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

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

Alright, here me out. What ever you do, do not, and I repeat, do not mix an anime and a convention full of stereotypical midwestern accents together with an illegal side of drug smuggling. It gets really fucking weird.

Where in the hell do I start with this weird ass dream from the depths of my weird ass mind? I was attending my local anime convention and life was good. For some weird reason I got pulled away from this con and ended up at this convention for people from the Midwest. For reference everyone talked/looked like people from this guys skits:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/j55b0Q...

I have no idea how this guy came into my feeds and I don't actively watch his videos.

Anyway, I'm at this convention of like American sounding Canadians with way to much maple syrup and lumberjack hats. I was about to peace out and return to my nerdy heaven but everyone was super nice and next thing I know it was the second day of the meetup and I couldn't leave. I was saddled with babysitting this random kid for some reason but I was hitting it off with mom so bonus I guess. Now for the drug smuggling. See in this sea of nice maple syrup drinking folk was this gang of drug smugglers shipping their stuff mixed in with regular thrift shop junk. The kid I was saddled with was obsessed with sorting things and somehow got into these shipments. I knew what was going on but the kid was having a blast playing with the and sorting the little dime store plastic figures so I figured what the hell. This story line was a bit weird and didn't have a chance to go any where because anime reared it's weird head again. I was escorting the kid and his mom back to their hotel using the local subway. Now this subway was not a normal train but this weird steampunk train that looked more a submarine. I got stuck in the back with the kid while mom sat in the front. We went through this dark part of the tunnel and suddenly mom is sitting with this real hot old guy. We are talking robes, long flowing white hair, the whole nine yards. Think bishonen like Sesshomaru but older and a bit more low key. Still has the long flowing hair, the fancy robes, but less dog ears and less fur. Anyway I'm wondering who this guy is and why he is so close to this woman I'm hitting it off with so I go to talk to them. Turns out the sexy old guy is her husband. We get to the hotel and the old guys sends his wife and kid inside before turning to me for a "chat". Turns out the old guy is actually one of the ruling lords of hell and I will never have a happy life for daring to hit on his wife. Before anything can happen everything fades to black, I lift up my VR headset, and the sales lady explains that this is disc one of a five set series where each disc is a different girl that I get to meet. This was also about the time where I woke up in real life rather confused what I had just lived through.

Yes, my dreams are very weird an no, I have idea how to interpret that dream.

Hot spicy take but I'm really not feeling the Hannah Swenson book at all. I'm a little over 40% of the way into the book and nothing has happened at all. Nothing. A whole lot of talking between characters and a few recipes but no real story. Then there are the characters. They just feel fake and plastic. Everybody just feels to nice, to polite, to perfect while also having this weird level of naivety. There was a scene where the MC was explaining how to turn on a gas fireplace which just felt weird. The weirdest one so far though was when the author felt the need to explain what a walk in cooler is. Just what? Who doesn't know what a walk in cooler is? Especially in the context of a bakery/restaurant. That felt really weird and just contributes to this weird feeling of the entire book. I know I'm jumping in near the end of the series but I have no idea of anyone's age, what time this is set in, nothing. I just know it's set in a small town around Christmas.

Hello Monday on a Tuesday morning. That long weekend was nice, relaxing, and much needed. It was a lot of reading and catching up on lost sleep but it was needed. Now to return to work and while I'm trying to stay positive and it's a challenge. I've got back to back meetings this morning and work is shaping up to be even busier this week somehow. Oh and it's going to be raining for the next 2-3 days as well. Just for some extra fun on top of everything else.

Normally during the week I'm reading one book at home and listening to an audiobook while on the go. As I've mentioned before I like to read two different genres so the two stories don't blend together. Somehow I ended up with two mysteries on the go this week but I don't think I'll have any concerns about these two blending together. On one hand I have the latest Will Trent book. It's a mystery full of all the trauma. All the bad things that can happen are happening essentially. On the other hand I have a cozy cooking mystery. I'm nearly 25% of the way into the book and I don't think anyone has even said a bad word let alone anyone actually getting murdered. I have some mixed feelings about the cozy mystery so far but I need to remember that I'm starting on the twenty third book and not at the beginning.

Old man rant incoming

I'm done with all this summer heat. I don't know when it changed but this heat is just to much. I know that it's not as hot numerically as other years but it just feels so hot. Maybe it's also because I'm outside more this summer with my efforts to walk more. Regardless, I am done with this heat and I am ready for that nice cool fall weather. Not the full blown deep freeze of deep winter but much, much cooler weather.

