Review – A Hundred Doors [Michael Longley]

Posted November 12, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – A Hundred Doors [Michael Longley]

A Hundred Doors

by Michael Longley

Genres: Poetry
Pages: 89
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Michael Longley has remarkable powers of reinvention. Certain themes remain constant - the natural world, war, violence, love, friendship, art, death - but they also keep changing because the forms and genres of his poetry never stand still. In A Hundred Doors a sinuous short line complements his variations on pentameter and hexameter. And Longley's interlacing of individual lyrics, so that a diverse collection seems a single poem, intensifies in the shadow of mortality.

A sequence about his grandchildren's births is counterpointed by elegies, including Longley's continuing elegy for the Great War dead. The Mayo townland, Carrigskeewaun, with its cast of leverets, otters, swans, wrens, lesser twayblade and bird's-foot trefoil, also takes on fresh guises. Longley is among Europe's foremost 'ecological' poets. Yet Carrigskeewaun is ultimately symbolic, a microcosm, a 'soul-arena'.

A Hundred Doors roams in time and space. The title-poem evokes the oldest Byzantine church in Greece: Our Lady of a Hundred Doors on the island of Paros. The remains of a Greek temple 'ache' beneath its floor. Wild orchids, which crop up in Greece and the Italian Garfagnana as well as Ireland, are among the collection's multiple 'doors'. Others are music and paintings, 'cloudberry jam from Lapland', a Shetland pony. This is work of power, precision and delicacy: poems that 'bend and magnify the daylight', poems by a master craftsman.

I picked up Michael Longley’s collection A Hundred Doors out of curiosity after reading one of his poems in Carol Rumens’ daily column in the Guardian, though it took me a while to get round to it. I quite liked it, but somehow the full collection didn’t entirely work for me.

It’s clear he was a close observer of nature, the nature just outside his door, the nature of his own landscape, and it feels like that’s part of it — it’s a landscape I don’t know or feel connected to, so I didn’t connect as well to the intimate knowledge of his little world that several of his poems are expressing.

Not my thing, overall, though there are some striking imageries and ways of putting things that will stick with me.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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WWW Wednesday

Posted November 11, 2026 by Nicky in General / 1 Comment

Cover of Dear Committee Members by Julie SchumacherWhat have you recently finished reading?

I picked up a couple of epistolary novellas, both because of the blogging event Novellas in November and because I needed something to review for Postcrossing’s blog. I finished Julie Schumacher’s Dear Committee Members on Monday, and thought that it was a lot of fun but that I have no urge to read more — one book of Professor Fitger seems like plenty. Yesterday I read Kim Fay’s Love & Saffron, which was sweet though a touch predictable. Both ended sadly, though it was more of a surprise (and better conveyed) in Dear Committee Members.

Cover of With my Own Hand by Ashley DouglasWhat are you currently reading?

I’m almost done with Ashley Douglas’ With My Own Hand, a biography of Marie Maitland, a Scottish poet who wrote love poetry to another woman and concealed it in an anthology of her father’s poetry. There are obviously some limitations on what we can know about her (and a lot of general history to contextualise her and flesh out the book), but I’m enjoying it.

Cover of After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine vol 4 by Liu Gou HuaWhat will you read next?

I’m not sure. I’d like it to be my reread leading into the final volume of Liu Gou Hua’s After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine, which should’ve been out yesterday… but since my copy hasn’t shipped and nowhere seems to have copies available, I guess Seven Seas (or their distributor, Penguin) have done goofed again. Maybe it’s a good thing I hadn’t started my reread yet, or I’d be pretty sad!

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Review – Illumino [Michelle P. Brown]

Posted November 11, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Illumino [Michelle P. Brown]

Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in Twelve Illuminated Manuscripts

by Michelle P. Brown

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 320
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Incandescent with illustrations, a history of Britain as told through a remarkable collection of illuminated manuscripts--at once chronicles of their time and works of art.

Illumino explores the history of medieval Britain through the biographies of twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts and their creators. Each manuscript serves as a gateway into the lives of its makers and commissioners, and as a springboard into the era of its creation. Illuminated manuscripts are among the most intricate and fascinating forms of medieval evidence, blending literature, art, science, faith, and human thought with the materiality of their production. By undertaking the detective work needed to determine the nature of each project and the underlying human-interest stories, this book reveals their social, economic, and cultural contexts and charts the exchange of ideas and materials across time and space. Featuring over a hundred beautiful illustrations, this is a unique and accessible introduction to Britain's history as well as art and book history over a thousand years.

