Top 5 Books I Read in 2022

Transitioning to a new year of reading has been going slowly, as it turns out. I’m still trying to finish up my final read from last year (a fact that will keep bothering me at least a little bit), so I haven’t even given myself the chance to start reading anything new for 2023. As my editing workload increased after the end of 2021, I managed to have less and less time to read throughout the year, so I actually read an even smaller number of books than I was expecting. Still, I did manage to finish a decent amount, and as I’ve done the last several years, I’d like to list my five favourite reads from the past year, in no particular order. As is always the case, these are not books that came out in 2022, simply the five books I enjoyed the most.Read More »

Comic Book Review – The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard

The Crossroads at Midnight

The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard is a graphic novel collection of short horror stories. The five tales within explore the lives of everyday people who have become entwined in some way with beings beyond natural understanding. Some are dangerous and not to be trifled with, best left alone, some will seek you out unbidden, and some can be a surprising source of comfort and companionship. There’s no way to know until you’ve cross the precipice, however, and by then it is already too late.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – May 4, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

SleepingGiantsI’m now at 131 pages in Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, and I’m enjoying it a lot. I didn’t get to read it as much over the last few days as I would’ve liked, but I wanted to finish writing a review finally. I should have that up soon. Anyway, Sleeping Giants is a lot of fun. I love how the story is taking its time slowly piecing together this giant robot, rather than rushing into something more formulaic. The cast is really strong, but after the last few chapters I’ve read I’m becoming especially intrigued by the nameless, enigmatic interviewer, who—perhaps unsurprisingly—seems to be manipulating developments even further than he is letting on. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid. I’m enjoying the sprinkling of politics too, highlighting how trying to covertly search for advanced tech like this buried all around the globe without causing an international incident would be a Herculean task.


Recently Finished

The Crossroads at MidnightOver the weekend I managed to finish The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard, which has now become another favourite horror collection. This collection really was something special, not a single story felt lacking or lesser than the rest, though I do have a favourite among them. “Our Lake Monster” was such a great play on the typical “a kid and their blank” type of story, this one about a family who used to tour a lake monster from their property around before it became too big. One of the daughters feels she has a bond with the creature and that the rest of her family just doesn’t understand it like she does. Another, “Mattress, Used”, will haunt me for a while. Really got under my skin.


Reading Next

Springfield ConfidentialI’m not sure what I want to read next, only that I want to focus more attention on my yearly list of 12 books, since it has been sorely neglected in 2022 thus far. So far, I think it’s a toss up between Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson and Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss. The former is an author I haven’t read in a long time, so it’ll be nice to give another one of her books a look, and the latter is nonfiction about writing for The Simpsons. I couldn’t get enough of the early seasons growing up, and I’m hoping the book will be more about those than the last 20 years of newer stuff.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – April 27, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

I didn’t mange to make any further progress in The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard.

SleepingGiantsI did however manage to get a decent amount into Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. At the moment I’m 55 pages in, so I’m not especially far along, but I have an actual grip on the story now. I’m enjoying how strange and different the format for this novel is quite a lot. I had thought that the interview structure might make it a super-fast read, but I’m happy that it’s somewhere more in the middle, with characters’ answers functioning a lot like standard prose in some places. I’m finding the mystery really intriguing as the characters continue to unearth pieces of this seemingly robotic giant of possibly alien origins. I have no idea what the story is about beyond that core idea, so I’m really looking forward to discovering how things develop.


Recently Finished

Nothing this week. Boo to me!


Reading Next

I’m really not sure what I’m going to read next, as this past week barely counted towards any reading progress. I ended up getting a lot more editing work than normal over the weekend, which has kept me a whole lot busier than I was anticipating. I suspect that I may have more free time before next Wednesday, so I’m hoping I can put a better dent in things. I still need to review A Black and Endless Sky, which unfortunately fell to the wayside this past week, and maybe I can power through Sleeping Giants if given the opportunity.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – April 20, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

Last night I started reading Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, but I’ve only read a chapter, so I can’t really say much on it right now. Really digging the concept of the big buried hand, though.

The Crossroads at MidnightI also started reading The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard a couple days ago. So far, I’ve only read the first of the five stories in the collection. I’m really enjoying the collection’s conceit that each story is about somebody seeking connection with the unnatural or otherworldly in some way, and this first story “The Girl in the Fields” has a young woman befriending a strange person who lives on the other side of the fence bordering her family’s property, only her eye visible through one of the knot holes in a board. It perfectly encapsulated a feeling of creepiness while having a surprising shift in tone by the end. I’m really enjoying the art too, which has a style reminiscent of other adult-oriented Western comics I’ve read, with a violent twist.


