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

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

I'm leaving for my morning walk and it's 6c/43f outside. It's super foggy which makes for a fun creepy fall walk in the dark.

Not even halfway into the day and I just want to crawl back into my fortress of solitude. There are to many people and things out here in the wild.

It's Monday that is not Monday and I am just not ready for my long weekend to be over. I got a lot of reading done and a lot of napping done but I could easily take the rest of the week off. Instead it's time to be responsible and do the adult thing. Emails, meetings, work, bleh.

Man, it has been super chilly here today. It peaked at 13c/55f and will be dropping to 6c/43f overnight. If this was spring time those would be some nice temps but after all the heat this summer it just feels cold.

Aundrea wrote: "Gord wrote: "I've got to go out for my walk/library visit today but it is so smokey out there right now. Everything just kind of smells like campfire."

I'm sorry to hear that, Gord. I haven't been..."

Not really. There are fires in NWT and in BC currently and that is blowing a lot of smoke into our province.

I'm glad to see others are enjoying this book. I will be getting to this sometime this month after I clean up some of these books I already have signed out from the library.

I'm doing this a little early as it's been an odd week of reading and I've got a lot to talk about. The week started good, flopped into a funk in the middle, and then ended strong.

Connections in Death -5 Stars
It's another In Death book and I loved it. I'm really not sure what to say after reading 48 of these books now. Still love it and I don't see that changing.

Deep Storm -3 Stars
I have some pretty conflicting feelings about this book and I'm not sure if the book was just middle of the road or I've grown out of this genre. This is a a "tehcno-thriller" kind of book. Basically this is one of those books that you would find in your local grocery store. Something mysterious has been found on the ocean floor off the coast of Greenland. The military and scientist are working together to discover what it is. Secrets are revealed, tension is had, blah, blah, blah. This book wasn't bad per-se but man was it by the numbers. This book also loves that techno babble. There was so much techno babble in this book. The other odd thing was that this was book one in the Jeremy Logan series. To me that would mean that the series is about Jeremy Logan. In this book he showed up once, in chapter 13. He did a little research and then was never seen again. He was never on location, he had no bearing on the story, nothing. He almost felt like a cameo in a series named after him.

Legends & Lattes -5 Stars
I read this book last year and I loved it. Earlier this year I was combing through the audiobooks on Libby looking for something to listen to when I saw that the library had acquired the audiobook version. I immediately knew that I had to listen to this and requested a copy. After many, many, many months of waiting I finally got my copy and loved it all over again. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the chill vibes of this book, I love the romance. This is just a feel good fun book for me and having the author narrate it me was just the icing on the cake.

Frightmares -DNF
This book, this book right here was responsible for my midweek flop. I got about 50-55 pages into this book, got really annoyed with it, and then tossed it to the side. We then sat there for two days staring at each other with contempt. It wasn't until Hoopla Day (the final day of the month where you use all your unused borrows up before you lose them) when I was finally able to ditch this thing. Very early on this book got under my skin when the author decided to use a meme to describe the characters reaction instead of using actual words to describe what was happening. That wasn't a deal breaker for me but man did it irk me. Then we get to the scene that just pushed me over the edge. Our MC works in a haunted house attraction and while on shift he discovers his friends dead body. After freeing himself from the body he takes of running. Alright, weird reaction but alright you're frightened. He ran into the back of the attraction, then out of the building, over a chain link fence at the edge of the parking lot, and kept running for a few blocks, in a costume and barefoot. Alright, weird reaction has now moved into the realm of over reaction but alright. The MC then returns to work, feet bleeding I might add, doesn't say anything to anyone because he is convinced that no one will believe him. He gets back to his station, the body is gone, and he decides to remain quite and just finish his shift. He doesn't tell anyone, doesn't call the cops, nothing. Just finishes his shift and heads home. While on the way home he has another "panic" session where his friend starts to belittle him for male privilege and what not. Not her ghost, just his voice of her in his head. This is where I tossed the book to the side. The writing is bad and the MC is a flipping idiot. First, how did the bad person remove the body from the attraction after our MC took off running? There was groups going through there every few minutes. Regardless, the MC not calling the police has got to be the most stupid thing ever. Fine, don't tell your coworkers but at least call the cops. Who cares if the body is gone. You know it was real and it was your friend. You think the cops can't work the scene and confirm there was a body there in about 30 seconds. We can solve 30 year old cases with modern forensics. Proving a body was there would be easy. Not only that, by not calling the cops you've made it so, so, so, so much easier for the murderer to remove and hide the body. Reference my first point. If the person was able to move the body it wouldn't be very far. Easily still in the building somewhere. Call the cops, have them investigate, find the body, etc, etc, etc. This book just rubbed me in all the wrong ways.