Michelle P. Brown’s Illumino is a really lovely volume, beautifully illustrated with in-line colour images. There are full-page images and double-page spreads, as well as smaller images set into the text, and it’s all pretty gorgeous. All in all, it does make for a good history of manuscripts.

What it isn’t is a good history in manuscripts. I love this genre of “a history of X in Y things”, and the best remember to keep the focus on the object, and use the object to tell the story. There are glimpses of it here, like the reference to a girdle book belonging to Anne Boleyn that contains a love-note written by Henry VIII — but that’s not the manuscript the chapter is about.

Mostly, this is a history of medieval Britain that mentions many more than twelve illuminated manuscripts, throwing names and contexts at the reader swiftly, and sticking to what feels like only a handful of pages actually about the manuscripts discussed in the chapter. This might be more satisfying and more relevant if you’re interested in more general manuscript culture in Britain, and at another time I might be… but I was promised a history in twelve manuscripts, and I’d be hard-pressed to name even six of the manuscripts that allegedly headed their chapters here.

I’ve encountered this a couple of times now, and I think it’s a desire to jump aboard a trend that readers (including yours truly) enjoy. Don’t do it if that’s not the book you want to write, please! We actually want the format we bought the book for.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Eat, Drink and Be Murdered [ed. Martin Edwards]

Posted November 10, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Eat, Drink and Be Murdered [ed. Martin Edwards]

Eat, Drink and Be Murdered

by Martin Edwards (editor)

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Short Stories
Pages: 266
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

A mouth-watering feast of crime fiction, including stories of mushroom murders, brown bread spread with bacillus botulinus, and tales in which the identity of killers is proved by a purchase of fillet steak or an inexpert knowledge of fine wines.

This new collection from British Library Crime Classics features some of the greatest mystery tales from the Golden Age of detective fiction to be based around food and drink. Complete with a well-stuffed introduction from expert editor, anthologist and crime author Martin Edwards, detailing the fascinating role of what we imbibe to the genre, this anthology includes tales from the likes of Dorothy L Sayers, Michael Gilbert and E.C. Bentley, and is sure to leave readers hungry and wanting more.

The latest British Library Crime Classic is another short story collection edited (as usual) by Martin Edwards, and this time themed around food and drink — hence the title, Eat, Drink and Be Murdered. The stories aren’t all about poisons (for example, there’s one with contraband hidden in a cake), but the majority are, as you’d expect. We even get more than one story where a knowledge of wine allows the mystery to be solved.

There are some big names in this anthology (like Dorothy Sayers) and some that Edwards obviously really likes and tries to include whenever he can (Christianna Brand, who I can generally take or leave, usually leave — and whose story here is predictably misogynistic); overall it comes out to a pretty good mix of stories from 1930 to 1969.

As always, I don’t love the individual stories enough to give this four stars just on their merit (or at least, some of them are decidedly mixed), but something about the themed collection always works really well for me and makes me feel a lot more positive about it.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Characters I Wish Were Real People

Posted November 10, 2026 by Nicky in General / 21 Comments

This week’s prompt from the Top Ten Tuesday list is “Book Characters I Wish Were Real People”. I’ll have to put on my thinking cap for this one, because the answers aren’t coming to me very readily — but I’ll give it a shot.

Cover of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison Cover of Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers Cover of Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw Cover of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

