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

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

It's so warm outside this morning. It might not be warm for others but after the last couple weeks it's borderline tropical out there this morning. It's currently -6c or 21f and it's so nice.

I'm glad to finally be back to my walks this week but I was kind of feeling my three week break this morning. Maybe it was just because I'm a little tired this morning but that walk felt a little sloggish this morning. It wasn't like I was breathing hard or felt sore or any thing. Just kind of tired by the end of it.

I've done worked very hard today. Can I go home now?

Technically your are not lost, you're just not 100% certain of your exact coordinates.

Your winter sounds so different from the winter I get here. I think a big part of that is humidity. Our snow is mostly powdery here and doesn't really stick to anything besides the ground. We have some wet snow every once in a while but it's mostly just powder.

Time to return to the world of morning walks now that hell has thawed out a bit. A part of me is happy to return to my normal schedule and to have that hour of reading time right before work. Then there is the lazy part of me that found itself rather happy to get a ride the last couple weeks. An extra hour in the morning to lounge around and nap, not having to worry about the elements, not having to worry about bad drivers.

Well this was a bit of a better week of reading and for life in general.

Clown in a Cornfield -4 Stars
I know many who will hard pass this book just because of a killer clown or two and that's fair. Personally I love this book and it's campy horror vibe. It's a bit slow in the beginning as it sets things up but once the bodies start dropping the pace really picks up. I think the beauty of this book for me is the blending of real world and the horrifying. There are a lot of things that are said in this book that I've heard in real life. A lot of beliefs that I can easily say we've all seen in real life. "Everything wrong in this world is because of those kids and their phones." That kind of stuff. Honestly their is a part of me that wouldn't be surprised if I were to wake up one morning and see something like this on the news. The book really dances that line between completely fantastical and something based in the real world. The killer has no supernatural powers, it isn't some mythical monster, it's something much, much worse. This is just a fun popcorn read with some elements here and there that make you ponder a bit. I can't wait to get to the second one next month and the third one later this year when it finally releases. Yes, there is more then one book in this series.

Ink Girls -4 Stars
This a pretty new book that just came out at the end of November last year and I can see it potentially gaining some traction. It's set in a medieval Italian inspired port city and is about combating corruption with the press. Our MC is an apprentice printer who finds herself on the run after her and her master are arrested for printing articles about the corruption in the local government. She has only a few days to prove her masters innocence and through the help of friends, new and old, she discovers more about the city that she lives in then she ever knew. This book leans towards the younger side of the YA spectrum so a lot of things are solved with the power of friendship, girl power, etc but it has a solid message at it's core. It also means that is has more of a immediate and feel good resolution then would probably be realistic but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The art is great, the characters are interesting, the message is great. If you have a younger reader then maybe take a look at this book.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3 -4 Stars
Maybe I was just in the right mood or something but this book just hit differently this time. Reading this series has been a bit odd as I've been reading these as my library gets them months after they come out. Not going to get into that here. As a result my memory of what happened in the last volume is a little fuzzy and I have to spend a few minutes trying to remember who is who again. Especially as there a lot of side characters at this point and not really a connecting overarching story. It's very much a slice of life story about an event happening here and now. That being said there were stories that just oozed emotions. The feeling of loss, loneliness, growing old, nostalgia, the joy of something new, the joy of meeting someone like yourself, the joy of returning home after a long time away. There are some chapters I'm not even sure what I am feeling but there is just this sense of something. This book was an interesting and emotional read that really reminds me of what something like manga can convey with very few words and some great art.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 3—Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 1 -4
And on the other end of the spectrum from the thought provoking and emotional manga mentioned above we have this manga. Action, body horror, humor, the usual JoJo package. This is the start of a new story arc set some 50ish years after Battle Tendency and the introduction of Stands to the series. It really feels like the action is a lot more fast paced in this one and the ticking clock element is only going to add to that. The series main villain, Dio, is back in full force in this one as well. I think about the only thing I'm not really fully on board with is the MC, Jotaro Kujo. I like his design but not his personality so much. Maybe it will be one of things that will grow on me over time but for right now it's just a bit to abrasive.