Now for the manga
PTSD Radio Omnibus 2 (Vol. 3-4) -5 Stars
No joking around here, this book scared the crap out of me. I read this late at night before going to bed and I did not want to go to bed after I finished this thing. Turning off the lights that night was not a fun experience. If you know me that is a bit of a surprise. I dabble in a fair bit of horror novels and very little unnerves me but this book just got to me. It was partially the artwork, the way the scares where presented to you as the reader, and the subject matter itself. This book explores urban myths and really leans into the paranoia of living in an urban area. We've all been in a building late at night alone and have that weird feeling of being watched. Or late at night hearing something running around in your place when you are supposed to be alone. That fear of something crawling into your ear/mouth/nose etc when you are sleeping. Put it all together and it just unnerved me like nothing has in a really long time. I had a hard time getting to sleep that night and it lived in my head rent free for several days. I'm now looking forward to the third and final volume but to also doing a reread with all three books so I can unravel all the short stories. Next time though I'll probably do it during the day, when the sun is up, and the shadows are small.

Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition Volume 1 -3 Stars
This is a series that has been on my radar now in a low key way for years and now that Hoopla has gotten into manga I found a way to read it. This reminds me of a 90's cop show like Nash Bridges. Not something super serious but not pure comedy either. Our MC is Rally Valentine, a 19 year old prodigy gunsmith who owns her own gun store. She is also really good at bounty hunting and is the top bounty hunter in Chicago. This series truly leans into the stereotypical male ideas with attractive women, cars, and lots of guns/explosions. Each episode is kind of episodic with a bit of an overarching story as well. Honestly it's not bad and for a popcorn read it's kind of fun. There is just one massive ick factor and that is Rally's partner Minnie May. She is a retired sex worker who is 17 years old. I'll just let that settle in before dropping the next ick. She also has a serious boyfriend, who is 34, who has known her for four years at this point in the story. Yeah, that is just a massive ick whenever it comes up. Which is a bit of a bummer because Minnie May is probably my favorite character in the series. She is the explosives expert who is probably carrying enough explosives on her at any point in time to level a building. She can jury rig a bomb together in a matter in seconds. Take her age out of the equation for a second and I like seeing a character who has such a positive and healthy attitude towards sex. I want to read on but I'm not sure about that ick factor.

Orochi: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 4 -3 Stars
This is the final volume and it wasn't bad. It started out strong with a story called Eyes about a blind girl being a witness to a murder and how all of that would play out. It was probably the best story in the series so far. Then we end with Blood and it was just more of the same from Orochi. It wasn't bad but when I compare it things like PTSD Radio it just kind of comes up short. I'm planning to check out another series from this author called The Drifting Classroom.

One-Punch Man, Vol. 11 -4 Stars
One-Punch Man, Vol. 12 -4 Stars
More One Punch Man and more fun. Not a lot to really say here.

Up next
I've Got My Eyes on You
I started this audiobook today and I do not have a good feeling about. I'm about 30% into the book and I'm not sure where it's going or what kind of mystery it's supposed to be.

For things that are not audiobooks I have a monster stack of manga/comics/novellas/novels from the library I need to work through. I might be back on Monday at the end of the long weekend for another update depending on how things go this weekend.

I didn't get much read this month.

5 stars
Undone
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax
The Bookshop on the Corner
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 6
The Boxer, Vol. 1
The Boxer, Vol. 2
Connections in Death

4 Stars
Solo Leveling, Vol. 7
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 5
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 5
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 6
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 7
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood, Vol. 1
The Moth Keeper

Duds
Christmas Cake Murder

DNF
Frightmares

September is looking super stacked for good books right now.

I've got to go out for my walk/library visit today but it is so smokey out there right now. Everything just kind of smells like campfire.

For those that don't follow me on Facebook here are my numbers for the month of August. I walked 174 km or 108 miles. Definitely an improvement over the last couple months but not as good as it could be. That being said I am working extra hours which involves me going in early. I'm leaving at 5:30 in the morning for my walk to work. Taking the longer route would involve me having to leave even early and I just want to do that right now.

My yearly total is now 1,262 of 2,000 km or 784 of 1,242 miles. I still have a ways to go but I think I can still hit my goal.

