WWW Wednesday

Posted August 5, 2026 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I read two poetry collections, Menna Elfyn’s Bondo and Jonathan Edwards’ My Family and Other Superheroes. The former was really good, but I was less of a fan of the latter.

Before that, the last thing I finished was volume two of Liu Gou Hua’s After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine, which I love a lot more than I expected. I instantly whimpered for volume three… which I have duly started.

What are you currently reading?

First and foremost, volume three of After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine! I’m going to be so sad when I get to the end of this volume and have to wait until 10th November for the last one. This really worked for my mood at the moment; I’m loving the slow burn.

Other than that, I’ve also started two non-fiction books which are slower going: Emily Cockayne’s Rummage: A History of the Things We Have Reused, Recycled and Refused to Let Go and Elinor Cleghorn’s A Woman’s Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering. Both are alright, but not proving to be compulsive reads for me.

What will you be reading next?

Last week I ended up abandoning what I thought was a very firm reading plan, ahaha. So I’m not sure, but in theory I want to start John Wiswell’s The Dragon Has Some Complaints and Becky Chambers’ As You Wake, Break the Shell.

Either/both could end up being displaced by pure whim, though.

Tags: books, WWW Wednesday

Review – Cat + Gamer, vol 2

Posted August 5, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cat + Gamer

by Wataru Nadatani

Genres: Manga
Pages: 174
Series: Cat + Gamer #2
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
A quiet office worker embraces her new role as a cat mom when she begins sharing superfluous amounts of cat photos on the internet.

Riko can’t help it—her tuxedo baby is just too cute! Will her coworkers feel the same or will it add to their bewilderment about her? At home, Riko learns more about Musubi, from favorite toys such as a free grocery bag to their shared joy of video games. And Musubi himself learns a new trick—how to tell her when it’s dinner time!

“Leveling up” in skills, surprises, and adventures extends to real life, as Riko discovers what it’s like living with a cat!

Volume two of Wataru Nadatani’s Cat + Gamer is pretty much the same as volume one: it’s cute, silly, and a little bit cringe when Riko uses gaming terms for perfectly ordinary stuff (like calling the shop assistant “shopkeeper” all the time, and then “great sage” after she gives some extra advice about how to keep a kitty happy). I know it’s meant to be silly, but it just comes across as weird, and I promise gamers can actually function in society without treating it like a video game (as we know Riko must be able to, since she functions fine at work).

I did enjoy the chapter where Riko’s sister came over and gamed with her for a bit, that was fun, and it was also kinda nice to go see more of the “shopkeeper” (did she even get a name though?!).

And of course, Musubi (the cat) is adorable.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, manga, Wataru Nadatani

Top Ten Tuesday: Danmei and Baihe Covers

Posted August 4, 2026 by Nicky in General / 28 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is a freebie about book covers! I decided to highlight some fun/pretty/cute danmei and baihe covers (from my collection), because I often get comments about them.

For those who don’t already know, danmei and baihe are Chinese genres which have recently-ish started being translated into English a lot. The stories focus on same-sex love, but can be all kinds of genres other than that — historical, fantastical, modern, mystery, and various mixtures of the two.

My favourite theme is honestly the covers that show the tenderness and joy the main couples share…

Buuut it’s worth highlighting some badassery as well!

I haven’t read all of these yet (the last two are still on my TBR), but I can’t wait. And I’d love to read more baihe — I’m sad I’m only featuring one! If anyone has recommendations for baihe that’s been translated and traditionally published, I’d love to hear them.

Tags: baihe, books, danmei, Top Ten Tuesday

Review – Winter Hours

Posted August 3, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems and Poems

by Mary Oliver

Genres: Non-fiction, Poetry
Pages: 109
Rating: two-stars

Synopsis:
From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, her most personal book yet "What good company Mary Oliver is!" the Los Angeles Times has remarked. And never more so than in this extraordinary and engaging gathering of nine essays, accompanied by a brief selection of new prose poems and poems. (One of the essays has been chosen as among the best of the year by THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 1998, another by The Anchor Essay Annual.) With the grace and precision that have won her legions of admirers, Oliver talks here of turtle eggs and housebuilding, of her surprise at an unexpected whistling she hears, of the "thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else." She talks of her own poems and of some of her favorite poets: Poe, writing of "our inescapable destiny," Frost and his ability to convey at once that "everything is all right, and everything is not all right," the "unmistakably joyful" Hopkins, and Whitman, seeking through his poetry "the replication of a miracle." And Oliver offers us a glimpse as well of her "private and natural self—something that must in the future be taken into consideration by any who would claim to know me."