Dark Gathering, Vol. 1 -4 Stars
I originally read some of this series as fan translations so I was stoked when I found my library bringing in the official translated versions. This series is a blend of two opposite things that just works for me. On one side you have stuff that would be considered very cute. On the other side you have some pretty gory and extreme horror. For what ever reason, matching these two opposite elements gives you something that I just find fun to read. Something about the cute just making those hard turns into horror hit even harder then they should. Combine that with an amazing design for the cover character and I'm just having fun with this one. I'm stoked to see where this series goes and to get to some new material.

As for what is next...

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon
This is my current audiobook and I have some mixed feelings about things. I started this one expecting a cute and fun romance and there are elements of that here and there but it's just buried under a lot of annoying cliches and tropes. For instance, the nonstop, constant reminders about how hot the MMC is growing rather old. I'm only 36% of the way into the book and I am done hearing the term "demon d*ck" and I know it's only going to get worse as things get spicier. That and the cliche where the MMC has to be this perfectly sculpted, peak of male hotness. It just gets so boring to read this because you see the same descriptors and what not in nearly every book that has to have this perfectly sexy male character. Outside of that there isn't a lot that is really standing out in the novel for me. It's not horrible but it's not rocking my world either.

Outside of my audio I have several more comics to get through this week. Expect that trend to last for a few more weeks. My library got a whole bunch in lately and they have been filling my various holds all at once.

Have a great vacation!

Bleh

That is how I feel about this day. I started the day wanting to hibernate and everything since then has only reinforced that feeling. I was working on some repairs that came back and discovered that I had screwed something up a few months back. I could get lost in the weeds justifying how it happened but at the end of the day I screwed it up. Now I'm trying to clean things up while feeling kind of dumb. It's not really my fault but it is because I was the guy working on it. Regardless, we are changing processes to hopefully prevent this from happening again and I've owned up to my screw up. Just waiting for a decision on how we want to proceed with the repair. I'm ready for the weekend but I'll also take lunch time and a nap.

The joys of an older apartment building are the heaters. At the start of the cold snap they were struggling to keep up with the cold. My apartment was cool but livable. Over the cold snap it has slowly gotten better to the point where it was comfortable. Now that the cold snap is starting to lessen the heaters have decided to come on full blast and tap straight into the deepest pits of hell blasting out pure heat with a tinge of brimstone. I break out into a heavy sweat every time I turn a page in my book it's so warm in here. The worst part is that it's still to cold to actually crack a window open in here to help cool things down a little. Before you ask, yes I've turned my thermostat back down again but when it gets to this point there is no turning back. You could turn the thermostat all the way down and your place will still feel like the Sahara desert in the middle of a heat wave. I live on the third floor and all the hot air in the place works it's way up to me.

*grins evilly* I have no snow but I can send all my cold temperatures to Katie

That is a nice start to the day. We show up for work and no one was there to unlock the doors yet so we headed over to Starbucks for some coffee. I couldn't decide if I wanted a regular London Fog or an iced one and after a bunch of internal debate I settled on an iced one. Yes, it's a bit of a weird choice consider the temps outside but it was what I wanted this morning. They accidentally made a regular London Fog though and ended up giving it to me for free while they made my original drink. So one hand is freezing cold and one hand is toasty warm.

I think we need to declare that today is just not going to happen. To much bleh energy and we all need to stay home and recover.

That is what we are warming up to this week but I get where you are coming from. It has been a long while since it has been this cold and it makes it feel 100 times worse.

After my one day weekend I feel ripped off somehow. Like there should be more time off somewhere before I have to go back to work or something. I wasn't feeling to bad about returning to work after my month off last week. This week though...

Ugggghhhhhhhh I can only imagine how you feel this morning.

Not sure if this is on anyone's radar but I discovered this book through the library that comes out next month. Sounds kind of interesting.