A bit of a slower month with $626.26 saved bringing my yearly total to $5,336.68

Hopefully this is a sign of good times today. I stopped at Starbucks to get a large Iced London Fog. It's my little treat thing I like getting from there. I went to pick it up and it was larger then normal and that was because they had accidentally made extra so they just gave me a bigger cup. Bonus free drink!

Belles wrote: "Sorry I’m a bit late posting the new threads. I was distracted because I picked up my new car yesterday. It’s so cool! Super high tech on the inside - lots of fun to play with. I got another Escape..."

All good, all good and congrats on the new car!

Did you hear that the Beastie Boys are putting out a five part anthology?

Parts A-D are free but you have to fight for your right to Part E...



I'll see myself out now.

There is that I guess. Things will get better, it's just getting to that point.

I figured I'd put this here as it's kind of serious. I just need to vent a little.

(view spoiler)[
There was talk in the introvert section about burn out and man I feel like I'm getting close right now. Ever since the end of my vacation last month some time it's just been a nonstop grind at work and I'm just tired. Not just tired in a physical sense either. I'm just tired in general. It just feels like things just never end and as soon as I see any sort of light there is just more stuff piled on. I was hoping things would slow down after the long weekend but honestly there is just so much stuff left over that hasn't been touched because of this project I'm working on that I just don't see it happening. Maybe mid to late September or even early October I might catch a break and I can take a week off or something. If not it probably won't me until late November at this point. Don't worry guys I'm not in a bad spot or anything I'm just, well, tired. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry in advance, I'm tired and in a childish frame of find.

I just bought $300 worth of lube...


(view spoiler)[
Low temp lubricating grease for work that is...
(hide spoiler)]

Like I said tired, childish, and I'll take my stupid laughs where I can right now

I'm kind of suffering through that right now as well. I went from not knowing what to listen to last week to having three audiobooks downloaded at the same time right now. I'm so glad I am finishing Deep Storm today because that means I get to start Legends & Lattes tomorrow on the way to work. I'm just a wee bit excited for that one honestly.

Alright, four more days of intense and insane work and then I should be able to get back to a slightly more regular work. These next four days are going to be rough though.

Time for that weekly update and I've read things this week.

A Walk in the Dark -3 Stars
As I mentioned last week I was having a hard time getting into this one. At some point the story picked up enough for me to actually power through this book. I'll be honest I don't remember how this book ended up on my list but I think I picked it up with the expectations of something more horror based. This isn't a horror novel, it's more of those young YA/middle grade survival stories and it was alright, I guess. It's been a week since I read this and it's almost faded from my memory. Kids go into the woods on a school activity, storm comes up, kids get into difficult situation, face inner demons, grow as people. There really wasn't a whole lot about this novel that was bad per se but at the same time there just wasn't anything that stuck out for me as being really good either. If I didn't have to write this up I'd probably have already forgotten this book. A couple negatives I'd say about the ending though that kind of bugged me a bit. There was a certain "villain" kind of character that just kind of vanished from the story. It was implied that he might have been scared away by our MC's but there is also a very real chance that our MC's might have killed the character. The author tries to downplay that aspect but no, there is a very real chance that the kids left a body out there in the woods. There is also a romance in the story that just kind of pops up out of no where and feels really out of place. Overall this was a very solid "meh" that is going to easily be forgotten.

The Edge of Summer -3 Stars
Last week I got a little gushy over a romance novel that just worked for me. This is another romance novel but there will be no gushing over this one. Probably some ranting, definitely some complaining as this was just not the kind of romance that I enjoyed. Where to even start with this painful train wreck of a story? Basically this is a summer romance where our FMC travels to Cape Cod for an internship at a Marine Conservation group. While there she stumbles across MMC who is course hot and hunky. What follows is a summer of misunderstandings and poor communication. Oh and our FMC comes with a semi trailer of baggage after the death of her best friend the year before. Most of my issues with this book involve the FMC. I really did not like her at all. She just grated against me so many times. Yes, there were times where I empathized with her but more often then not I wanted to reach through the page and either throttle her or slap her upside the head. An early example, she goes out to a party during the week, gets drunk, sleeps in, and ends up being late for work. Of course she gets punished and has some mundane task to get done. She gets the work done and decides that the best course of action is to simply leave work early. Are you kidding me? You screwed up, you came in late, your boss is upset, you know your boss is upset, and you decide to just peace out early because you feel like it? Are you an idiot? I'm not saying you have to kiss your bosses butt but put in an effort to show that you are indeed remorseful for your actions as you imply.

