September 2024 books
Another terrible month for reading. I remarked on my August post that my free time has been taken up with comic work and looking back over the year, that definitely rings true. The first half of the year, my comic work was scatty and inconsistent whereas my reading was very consistent and I did well to hit my reading goal well inside the year. Over the last few months, comic work has become more consistent and my reading has become more scatty.
The comic project I'm working on right now is due to end in October so I might take some time in November to get a few more books under my belt but I've got another project I'm itching to start so I may end up just limping towards new year with two or three books a month.
The Walking Dead, vol 2: Miles Behind Us
Continuing on with TWD, this volume (like volume 1) contains general plot beats which the show stayed fairly close to. (Spoiler warning) The group first happen upon a private community of houses which they believe will allow them to stop running but zombie hoards soon push them out and their search continues, eventually bringing them to Herschel's farm and later the discovery of the prison. I'm still keen to keep going and re-read the whole thing but I must admit, I've not been particularly excited to read this one. I can't quite put my finger on why but it's just not hit me this time around.
The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien
It's been well over 10 years since I last read this book in its entirety. I started reading it to my eldest son a few years ago but he lost interest and we never went back to it. It still strikes me just how different the book is to the film trilogy, and I'm not even talking about all the crap they put in the films to pad them out into three, even some of the characterisations are very different in the book. You feel like the dwarves, including Thorin, to start to respect Bilbo and see him as a friend and it's something sorely lacking in the films. The pay-off of Bilbo and Thorin's reconciliation feels a lot more logical and earned in the book.