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Hiatus
I’ve decided to take some time off from this blog and think about how I’d like to approach it again. I’ve written a review for every book and comic I’ve read in the last seven years, and while that has actually been a rewarding and worthwhile experience, it’s started to feel a bit like homework. I really enjoy writing on here and interacting with other bloggers, but I think I need to figure out a way to keep it as an enjoyable hobby rather than a self-imposed obligation. So, the plan is I’ll be back in a month or two. I’ll still be reading weblogs and leaving the occasional comment,…
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March in Review
Books Acquired: N/A Books Read: Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Faith Hicks, Brooke A. Allen Oh hey, I have a blog! Nearly forgot! I didn’t finish a lot of books in March, but I did finally read Anne Frank’s diary. It was one of those books that others read in high school that I always felt like I’d missed. I’ll write a longer post on it, but I really enjoyed it. I went the audiobook route, which worked really well. March was a busy work month, but there…
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Made In Scotland
Made In Scotland: My Grand Adventures in a Wee Country by Billy Connolly Published: 2018 Narrated by: Gordon Kennedy Length: 06:17 (288 pages) Growing up with two Scottish parents in Canada, I always remember Billy Connolly as the first Scottish accent I heard on television, excluding maybe Scotty from Star Trek and Sean Connery, neither of whom really count. Scotty always sounded like a drunk at a wedding trying to mimic my parents’ accents, and Sean Connery just sounds like Sean Connery. When I was young, I wasn’t allowed to see Connolly’s stand-up, since my parents were quite strict about swearing and rude humour, but that just made his comedy…
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Frostpunk
Genre: City-building Survival Developer/Publisher: 11 bit studios Release Date: April 24, 2018 Platform: PC Time Played: 19 Hours When an entire society’s survival is threatened, what sacrifices are you willing to make? Do you send the children to work in factories? Force people into twenty-four-hour shifts, knowing some may not survive? Do you heat workplaces to keep the healthy working or the medical facilities to help the sick survive? If people are hungry, will a bit of sawdust in their food make them feel more full? I picked this up because I had a craving for a city-building game, which this is, but I found the survival aspect of this…
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Kidnapped
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Published: 1886 Narrated by: Kieron Elliott Length: 09:07 (288 pages) Seventeen-year-old David Balfour finds himself whisked away far from home, against his will, and must attempt to make it back and clear his name. The novel begins just after his parents’ passing, and he learns that he may be the rightful heir to an estate his uncle currently holds. Soon after he visits the estate, his uncle – a somewhat pathetic man – arranges his kidnapping. David awakes a prisoner on a ship destined for America, where he will be sold into slavery. Soon his path crosses with Alan Stewart, a man with a cheerful…
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February in Review
Books Acquired: Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You by David Chariandy Delilah Dirk and the Pillars of Hercules by Tony Cliff At My Table by Nigella Lawson Lumberjanes, Vol. 1 by Noelle Stevenson Books Read: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Made In Scotland by Billy Connolly We Are Displaced by Malala Yousafzai Masters of Doom by David Kushner Noir by Christopher Moore February is always a bit of a lame month. I didn’t get a lot of physical reading in, but I did get through quite a few audiobooks. I started the month with Kidnapped, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Possibly my favourite Robert Louis…
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All Our Wrong Todays
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai Published: 2017 Narrated by: Elan Mastai Length: 10:02 (373 pages) This is the debut novel from Vancouver writer Elan Mastai, a science-fiction story about a man who lives in a different 2016, one with all of the technological advances we grew up dreaming about – flying cars, medical advancements, food replicators, and, my personal favourite, the ability to wake up refreshed with no grogginess. In this alternate 2016, they have also just discovered a way to solve the puzzle of time travel. This will contain some minor spoilers. While travelling back in time, a terrible mistake is made, and the traveller returns to…
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Educated
Educated by Tara Westover Published: 2018 Narrated by: Julia Whelan Length: 12:10 (334 pages) This is the harrowing true story of Tara Westover’s journey from a secluded, strictly religious, survivalist family to eventually earning her doctorate at Cambridge. Her parents didn’t believe in school and were very lax on the homeschooling, so this was quite an amazing feat. In fact, when she went to sit her entrance exam for college, she had to ask how the bubble sheets worked. She’d never before taken a school test. Tara grew up in Ohio under very peculiar circumstances, with a Survivalist Mormon family that was next-level strict, even when compared to the Mormon…
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January in Review
Books Acquired: N/A Books Read: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt Paper Girls, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang Educated by Tara Westover All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai Not a lot happened this month. I was sick for a recent chunk of it, and Lee-Ann was away for most of the month with training, so I have a wee bit of the cabin fever. It’s been a great start of the year as far as media is concerned, though. Everything I read this year has been great. Both Educated and The Sisters Brothers would have been high on my top-ten list last year, and Wandersong and…
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Wandersong
Genre: Puzzle Platformer Developer/Publisher: Greg Lobanov Release Date: Sept 27, 2018 Platform: PC (also on Switch and PS4) Time Played: 13 Hours I first saw the trailer for Wandersong while looking through the PAX 10 listings for PAX West 2017 and knew I had to play it. It’s the sort of game that just looks like it’ll be something special, and I’m happy to say it really lived up to every expectation I had. I won’t go into plot spoilers, but at the very beginning of the story, you learn that the universe is coming to an end. You’re a happy bard – you can’t swing a sword, you can’t…