Then there is the romance. The MMC is, well, he is borderline perfect. He is a hot hunky lifeguard, he can cook, he can can fix his truck, he can plumb. Honestly it would probably be easier to come up with a list of things he can't do. Most of my problems though with this romance though comes from the FMC. The MMC clearly states he is not in a place to date someone but our FMC gets it into her head that he has to be madly in love with her because their knuckles touched for 0.0000000000005ths of a second. Or the time she gets insanely jealous because the MMC is talking to an ex. This is after she is told by people not to worry about it by various people. That there is nothing going on there and there was indeed nothing going on there, ever. She sees them talking though and decides to storm off in a huff and not talk to the MMC for a few days. That is a mature response of course. Instead of, oh I don't know, talking to the MMC and finding out what is going on. This entire romance is just plagued with miscommunication or no communication at all. It's just maddening.

This part is a bit of a spoiler but I want to address something about that truckload of baggage.
(view spoiler)[
Basically our FMC ends up hooking up with this basketball ball player that her best friend has had a crush on forever. The two friends have been outcasts since elementary school, it's how they became friends, but now the FMC is hanging out with the cool kids who are, of course, toxic as hell. This leads to the two friends drifting apart. What really happened is the FMC dropped her bestie to hang out with the popular kids because she was insecure. Now her bestie drowns in an event that is not really clearly explained. It happened after an argument on the beach where some nasty words were exchanged. The FMC's bestie storms into the ocean, fully clothed, for a "swim". Now it's possible it was an accident, a rip tide or something but what I'm reading between the lines is that it was a suicide. This is explained towards the end of the novel so I've already got a pretty low opinion of the FMC and that might be tainting my image of her but I can't help but wonder if that is what happened. Just a thought. (hide spoiler)]

The Moth Keeper -4 Stars
I snagged this on a whim and man this book is adorable. It's from the author of the Tea Dragon series of comics which is also adorable. This is about a fantasy world where one tribe lives during the day and one lives during the night. The tribe that lives in the night follow the moon god and within the tribe there is the role of the Moth Keeper. A lonely role where an individual is responsible for these moths that are gifts from the moon god. This solitary role is key to the tribes survival and we follow our MC who is a young girl who just entered the role. This is a tale of self discovery and change that is simple but adorable. After finishing this book I immediately requested everything that that library had from this author I hadn't read yet.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 6 -5 Stars
This volume blew my mind. I've been a casual fan of the turtles since I was a kid when I loved watching the 80's cartoon. I remember all three of the movies that came out in the 90's. Outside of that I've dabbled in some of the various other iterations of the turtles. That 80's cartoon is more or less my basis for my turtle knowledge but I was aware that other iterations could be a bit darker. There were events in this comic that I just never expected followed by twists that I could have never predicted followed by hints and setup for the next big story line. I was just shocked at the end of the main story in this one and was left wanting more and wanting it now.

The Boxer, Vol. 1 -5 Stars
The Boxer, Vol. 2 -5 Stars
I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed this manhwa at all. This was a random snag from the library and I devoured both volumes in one evening. The crazy thing about this is after two volumes I still know nothing about the MC. We know his name, maybe, and that he had a troubled upbringing, again maybe. I will tell you this about the MC though, he unsettles me a lot. I can't really explain it but there is something just unsettling about this character. After two volumes he has only spoken maybe a handful of times. I've never seen him express any emotion at all. He always has this neutral dead look to him at all times. I'm just hooked into this story and want more. That's where there is a problem. This is a newer release and currently there is only three volumes out. My library has the third volume on order so it will be a wait for that one and the fourth volume comes out in October. After that, I've got no idea. I suppose I could track down the webtoon version of the story but I like physical books.

Now for what is next.

Deep Storm
This is my current audiobook and I have some mixed feelings about this book. This is a techno thriller and so far it's alright. There is a lot of techno babble in this book. It comes in either science related babble or medical related babble. The one odd thing I've noticed so far is the MC. This is book one in the Jeremy Logan series which to me would indicate that the MC is Jeremy Logan. So far Jeremy Logan has shown up once and that was in chapter thirteen. I'm now currently on thirty three and have not seen him since. I'm not sure he is ever going to show up again either which is rather odd.

Connections in Death
This is the non-audiobook that I'm currently working on and of course I am loving it. Shocking I know.

Frightmares
This is the other novel I have to tackle this week so I can get it back to the library.