After reading a couple of her poetry collections, I was keen to read anything else by Mary Oliver, so I picked up Winter Hours, which is composed of essays and prose poems. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, really; things don’t entirely fit together, though the strength of her writing skill and something of her attitude to the world comes across in each.

Distractingly, though, I can’t tell whether the essay on Edgar Allan Poe is intended to be a serious piece of consideration of his life and work. It seems like it, but then she… makes up something that I’ve absolutely never heard of and can find no reference to anywhere, suggesting that the name “Egaeus” (which she spells “Agaeus”) is close to the word “aegis”, which she defines as a sick note in English schools (in the present tense). That isn’t how you spell the name and that term is not a thing: definitely not in the present, and I can find no evidence that it ever was.

It was weirdly discombobulating and left me feeling out of kilter with the whole book. So… beautifully written, but I’m not sure how seriously to take any of it, and that really changed my enjoyment of it.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

Tags: book reviews, books, Mary Oliver, non-fiction, poetry

Fantasy with Friends: Fantastical Sidekicks

Posted August 3, 2026 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Start of a new week, and time for Fantasy with Friends! All the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is about fantastical companions:

Who are some memorable fantastical sidekicks? Animal familiars or anything else that fits the prompt welcome!

Prompting about “animal familiars” mostly makes me think of Nighteyes in Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings books, mostly. Nighteyes is a great character, deeply loyal, sometimes quite funny, and providing a great foil to Fitz’s wavering and uncertainty. Life’s a lot more simple for Nighteyes, not because he is simple, but because he doesn’t see such a need to complicate things.

I’m also for some reason thinking of the fire demon Calcifer, in Howl’s Moving Castle: snarky, curious, not half so devilish as he’d like to make out. Admittedly some of his lines in the (very different, but still fun) Studio Ghibli adaptation are the most memorable, when Sophie bullies him into letting her cook on him: “Here’s another curse for you: may all your bacon burn!”

And of course, the best sidekick of all has to be Samwise Gamgee. No notes.

In more recent reads, though, I’m thinking of Mu Qing and Feng Xin in Heaven Official’s Blessing — they’re old friends of Xie Lian’s, or rather, his former bodyguard and his former servant, whom he considered as friends (it’s a little more complicated for them, given the status difference when they were humans and when they served as his deputies when he ascended). As themselves or in their disguised forms, they back him up and follow him around loyally, even despite the mess between them — and while a lot of people really dislike Mu Qing, I rather like the fact that he’s prickly and quick to take offence (but even quicker to give it). He’s by no means perfect, but he’s still a friend who cares deeply, and it’s clear that he takes his role as a martial god seriously and takes care of his worshippers.

And in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, one really has to give a nod to Wen Ning. He’s faultlessly loyal to Wei Wuxian, who was kind to him and brought him back from death to be with and protect the remainder of the Wen family. He stays with Wei Wuxian through a lot of horrors, for both of them, when the whole world is against them, and stands up for Wei Wuxian and tries to act in his best interests no matter what. The way he gets angry and tells Jiang Cheng about a certain secret in order to show him how terribly he’s treated Wei Wuxian is just, aaaah!

I could keep going, but I’ll stop here, ahaha.

Tags: books, discussion, Fantasy with Friends, SF/F

Review – A Case of Fear and Favour

Posted August 2, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

A Case of Fear and Favour

by Sally Smith

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 368
Series: The Trials of Gabriel Ward #3
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
A priceless medieval book has been stolen from the Inner Temple. The librarian has been murdered at his desk. Once again, Sir Gabriel Ward KC must provide answers.

Gabriel meanwhile is preparing to represent a tiny sweetshop in Brighton brought to the brink of ruin by the postponed coronation of King Edward VII. Winning the case will save the sweetshop and change the law for ever. Yet for once he does not object to being pressed into acting as detective, because another miscarriage of justice may be on the cards.

