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

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

Odd, I got up to book 10 and stopped as well. I think for me it was just a matter of being caught up on the series and I fell off while waiting for the next book. It's been a while since I've picked up a Dresden book.

Time for that weekly update and I don't know about anyone else but this week has felt really long. Monday felt like an eon ago.

-3 Stars
Alright, I might, just might, be warming up, slightly, to contemporary romance novels, maybe. This was a simple romance about opposites attracting. She is a socialite from LA who has been sent to a small fishing town after making a fool of herself and getting her father into trouble. He is a salty sea captain who owns his own fishing boat and never deviates from his routine. I'll be honest, overall this wasn't bad. One thing I did not like about this book was the sex scene. Not because I'm a prude who doesn't like sex in his books or anything. It just felt boring and cookie cutter. The guys is hung, the sex was the greatest she ever had ever, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. Honestly I felt like I've read this exact same sex scene a million times. It's just the same thing from book to book to book to book. I just want someone to change things up a bit. I don't know, have someone let go a giant fart the first time they have sex. Just something different that doesn't make the sex this thing of ultimate perfection that just works perfectly for these perfect people the first time they drop their pants. Anyway, rant over, I'll go back to my cave.

-5 Stars
Or not, I guess I still have books to talk about. Part of my goals this year was start listening to longer audiobooks. Originally I set my limit at 15 hours because I was limiting my listening time to my walks. Since I was only walking to work 15 hours was the max length I felt comfortable committing to with a three week borrow time from the library. First up on the longer list was a reread of this fabulous series. I've gushed about this book and this series plenty already. The audiobook was a good listening experience. Not the greatest thing ever and far from the worst. What is a good way to describe this? It's like that little extra seasoning on top of an already great dish.

-3 Stars
There isn't a lot to say about this manga. This is not a manga for the story or the characters. This is a manga that is a love letter to ramen in all of it's various forms. If you love ramen then this is a book that will make you very hungry.

-4 Stars
I finally got my next volume of One Punch Man so I can continue my journey with this series. I'm liking the change of direction that this story is starting to take. For a while now it felt like it was about introducing bigger and badder villains to set up just how strong Saitama is. Now we are getting hints at other things going on in the world and I am very curious.

-4 Stars
This is a weird one guys. Normally I don't think l would like Princess Jellyfish. It's just not a story that I would normally be interested in but there is just something here that's just clicking with me. There are various story elements going on, the story has its funny moments and yet still feels mature as well. There are just a lot of moving pieces and I'm enjoying the experience.

-4 Stars
This is the setup for the arc known as Battle City and the series is finally getting into one of my biggest questions. The Egyptian magic aspect of the series. Up to this point there have been hints and teases to this stuff but nothing concrete. This arc really starts to dive into the Egyptian side of things and I am interested. I'm curious to see where this arc will go with all this stuff.

As for what is next...

On audio I'm listening to . I've been thinking about rereading Dresden for some time now and listening to them on audio seems like a good fit. I'm a little over 30% into the book and Marsters is a good voice for Dresden in my opinion.

On the physical books side of things I am chasing the library due date again. I need to get and done this week so I can return them next weekend. I don't know how much reading I am going to get done this week as things are busy at work and I'm working a 6 day week due to inventory counts.

My coworker is here today! That means that I'm just busy and not stupid impossible busy.

I think my least favorite classic, so far, has been Turn of the Screw. Paragraph after paragraph of words that do absolutely nothing. It felt like the author was sitting there reveling in the sound of his own voice.

I don't know about anyone else but this week has been something. It has felt like this week has passed incredibly quickly but at the same time yesterday morning feels like an eon ago. Work has been crazy for me this week. Just a lot of little stuff that needs to be done. Add to that my coworker being sick the last couple of days and having to cover for his stuff and it's just been stressful. Next week is also not helping either. We have an inventory count next week which means an automatic six day week. As usual nothing has been done to prep for the count outside of our department. Normally we shut down our department the week of inventory but we are getting slammed with orders for next week. So now I have to juggle these new orders, help with inventory, and deal with what ever else that pops up that needs to be done.

Basically I'm feeling stressed, a little overwhelmed, and tired. I was planning to start walking home from work this week but that never happened. I don't even really feel like going out this weekend to walk but I know I need to go to the library.

For the most part I prefer manga as well. For the most part stories are self contained, I enjoy the art style more, and just the tropes in general. That being said I have been finding some Western stuff that I have enjoyed. Usually stuff that is smaller single volume kind of stories. The bigger superhero stuff from DC/Marvel is just such a minefield to get into. Interconnected stories, alternate time lines, different interpretations of characters, reboots, rebrands, etc, etc.

As for longer manga and my enjoyment it really depends on the type of manga. 20+ volume series with a solid story like say FMA is an easy read. 20+ volume series of a gag manga is a harder pill to swallow. If done well then sure but it gets a little much to read after a while.

This might sound weird but it makes me happy to look at my timeline and see people reading manga who might not normally read manga. Comics as well. It's a medium with a lot of amazing stories to be told in it.

Uhhhh.... lets chalk this weird sentimental moment up to stress, being tired, and me slowly losing my mind.

And that is how manga sucks you into the deep dark hole of never ending series.

Jane is still not on the list... perhaps next year.

My first five day work week in a month and I have a feeling that this is going to hurt. My cough is still lingering but I think it's getting better. It's just taking it's sweet time doing so.