  1. Maia Drazhar (Edrehasivar VII), from The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison).
    Just because he’s a favourite, really! And not too good to be true: he struggles with a lot of negative feelings, with difficult history with others around him, with anger and spite — but he rises above. If only more people with power were like him!
  2. Harriet Vane, from the Lord Peter Wimsey books (Dorothy L. Sayers).
    Quite simply, I’d love to read her books!
  3. Greta Helsing, from the Dr. Greta Helsing books (Vivian Shaw).
    Okay, we’d have to also have various folklore creatures in order for her to actually have her usual job, but… even if she were just a normal British GP, it seems like she’d be pretty awesome. She has the right motivations to be a doctor, and will help everyone because she feels she has to, no matter what they’ve done. Excellent qualities in a doctor.
  4. Lady Isabella Trent, from the Lady Trent books (Marie Brennan).
    A pioneering female scientist to look up to? Yes, please. Also… I wouldn’t mind a few dragons to come along with her, to keep her from getting bored. (Maybe also bring her husband Suhail along too. She’d be a menace if she got really bored, so let’s give her plenty to keep her busy.)
  5. Shen Yuan, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu).
    Transmigration and all, please! If the webnovel can be in English and I can be one of the readers who so torment him by pushing the change to the genre, that’d be hilarious, too.
  6. Masaru, from Dinosaur Sanctuary (Itaru Kinoshita).
    A real dinosaur I could actually visit in a zoo? Yes please! I’d love to see all of them, like Trom and Benki, too, but Masaru’s a special one.
  7. King Arthur, from the Arthurian legends.
    If he could make his prophesied return to fix the world (or at least Britain; if we start there, maybe it’ll make a difference?) now, I’d love that, please.
  8. Chief Inspector Macdonald, from the Macdonald mysteries (E.C.R. Lorac).
    And his whole team, to be honest. If cops were all actually like Macdonald, we at least wouldn’t see the abuses of power etc etc that we do. It’s nice to imagine.
  9. Phryne Fisher, from the Miss Fisher mysteries (Kerry Greenwood).
    Okay, she and I would have very little in common, but I’m pretty sure she’d be a net positive to the world all the same.
  10. Breq, from the Imperial Radch books (Ann Leckie).
    Breq knows a fair bit about dealing with tyranny, after all. She could sure shake things up!

Cover of Dinosaur Sanctuary vol 2 by Itaru Kinoshita Cover of King Arthur: The Making of the Legend by Nicholas J Higham Cover of Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R.Lorac Cover of Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

In most of these cases, I don’t think I want to meet these people (I’m shy anyway), I just want them to exist! They’d do some good in the world.

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Review – Bad Dolls [Rachel Harrison]

Posted November 9, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Bad Dolls [Rachel Harrison]

Bad Dolls

by Rachel Harrison

Genres: Horror, Short Stories
Pages: 192
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In Reply Hazy, Try Again, an indecisive young woman finds a mysterious Magic 8 Ball that might just have the answers she's been looking for...or might lead her down a path of self-destruction. In Bachelorette, a bridesmaid attends her childhood best friend's bachelorette weekend only to discover the itinerary may demand more than she's willing to sacrifice. In Goblin, an unusually brutal dieting app wreaks havoc on the life of a timid, insecure woman preparing to attend her ex's wedding. In Bad Dolls, after the death of her younger sister, a wayward young woman comes into possession of a strange porcelain doll that could offer a connection to her lost sister, but could also just be pure evil. These dark tales navigate the complications of modern life with humour, insight and the odd blood sacrifice...

Rachel Harrison’s Bad Dolls is a collection of four short horror stories, which I found sort of predictable, but satisfying because it was (mostly) obvious how things were going to fall into place. Sometimes that’s fun, in the same way that there’s a satisfaction in knowing what the picture’s going to look like from the lid of the puzzle box, and so it was with these stories for me (that and noticing the smaller details here and there that did stand out).

I think my favourite of the four was ‘Bachelorette’, which I hadn’t expected to end quite that way (I’d expected an ending that was worse for the main character, shall we say? I’m trying not to spoiler here!).

The title story is pretty darn creepy, too, in the way that the main character just… gives into it. She has no real plan to make sure this ends, like someone in an abusive relationship who holds on to the “good parts”. It ends on a pretty unsettling note.

Not unmissable or anything, but I had fun.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Fantasy with Friends: Graphic Novel Adaptations

Posted November 9, 2026 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

Fantasy With Friends: A Discussion Meme hosted by Pages Unbound

Monday means Fantasy with Friends time! All the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is about graphic novel adaptations:

An increasing number of books seem to be newly adapted as graphic novels. How do you feel about this trend? Are you excited to see new adaptations? Do you think new audiences could discover the story? Are there some books that you think might be difficult to adapt in this way?

I’m sort of ambivalent on this topic. On the one hand, a lot of the ones I’ve read seem to either simplify the story too much or not really do a great job of adaptation. Sometimes they feel more like they’re just illustrated versions, and that’s disappointing, because the thing about graphic novels is that they’re a whole different form, and you have to tell the story in a different way. I get why they sometimes stick close to the source (like A Wizard of Earthsea‘s adaptation does), but it sometimes means they don’t really work as graphic novels.

On the other hand, I’ve been reading some great manhua and manhwa adaptations of various Chinese and Korean webnovels, like Solo Leveling, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Heaven Official’s Blessing… and I really appreciate the way the switch to a visual medium helps me understand what characters and settings look like (which I need a lot of help with, given that I’m completely aphantasic). Often I find that reading the graphic adaptations helps the details fall into place, as well.