The Temple authorities already have their prime suspects: Jitendra Shah, an Indian law student, and Lesley Roberts, the scandalously female assistant librarian, neither of whom fit the profile of a 'true' member of the Temple. Both were in the library at the time the murder must have taken place. Each claims not to have seen the other. At least one of them must be lying. But does this make them a killer?

Gabriel is convinced there is far more to this case than meets the eye. And in matters of murder, Gabriel is very seldom wrong…

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When I got offered an eARC of Sally Smith’s latest Gabriel Ward book, A Case of Fear and Favour, there was noooo way I wasn’t jumping on it right away. I’ve loved the previous books and their loving but sometimes critical depiction of life in the Inner Temple, the ancient rules and regulations of the lawyers there, and of course, of Gabriel Ward himself, a bit stuffy but ultimately a very good man.

Over the course of the novels, Gabriel’s found himself getting more involved in the wider world beyond the Inner Temple, and that results here in him amazing everyone and himself by taking a pro bono case. I love that we get an explanatory note afterwards discussing the real law around that case and the historical precedent, which is carefully considered!

Other than Gabriel’s pro bono case, there’s also a mystery in the library of the Inner Temple, with the death of the librarian and the disappearance of some priceless documents. It turns out to be (unsurprisingly, given it’s a novel) not unconnected with Gabriel’s case, as well, and everything proceeds veeery neatly.

I enjoyed the introduction of the characters Lesley Roberts (a proto-feminist) and Jitendra (a figure based partially on some of the experiences of Gandhi), which tugged Gabriel out into the world just a little more, and opened his eyes to more injustices he’d never considered before.

Overall, a good entry to the series, and definitely a series I recommend to mystery lovers — especially if being set in a rather odd location (the Inner Temple, a long-standing inn of court) and around the time of the delayed coronation of King Edward VII appeals!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, historical fiction, mystery, Sally Smith

July Reading Wrap-Up

Posted August 2, 2026 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

Here we are in August already! I can’t believe it’s my birthday this month: I feel like I’ve only just got used to saying it’s 2026. But yep, here it comes: on 20th August, I’ll be turning 37.

…But we’re not there yet, so let’s take a look back at July first!

July in general:

We’ve had another more heatwave in the UK since I posted last month’s pic of the bunnies in their temporary housing in an air conditioned room, and Eclair wasn’t pleased to hear that the heat was coming back…

He’s been totally fine, though! Both of them have, though they’re in full shed at the moment and everything is fluff. Thanks, bunnies, I surely needed a fur coat in this weather…

I’ve been working away at my bookcase blanket, through some goofs, fumbles, and uncertain attempts at designing things for myself. I need to sit down with a chart and work out if one thing I had in mind will actually work at all, but mostly it’s going really well! It looks more complicated than it is, and often I can just sit and chill, following the obvious pattern from the row before, rather than needing to pay tons of attention.

Luckily, all those raw ends will just need to be neatened up and trimmed, but will get enclosed inside a border — though I really should start on the tidying up work, or I’ll have to handle ~500 of them at once.

Other than that, let’s see. I’ve been gaming as always, including in FFXIV. An old friend rejoining my raid group, and we’ve really started making some progress again with the consistent group. We’re about to start working on a mechanic called “Idyllic Dream”, which is absolutely nuts and will definitely take us some time. If you’re curious, you can check out the guide we’re using. (Thanks, Hector!)

I’ve also been continuing my love of hidden object games with A Building Full of Cats and the sequel, dipping my toes into horror anomaly games with the free The Queen’s Gondola (which had one jumpscare but otherwise was more unsettling vibes — I enjoyed it, despite being a wuss), being deeply absorbed in the pretty unique puzzle game Gorogoa, and overly invested in the very silly racing sim, Wabisabi SushiDerby. It’s not all been new games, though: my wife and I have returned to a classic for more co-op fun, getting our asses served to us in Overcooked! All You Can Eat, and I replayed (and finally 100%ed) the beautiful game Pyre.

I have a bunch of new games to dig into, and several others in progress, so there’s no doubt I can keep myself busy!

Oh, and I finally got my degree certificate: now I am most definitely and officially and provably the holder of my fourth degree, an MSc in Infectious Diseases (with Merit). I haven’t yet decided on another course of study, before anyone asks…

Reading stats:

Here’s the bit you’re all really interested in, right?