Recently Finished

A Black and Endless SkyOver the weekend I finally finished reading A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it just yet. I’m not overwhelmingly positive, but I didn’t dislike it either. What I did find most humorous about it by the end was how much the story amounted to a small collection of people savagely beating the crap out of each other over the course of only a few days. With only one of them having any excuse as to how she can handle the punishment, I couldn’t help but be amused at how ridiculously mangled they all were by the end, yet they kept getting back up over and over. I can’t tell if it was intentionally over the top to a humorous degree, but I don’t think I’ll knock it for it either. I’ll hopefully have a review up before next Wednesday.


Reading Next

At this time, who can really say? I’m just starting my current reads, so I’ll have to think about it.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – April 13, 2022

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

A Black and Endless SkyI’m about exactly two thirds of the way through A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons now, and I’ve gotten more into the book as the story has progressed, though I’m still finding it a little underwhelming. The characters find themselves in a compelling predicament, as the exorcist who presented herself as salvation for Nell, the subject of possession, must kill her to release the demon from her, lest she succumb to gradual decay from the demon’s presence in her body. Her brother Jonah isn’t having that, and now they’re on the run from more than just bikers. I’m surprised that the demon in question has been more of a background presence thus far and I wonder if there might be a slight twist to what’s going on as things come to a head. I’m hoping I’ll have this book done by next week, but we’ll see.


Recently Finished

The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North AmericaOver the weekend I finished reading through The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht. I really enjoyed reading this book, especially as the aloof and crass tone of everything does ultimately veil a genuine interest in bird watching that the author encourages in the reader. I kind of wish it had been more extensive, but I understand that the joke would probably run its course long before he ran out of birds to include. When ruminating on the book after reading it, I decided to look into the author to see if he’s published anything else; it turns out, just back in December he published another field guide, so I’ll have to pick that up at some point.


Reading Next

SleepingGiantsI’m still planning to start reading The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard, I just wanted to get the Field Guide finished before starting another shorter book. With A Black and Endless Sky hopefully nearly finished, I’ve been thinking more about what the next novel I might read will be. After some reflection on my to-read list, I’ve decided I want to start Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. I’m really curious about the format of this novel, which, if I’m remembering it right, is written like an interview transcript.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – April 6, 2022

www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Currently Reading

A Black and Endless SkyI was able to make a much more significant dent in A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons since last week, though I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m finished with it; I’m coming up on the halfway point. Weirdly, despite being almost halfway through the book, it still feels like the story is ramping up without fully cementing what the conflict is. One in the pair of main characters is now possessed and they’re being pursued by a vengeful biker gang, but this all feels more like a continuing ordeal leading up to what this will be all about. I don’t know, maybe I’m just waffling about it. I’m sure the possession will be key, I just get the sense that it’s all going to have more to it than “we’ve got to exorcise that demon.” I was hoping this would be scarier than it has been too, but I’m still giving it a chance.

The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North AmericaI also started reading The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht, which I’m enjoying quite a bit. Although each entry about each bird is a little samey in terms of humorous content and tone, it’s making for a great light read that is easy to pick up and put down. What I’m especially appreciating is the fact that, while acting aloof and rude, the author is slipping in snippets of genuine information about these animals, such as things that could help with identification or behaviours to look out for. I love the idea that, despite it having more limited content overall, this book may actually be a functional guide to North American birds. Even the illustrations, while rough looking, do highlight the distinct appearances of each bird.


Recently Finished

Milk and HoneyOver the weekend I finished reading Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it, as I’m not especially good at criticizing poetry and this was much more of a leisure read than most, but this book did serve that purpose perfectly for me. I know some people have issues with free verse like this, and I certainly can appreciate the beauty of more structured poetry, but the format just made the experience reading much more accessible and enjoyable. Though I think I would prefer poetry less focused on the pains and pleasures of personal relationships, I may pick up another of Kaur’s books regardless, just to keep a little more poetry in my reading rotation.


Reading Next

The Crossroads at MidnightI’m really not sure what I’m going to read next in terms of novels, which probably isn’t a shock, but I just haven’t given it enough thought yet. In terms of comics, however, I think I’m just going to throw tentative Halloween plans out the window and read The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard soon. I happened to be flipping through it the other week and nearly read the entirety of one story about a rural family who have a pet lake monster. It was so simple yet effective that I think I should just dive into the whole collection finally. It’ll be a graphic novel definitely worth reviewing too.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.
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