May 2023 – What Are You Reading?

One of the last Maclean’s Magazines from my brother (March 2023).

This month, my brother gave me his last 2 issues of Maclean’s Magazine. He subscribed to them for years, and always passed them on to me after he was done with them. But he recently decided to stop subscribing, so March and April 2023 are the last ones I will get.

I have a really bad habit of letting magazines pile up on me, so I decided to start reading some of the ones I’ve got waiting around. This month I tackled 3 Maclean’s (including the last two that he gave me) and 3 Walleyes (that’s the local arts and culture magazine that I also am really bad for letting pile up), along with these books:

Nonfiction

Fiction

• Rogue Angel: Bathed in Blood by Alex Archer and Joseph Nassise

I was hoping to finish a few other books, but didn’t have much time to read. Hopefully next month will be a bit better!

How about you? Did you read anything good this month?

April 2023 – What Are You Reading?

My intention this month was to get caught up on a lot of the books people have lent to me. While I did read some of those, I also read a number of library books. Unfortunately I only read one book that I own, and it’s a newly bought book so it doesn’t count towards my reading goal for the year.

Nonfiction

• The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu by Katja Pantzar
• Our Voice of Fire: A Memoir of a Warrior Rising by Brandi Morin

Fiction

• Court of Ravens and Ruin by Eliza Raine
• Another Castle by Andrew Wheeler and Paulina Ganucheau (graphic novel)
• Crossover, Volume 1 by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw (graphic novel, reread)
• Crossover, Volume 2 by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw (graphic novel)

I didn’t really have a favourite this month. I enjoyed Crossover a lot (both volumes), and Another Castle was a lot of fun as well. Out of the nonfiction, Our Voice of Fire was definitely worth the read (though it deals with some difficult topics and so was at times hard to get through).

So what about you? Have you been reading anything interesting this month?

March 2023 – What Are You Reading?

This month I ended up focussing a lot on getting through some graphic novels. A friend of mine lent me a whole bunch awhile ago and I wanted to return at least some of them in a timely fashion. I also attempted to read a novel called Windflower, but I ended up stopping because the book failed to draw me in within the first 30 pages (I normally try to give books a little longer, but it was a shorter book, and I really was having a hard time even wanting to keep reading it).

Nonfiction

Fiction

• Black Cat: Infinity Score by Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa (graphic novel)
• Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time by Jamie McKelvie and Marika Cresta (graphic novel)
• The Last Ronin by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, et al. (graphic novel)
• Domino: Killer Instinct by Gail Simone, David Baldeon and Michael Shelfer (graphic novel)

I’m not sure what my favourite was. Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time was really good. So was The Last Ronin, which was a really different Ninja Turtles story.

I think next month I’m going to try to focus on clearing up more of the books that people have lent me. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

So what have you been reading?

February 2023 – What Are You Reading?

This month I had a whole pile of graphic novels out from the library, along with some other books. So I really wanted to get through some of them before moving onto other novels.

Nonfiction

Fiction

• Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
• A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings by Will Betke-Brunswick (graphic novel)
• Big Ethel Energy Volume 1 by Keryl Brown Ahmed and Siobhan Keenan (graphic novel)
• Dungeons and Dragons: Mindbreaker by Jim Zub and Eduardo Mello (graphic novel)
• The Fifth Force by Matthew Medney and Morgan Rosenblum. Created by Hero Project and Catherine Loubier (graphic novel)
• Knighted by Gregg Hurwitz and Mark Texeira (graphic novel)
• Five Stalks of Grain by Adrian Lysenko, illustrated by Ivanka Theodosia Galadza (graphic novel)

Of the graphic novels, I really liked Knighted. It’s the story of an ordinary guy, Bob, who accidentally kills the Knight, a superhero who is a lot like Batman, and must take up his mantle to save the city. While it’s fairly graphic at times, the story itself is a lot of fun. I liked Bob and found myself really rooting for him. I’ll definitely keep my eye out for volume 2!

January 2023 – What Are You Reading?