A Tempest of Tea

Time for that weekly update and there is not a lot to really talk about this week. Life has been a weird one this week. It was my first week back to work after a month off. It was a six day week due to an inventory count. It was bone chilling cold here (-pushing -50c/-58f at times) which made walking something that got shelved until warmer times. I was also dealing with some left over dregs of my week long flu experience that ended up messing with my sleep schedule. Long story short, there was a lot of things going on this week and reading just wasn't top of that list.

Criminal -5 Stars
Karin Slaughter is not an author I can casually pick up and have a fun, easy read. That being said when I am prepared and in the mood her books are an amazing read and this book is a great example of that. As I mentioned above I had a lot going on this week and it kind of felt like a barrier between me and this book. If I was left to my own devices I could see myself just getting lost in this story. This book has three different story lines on the go. There is the victims POV in 1974, Amanda's story in 1975, and Will's story in present day. More than anything this book was Amanda's story. It goes back to when she was just a new police officer. She has never had her own case, she is dealing with the rampant misogyny of the time, and she is trying to figure out herself. This was long before Amanda was the scary boss dragon of the GIB that nobody wants to mess with. This story shows how she became that person, the groundwork for the incredible network of contacts that she has, and it really gives her character a human side to all the hardness we see in her present self. We also see how her story and Will's story are connected and what he means to her. While there was a mystery in this one and it was the "central" story this felt more like a character piece. Just an amazing read that kept pulling me along in week full of distractions. I am curious how, if at all, this will change things going forward though. Will this be something that is just swept under the rug, I hope not, or will this change the relationship between Amanda and Will.

On a side note semi linked to this I was curious about the TV show based on this series and after seeing a few clips I am going to have to say no. Some of the clips I saw were tied to the story line I had just read and I really don't like the changes I was seeing. It changed Amanda's character and I'm not vibing with it.

Untethered Sky -3
I snagged this book up because it looked interesting and the title started with the letter U which I need for a few challenges. After reading it I can confirm that it does have an interesting idea in it but the book does absolutely nothing with it. The book has a fantasy/Mediterranean setting centered around Rocs. People called ruhkers train and raise these giant birds to hunt down wild creatures like lions and jackals as well as mythical creatures like the dreaded manticore. From that alone you can see how I would think that it's an interesting premise to it. It's such a shame that nothing comes from it. This feels like an author making a pitch for a book. Maybe spitballing a few different ideas to apply to this premise. There are elements of this book that feels like it could lean into a slice of novel exploring the day to day challenges faced by a ruhker. There are elements that feel like it could go down a more YA fantasy route, or Romantasy I think it it is, with a sexy prince and a female love rival. There are elements of this book that could be made into so much more but, again, it does nothing with them. Then the book ends with what feels like an attempt to twist an emotional response out of the reader but it doesn't feel like it earns it. I found the book entertaining enough, I think a lot could be done with this idea, but I'm not sure I could recommend this book to any one. There just isn't anything there to really recommend to anyone.

As for what is next. Well it will be another weird week. The bone chilling cold continues cancelling my walks for at least the first couple days this week. That being said I have library due dates to meet so books must be read.

Clown in a Cornfield
This is part of a buddy read where we are reading the entire series of this campy series. We are reading the first two books now and then the third when it comes out later this year. I'm about 50% of the way into this one and it is just fun.

For stuff that is not audiobooks I have an ever growing stack of comics and manga to get through. This week I have some more JoJo, a comic called Ink Girls, and the next omnibus of Yokohama Kaidashi. Lots to read as always.

I could but I don't like to. I have enough food to get by, it's just not the most exciting food.

My ride that I normally go out for groceries with today can't make it because their car is frozen. I should go out and get stuff today but I really don't feel like dealing with it today. It's bone chilling cold, I only have one day off this week, etc. I guess I am living off of scraps until I can go out Monday or Tuesday for some stuff.

Katie❄️ wrote: "Holy smokes -76! That’s almost as cold as the Russian town that gets down to like -96 or whatever. I just cannot imagine. Your eyelashes would freeze. Gord please tell me you’ve put your walks on h..."

I've put my walks on hold for the last few days. Once it started getting down into the -30c/-22f range and colder I started getting a ride to work in the morning.