime convention so I have a lot reading time in my future.

On the audiobook front I have
The Return of the King
and
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I want to finish Return of the King before the convention as it is a bit of a heavier read. I'm sure I'll need at least one other audiobook as well. Maybe another Rogue Angel one.

Outside of that I have some more manga to read, also another light novel, and I'm sure I'll end up grabbing something from Libby or Hoopla.

It has been a hot minute since I've done one of these but I should get back into the habit of it. Be forewarned this will be a lot of manga. I'm going to switch up my format a bit and trying taking a page from Cee.

The Best
The Two Towers Classic fantasy with an amazing narrator

The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 11 A great series with one of my favorite all time protagonists

xxxHOLiC Omnibus 7 The conclusion to an amazing story and I'm interested in starting the next couple of series, the side story and the sequel.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold A simple slice of life story that made me bawl with how touching the stories were.

The New Girl An amazing middle grade comic from one of my favorite artists. Great art and a touching story about finding your place in the world.

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 4 (Volume 4) I have really fallen for this series and the main couple. I love how it's touching a lot of sensitive topics while being respectful.

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Vol. 1 (Volume 1) Another sweet and yet chill slice of life/yuri story. I'm loving this style of manga.

The Worst
Body Movers I'm just tired of this style of book and the tropes individually. Having all of them in one book just made it worse.

Excited for
I don't really plan to far in advance. My library keeps me in a constant supply of books so I just take what ever comes next. With what I have currently the one I'm probably most excited for would be the final LotR book, Return of the King.

It's my final day of work before my vacation! Kind of wish I didn't have to go through the whole process of actually going to work today but you know.

That is a crazy long time for a trial

This was an odd week and I don't really have a lot to talk about. I wasn't walking this week due to the weather and I just wasn't feeling any books this week. I was more interested in watching movies and sumo. That being said here is what I did complete this week.

American Flygirl -3 Stars
I have a lot of feelings surrounding this book and the hard part is splitting them between feelings about the book and feelings in general. For this book I thought it was alright. I snagged this from the library basically because the book caught my eye. It's about the first Asian American women to get her pilots license in the USA and the story itself is interesting. Seeing what Hazel did with her life, the training required for your license, and just another view of life at that time. The early part of the book was much more focused on her life but as the book went along it became more about WWII and the training that the WASP's went through with Hazel just kind of showing up here and there. Which kind of makes sense as the author had to put what Hazel was doing and going through into larger context. Why the WASP's had to be created and what not not. Overall the book was entertaining but nothing super special either.

Then we get into my general feelings. I'm starting to think historical books might not be a good thing for me to read. It was interesting to see how progressive these women were and just how ahead of their time things were. Not just because these women were flying planes either. The whole attitude towards dating, sex, etc was interesting, especially for time. Then there is the super frustrating side of things. I'll admit that things have changed and progressed since the 40's but in some ways things have also not changed. There have been to many times I've read books like this and seen comments from the past that are basically the same as comments that I've heard in present day. It's so disheartening to see that certain mindsets have not changed in some 80 years. There is also the fact that some of these women didn't die in accidents but were straight up murdered due to insecure men. Women who crashed because of things like sugar in the fuel tanks or rags in the landing gear. Now, some of this could be due to spies/saboteurs but as the book explains some of it was just men being upset that women were flying or "taking their job" and that is so frustrating. Again, you can sort of see this sort of mindset in certain groups even in current times. Lets just say it's super frustrating and leave it at that.

That's it, that's all I read this week. Like I said I was in a weird sort of space this week. As for what is next I legit don't know. For the audiobook side of things I have the final Lord of the Rings book but I'm really not in the mood for something like that currently. I don't really have anything else lined up. There is something that I want to listen to but I'm debating between that and finding some challenge book. Outside of that I've acquired yet another stack of manga that I need to work through.

Some of you may have heard of Jasper or Jasper National Park here in Alberta. Over the last 48 hours both the park and the town itself was evacuated due to two wildfires burning outside of the town itself. Last night both fires hit the town and the town has suffered significant losses from what has been reported but we won't know the full extent of the damages until probably some time today.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...

Man I remember making collect calls home from a payphone or using phone cards to make calls. That and making long distance calls only after a certain time at night to avoid extra fees.

The heat wave is breaking! Today is overcast with strong winds and rain. Oh and lots of smoke because everything is on fire again but it is so much cooler this morning and it is wonderful.

I have my phone on a silent and with no vibration about 99% of the time. I use it, like Katie said, as a portable computer for when I'm away from home, for reaching out people if I need to, and that is about it. Most of the calls that come in to my phone are scam calls or people at the front door trying wanting to get buzzed in. Unless I am expecting an important call/text I just leave my phone on silent so that I'm not being bothered. If it is something important that person can leave a message and I will get back to them later.

I am so done with this heat. I know it starts cooling off this week but it can't come soon enough. I know some people are used to temps in the 30's/90's but this is about 10/20 degrees hotter than we are used to and it has been miserable. I am simply not built for this kind of weather.