So I definitely feel there have been bad adaptations, and ones that are not to my taste, and ones which are just cash-ins… but that doesn’t mean I won’t try more, just that I’m maybe a bit cautious about it.

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Review – After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine, vol 3 [Liu Gou Hua]

Posted November 8, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine, vol 3 [Liu Gou Hua]

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine

by Liu Gou Hua

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Light Novels, Romance
Pages: 402
Series: After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine #3
Rating: five-stars
Synopsis:

CAN LOVE CHANGE HISTORY?

Jiang Suizhou, modern-day history professor turned historical cut-sleeve prince, has helped Huo Wujiu regain his former self. The “god of war” can finally walk again, his men are embedded in the city, and soon he may have an army. But a most shocking discovery has rocked Jiang Suizhou: his feelings for Huo Wujiu go much deeper than simple camaraderie—an affection secretly reciprocated. However, when the woman destined to be Huo Wujiu’s partner returns to the capital, Jiang Suizhou grows further conflicted. After all, he’d never get in the way of fate…would he?

Meanwhile, Minister Pang is setting in motion a plan to take down his nephew, the hedonistic emperor of Jing. Once this trap is sprung, will Jiang Suizhou’s and Huo Wujiu’s unspoken feelings for each other be enough to change the course of written history?

Volume three of Liu Gou Hua’s After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine really really had me. The slow burn properly ignites, with the story kicking into high gear and the relationship between Huo Wujiu and Jiang Suizhou finally forming. There are some very dramatic scenes, sometimes with surprising glimpses of empathy for the emperor — a spoiled boy who was led astray by someone who dispensed some of the little affection he ever received.

And of course, a dramatic confession of love…

There are some excellent bits of internal art, and some beautiful moments as the relationship finds its feet. Huo Wujiu wants to just protect Jiang Suizhou and keep him safe from the world, but Jiang Suizhou wants to help him, and to truly change the course of history to protect him from harm. At the same time, Jiang Suizhou thinks it’s only right that he fade into the background, and not allow his status as the Prince of Jing to risk reflecting badly on Huo Wujiu’s leadership.

That leads to possibly my favourite scene, where Huo Wujiu outright calls himself Jiang Suizhou’s wife (since he technically is!), and says that everything he has is his husband’s, in front of one of his men…! Arrghh, it’s just so good.

This is rapidly becoming one of my favourite danmei; it’s one of the better written that I’ve read, and the slow burn made me really believe in them — especially  since they both went into it open-eyed, at least after a certain point. I love it so much I’m tempted to do an immediate reread, but I’ll probably wait until the last book is out!

Rating: 5/5 (“loved it”)

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My Year in Non-Fiction

Posted November 8, 2026 by Nicky in General / 22 Comments

Nonfiction November: Week 1, Nov 2-8, "My Year in Non-fiction"

This week’s theme for Nonfiction November is “My Year in Non-fiction”, so I dug into my StoryGraph stats a bit as a starting point, finding I’ve read 83 books that StoryGraph classes as non-fiction — so far! That does seem to include some of the poetry anthologies that I’ve read, but even so, I think it’s likely to be too many books to feature them all… so let’s talk mostly about the good ‘uns.

You might also be interested in my post from last year, which took a theme-based approach.

Five-star non-fiction I read in 2026:

This is what it says on the tin: the handful of books I gave my highest and rarest rating.

Cover of A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke Cover of Ramesses the Great by Toby Wilkinson Cover of The Library of Ancient Wisdom by Selena Wisnom

As you see, it’s a pretty select bunch! Here are links to the reviews:

I’m surprised no science books made it into this tier, but thinking back on this year, I haven’t read a whole lot of popular science.

Four-star non-fiction I read in 2026:

These are still pretty great books which just missed being perfect for me, with my four-star rating meaning “I really liked it”. (Note: I’m not saying five-star books are perfect in general, it’s not an objective assessment! I rate based on enjoyment.) They’re still pretty great.

