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

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

While crunching my numbers for the month I made a bit of a startling discovery. Outside of audiobooks I've only read two novels this month. Everything else was manga and comics this month. I knew I was reading a lot of manga and comics but I didn't think it was that many. Apologies in advance I guess as most of this post will be just manga and comics I guess.

5 Stars


4 Stars


DNF


As for next month I have some super stacked reading coming up. I have

This month is going to be such a busy month for me. Work is just on fire right now. On one hand it's great for job security and I'm spending my days watching the wall age but at the same time it's going to be a bit bonkers.

Rocks

Safe travels and have fun

There are also several of us who do not have a healthy respect for sleep. Should I sleep or finish this book?

Time for that weekly wrap up and yes it's a lot of manga, again. Between stuff I've been working on and the library finally delivering some stuff I've had on hold for a while I've had a lot of manga on my reading list. In some ways it kind of works with my busier schedule as of late.

-DNF
Let's just get this out of the way so I can get to the stuff I actually finished. Yes, I did DNF another book and only a week after I DNF'd another one. This is a cozy mystery set in Edinburgh and I just did not like it. I got to about the 30% mark before throwing in the towel. First, this really didn't feel like much of a cozy mystery or even a mystery in general. By the time I tossed in the towel outside of the MC witnessing the death at the beginning the "case" rarely came up and when it did it was more of a mention of a news story then an actual mystery. The book spent it's time talking about philosophy, art, wine, men, anything but the mystery really. Then we get to the thing that just made me quit. I didn't like the MC at all. This isn't one of those things where it was a poorly written MC or a MC who is to stupid to live or anything like that. I just felt constantly judged and looked down upon by the MC and the close group of "cozy mystery friends". That group of people who helps the MC solve the mystery and are always there in the books. This was a rather new experience for me honestly at least when it comes to books any way. Let me try to explain myself here. There were several instances where the MC just felt condescending. In the opening scene she was incredibly harsh on an orchestra simply because she did like the selection of music that they played. There were a couple of instances where it just really irked me. Our MC is talking to her housekeeper and the housekeeper is mentioning how a friends husband is going through a midlife crisis. He has started dressing in younger clothes and listening to "rock music" and how rock music is so immature. Actually, now that I think of it the housekeeper is just as bad as the MC. She also made a statement about how the whole downfall of proper moral standards was all the fault of Nixon and how his "lying" made it's way across the pond. Can't say I agree with that. The one that the MC said that was my tipping point was during a discussion with a man she met an art exhibit. They were talking about all the problems of society. The man mentions that there are even serial killers who write books. She then comments how only the stupid or deranged would read them. She just struck me as this women who would judge me to be an uneducated peasant because I didn't read the classics or I read manga/comics. That I would dare to wear sweats outside in public and probably a thousand and one other lesser things that my simple peasant ways did. This was also one of those times were the narrator was a problem. The narrator wasn't bad but the accent and voice she used really just leaned into this feeling of judgement for me. Any way, my uncultured ways has other things to read and I don't need to be judged for reading them.

-4 Stars
I finally got my copy from the library and oh man was I so glad to continue with this series. Our MC is now so strong that the dungeons he has access to at his low level no longer give him any experience. He also needs better equipment and the only way he can do that is by accessing the markets for high end items which he can't do at his low levels. This means it's finally time to get reassessed and reveal a bit of his secrets. He is now an S rank hunter, the highest rank out there and his powers seem to be off the scale. This then gets into something I would never of thought to be as interesting as it was. How do you negotiate with someone like that? Guilds want stronger members so they can pull in higher paying jobs. There is an economy unto itself when it comes to hunters and guilds. A guild can benefit greatly from the right hunter and a hunter can benefit greatly from the right guild. How do you negotiate with a S rank hunter though? They are beyond rare, they are beyond powerful, and they are very much aware of what they bring to the table. You can't strong arm them, it's not advisable to lie to them, you can't physically force them to do anything but if you can land a contract with them you are set for life. What do you do to try to land that contract? We also get a more of that broader world building outside of our MC and his story which I am enjoying. I think the next book is where we are going to start getting some payoff for that buildup.

-3 Stars
A challenge book that I snagged for that U at the start of the title. This was an alright book that had some pretty big issues. Dystopian world where librarians deliver a secret gay agenda to those that need the message. I like the idea of librarians being these secret badass defenders of books and whatnot. There isn't much world building here at all. It's somehow this wild west setting with covered wagons and all that but set in the future with things like drones, tanks, latex gloves, etc. None of this is explained at all. The US is divided in to four quadrants with a "central corridor" saved for the military. The US is also at war but again it's never explained with who or why. It just felt you were dropped in this little narrow corridor and you shouldn't look to closely at the surrounding scenery. There was an instant love story as well which kind of felt weird as our MC had just witnessed her girlfriend getting hung by her father and she had some serious hangups about being gay. I just wasn't the biggest fan of the MC in general. Nothing like the MC from the first book in this post but not a person that I enjoyed being with either.