I'm also done with lawnmowers. Just before I took off for my walk today a full crew showed up at our apartment complex to do the lawns. For all that droning and noise I can't tell you what changed. The grass looks no shorter then it was before. What was the point? It's no different then those leaf blowers in the winter for a mere skiff of snow.

This post is in regards to Undone by Karin Slaughter. Don't read beyond the spoiler wall if you don't want to know things about this book.

(view spoiler)[
It's so good to see Sara back but oh boy is it also painful. To see what she has gone through since we last saw her is hard. I'm also waiting for the inevitable return of Lena. I know she is out there skulking in the shadows somewhere. To be honest I'm not sure if I'm ready for her return. That is a Gordian knot of emotions just waiting to be untangled. As for the normal crew in this I'm not really feeling Faith right now. I get that she is going through a lot right now with the medical bombshells dropped on her but still. Her character is not pleasant to be around. Not Lena levels of unpleasant but getting there. I also feel that this book is ripe for secret reveals here as things go along. You have the two things Faith is dealing with. You have the nearly year long void since the last novel where things happened. You also have the 3.5 years since we last saw Sara and there are hints of things there. Then there is also the whole mystery that is getting solved currently that has it's secrets and reveals to come. Oh and "The Letter" whatever that is. I think I know who that is from and like I said above, not ready to deal with all of that. (hide spoiler)]

Well this has been a week and I don't really have a lot to talk about. Work has been busy since my vacation but this week things picked up even more and I don't see much of a break for at least another month. On top of that I was working through a season of a TV show that I had to get back to the library. Basically that left me with little time for reading. Any way, enough complaining, lets get to what I did get read this week.

Solo Leveling, Vol. 7 -4 Stars
This is the second last book in the series, as I've found out this week, and it was a giant buildup for the end. Revelations, power ups, etc, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong it was still entertaining but man that ending left me wanting something bad. It literally got to the final fight, the MC and the big bad make eye contact, and the book ends. *deep breathe* Leaving me hanging like that just feels cruel. What I found out about the final volume also leaves me annoyed. The final volume is 272 pages. Of that novel only 62 pages are the actual conclusion to the story. The rest are just side stories with various characters sharing the POV's of events that happened in the story. That just kind of feels a little scummy. My library doesn't have the final volume and I was going to just buy it myself to see how it all ends. Then I saw that little nugget and I'll just wait for it now.

Guilty Pleasures -3 Stars
This book leaves me rather conflicted. I have a bit of a history with this series and it kind of leaves me feeling mixed about things. Back when I was first getting back into reading in the early 2010's, man it's been over a decade of reading already, this was the series that dragged me into the world of urban fantasy. I'll be honest here, Anita was on my list of favorite characters at one point. Then the series started to change and not really for the better in my opinion. We've all seen the discussions about this before so I won't get into here again. This early book felt weird for me. This was before Anita became an action star essentially. This was before the series became a paranormal romance and long before it became pure smut. It just felt off to me. I think part of it is that I have read so much since my first time reading this and I've seen much better but I can't completely discredit the influence this book had on me.

Now I also want to talk about the audiobook itself. Now this is an older audiobook but it didn't have that whole "insert next CD now" stuff left in it. That being said I didn't think this a great audiobook. Part of it is that the narrator just didn't feel like it suited the character in my opinion. This is purely subjective I know but in my head it just didn't fit. Then there was the accents that just felt... off. Jean Claude wasn't bad, I guess. It was a stereotypical French accent really. It was a couple of the side characters, Ronnie, in particular that just felt weird. This takes place in St Louis and it's what I think is supposed to be a Midwest accent but my brain defaulted to a Newfie accent. That's what I heard and it just sounded out of place. This book also like to use dramatic music while the narrator is telling the story and it just kind of drowned out the narrator in places. While not a horrible experience this audiobook is not what I'd use as an example of what a good audiobook is.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 5 -4 Stars
Back to this ongoing series and this was an interesting one. Basically we have two side stories collection with the main story sprinkled in between. The first side story collection was Turtles in Time and it was alright, I guess. It wasn't my favorite part of the book honestly. The one upside was a little revelation at the end though. That Donatello has doubts about what they were doing. That he had thought of quitting and just walking away from everything. This little plot point tied in with the main story and led to some interesting story beats. The second side story collection was a crossover with the The Ghostbusters and this was a fun one. Then there is the main story line. I don't want to get into to many details but this was good. It felt like it was finally starting to tie all these various story lines together and man did it feel good. That ending left me shook and want the next volume something bad. Luckily my library has it and it's available right away.