Cover of The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black Cover of The Meteorite Hunters by Joshua Howgego Cover of Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works, by Helen Pearson Cover of Enshittification by Cory Doctorow

Cover of Dressing the Queen by Kate Strasdin Cover of Japanese Dress in Detail by Josephine Rout Cover of Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature Cover of Craft Land: A Journey through Britain's Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades, by James Fox

Cover of Twelve Caesars by Mary Beard Cover of Lost Voices of the Nile by Charlotte Booth Cover of Domination by Alice Roberts Cover of Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough

Cover of Welsh Food Stories by Carwyn Jones Cover of The Welsh Language: A History, by Janet Davies Cover of How To Kill a Language by Sophia Smith Galer Cover of Cryptic by Garry J. Shaw

Cover of How Queer Bookshops Changed the World by A.J. West Cover of Queer Georgians, by Anthony Delaney

As you see, it’s a fairly random mix! Here are the reviews:

My review of The Welsh Language: A History (Janet Davies) isn’t up yet, but in brief, I found it a good primer to the history and culture of the Welsh language.

Notable three-star non-fiction I read in 2026:

In my writing system, a three-star read is still a “liked it”. I won’t go over all of my three-star reads, but there are some I found interesting to read and talk about, and one person’s ‘meh’ is another person’s perfect book, so you never know… you might find something perfect for you here! For these, I’ve added a brief note about why I had reservations, so you can decide if you want to check out the full review.

Cover of A Woman's Work by Elinor Cleghorn Cover of 20th-Century Fashion in Detail by Claire Wilcox and Valerie D. Mendes Cover of The Queer Thing about Sin by Harry Tanner Cover of Servus by Emma Southon

Cover of A History of the World in 50 Pieces by Tom Service Cover of City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish by Peter Parsons Cover of Love and Desire in the Promised Land by Salomé Parent-Rachdi Cover of Cat Tales: A History by Jerry D. Moore

Bottom line:

I’m surprised all over again by the relative lack of popular science or science history books through each category here for this year (though there are some three-star or lower books I didn’t feature, the pattern held). I guess that maybe having completed my most recent degree (an MSc in Infectious Diseases) and graduated this year, I was escaping a little bit — it was a worthwhile endeavour, and infectious diseases remain fascinating, but maybe I needed a break, ha.

Also, thinking about it, I think a lot of the popular science I encountered in the wild was based around nutrition and rarely seemed to address the immune implications of diet (which I’ve studied), so it wasn’t interesting to me. May that trend pass and more interesting pop-science come my way, please! Santa, I have some requests…

As ever, you can see my usual fairly random interest, with a focus on “a history of X in Y objects” type books, Egyptology, fashion history, Greek and Roman history, and Welsh history. A bit of a theme of queer non-fiction ran through this year, too; that’s not one of my particular interests per se, but it’s obviously relevant and interesting when it does cross my path.

Now I’ve finally done mine, I’m looking forward to reading about everyone else’s year in non-fiction!

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Review – A Wizard of Earthsea (graphic novel) [Fred Fordham]

Posted November 7, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – A Wizard of Earthsea (graphic novel) [Fred Fordham]

A Wizard of Earthsea

by Fred Fordham, Ursula Le Guin

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 270
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Ursula K. Le Guin's timeless and revered A Wizard of Earthsea is reimagined in a richly expansive graphic novel by acclaimed artist Fred Fordham, creator of stunning adaptations To Kill a Mockingbird and Brave New World.

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and unleashed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

Experience the bestselling first adventure of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle as a masterly crafted graphic novel. Fred Fordham brings new life to Le Guin's iconic fantasy classic with his breathtaking illustrations and thoughtful text adaptation.

Fred Fordham’s graphic novel adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea is something that I can well believe it a deeply considered labour of love, sticking close to Ursula Le Guin’s exact words and changing very little in the adaptation, and approved by her son. It’s a very wordy graphic novel, actually, taking a lot of Le Guin’s narration verbatim, and moving other bits into dialogue to keep as much as possible.

I think something that took a lot of liberties would have been very different, but maybe… a bit more enjoyable to me? It’s not that it was a bad read, but I’m not sure that it added a lot to the world of Earthsea, and I think anyone who is put off by the language of the original is going to be put off here, even though there are also pictures.

I also have mixed feelings about the art. I know others find it beautiful, but I find it rather murky, with many panels barely lit at all, and people/objects hard to discern. This is almost certainly exacerbated by me not being a very visual person at all and having no visual imagination, but it still made it hard for me to really enjoy this adaptation, despite some of the scenes being very beautiful and adding a lot of life.

Overall, not really what I’d hoped for, but hopefully it’s bringing Earthsea to audiences who might not have read it!

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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