Welcome to the first What Are You Reading of 2023! I had grand plans for reading this month, but unfortunately only managed to read one book. But that’s okay – there’s still plenty of time for reading this year. 🙂

Nonfiction

Fiction

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

My family read Where the Crawdads Sing last year, and I wanted to read it too so we could all talk about it. Delia Owens has some beautiful descriptions. I also really liked how the ending took me by surprise. Now that I’ve read it, I’m hoping to watch the movie as well.

So what about you? Have you read anything interesting this month? 🙂

December 2022 – What Are You Reading?

I did it! I managed to finish Dune this month!!!! Even more exciting, I finished it a bit earlier than planned: I was hoping to have it finished by Christmas, but managed to finish it a whole week early (giving me a bit of extra time for something else this month, too). 🙂

Unfortunately I was also sick a lot this month. 😦 But that ended up meaning a lot more reading time than I otherwise might have had, particularly around the holidays.

Nonfiction

• Make Space for Happiness: How to Stop Attracting Clutter and Start Magnetizing the Life You Want by Tracy mcCubbin

Fiction

• Dune by Frank Herbert
• One for Sorrow, Two for Joy by Clive Woodall

I also made it through a bunch of magazines (I’m now actually up to date with the Walleye!), and attempted to read another fiction book that I’ve had on my shelf for awhile. Unfortunately, after about 35 pages I really wasn’t into it, so I decided to stop in favour of something else, rather than forcing myself through it.

I think my favourite book was Dune.

How about you? What have you been reading? What was your favourite?

November 2022 – What Are You Reading?

I’ve been planning on reading Dune since September, but needed to read a couple of other things first (I wanted to reread the Die graphic novels so I could lend them to someone, then I needed to finish Namwayut, which I started reading for Canada’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation).  I finished Namwayut at the beginning of November, clearing the way to start Dune (which is still ongoing)!

Nonfiction books:

• Namwayut: We Are All One – A Pathway to Reconciliation by Chief Robert Joseph

Fiction books:

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

October 2022 – What Are You Reading?

I forgot to mention this last month, but I started slowly trying to get through some of the magazines I have stashed.  I believe in September I read 2 MacLean’s and 2 or 3 issues of The Walleye.

This month though, those magazines once again took a back seat as I decided to concentrate on finally finishing Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Haas. It’s been a long time since I read volume 3, so I once again needed to reread the entire story. I’ve found that this is well worth it – every time I read them, I seem to get a lot more out of them!

Nonfiction books:

•  

Fiction books:

• Magical Boy: Volume 2 by The Kao (graphic novel)
• Die Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreakers by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Haas (reread, graphic novel)
• Die Volume 2: Split the Party by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Haas (reread, graphic novel)
• Die Volume 3: The Great Game by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Haas (reread, graphic novel)
• Die Volume 4: The Great Game by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Haas (graphic novel)

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

September 2022 – What Are You Reading?

My mom and I went book shopping, and I got a couple of new books that I was really excited to read. Unfortunately The Poppy War took me several weeks to get through, so it was the only one I finished.

Nonfiction books:

Fiction books:

• Warriors: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter
• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

I didn’t really have a favourite book this month.  I was enjoying the first part of The Poppy War, but I didn’t like parts 2 and 3 at all (I almost stopped reading it, but kept hoping that I would enjoy it more if I continued).  Fire and Ice also wasn’t as good as the first Warriors book in my opinion.  So overall, this wasn’t a great reading month for me.

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

August 2022 – What Are You Reading?

August was the first month in a long time that I felt really good reading.  I read some interesting fiction, most notably the first few books of Benjamin Percy’s Comet Cycle, which were recommended to me by a friend at work.

Nonfiction books:

Fiction books:

• A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
• The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy
• Buffy: the Last Vampire Slayer by Casey Gilly, Joe Jaro and Joana Lafuente (graphic novel)
• The Sugar Thief by Nancy Mauro
• The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy
• Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

My favourite was definitely The Unfamiliar Garden. I liked how the narrative was tighter than in The Ninth Metal.  I liked the characters a lot more.  And while I’m not really a horror reader, I enjoyed the horror elements of the plot.  The Unfamiliar Garden would definitely make a fantastic movie!

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?