Total books read: 24
Total pages read: 6,220
Rereads: 0
ARCs: 2
Series finished/up to date: 3
Books owned pre-2026: 2
Books owned from 2026: 13
Borrowed books: 9

Fiction: 11
Non-fiction: 7
Poetry: 6
Comics, manga, manhwa, etc: 2

Still not as much reading as I’d like, really! The numbers mean I’m slipping ever further behind my original reading goal for the year, and while I try to be flexible with goals and not care too much about hitting a certain number, it’s a bit weird for me to be reading so little, and generally suggests I’m not getting enough free time or something is otherwise going on. I’m not honestly sure, though, because it’s fairly common for me to hit a slump from March through July, and start picking up again in August.

Sooo… I guess we’ll see?

Progress on reading goals:

Overall total books: 195/400 (38 books behind)
Overall pages read: 45,446/100,000 (12,910 pages behind)
Books read from backlog: 32/100 (26 books behind)
Books owned since 2026 and not yet started: 20/20

20 Books of Summer: 10/20 (0/5 bonus)

I’m still way, way behind on my reading goals, which is a bit of a shame. As mentioned above, it suggests I just haven’t been able to make enough time for reading… or maybe I’m still just a bit flattened by last year, which featured several big life events like moving, the final year of my MSc, and my grandmother’s death. Plus I have a new client that I’m working for, so that takes time.

I’m not going to adjust anything until after my holiday at the end of August, at least — but after that I’m definitely thinking about dropping the goal just to avoid letting it influence me into feeling ick (there’s no point in that). I think in the past I’ve always ended up exceeding my low-ish goals by a lot, often reaching my original higher goal anyway, though, so I’m a little curious what happens if I just let myself be without changing my goal, and live with being “behind”.

Blogging stats:

Views: 18.8k
Visitors: 17.8k
Likes: 412
Comments: 501
Reviews: 26
Other posts: 29

All stats were up this month! I’ve been feeling more engaged with reading and blogging, and have been prepping stuff at the weekends to free up time during the week to socialise on other blogs more, so I think it makes sense. It’s been a pretty good month, all round.

Most viewed posts:

Top Ten Tuesday: British Library Crime Classics (84 views)
Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Live in my Head Rent-Free (76 views)
Top Ten Tuesday: Titles with the Word “City” (42 views)
Fantasy with Friends: Brandon Sanderson (41 views)
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I HAD to Have… (41 views)

My own favourite posts:

Stuff I loved from elsewhere:

From Foxes and Fairy Tales: ARC Review: Worst Man, by Louise
From Becky’s Book Blog: Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle – Book Review! by Becky
From Books, Bones & Buffy: THE INN AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT VENGEANCE by Chiara Bullen – Review, by Tammy
From The BiblioSanctum: Book Review: The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, by Mogsy
From Becky’s Book Blog: A Snake Among Swans by Hannah Kaner – ARC Review! by Becky
From The Book Haze: Book Review | The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, by Haze
From Books, Bones & Buffy: THE FAREWITCH OF FOXE HOLLER by Ellen Pauley Groff – Review, by Tammy
From Becky’s Book Blog: The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry – ARC Review! by Becky
From Keira’s Bookmark: [Review] Under the Oak Tree #1-3 by Suji Kim, by Keira
From The BiblioSanctum: Book Review: The Winter Folk by Jen Julian, by Mogsy

I really had difficulty with restraining myself from including some more links, but ten really seemed enough!

This month I did start drafting this post ahead of time, but goodness, it still seems to have taken forever. I need a better template, maybe. But at least we can say I’ve seen July out properly now.

Tags: books, monthly wrapup

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted August 1, 2026 by Nicky in General / 42 Comments

Happy weekend! And whew, I need it.

Books acquired this week

I told myself I was really going to try not to get any more books before my birthday, but I’d forgotten that I’d preordered Dinosaur Sanctuary volume eight, and then one of my (brand-new) fillings broke and I had to head back to the dentist. And I really liked the first volume of this danmei…

Volume two of After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine took a little finding (in the end I ordered it from Travelling Man, of all places, thanks to my wife spotting that they actually had it in stock) but it arrived yesterday, woooo. I might even read it this weekend!