Now for the manga

-3 Stars
I went into this expecting something like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and got something else. I'm legit not to sure what I feel about the story as it's a bit of a slow burn with some rather stoic characters. On one side you have Ryang-Ha Song an assassin with ties to the Triad and on the other side you have Chateau Dankworth a bounty hunter/assassin working for an agency. He takes a shine to her and starts helping her with her targets. This leads to a quasi relationship which I'm not sure what to think of. He is the one pushing it but she doesn't seem to be opposed to it. It's super hard to get a read on her as she is stoic as hell. There is also a ton of questions about both their backstories. I'm intrigued by what is being set up here and want to read more once I get caught up on things.

-4 Stars
More wacky assassin shenanigans from this world. I'm liking this series and what I'm getting from it.

-4 Stars
This is a really weird series. On one hand it's a historical drama piece with samurai, feudal lords, etc. On the other hand there are these weird random bouts of insanity sprinkled in. For instance we were introduced to an antagonist today who is a stereotypical surfer dude with a surf board, flipping the hang ten gesture, and everything. Keep in mind that this is medieval Japan. Oh and his surfboard is actually his carrying case/sheath for his oversized sword. There is truly some weird randomness mixed into this series and I'm here for it. Oh and there was a running gag for a few chapters of the most innocent looking psychopath. Not going to explain that one either.

-4 Stars
I'm really enjoying this series but there is some seriously mixed messaging going on here. On the surface it's a cute innocent food story about a neighbor, a 28 year old widow, cooking food for her neighbor, a 16 year old baseball student living on his own. Within the story itself there is some awkwardness as the story goes along and the story kind of addresses it but it didn't feel resolved. She is naive to a certain degree and didn't think of the perception of the situation. She thinks of the young boy as a friend or maybe a son. Now he is sort of attracted to her but it's more young boy hormones then anything and he feels ashamed for thinking that of her. Where the real confusion comes from is everything surrounding the story. The splash pages seem to tease/suggest something more and one of the bonus stories also suggests more that isn't part of the main story. It just adds to the weird confusing feeling about the relationship between these two. Overall, I'm enjoying the innocent food based story and can't wait for more.

Currently I'm listening to on audiobook. I'm about 40% into the story and I have words for this book. I'm not hating the book but I feel like the MC needs a slap upside the head. Also the difference in French between the two narrators is hilarious. To my untrained ear one sounds like they are doing their best to sound out the words or using a computer translator to help with pronouncing things. The other one sounds like French is a native tongue for them.

For non audiobooks I have more manga. I've got and probably

Animal

It's finally Friday. This week has felt a lot longer than the four days it was and yet it felt like it blurred by super fast. At least working the weekend is off the table again. There was one point where we were looking at working Saturday just to get all the rush jobs done. Now that being said there is still a full day for things to go wrong and this week has proven that things can go wrong real fast.

Congrats Meels! A bit late but it's there.

Brace yourself folks, I'm thinking of DNF'ing another book. It's an audiobook I started this morning and to put it simply, I just don't like the main character. Not in angry "I hate you" kind of way either. I just feel like the main character is looking down on me as inferior. She is supposedly in her early 40's and is a philosophy major. There have been comments sprinkled throughout this book that just irk me on a deep level. For instance she is talking to someone about books and life and they mentioned books being written by serial killers. She then states that the only ones that would read such things are the deranged and the stupid. Her house keeper made this comment about a friends husband listening to rock music and how that makes him childish. I remember when I was first looking for local book clubs and there were more than a few that had comments of "we only read classics and nothing modern" with the implied hint that anything modern is trash and you are trash for reading them. This character gives me the same vibes. The narrators voice is also not helping with that perception either.

I'm just not sure what to listen to next though. Continue a series I started? Find something new? Find a challenge book?

That's about 2 hours and 15 minutes walking outside today. Both my morning and evening walk were at a nice balmy -25/-34C with the windchill or -13/-29F for those south of the icy border. This might be a bit hard to believe for those used to warmer temps but it kind of wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong it was cold but once I got into the flow of things it wasn't that bad.

Helicopter

Today went about as expected. I also found out that my coworker who I get a ride with is off for the rest of the week so I'm walking to and from work this week. Normally that is not that big of a deal but between work and the cold it's going to be a challenge for sure.

I want to weigh in on the discussions as there is a lot of good ideas being talked about but busy and all that. I'll be on tonight and try to catch up on things.