Now for what is next.

Christmas Cake Murder
This is the next audiobook and it will help with a couple different challenges.

Undone
This is the next novel I'm reading and I'm more than a little hype for this one. We get to see the return of Sarah and I'm curious how all of that will be handled. Considered the author it will involve all sorts of trauma and pain.

I originally joined Goodreads for the books. To figure out what book was next in the series, what I had read, and what I wanted to read in the future. The whole social thing wasn't even on my radar at the time. That came later and I'm glad I found it. Like many readers I wanted to talk about what I was reading. What cool thing I had found or what not and there was just nothing in my life. I have one coworker that reads and no shade to him but it's only a book or two a year. The conversation is a bit one sided shall we say. I've tried to find local book clubs and either I'm not interested in the books being read or the book club is "Women Only". I get it, it's a safety thing, it's a matter of feeling safe and comfortable, but man does it get a bit discouraging after a while. Bit of a side tangent here but I found this real interesting walking group right here in my area only to have that all go up in smoke simply because I'm a dude. Any way, back to this, topic. With the book clubs on here I got to meet some interesting people, I got to talk about the things I was reading or had read, and it just feels good.

I've looked at some other sights and I haven't seen anything amazing enough for me to walk away from Goodreads. This site has it's issues, it looks dull and bland (I would love a dark mode on here), but it also has all my records of what I've read, want to read, challenges, and groups of people who I can chat with. It will take a lot to make me budge from here.

I know this is cliche sounding but I really don't want to go to work today. Work has been crazy busy ever since I returned from my vacation some 3 weeks ago and there is just no sign of it slowing down anytime soon. Today is clean up of things that are not this massive project so that I can get ready for the next batch of stuff coming in next work where I'll promptly be drowned in even more work. The good news is that I am nearly done the July phase of work. The bad news is that I haven't started the August stuff yet.

It is older YA from what I remember. I'm not sure how unbiased my opinion of this series is as I enjoyed it. I am aware that this is far from "peak literature", what ever that is, but this is what I consider an absolute fun popcorn read. Think of it kind of as a cross between Harry Potter (magic school) and Percy Jackson (demigods).

It had better be Thursday or I'll be one grumpy bear

Sorry in advance for anyone who feels down after this but we were just talking about him

https://www.abc4.com/news/wasatch-fro...

This is just making me want to binge read both series honestly. I must show restraint and work on other books as well though.

*clears throat*

There is a crossover novella between Mythos Academy and Elemental Assassin coming out in September of this year. Excuse me for a minute...

*intense fan girl screaming from the far side of the warehouse*

I'm a wee bit excited shall we say

"oh no. please don't twist my arm and make me read one of my favorite series of all time early. please no, stop you horrible fiend"

Yeah, totally down for reading it early.

Oh boy, this is a hard one. There's challenging because I'm forcing myself to finish a bad book and an actual challenging book. If we are talking high school English class then hands down anything Shakespeare. I just could not get into Shakespeare and I have no interest of ever reading any of his stuff ever again. I also remember having a hard time with Lord of the Flies in high school. Well most of the reading in high school honestly. The funny thing is that as an adult I love Lord of the Flies.

Now as an adult I have read some pretty challenging books. Like the post mentions, Lolita. It was an amazing book that I hated every moment of, will never recommend, and will never reread. Then there is Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. Now I can normally read some pretty vile books full of all sorts of horrid and disgusting things with little issue. This book was incredibly difficult to read because it was based on real events that were horrid. That line between fiction and real life was removed and the book became just a little to real for me.

It's a buzz kill because you get into that mindset "Whooo it's Thursday afternoon, only one more day until the long weekend, it's so close" and then reality sinks in and it just takes the wind right out of your sails.

I'm slipping into that weird pocket of time where I'm convinced it's Thursday. After thoroughly double checking multiple calendars it is indeed only Wednesday.

How is it only 9:30 in the morning? It feels like I've been at work now for easily a decade at least.

I've been watching Tulsa King recently and it's a pretty solid show. Stallone is great in the show and I'm finding myself more and more invested in the show.