Spies

Garden

Fire

I haven't been super looking so far. Just kind of casually picking things off as I have been going along. I'll get there eventually.

Home

paint chips

Hi there Daisy

Time for my first update of the year.

-2 Stars
This was my first book of the year and I just did not enjoy this one at all. It started out interesting enough by getting into the evolutionary reason for humans having butts. Then it skipped ahead from ancient man to late 1700's, early 1800's with the inevitable discussion of Sarah Baartman. It's things like this from history, amongst so many other things, that kind of makes me hate humankind in general. The stuff that was done to her was horrid but for me it's what happened after that really makes me hate people. She passed in 1815 and parts of her body remained on display in the Museum of Man in Paris until 1974. They didn't return her body to South Africa until 2002. Any way, angry Gord rant aside, lets get back to the book. The book then explored fashions, eugenics (another aspect of history I hate), and the changing idea of beauty. It even touched on 80's aerobic videos like "Buns of Steel". Then it got into modern day stuff like Beyonce, the Kardashians, Miley Cyrus, etc. I really struggled with some with this modern stuff because I just don't care about the escapades of the Kardashians or what not.

There is a lot of author bias in this book in my opinion that made it feel less like a study of the history of butts and more like an opinion piece on a few hundred years of history. Staying neutral here, there were also several opinions put forth in the latter half of this book that didn't sit right with me. Dismissing a persons opinion simply due to their gender for instance. By the end of the book I was simply pushing forward to complete the book so I could us it towards certain challenges.

-4 Stars
This has been that proverbial elephant in the room now for many years. I've had this recommended to me by Goodreads more times than I can count. I've had it recommended to me by other members on this site. I've seen it pop up sci-fi/fantasy stuff on YouTube. It's not like I was avoiding it for any particular reason I just never got around to reading it. The year started with one of my groups doing a buddy read of the series and it gave me an excuse to finally jump in. This book was good, no, great. It's one of those books that I regret not reading sooner. A lot of the appeal of this book is around the main character, Murderbot, who is extremely relatable even though he is a robot. I'm sure we have all had those days where we just didn't want to deal with people and wanted nothing more than to be left alone with our hobbies. Outside of a great MC the book has a solid enough story to keep the book moving along. It's a little lean on the other characters and the world building but it's only 150 pages. It sets up an interesting MC, tells a solid enough story, and then sets up future possibilities. I'm definitely coming back for more in this series.

-3 Stars
This book was so average that I've already started to forget it. Younger sister wants to protect her older sister from evil prince/king so she sets on a quest to find a way. This book was not a bad book but it also didn't do any thing for me. For instance one of the things mentioned on the Goodreads blurb page is that there is a chicken possessed by a demon in her party. My brain latches onto a concept like that and sees infinite possibilities. Maybe the chicken can use demonic magic, breathe fire, summon evil minions. Maybe the demon is misunderstood and secretly wants to live a quiet life as a farm animal. All sorts of possibilities. What does the book do? Nothing, nothing at all. It likes to remind you that the bird is possessed but outside of the chicken acting like a chicken it does nothing at all. I'm not actually sure it was even possessed. That there little example sums up this book in general. Lots of interesting possibilities and ideas that it does nothing with.

-4 Stars
I wasn't going to read this when it came out on the 5th but brand new content that I hadn't seen before. I'm finally moving past the point I was at in the web novel when it got dropped. This book was focused around Yuna doing more adventure related stuff which is what I have been craving now for some time and it delivers. Next book looks to be a beach episode which I'm not as excited for but I'm curious where things will go after that. Here is to all new content.

-5 Stars
How do I even begin talking about this comic? This is a non-fiction comic and the author is a survivor of a school shooting. The comic is about her experience that day and the years afterwards dealing with all the emotional trauma. Needless to say this book is heavy and I did cry a few times. I don't read a lot of non-fiction in comics or manga so initially I approached this like I would any other comic. It didn't take me long to get swept up in the story and to toss aside my usual approach to comics. This comics tackles a very serious issue and made me see a POV that I just never really considered before simply because this was not an experience I've ever had to deal with. It was an emotional read and as uncomfortable as it might have been I'm glad that I read this comic.

-4 Stars
The latest manga in this series and more food related goodness.

-4
More Sakamoto days with more over the top fights. I'm really enjoying this series and I can;t wait to read more.

-3 Stars
This is another comic from Sarah Andersen who is the author of and . If you enjoy those comics then you know what to expect here and will probably enjoy it as well. This comic is about a group of cryptids (Mothman, Nessie, Big Foot, etc) and a glimpse into their lives. It was what I expected and it was a fun little read.

Now, what am I working on next.

On audio I am about halfway through and I am enjoying my reread of this book. Adventure buddies!

For my non audio book I'm currently working on for a challenge. It's not my normal type of book but it's not bad so far. After that I have a stack of things lined up from the library.

Went for a long walk today. It took me a couple of hours including a stop of snacks and a stop for books but I walked 7 km/4.35 miles today. I'm also thinking that this week I'm going to start walking home from work a couple of days a week to start. It's earlier than I planned to start this but the weather is pretty mild for this time of the year so I might as well start getting into the habit and logging those KM's for my goal.

Those that get this will get it. For those that don't you just haven't read the book yet.

Adventure Buddies!