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Aquaman, Vol. 1: The Trench
Aquaman, Vol. 1: The Trench by Geoff Johns Illustrated By: Ivan Reis Format: Trade Paperback Collects: Aquaman #1-6 Published: 2013 Publisher: DC Comics Length: 144 pages I bought this for my girlfriend quite a while back, and I have to admit it was strange picking this up at my local comic book store. The character has been a joke for years now, and it felt oddly shameful, as if I was buying a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey or a Bill O’Reilly book. I always assumed Aquaman comics were underwater harlequin romance with occasional stabbings. I couldn’t find it on the shelf, so I had to call over an…
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Eating Poetry by Mark Strand
I hadn’t heard that Mark Strand had died a couple of months ago. I came across him on a CBC podcast about a decade ago while driving home to visit my parents. He was really interesting, and the poems he read were fantastically absurd, so I picked up his latest collection at the time, Man and Camel. I wasn’t in love with that particular book, but I did find a few of his poems online that I quite liked. This one always stuck with me. Perfect for those whose bookish appetites have ever been met with looks of bewilderment. Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no…
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Holidays on Ice
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Published: 1998 Length: 176 pages I’ve had this book for a few years now, but I kept forgetting about it during the holidays. I can’t bring myself to read anything related to silver bells or reindeer outside of December, so it kept getting moved to the dark corner of the shelf. I finally remembered it this year and read it as the holidays ramped up (hint as to how far behind I am on my posts). I wasn’t looking forward to Christmas at all this year, so I thought Sedaris’ cynical (I assumed) take on the season would be perfect for me. This is…
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More Baths, Less Talking
More Baths, Less Talking by Nick Hornby Published: 2012 Length: 135 pages Yet another collection of the monthly Stuff I’ve Been Reading column that Nick Hornby writes for the Believer magazine. I like to think I read a wide variety of books, yet somehow my reading choices never seem to overlap with Hornby’s. This is the fourth collection I’ve read over the years, and this is the first time I’ve ever read a book listed in his column, which was Sum: 40 Tales From The Afterlives. He reads a lot of non-fiction, which I tend to have very specific taste in, contemporary literary fiction, which I’m not all that up…
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The Stranger
The Stranger by Albert Camus Published: 1942 Narrated by: Jonathan Davis Translated by: Matthew Ward (from French) Length: 03:27 So this is apparently not about sitting on your hand until it loses feeling, although funnily enough it is about a man who cannot bring himself to feel anything for what’s happening in his life. It begins with Meursault, a French Algerian, attending his mother’s funeral. He feels nothing for the loss, and the next day meets someone and begins a relationship with her as if nothing is out of the ordinary. He appears to be completely detached from the world, observing what’s happening to him as if he’s watching his…
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Lock In
Lock In by John Scalzi Published: 2014 Narrated by: Wil Wheaton Length: 10:00 This is John Scalzi’s latest novel, and it is once again narrated by Wil Wheaton. At this point I’m wondering if Scalzi has him chained to a radiator in the basement with just a microphone and a bowl of bread crusts, but thankfully the combination of these two really works for me, so I’m not going to ask any questions. There is also a version of the audiobook narrated by Amber Benson, most well known for her role as Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the near future, a virus spreads across the world. For a…
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2015 TBR Pile Challenge
My second and final book challenge this year will be the 2015 TBR Pile Challenge. The goal is to read 12 books that have been on your shelf for at least an entire year. A noble ambition, I think, so here’s my proposed list: A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde For Whom the Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemingway The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler The Captain and the Enemy by Graham Greene Atonement by Ian McEwan Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi A Hat Full of Sky by Terry…
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Back to the Classics Challenge 2015
The Back to the Classics Challenge was a fun motivator when I participated a few years back, so it seemed like a no-brainer to sign up again. It’s now hosted by Books and Chocolate and is organized a little differently. There’s now a draw at the end of the year for an Amazon gift certificate, and you enter by completing categories – six categories will amount to one entry, nine categories for two entries, and all twelve categories for three entries. The choices below may also be changed throughout the year. A 19th Century Classic – The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells A 20th Century Classic –…
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2014 in Review
The year is over, and it’s time for a quick look back. Last year had some great moments, but overall it was a bit of a rough one on a personal level, the aftermath of a horrendous previous year. As such, I’ve let myself get behind on a lot, so if I have one resolution for 2015 it’s to try a bit harder to stay on top of things and enjoy myself rather than becoming overwhelmed and procrastinating. This last year was better than the year before it, so here’s hoping that 2015 will be better still. The Weblog In my head, I think of this weblog as if it’s…
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December in Review
Books Acquired: Dracula by Bram Stoker (audiobook) Books Read: More Baths, Less Talking by Nick Hornby Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Aquaman, Vol. 1: The Trench by Geoff Johns The People Look Like Flowers at Last by Charles Bukowski No physical books for Christmas! That might be a first actually. I’m not complaining, as I have a huge number of unread novels on the shelf (and currently no more shelf), but it’s just a strange feeling. My family is currently putting money towards selling the childhood home, so we decided not to buy gifts this year and just spent the day together, playing with the dogs and having a…