This is going to be a rough week. A short week because of the long weekend with a ton of things that need to be done including an air freight shipment that everyone is frothing at the mouth to have shipped immediately. It's just going to be a nonstop week with a ton of pressure/stress. Oh and we have a cold snap this week where things will be stupid cold all week before warming up this weekend. Basically my mind is already going "is it the weekend yet" for more than a few reasons this morning.

I'm sure that this is going to stir up some conversation. Or it already has in literary circles but I'd be interested in seeing what others here think. Apparently Puffin Books has been altering Roald Dahl books to be less offensive. This was done by removing, changing, or adding things to classic stories such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, BFG, Matilda, The Witches, and others. Here is an article from the BBC about it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainmen...

This is far from a hot take on this issue but I am really against this idea. As a reader I understand that when I am reading older books there will be views and opinions that aren't necessarily compatible with modern values. For instance I recently read The Invisible man and there was a line in there that was something along the lines of "I worked like a N*****". Horrible word and a horrible phrase by modern standards which most can agree upon but for the time the book was released it wasn't a horrible thing. You can pretty much point to any classic book or older book and find questionable material. If you are concerned that Dahl's books are for children and it will somehow corrupt the youth or something. Look at it as a teachable moment as a parent/caregiver/guardian. Explain to the kid why this kind of comment isn't appropriate anymore. Don't try to hide and censor things.

On a side note, yes, I am aware of how messed up of a man Dahl was but I am separating author from their work.

Outside of a rough start to the week, I'll get to that, this has actually been a good week of reading for me. Apologies in advance, this update got a bit long.

-DNF
You saw that correct. A DNF book from me. If you have read my updates or know anything about me you know I can push through a lot when it comes to bad books. So the fact that I couldn't finish this one I think speaks volumes. I'll be honest I already wasn't in the mood for this book when I started but I had to get it back to the library. Just being in the mood doesn't make the book bad by default either. I've read plenty of good books that I initially wasn't in the mood for. That being said that mood only grew worse and I was struggling to read this book by chapter three and chapter one was only two pages long. This book is, to quote the page here on Goodreads, "a bold feminist reimagining of the Arthurian myth". Now I'm rather middle of the road when it comes to Arthurian stuff. I don't hate it but I'm not going out my way to partake in it either. The main character is Elaine who is an Oracle and the first three chapters the book just randomly shifts from the future to the present and to the past. This continues on for as long as I read the book and it made it super hard to get invested in the story. Something is happening in current time... time for a flashback. After reading 28% of the book I didn't care about the characters, I had no idea what was going on, and I was just bored/frustrated. I threw in the towel when there was this section that was discussing what color of dress they were going to have to wear and what was allowed for the time of day. Why does it matter, outside of petty court politics that is? I also couldn't shake this feeling that I just wasn't in the loop on what was going on for the entirety of what I read. My knowledge of the Arthurian myths is limited to pop culture osmosis really and I had this feeling that I was missing a lot in this book because I didn't have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything Arthurian.

Then there was one little itsy bitsy, teeny weenie (yellow polka dot bikini) thing that just drove me insane. I know that there are several spellings of the word "fae" and have seen a few different ones over the years. The most common one is, in my opinion, the spelling "fae". This book decided to take a bold approach and use multiple spellings of the word. You had fae, fay, fey, and Fay. The book would just randomly change the spelling of the word. One paragraph it would be rolling with fay. Next paragraph it would suddenly be fey. Why? Who knows. Maybe there was something in the Arthurian myths that my simple tastes just doesn't know about but there was nothing in the book to indicate that the spelling differences were used to indicate anything different. It just seemed like the editor was dealing with a broken spellchecker and was just picking a spelling at random. This little thing just got under my skin and drove me bonkers.

-5 Stars
Alright, enough ranting about the bad book, lets get to something good. I needed a book from the New Adult genre for a monthly challenge and I had no idea where to start. It's not a genre that I normally read and my last foray into the genre left me with more than a few scars. This book came recommended and several people I follow on here seemed to enjoy it. Combine that with the fact that my library had it available on audiobook right now and I decided to give it a shot. I didn't have the highest expectations, I mean look at that cover, and the opening chapters were setting off warnings in my head. The initial romance was... not to my taste, the voice used for the wrong number guy had my douche canoe radar pinging. Then something odd happened. I was listening to this while out for a walk and I found myself grinning uncontrollably. Over the few days as I was listening to this while walking I found this grinning thing to be happening more and more. There were even bursts of out loud laughter. I really loved this book by the end. This was a silly, nerdy, and cute romance and it just worked for me. The two main characters had great chemistry together and I loved the romance aspect of it. There was no overly angsty drama, there was no destiny forcing them together, there was no instalove. It was two strangers who started chatting, became friends, and then more. Their banter back and forth was hilarious to listen to. There was of course the inevitable sexy time scene and dare I say it was a bit spicy. Maybe because it wasn't just the usual guy with an elephant trunk in his pants, greatest sex of all time, cookie cutter sex scene that you see in ever other romance novel. There as a level of tenderness and care towards each other. One other thing of note there was a stereotypical third act miscommunication scene that felt rather cliched. As the reader it was very obvious what was going on but I will cut the scene some slack. The event was bad and I can kind of understand the reaction of those involved but it was still rather cliche. Overall this was just a cute read and a great counter to the bad book above.

