Welcome to 2024! Has it started out well for you?
As usual, I’m linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.
New books acquired:
Last week I showed off my nerdy FFXIV books and the fiction books I got for Christmas. Now for the non-fiction!
It’s a bit of a mix of topics, as ever — just as I like it!
And in addition, I have some new books to review from authors I’ve loved in the past:
Which I’m obviously excited for! Thanks so much to Rebellion, Hodder & Stoughton and Tordotcom for these. I’ll probably dive into The Brides of High Hill first, because I really love this series and the books are quite short. I’m really trying to stay on top of Netgalley copies and read them quickly, this year…
Posts from this week:
It’s been a busy week again on the blog, so here’s a little recap of the reviews posted:
- Silent Nights, edited by Martin Edwards (3/5 stars)
- A Trace of Copper, by Anne Renwick (2/5 stars)
- Who Killed the Curate? by Joan Coggin (1/5 stars)
- A Surprise for Christmas, edited by Martin Edwards (3/5 stars)
- Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward: The Art of Ishgard – Stone and Steel (5/5 stars)
- An Unnatural Life, by Erin K. Wagner (3/5 stars)
- Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, by Cat Sebastian (4/5 stars)
And a couple of non-review posts:
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Stood Out in 2023
- What Are You Reading Wednesday
- Admin update: emails not working?
As a quick update on the latter post, I’ve now removed all my posts from the schedule so they’re all being manually published, which means emails should work. If you have any idea what might be going wrong/how to fix it, my friend Adam’s got a post up on the Jetpack forum asking about it.
What I’m reading:
First off, here’s what I’ve been reading that’s coming up in reviews in the next few weeks…
As for the weekend, I’ve started reading Kelly and Zack Weinersmith’s A City on Mars, which pours cold water on the idea that we’re pretty much ready to have colonies on Mars (though it’s not that they want to be killjoys). I’m enjoying that so far, but I’ll probably mix in a little fiction, and maybe read something that checks off a square on my bingo card for the BookSpin challenge over on Litsy.
So that’s my updates! How’s everyone doing? Has 2024 started well for you? Read anything amazing yet?
I’m a poetry fan and know nothing about the history of Wales. I should read that book! Thanks.
Happy New Year.
It’s very bitesize, and there’s some stuff it doesn’t touch on at aaaall, but I found it fascinating!
Those are some fascinating nonfiction topics. I’m especially looking forward to what you learn about ice cream and childhood — in two separate books, even though they go well together in my mind.
The ice cream book was interesting! I love the whole series it comes from, it’s really fascinating to just zoom in on one food item and unravel its history.
That’s quite the nonfiction haul as well!! I hope you enjoy them all. Have a great weekend!
I was definitely spoiled, haha. I’ve dug into a few of these already, it’s always fun to go learn random things!
I’m very intrigued by that book on the history of ice cream.
The series it’s from is great — I’ve read the history of chocolate and of doughnuts as well, for example, and it can be really interesting how other bigger world events impact on it. (E.g. in the case of ice cream, fascism in Italy was part of the spread of ice cream vendors, because of Italians who fled.)
Hope you enjoy your books and have a great week!
Thanks! You too. 🙂
Lucky you, some of those nonfiction titles are perfect selections for my nonfiction challenge, please drop by and check it out.
I’ve read a great crime novel and I’m part way through a harrowing nonfiction title, The Furies.
Wishing you a happy reading week
Haha, it’s been tempting me, but I’m cagey about joining more challenges — I stress myself out with them sometimes. ^^;
Thanks for dropping by!
I really like all of your nonfiction titles. Doctor, The Hidden World, and Growing Up Human all sound especially interesting to me.
Oh, and I might need to look for The Science of Sin, too.
Would you please read these soon and share your thoughts? lol
Haha, I’ve got a review coming up for The Science of Sin, at least! I wasn’t a huge fan, because it relies quite heavily on stuff like fMRI brain scans, which are notoriously easy to mess up (we have convincing fMRI evidence of a very dead salmon thinking about things).
I definitely want to get to the others soon!
Those three review books look good! Looks like you got a lot of good books! I’ve gotten a bit behind on my reading, not too bad, but took longer than planned with two books last week. Here’s hoping it is a good week for both of us!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/01/07/weekly-wrap-up-151-january-7th-2024/
Hope they were good books, at least! Sometimes it’s worth it to take things slow, after all. I have one that’s taking me quite a while, but it’s fascinating so I don’t mind. 😀
Your nonfiction books look so interesting to me! There are several I want to add to my TBR just based off the titles and covers. I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of them! Happy Reading!
I’m eager to dig into them all! I’m currently really enjoying A City on Mars, for a start.
The Mars book definitely looks like something I would be interested. Happy Reading!
I’ve started on it and it’s really fascinating! Definitely recommend so far.
Looks like a good haul from Christmas! I hope you enjoy reading all of these! Have a great week!
https://jennielyse.com/sunday-news-50/
Thanks! I’m already digging in and enjoying, hehe.
Interesting books on your list. Enjoy and have a great week!
Thanks! It’s quite a mix, haha, but I like it that way. Hope you have a good week too!
Oh I need to get A City on Mars. Always loved the idea but yeah we’re probably woefully unprepared ha.
It’s really good! Pessimistic for sure, but maybe that’s unfair… just realistic, but reality is a bit more limited than we think. I haven’t finished it yet, but I recommend it!
Looks like you have a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction. I’m trying to stay on top of my Netgalley acquisitions too! It’s hard when time is limited.
I’m not surprised that we’re not close to colonizing on Mars. What an undertaking on such an intense planet. I’d love for Earthlings to fix some of the problems here before moving onto another planet, but it is a neat idea.
I’m so prone to asking for multiple things at once and then getting them all. Or getting one well after I remember requesting it, and it throws off my plans. But I’m trying!
I’m really enjoying the realistic view of it in A City on Mars, even if it ruins my sci-fi dreams, hahaha.
All of your books look so intriguing, espcially the last three from authors you’ve enjoyed in the past. I’m going to have to go look those up . Have a wonderful week!
Ah, they’re great! Nghi Vo especially — I’ve devoured that ARC already, haha. Thanks for dropping by!
It looks like you have some great reading ahead of you! I love the variety. Growing Up Human sounds really interesting. The History of Wales in Twelve Poems also appeals to me. And I love the look of your fiction books too! I hope you enjoy all of them! I hope you have a great week, Nicky!
The History of Wales in Twelve Poems was great, I really enjoyed it! I should get my review for that in the queue.
Thanks for dropping by!
A very cool assortment of books. Can’t go wrong with a book about ice cream for sure. Moonstrom appeals to me. Looks like a great read.
The book about ice cream made me reaaaally tempted to get some, ahaha.
I’m really looking forward to Moonstorm — I love Yoon Ha Lee’s books usually!
Those books look like some good and interesting reads.
Have a great week.
Thank you! I’m looking forward to them all. 😀
Nicky I really appreciate your diversity in the books you read. I also have The Tainted Cup and that is an author I have been wanting to read. I own other books of his too. I’m having a good start to my reading year.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
I really liked City of Stairs by the same author, and Foundryside as well — I’ve been bad about finishing the trilogies, but not for lack of interest! They’re fascinating worlds.
Thanks for dropping by!
OooooOOO!!!!! You have some VERY INTERESTING nonfiction there!!!!! I will be paying closer attention to your reviews. (I’m not a fan of reviews in general. lol)
I get that, it’s so hard to know how another person’s taste will match up with yours! I’m really excited to get to some of this non-fic. 😀