Posts from this week

As ever lately, it’s been a busy week on the blog, so good thing I’m going to do a roundup! Here goes, starting with the reviews:

Non-fiction: William Tyndale and the English Language, by David Crystal (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
Poetry: First Rain in Paradise, by Gwyneth Lewis (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
Manga: Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide, vol 1, by Mone Sorai (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Fantasy: Brigands & Breadknives, by Travis Baldree (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Non-fiction: Life Changing: How Humans at Altering Life on Earth, by Helen Pilcher (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Horror: The Sea Hides Its Dead, by Megan Bontrager (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
Non-fiction: A History of the World in 50 Pieces, by Tom Service (3/5 stars, “it was okay”)

As ever, most of these are not recent reads, except for The Sea Hides Its Dead, because of the way I spread out my reviews to avoid spamming everyone with sixty million manga reviews at once! I have tons of reviews pre-written and all ready to go, when the right moment comes.

Aaand of course, here are the non-review posts now:

What I’m reading

First up, the little preview of books I intend to review soon, having finished them this week! I had a good weekend for reading, but tailed off once we hit the work-week — it was busy, and also the dentist stuff… Anyway, here they are!

Earlier in the week I had very specific reading plans, but I’ve decided to abandon them — they stopped sparking joy! Now my main plan is just to try to clear the deck a little bit so I have space for books for my birthday: we have a specific day planned out for me to buy plenty, so I’d better make space!

So chances are I’ll read After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine vol 2 this weekend, and dive into some of the other books that’re waiting for me, like John Wiswell’s The Dragon Has Some Complaints.

As ever, though, it’ll ultimately be whatever I feel like.

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at The Book Date.

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – A History of the World in 50 Pieces

Posted July 31, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

A History of the World in 50 Pieces: The Classical Music That Shapes Us

by Tom Service

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 310
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
Explore how music has changed our world through 50 pieces across classical, folk and world traditions with BBC presenter Tom Service, in this official Radio 3 compendium.

Music transports us and defines us. As a form of expression, it has been passed down through oral tradition, musical notation and recordings in a chain of connection that spans the globe, across the millennia. A History of the World in 50 Pieces follows that chain, collating 50 pieces of classical music that reflect our changing politics, social structures and technological development, and how composers, musicians and listeners have shaped those currents of history.

From Bach to Beethoven, Songlines to Saariaho, Hildegard of Bingen to the Happy Birthday song, Tom Service offers a fresh take on pieces that many of us think we know, and many more we might not. With each short, sharp analysis, he expands the typical canon and tests the boundaries of what we understand to be ‘classical music’ – or even music at all, such as the sounds of the earth’s rotation, and the songs of humpback whales.

Tom Service’s A History of the World in 50 Pieces is not as focused on the history part as I’d like: we do glimpse bits and pieces of history (predominantly but not always music history), but there are no references at all other than a list of sources for direct quotations, so a lot of it runs on “trust me, bro”.

There were definitely snippets of history discussed and revealed (I need to read more about Shostakovich now!) but… each section is really short, some barely four pages, so it doesn’t lend itself to much depth and detail.

What it did do was make me curious about each piece and really want to listen to them. Service’s enthusiasm for the songs is lovely, and his educated understanding of them really helps. I wish there was a playlist or something to easily listen to recommended versions, but so far I didn’t find one.

Overall, a fun read and one which gave me food for thought, but not ideal as a history per se.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, history, non-fiction, Tom Service

Book Blogger Hop: One Single Genre

Posted July 31, 2026 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

It’s Friday, so it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop again, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!

This week’s prompt is about genre:

If you had to stick to one genre forever, which would you choose and why?

Noooo!

As anyone who hangs around my blog much knows, I don’t really stick to one genre for long, ever. I’ll hop from a mystery to a sci-fi to a non-fiction… But I’d say the majority of my reading if you look at my life as a whole has been speculative fiction, and I couldn’t give up rereading Ursula Le Guin’s work, or Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor… and speculative fiction is a pretty broad genre — you’ll note I said that rather than fantasy or sci-fi! A lot of romance and even the danmei I read could sneak under this umbrella.

I’d hate to give up my classic mysteries, non-SF romance and the wealth of non-fiction I’ve started reading in the last decade, though, so luckily this will never come to pass!

Tags: Book Blogger Hop, discussion