Alright, time for that weekly update and I actually have some things to talk about this week.

Now You See Me -4 Stars
This was a buddy read that I headed into knowing little about outside of the synopsis. What I found was a pretty solid mystery/police procedural set in London. This was definitely a mystery where you as the reader weren't supposed to be able to figure it out before the end. You were figuring things out as the police figured them out. There were snippets here and there you could theorize about and maybe even figure out but I just couldn't slot it into the bigger picture. That made the ending very satisfying which then slid in one last twist that I legit never saw coming. The characters were alright but nothing to really write home about. They served their purposes in the story. The only thing that I didn't really like and just felt out place was this romance element. I wouldn't even really call it a subplot either. It just dropped into the book at one point, felt really awkward, and then promptly disappeared. It showed up once or twice after that but never for long and it just never felt like it fit in. There was no real build up to it, the characters didn't feel like they had any sort of chemistry, and outside of certain moments the book didn't even acknowledge it. The other big question I have now that I am done is how this will transition into a series. This book really felt like a self contained story with the MC's background playing a massive part in the mystery. Now that mostly everything has come to light I am wondering how they make this into a series. What elements haven't been revealed to the world in this book are not really enough to carry another book I feel. I don't know, I'm very curious and I'll get to the second book next month.

Body Movers -2 Stars
This was a challenge book that I read to fill a Chick-Lit requirement and oh man I did not have a good time with this one. Before I get into this I want to acknowledge that this book is just not for me. This genre, in general, is just not something I'm overly interested in. I went looking for some recommendations and basically found three options to look at. The overly dramatic and serious type of book (bleh), the sappy contemporary romance (more bleh), and the comedy route. I decided to go down the comedy route and this book is definitely a "comedy" book. The problem is that I just didn't like any thing that this book was trying to do. I didn't like the MC, I didn't like the MC's brother, I didn't like the "love interests", I didn't like the mystery, just nothing worked for me. This was one of those books where anytime anyone was to make an important decision they would inevitably choose the dumbest option possible. I'm on probation, thousands of dollar in debts to shady characters, my family life is riddled with debt, this sounds like a great time to gamble my entire first paycheck. The cops are investigating the MC and the husband of a murder victim for their involvement in the murder, lets make out and nearly have sex in the front seat of a car right out in public. There was just so many tropes in this book that I just didn't like and lumping them all together just added to this feeling of boredom/frustration I had with this book. I'm just glad to finally be done with this book and moving on to something else.

Now for the other books I read

One Piece, Volume 2: Buggy the Clown -4 Stars
Like I mentioned before I'm having such a sense of nostalgia going back and reading this series from the beginning. Especially with the knowledge of events that happen much later in the series. This is the first time we meet Buggy and it's wild to think about where he ends up later. Just a fun time going back and seeing where things all started.

Soichi -3 Stars
I love reading Junji Ito's stuff but like any author he has some duds and I feel that this is one of them. It's basically a collection of short stories all interconnected with the same characters and locations. Soichi is basically this creepy little kid who terrorizes all of those around him. That's the premise of each short story and they run the gambit from full on supernatural things to just a kid being a little monster. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this one but I just didn't like this one as much.

The Great Cleric (Manga) Vol. 9 -4 Stars
Another great entry in this series. It's probably not for everyone but I am fun reading this series.

The New Girl -5 Stars
I have been following this artist's online work for years now and was excited to hear about a published book from her. This book was just a joy to read. It's about a young girl having to move to Canada from Romania because her parents moved for work. They move to Montreal which just adds to her complications. She gets her first period on the plane flight, she doesn't know anyone in Montreal, she doesn't speak the language, etc. It's about her adopting to her new life and finding her way in basically a new world. It's just a great read with some great art. Another nice little touch is the use of colored text bubbles. I'm not sure if this is the first time I've ever seen it but I really appreciated it. The author would use different colored text bubbles to indicate which language the individual was speaking. This was a nice touch as the language barrier was a big factor in the book and many of the characters spoke different languages.

Now, what is next.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
This is my next audiobook and a nice break after that Body Movers book.

American Flygirl
This is a random nonfiction book I snagged from the library that sounded super interesting.

Right now we are on week two of an ugly heatwave with the temps in the 30's/90's (that's C/F) with about another week of this forecast in the future. Today though it decided to add an extra layer of "fun". With all this heat there are a lot of wildfires burning which of course means that everything is now smokey. It feel like everything is on fire, smells like everything is on fire, at this point we are just missing the actual flames.

Is the farming a big part of what you have to do in the game? I'm not the biggest fan of things like Stardew Valley because of the whole farming mechanic.

I haven't been affected at all at but I'm wondering if that was what was wrong this morning when I went to Starbucks.

Nope, and management hasn't sent us home either. There is a whole lot of fucking talk and not a lot of action. Sorry, I'm just not in the greatest mood right now.

The seal has been broken, the seal has been broken, the stinky stuff has entered the building and not in the way it should be.