-4 Stars
More Murderbot and it was good. Much like the first book my only real complaint was that by the end of the book I was just left wanting more. This book picks up shortly after the first one with Murderbot looking for answers to what happened in his past. The event that The Company had purged from this memory. On his way to where the site was supposed to be we get introduced to ART (A****** Research Transport) and the banter between these two was awesome. It felt like two nerds sitting there arguing about things. I swear I could picture ART pushing up taped together glasses while saying "actually" and he is a ship. This book really started diving into the psyche of Murderbot and lets be honest here, they have been through a lot. Bots and constructs in general are not treated well by humans in this world it seems. I wish we had gotten more info about the incident in the mining pit though. It was built up in the first book and a good chunk of this book and it just kind of feels glossed over at the end. Don't get me wrong we find out that it did happen, we find out what happened , and we find out why but it just left me wondering if there was more. I think part of that comes from the fact that it was more down played. Instead of a "Dun Dun Dun" big reveal it was a simple "this is what happened and moving on". I still love the series though and definitely can't wait for the next one.

-4 Stars
This was the physical book I picked up after the bad book mentioned above and it was a perfect recovery book.



This was of the anime that was released last season and I really enjoyed the show. Now I've heard of the series long before then but kind of just dismissed it as another one of those gimmick light novels. The anime helped show me that there is a lot more to this show and I wanted to check out the source material. Luckily my library has this series and I gave it a go. Overall it matched the show well. There was a lot less monster murdering in the show and discussion of leveling and where to put points but that make sense. The main character is actually the sword in the above GIF and we spend the first part of the novel with him as he murders his way through an entire ecosystem of monsters leveling up and gaining new skills. Yes, the sword by himself is doing all the murder. Through the use of telekinesis and other skills he has become quite powerful. While exploring though he finds himself in a situation where is unable to use his skills and becomes stuck. Enter our second main character, and the other half of the gif, Fran. She is part of a slave caravan, as a slave, who is escaping a monster. Just when all hope seems lost she stumbles across the sword and saves herself from the monster. They then murder the slaver and make their escape. This duo has great chemistry together, I've used that term a lot today it seems, and either is strong enough to be a main character on their own. In this book we see them take their first steps together as adventurers, or adventurer and sword, and they quickly make waves in the adventuring world. I really can't wait to read more in this series.

5/3 Stars
I finally got back to this series and volume 17 was an amazing read. We see Komi talking more than at any point in the series and it's all centered around her feelings for Tadano, Manbagi, and her feelings for Tadano. This felt like some serious growth for the characters and for the series. Then we get to volume 18. It opened with Yamai, my least favorite character, being the usual creepy psychopath that she is. Overall volume 18 just felt like filler. It was short stories from the culture festival from different characters POV's. It was alright but after volume 17 it just felt kind of lacking.

-3 Stars
More Hunter Hunter. These volumes conclude the Hunter exams and start the next arc where we are introduced to the magic system of the world. This is a good series but it has some flaws. The art can be a little bare at times and there are some massive explanation dumps. Where you will get a full panel full of basically nothing but really fine text explaining something for the world. It's not horrible but it can change the flow of the story. I fully plan to read on for this series.

-4 Stars
More cute cat manga. Not really much more to say then that

As for what is next. On audiobook I'm listening to so I can finally finish off a particularly old and big challenge. For non audiobooks I have which I am stoked for. After that I have a giant stack of manga I need to get done and back to the library. Sakamoto Days, Beauty and the Feast, Love of Kill, etc. At that point I'll be nearly caught up on all my library stuff finally.

Didn't she trying writing a series outside of The Hollows a few years back?

A part of me wants to go to Starbucks for a London Fog today but I've got this pesky cold. It's not even a bad cold I just break out into random coughing fits every once in a while and I don't want to do that if I'm sitting in the place drinking my drink. Yes, I could buy one and leave but it's in the middle of my walk and I don't want to walk 30-40 minutes while my drink is getting cold. I guess it's the drug store for some meds and snacks instead.

Congrats, Cee!