Tag Archives: reading

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?

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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!

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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? 🙂

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Hello 2023!

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were good! Mine, unfortunately, were not this year – I was sick. 😦 We’re hoping to have some of the missed gatherings later in January though, so hopefully that will be good. 🙂

With a new year, it’s time to reflect on the goals I set last year, and set some new ones for 2023. Last year I set four goals: read 25 novel-length books I already own, continue working on my story from Script Frenzy, work on a new story, and accomplish seven language learning tasks I set for myself. I know that overall things didn’t go very well…

picture of my book list

Book-wise, I managed to read 13 novel-length books that I own (the picture on the left shows 15 titles, but two of them were graphic novels, not novel-length). Of those 13, 9 were older books, 4 were new. Overall I did read 24 novel-length books, but fell far short of the hoped for 25 that I already own. But I did manage to read Dune, which is the size of 2-3 books, so that made me happy. 🙂

Regarding the Script Frenzy story, I unfortunately didn’t do much work on it during the year. I do not have a draft at this time.

I did, however, do some work on a new story over the summer. I didn’t get terribly far with it, but I am happy that I did manage to do some writing this year. 🙂

The language learning goals were a complete failure. I was progressing really well on the French tree in Duolingo, but then Duolingo changed their interface for me in October, and that goal was no longer reachable (they took all of my progress and plunked me on the new tree, so I could no longer work my way back to where I’d unlocked before). I didn’t finish reading any books in either language, and I also failed to finish Ukrainian Lessons Podcast seasons 2 and 3 (I’m still on season 2). I also stopped learning sign language (after a few months, the family member I was learning it for admitted they were not really interested in learning after all; being language #3 for me, it made sense for me to drop it so I had more time for French and Ukrainian).

All in all, 2022 wasn’t the most productive year for me. It was a somewhat difficult year in many ways (chief of which was dealing with some health issues on and off throughout the year), but was a good year in other ways (I started seeing someone). 🙂

So for 2023, I’d like to get myself back on track, creatively speaking. Time has always been an issue for me (I always try to fit too much in), so I need to be mindful that I don’t overwhelm myself. So with that in mind, here’s what I’d like to accomplish this year:

  1. Read 25 novel-length books this year, 15 of which are books I already own. I think this is a fair trade-off: I have room in case something new catches my eye at a bookstore or at the library, but I will try to read more of the books that I already own.
  2. Write (creatively) for one hour a week. Yes, I’d like to bring back #WriteMonday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday (it’s changed days over the years). I don’t have a specific day in mind at the moment (and it will probably change from week to week). But I am going to commit to working on some kind of creative writing, be it writing or editing, for one hour every week. I’m going to change the tag to #WritingDay and use that every week (as of this writing the tag is #WriteTuesday, since that was the last day I was able to devote to writing every week).
  3. Finish First Ukrainian Reader for Beginners. I’m about halfway through the book. It’s getting a bit harder (and more intimidating because the texts are getting longer). But I am positive I can make my way through the rest of it this year!
  4. Read a book in French. I’ve started 101 Conversations in Intermediate French several times and never get beyond the first few conversations, so I think it’s safe to say I should try something else. I have a number of French readers and short story collections, so I need to find one that appeals to me and finish it. 🙂
  5. Finish Ukrainian Lessons Podcast season 2. I have about 10 episodes left to go, but they’re more difficult: these last episodes are a short history course on Ukraine. I will need more time to digest them, and need to listen to each one several times before I feel confident moving onto the next one (I’ve already been struggling with the first of these episodes on and off for a month now).

There are a few other things I was considering adding as well (such as committing to writing small pieces in Ukrainian or French every week or month), but I don’t want to overwhelm myself, especially since I am also fitting in my two hours of French every week and other language lessons on iTalki as time permits. If I manage to accomplish those last three goals quicker than I anticipate, I will add some new goals (such as reading another book in either language, or making my way through Ukrainian Lessons Podcast season 3).

So how about you? Have you set any goals for yourself this year?

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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?

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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?

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October 2022 – What Are You Reading?

The 8 The Walleye magazines I had in September

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)
  •  

My favourite

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

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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?

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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?

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July 2022 – What Are You Reading?

Well, I’m officially a wreck this year: part way through July, I ran into some health troubles.  I’m doing better now, but I lost about a week where I wasn’t able to do much of anything, including read.  Thankfully I finished The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn before that happened, so at least I read something this month!

Nonfiction books:

Fiction books:

  • The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

I really enjoyed The Diamond Eye – it’s about Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko, a Soviet female sniper with 309 official kills, who also befriended Eleanor Roosevelt. It is based on Mila’s life story, with the exception of a FDR assassination plot that Quinn added – the assassin wanted to frame Mila during the Soviet official visit to the United States that she was part of.

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

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